China opposes Dalai Lama's likely visit to Sri Lanka; warns of negative impact on bilateral ties

A top Chinese embassy official met powerful Buddhist prelates in the central town of Kandy and conveyed China’s dissatisfaction over the development, said a report in the media quoting a statement from the embassy.

The statement said that Charged d'affaires Hu Wei stated that the people of China, including those in the Tibet Autonomous Region, “strongly oppose any foreign country receiving the Dalai Lama in any name because the 14th Dalai Lama is absolutely not a simple monk as he self-claimed, but the head of the feudal serfdom.”

It further slammed the 87-year-old Dalai Lama as a "political exile disguised as a religious figure who has long been engaging in anti-China separatist activities and attempting to split Tibet from China".

In December last year, Dalai Lama visited Bodh Gaya in India where Sri Lankan Buddhist monks met him and invited the spiritual leader to visit the island country, a predominantly Buddhist nation.

China had expressed concerns over the meeting and the visit that may follow.

However, no date has been fixed for the visit of the Buddhist religious leader, according to reports.

China is the largest bilateral creditor in Sri Lanka's debt restructuring process.

Sri Lanka, which supports the one-China policy, has never before received the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama has been living in India ever since he fled Tibet in 1959. The Tibetan government-in-exile operates from India and over 1,60,000 Tibetans live in the country.