China minister calls India to discuss Tibet

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top foreign policy official spoke on the phone on Sunday with an Indian minister to discuss unrest in Tibet whose status has been an irritant in relations between the giant neighbors.

State Councilor Dai Bingguo called India's National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan to explain China's position on the weeks of anti-government unrest in Tibet, a notice posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Web site (www.fmprc.gov.cn) said.

Relations between China and India have warmed and trade has grown after decades of rivalry and a border war in 1962, but the issue of Tibet remains a sore point.

The Indian hill station of Dharamsala is home to Tibet's government-in-exile and the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's spiritual leader, since he fled China after a failed uprising against Communist rule in 1959.

The Web site said that Dai "explained China's standpoint and deep concern and hoped India could continue to understand and support China's actions".

Narayanan said India continued to view Tibet as part of China. "The Indian side does not allow Tibetan people to be engaged in political activities that are against the Chinese government," the statement cited Narayanan as saying.

China blames the Dalai Lama for days of protest in Lhasa, that burst into a citywide riot on March 14, and other unrest throughout its ethnic Tibetan regions. It says he is seeking independence and wants to disrupt the Beijing Olympics.

The 72-year-old winner of the Nobel Peace Prize denies he is coordinating the demonstrations and has repeated he wants autonomy, not independence, for the remote, mountain region. (Reporting by Lindsay Beck; Editing by Richard Balmforth)