China opposing Dalai Lama's Taiwan visit

BEIJING, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A Chinese government official said Thursday his country strongly opposes the Dalai Lama's proposed visit to Taiwan.

An unidentified spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office also accused the Tibetan spiritual leader, who was invited to Taiwan by Democratic Progressive Party officials, of "separatist activities," China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

"The Dalai Lama is not a pure religious figure," the spokesman said.

"Under the pretext of religion, he has all along been engaged in separatist activities," he added.

The Chinese official said the seven DPP officials who invited the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan were simply taking advantage of the recent typhoon disaster that left at least 650 dead.

"Obviously this is not for the sake of disaster relief. It's an attempt to sabotage the hard-earned good situation in cross-Strait relations," said the spokesman, who informed Xinhua the invitation would face opposition in both China and Taiwan.

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou approved the visit Thursday.