China has protested Mongolia's decision to allow a visit by the exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, the Chinese government said Tuesday.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the protest was in keeping with China’s consistent opposition to any country that gives a platform to the Dalai Lama. Beijing says the Dalai Lama is focused on splitting Tibet from China, a charge the Peace Prize laureate denies.
Hong said "a solemn representation" has been made to Mongolia, a landlocked nation squeezed between Russia and China whose people traditionally follow the Tibetan school of Buddhism.
The Dalai Lama, who has visited Mongolia at least half a dozen times, was making what was described as a religious visit. He is scheduled to give a lecture and meet Mongolian Buddhists before leaving Thursday.
"This is a purely religious visit made at the request of Mongolian Buddhist lay-believers and monks," said Choijamts Demberel, head of Mongolian Buddhist center and head abbot of Ganden Thekchen Choeling monastery.
His visit comes at time of renewed unrest in Tibetan areas in China, where 11 people have set themselves on fire to protest what they say are restrictive government policies against Tibetans.
The Dalai Lama says China’s "ruthless policy" was behind the self-immolations. China accuses the Dalai Lama and his supporters of stirring up trouble in ethnic Tibetan areas and encouraging followers to set themselves on fire.
At least 11 Tibetans in their late teens and 20s have self-immolated since March in protest of Chinese rule, and five have died of their injuries. Many Tibetans consider the Dalai Lama as their rightful leader.
The Dalai Lama fled the Himalayan region in 1959 amid an abortive anti-Beijing uprising and is reviled by China’s communist government.
When the Dalai Lama visited Mongolia in 2002, China held up trains at the border. There were no reports of that on Tuesday.
China is Mongolia’s biggest trading partner. The two signed a strategic partnership deal in June during a visit by Premier Wen Jiabao.
