Describing Tibet as part of China, US President Barack Obama on Tuesday supported the early resumption of talks. "The United States supports the early resumption of dialogue between the Dalai Lama's representatives and Beijing," Obama said after his meeting with Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao here.

China, which has governed Tibet since its troops occupied the territory in the 1950s, has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of leading a campaign to split the Himalayan region from the rest of the country. The 74-year-old Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, has denied the allegations.

The last formal talks between the Dalai Lama's envoys and Chinese officials, the seventh since 2002, ended in an impasse in July 2008, with China demanding that he prove that he did not support Tibetan independence.

Obama, who is here on his maiden state visit to the Communist nation, also said that he and Hu want climate change talks in Copenhagen next month to result in a global deal that has "immediate operational effect".

"Our aim there is not a partial accord or a political declaration, but rather an accord that covers all the issues in the negotiations and one that has immediate operational effect," he said.

On North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, Obama said the six-party talks process should resume "as soon as possible". On his part, Hu said that both sides were "committed to dialogue and consultation in resolving the Korean peninsula nuclear issue."

Hu said that the two countries "will continue to have consultations on an equal footing to properly resolve economic and trade frictions."