BERLIN – A Chinese diplomat on Friday criticized German politicians for meeting with the Dalai Lama during the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader's five-day visit to the country.

China also filed a formal complaint about a German minister's plans to meet the Dalai Lama, German Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to meet with the Dalai Lama in September caused a chill in Chinese-German relations. This time, Merkel is in Latin America and will not meet with the Dalai Lama, who is in Germany to give a series of lectures.

Germany's foreign minister and president have not plans to meet him either, but the Dalai Lama is to meet with Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul on Monday. He already has met with two state governors from Merkel's conservative party and the president of Germany's parliament, raising Beijing's ire.

“We are decidedly against any official reception for the Dalai Lama in Germany because we are of the opinion that the Dalai, despite his statements denying independence as a goal, is committed to the independence of Tibet,” Chinese Embassy spokesman Zhang Junhui told ARD television.

China claims Tibet has been part of its territory for centuries.

The Dalai Lama, who criticized China's “suppression” of unrest in Tibet when he arrived Thursday, again insisted the region wants only genuine autonomy and peace with Beijing.

“We Tibetans and our Chinese brothers and sisters, we have to live side by side,” he said at a news conference Friday in Bochum. “While we are carrying that struggle for our autonomy – not independence – the nonviolent matter is very, very essential.”

The Dalai Lama said it made sense for Tibet to remain within China because “Tibet is materially backward.”

“All the Tibetans want better development. For that reason, Tibet remains in the People's Republic of China ... provided we must have meaningful autonomy, that is safeguard of Tibetan culture, Tibetan language and Tibetan spirituality,” he said.

Zhang said the German government should not to pay attention to “what the Dalai Lama says, but what he does.”

“We urge the German government to strictly stick to its one-China policy, so that the stable development of our bilateral relations remains possible,” Zhang said.

Merkel's spokesman insisted the meetings did not compromise its commitment to the “one China” policy. “That remains the foundation of our policy toward China,” Thomas Steg said.

The Dalai Lama has lived in exile since 1959, eight years after Chinese troops occupied Tibet.

Protests against Chinese rule began in March in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, on the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule. Events turned violent and touched off pro-Tibetan demonstrations in three neighboring provinces – and around the world.

In a sign of progress, however, the two sides have been talking recently.