China strongly opposes the US side allowing the Dalai Lama to visit the United States and its leaders' meeting with him, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan in Beijing Wednesday.

Kong made the remark in reply to a reporter's question about the Dalai Lama's visit to the United States from September 4 to 24, his meeting with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and his possible meeting with President George W. Bush.

China has lodged representations with the United States on the Dalai Lama's US visit and its leaders' meeting with him, calling for the US side to keep its promise that it acknowledges Tibet as part of China and does not support the "independence of Tibet," Kong said.

He said the Dalai Lama is not purely a religious figure, but a political figure in exile, who has engaged in China-separating and national-unity-destroying activities for a long time.

The Chinese side urges the US side to stop using the Tibet issue to interfere with China's internal affairs so as not to harm China-US relations, the spokesman said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 10, 2003)