China opposes support for Dalai Lama

China has lodged protests against the Japanese government for its tolerance of the Dalai Lama's anti-China separatist activities in Japan.

Analysts say the collusion of the Dalai Lama and the growing number of Japanese right-wing forces will add tension to already strained China-Japan relations.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei condemned the Japanese right-wing forces' "blatant support of the Dalai Lama's anti-China separatist activities", which have "infringed upon China's internal affairs".

"The Japanese government's laissez-faire attitude toward the Dalai Lama and right-wing forces is against the principle and spirit of China-Japan strategic relations of mutual benefit," Hong told a daily news briefing.

Hong was responding to a speech that the Dalai Lama delivered to about 140 members of the Japanese Parliament at the Upper House members' office building in Tokyo on Tuesday morning. Participants of the gathering also announced plans to establish a so-called coalition among Japanese lawmakers to "support" Tibet separatists.

Analysts said the Dalai Lama is courting Tokyo's support for his secessionist activities by meddling in the territorial row between the two countries over the Diaoyu Islands, while many political factions in Japan now are trying to establish a hawkish image over the issue to arouse increasing nationalism at home.

Hong reiterated that Tibet is an inalienable part of China, and "the Dalai Lama is a political exile who has long engaged in anti-China separatist activities under the cloak of religion".

"We firmly oppose the provision of support by any country or any person to the Dalai Lama's anti-China separatist activities," he said.

The Dalai Lama, in his 10-day trip to Japan that began on Nov 4, launched a salvo of inflammatory remarks at China's ethnic policies and territorial sovereignty amid simmering tension between China and Japan.

Tokyo's "nationalization" of the islands has triggered protests across China, but during a Nov 5 news conference in Yokohama, Japan, the Dalai Lama referred to the Diaoyu Islands as "Senkaku", the Japanese name of the islands that have belonged to China since ancient times.

The visit, coinciding with the chill of China-Japan ties in recent years, obviously has been carefully orchestrated, said Feng Zhaokui, a Japanese studies researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"The Dalai Lama clearly knows right-wing forces in Japan, like former Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, want to split China with the islands dispute, so the Dalai Lama takes advantage of his schemes, struggling to secure foreign backing for his separatist activities," Feng said.

Shen Shishun, an expert on Japanese studies at Haikou College of Economics in Hainan province, said Tokyo plans to table its illegal claim over the Diaoyu Islands to the international community, while it resorts to a person like the Dalai Lama to play up the tension and accuse China. This scenario just reveals Japan's shortage of legitimate ways to prove its territorial claim, he said.