China denounces U.S. criticism of its rule in Tibet

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama gives a speech during a news conference in Sydney in this June 12, 2008 file photo.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China denounced the United States on Wednesday for criticising its rule of Tibet and calling for dialogue with the Dalai Lama, who 50 years ago fled the Himalayan plateau after a failed uprising against Beijing's rule.

China, already at odds with the United States over a naval confrontation at the weekend, brands the Dalai Lama a separatist, a charge the Buddhist monk denies.

"We express our strong displeasure and adamant opposition to this, and we have made stern representations to the U.S. side," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said on the ministry website (www.fmprc.gov.cn).

While the United States considers Tibet part of China, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said it wanted to see dialogue between Beijing and representatives of the Dalai Lama.

"We urge China to reconsider its policies in Tibet that have created tensions due to their harmful impact on Tibetan religion, culture, and livelihoods," Wood said in a statement.

China, which prides itself on ending centuries of serfdom in Tibet, accused the United States of meddling in its affairs.

Ma said Tibet had made huge advances in its economy, society, culture and religion. He also said China's position on contacts with the Dalai Lama were "consistent and clear".

Ma said any progress in talks with the Dalai Lama's side "depends on whether the Dalai can fundamentally reflect on and correct his political stance and truly abandon his scheming for 'Tibetan independence'."

The Nobel Prize-winning Dalai Lama marked March 10, the sensitive 50th anniversary of the failed uprising, with a speech in India calling for "meaningful autonomy" for Tibet and slammed Beijing for bringing "untold suffering and destruction".

On March 14 last year, Lhasa erupted into riots that spilled over into ethnically Tibetan areas across the Himalayan plateau. A Tibetan crowd burned shops belonging to Han Chinese and Hui Muslims, killing 19 people.

Groups abroad demanding Tibetan self-rule have said more than 200 Tibetans may have died in region-wide clashes. Chinese officials have rejected these claims and said the authorities used minimal force.

Separately, the Dalai Lama wants to visit Taiwan, a self-ruled island China claims as its own, every two years once relations with Beijing are more stable, his representative said on Wednesday.

Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said in December the time was wrong for the Dalai Lama to visit, as his government works to improve relations with China.

Any visits to Taiwan, where the Dalai Lama last travelled in 2002, are likely to spark a harsh reaction from China, which has threatened to use force, if necessary, to bring the island under its rule.