'Dalai should accept Tibet as a part of China to improve ties'

China on Tuesday said that the Dalai Lama can improve ties with it only by giving up wish for Tibetan independence and publicly announcing that Tibet is an inalienable part of the country.

"Only when the Dalai Lama publicly announces that Tibet is an inalienable part of China since ancient time, gives up the stance of 'Tibet independence' and stops his secessionist activities, can his relations with the Communist Party of China Central Committee possibly be improved," Politburo member of Communist Party of China, Yu Zhengsheng said.

The Dalai Lama's 'middle way' aimed at achieving so-called 'high-degree autonomy' in Greater Tibet, is completely opposite to China's Constitution and the country's system of regional ethnic autonomy, Yu said while visiting Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in southern Gansu Province.

Meanwhile, the US-based International Campaign for Tibet reported that security forces disrupted Tibetans in Sichuan province's Daofu county as they carried out rituals on Saturday to honour their exiled leader on his 78th birthday.

"Large numbers of armed police and soldiers were deployed, with one source reporting at least seven army trucks and police vehicles at the scene," the BBCquoted the statement as saying.

Denying any such incident, Chinese foreign ministry, spokesperson, Hua Chunying said, "I am wondering from where you get your information. I am not aware of information you mentioned."

Earlier, China has denied it lifted a ban on worshipping the Dalai Lama. "He (Dalai Lama) is by no means a religious figure. He is a political exile engaged in separating his country and undermining social stability of the country and his birthday is being used to promote the separatist agenda of the Dalai Lama," Hua said.

Yu said Dalai Lama has long been engaged in secessionist activities, which runs against both the common interests of people of various ethnic groups and the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Tibetan Buddhists should politically draw a clear line with the Dalai Lama and firmly oppose any secessionist act that sabotages the CPC's rule and the socialist system, Yu said.

Yu said that development is the priority of in the Tibet Autonomous Region and parts of Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan provinces in western China, so as to improve the living conditions of farmers and herders.

"Only when people's lives have been improved can they be better united with the CPC and become a reliable basis for maintaining stability," Yu said. Yu's comments casts doubt over China's new leadership's intention to negotiate with Dalai Lama to resolve the longstanding Tibetan problem.