China on Thursday voiced strong dissatisfaction over Italian Chamber of Deputies speaker Gianfranco Fini's meeting with the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama attended the fifth World Parliamentarians Convention on Tibet in Rome and met with Fini while visiting Italy's parliament in Rome on Wednesday.

In response to a question on the Dalai Lama's activities in Rome, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China was firmly opposed to the Dalai Lama's separatist activities in the international community and any foreign dignitary's contacts with him in any form.

"We demand the Italian side respect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and do more that is conducive to bilateral relations," Qin said in a news release.

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2009)