The Dalai Lama said Wednesday that Chinese authorities had rebuffed all his efforts to reach a compromise over Tibet and had instead engaged in systematic repression as part of a plan to "annihilate Buddhism" there.

Just days after meeting with President Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama said on Saturday that he was not offended by the low-key reception he received and understands that the president must be practical despite his stated commitment to championing human rights worldwide.

China urged the United States on Friday to immediately cancel plans for President Barack Obama to meet with the Dalai Lama next week, warning the move could further hurt ties.

China expressed "resolute" opposition to President Barack Obama's planned meeting with the Dalai Lama, saying it would further strain ties between the world powers.

China has told the envoys of the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama that it would make "no concessions" on Tibet's sovereignty.

Emissaries for the exiled Dalai Lama and China showed little public sign of compromise as they prepared on Wednesday for their first talks in more than a year on restive Chinese-ruled Tibet.

Padma Choling, who served 17 years in the People's Liberation Army, took over the largely ceremonial post on Friday, making him the most senior ethnic Tibetan in the regional government.

China has sentenced a senior Tibetan religious leader, known as a "Living Buddha", to eight-and-a-half years in jail for illegally occupying government land and possession of weapons, a news report said on Thursday.

President Barack Obama sought a political balance Monday on his first trip to China, seeking help on urgent global problems while weighing if and when to raise concerns over human rights.

The conviction was clear but the message befuddling China's Foreign Ministry spokesman was equating serfdom in Tibet to slavery in the US, just ahead of President Barack Obama's first trip to China.

Sticking to its opposition to any meeting between the Dalai Lama and Barack Obama, China on Thursday sought to draw a parallel between the alleged "serf system" in Tibet and slavery in America, saying the "black" US president should understand its stance on the Tibetan leader.

China on Wednesday expressed its firm opposition to foreign leaders' contact with the Dalai Lama, days after a key aide to Barack Obama said the US President would be ready to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader "at an appropriate time."

Unleashing a fresh attack on Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, China on Tuesday accused him of trying to "damage" Sino-India ties and called his forthcoming visit to Arunachal Pradesh a "separatist" action.

The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, said on Saturday that China was overpoliticising his travels and claimed his decisions on where to go were spiritual in nature, not political.

The Dalai Lama, a celibate monk whose position has always been held by men, said he could be considered a feminist and called for women to take a greater role in world affairs.

US President Barack Obama was facing criticism he succumbed to Chinese pressure as the Dalai Lama opened his first visit to Washington in nearly two decades without a presidential meeting.

China has banned foreigners from Tibet until after massive celebrations in Beijing marking the 60th birthday of communist China, a government tourism office and travel agents said Tuesday.

President Ma Ying-jeou, who met the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader during each of his two previous trips to the island, has no meeting scheduled this time around, his spokesman said.

Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has accepted an opposition invitation to visit Taiwan next week pending approval by the China-friendly government, officials said on Wednesday.

The Dalai Lama said Chinese rule was a "death sentence" for Tibetan heritage but stressed the future looked brighter for his people as China itself modernises.

In the harshest sentences yet, a Chinese court on Wednesday sentenced to death four Tibetans and another to life-term for igniting deadly fires in the worst anti-government riots in Lhasa since 1989.

China has reopened Tibet to foreign tourists, state media said on Sunday, almost two months after imposing a ban ahead of politically sensitive anniversaries.

Chinese authorities on Saturday launched a new national holiday, "Serfs' Liberation Day," to mark the 50th anniversary of a failed Tibet uprising that forced the Dalai Lama into exile.

The South African government has admitted it decided to bar the Dalai Lama from attending a peace conference with Nobel peace laureates to avoid undermining relations with China.

France is to send high-level political and business delegations to China in a bid to mend relations strained by a row over Tibet, Chinese state media reported on Thursday.