On Februry 23, the Chinese Embassy in the United States made solemn representations with CNN over Larry King Live's interview with Dalai Lama the day before. The Embassy reitereated China's opposition against the visit by Dalai to the U.S. and CNN's interview with him, urged the U.S. side to earnestly abide by the U.S. Government's committment of respecting China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and recognizing Tibet as part of China and not supporting "Tibet independence", stop providing convenience or platform for Dalai and pro-Tibet independence forces, and take measures to undo the damages caused by the visit and the interview. The Chinese Embassy also issued a statement on CNN's interview with Dalai, which runs as follows:

What Dalai Lama has said and done in the past decades has fully shown that he is not a pure religious figure, but a political figure in exile who's long engaged in activities to split China and undermine ethnic unity in China under the cover of religion.

While claiming that his visits to foreign countries are aimed at spreading religious teachings, he has never stopped defaming the Chinese Government, selling "Tibet independence" Proposals and undermining relations between China and other countries. This is well reflected in his remarks during his current visit, including those he made on CNN's Larry King Live.

In addition, the talks between Dalai's private representatives and the Chinese Government at the end of January have demonstrated once again that the Dalai group is still clinging to their separatist propositions, including the so-called "greater Tibet region" and "meaningful autonomy", whose ultimate goal is to separate a quarter of Chinese territory from China. This is something that no sovereign country can allow to occur.

As Dalai Lama claimed on Larry King Live, he regards a foreign country other than China or its Tibetan Autonomous Region as his "home", and Tibet is "not much concern" to him. Such a political figure is in no way qualified to represent the Tibetan people as self-claimed by him.

Tibet has never been a country in history, but an inalienable part of China from ancient times. Dalai Lama's repeated calling Tibet a "country" explains nothing but his true mind of splitting Tibet from China.

We urge the U.S. side earnestly abide by the U.S. Government's committment of recognizing Tibet as part of China and not supporting "Tibet independence", take measures to undo the damages caused by Dalai's visit, stop providing convenience or platform for Dalai and pro-Tibet independence forces, take concret actions to maintain the healthy and stable development of China-U.S. relations. We sincerely hope American people see through Dalai's true nature as a separatist and his ulterior motive of sabotaging China-U.S. relations, understand and support China's just positions on Tibet-related issues.

Larry King Live of CNN broadcasted part of the statement and the full statement was posted on CNN's home page and Larry King Live website.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/23/china.statement.dalai.lama/index.html?iref=allsearch