China protests against the Dalai Lama's visit to Mongolia

China today asked Mongolia not to provide a stage for the Dalai Lama to engage in "anti-China" activities, a day after Tibet's exiled spiritual leader arrived in the predominantly Buddhist nation.

"China is always against any country providing a stage for the Dalai Lama's anti-China splittist activities in any form," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei told reporters.

"We have already made our solemn representations with the Mongolian side," Hong said.

China has accused the Dalai Lama, who fled his Himalayan homeland for India in 1959, of instigating ten self-immolations in ethnically Tibetan parts of Sichuan province in southwest China. Beijing has accused him of being a "separatist".

The Dalai Lama arrived in the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator yesterday from Japan. He is visiting Mongolia on a religious trip during which the 76-year-old Nobel laureate scheduled to lead prayer meetings and give lectures.

 While in Tokyo, he had criticised Beijing, saying Tibetans faced "cultural genocide" under a strict Chinese rule that he blamed for the wave of self-immolations.

 "Some kind of policy, some kind of cultural genocide is taking place," the Dalai Lama said yesterday.