By Li Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-10-30 19:35

China today demanded that Canada take effective measures to stop shielding and supporting Tibetan secessionists' activities to prevent from further demaging the bilateral relations.

The actions by the Canadian side are "seriously detrimental to the China-Canada relations," said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao, when asked to assess the impact of the respective public meetings of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Governor-General Michaelle Jean with the 14th Dalai Lama Monday on the Sino-Canadian relationships.

"The Canadian side violated the basic international norm and blatantly interfered in China's internal affairs," he said at the regular press conference.

"The words and deeds of the Dalai Lama over the past decades have shown that he is a political exile who long engages himself in secessionist activities and undermines the unity of ethnic groups in the name of religion," Liu said.

He reiterated that Tibet is an inseparable part of China and the Tibetan affair is the internal affair of China's. "China has continuously opposed to any country and any individuals using the Dalai Lama issue to interfere in China's internal affairs," he said, adding that China expresses "dissatisfaction and resolute opposition" to the Canadian acts.

In a statement posted Monday, Chinese Embassy to Canada also expressed the hope that Canada took "concrete steps to safeguard China-Canada relationships".