China's top political adviser on ethnic and religious affairs has said he believes the Dalai Lama's recent speech in Geneva was born out of "major frustration" over "increasingly unpopular 'Tibetan Independence' activities".

Beijing lodged a strong protest after the Dalai Lama joined other Nobel laureates on Friday at a human rights conference in Switzerland co-sponsored by the United States and Canadian missions.

Zhu Weiqun, head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, suggested US support for the event could "deal a new blow to efforts to improve China-US relations".

The Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 1989 and mentioned the "restoration" of "independence" in his acceptance speech.

Zhu said the Dalai Lama has been "increasingly rampant" after receiving the prize and has pursued "Tibetan Independence" and violent terrorism, leading to the deadly riot in Lhasa on March 14, 2008.

The award "supported his attempt to separate Tibet from China", while inviting him to the Geneva conference was "another display" of such political motives, he said.

Zhu said that, with the US presidential election at a vital stage, past experience shows "an effective way to garner more votes" is to hype China's human rights issues, the "Tibet issue" and the "Xinjiang issue".

[email protected]