Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama arrived in the Indian border town of Tawang, where he first crossed into exile 50 years ago. The visit has raised tensions with China.

Supporters of the Dalai Lama lined the streets of Tawang, in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, with white scarves and flowers as offerings in their hands. They burned incense sticks and some chanted prayers.

The 74-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner began his visit today in the mountainous region of northeastern India, to spend a week in Tawang, home to a large Buddhist monastery of the Dalai Lama’s Gelugpa sect, “to teach,” aide Tenzin Takhla said in a Nov. 3 interview. The same day, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said the stay was a “separatist action” aimed at damaging relations between China and India.

“For the people, it is an historic visit as he is coming after a long gap -- it is the religion that unites these people,” Sudhir Singh, head of the Department of History at Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh, said today. “The Tibet issue is bound to remain as India has allowed Tibetans to set up a government-in-exile in northern Dharamshala town and China is against that.”

Tawang sought help from neighboring districts to step up security for the visit, S. Norbu, an inspector of police, said in an interview yesterday.

“The total number of police in the district is about 105 and we have sought about 300 more officials from neighboring districts,” he said.

This includes 100 personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force, which normally combats militancy in states such as Jammu & Kashmir, he said.

No Threat

“There is no security threat to the Dalai Lama,” said Dorjee Khandu, chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh.

Streets have been cleaned and buildings repainted as Tawang’s 35,000 people prepared for the trip. The Tibetan spiritual leader’s first visit in six years has thrust a remote Himalayan district into the middle of a political tussle between the world’s most-populous nations that fought a border war over the region in 1962.

“It does not matter what China says and Dalai Lama’s program will go on uninterrupted,” Guru Rinpoche, head of the Tawang Monastery said. “The Dalai Lama will put in special teachings and find extra time here to spend.”

The monastery, earlier known as the Gaden Namgyal Monastery, was established in 1681 and is one of the oldest monasteries in India.

China, India

“He should come more often and must not bother about the objections China is making,” said Tashi Lhendup, a 20-year-old student in Tawang. “The whole town will line up to have a glance of him.”

China in September first denounced the Dalai Lama’s trip to Tawang, once ruled by Tibet and claimed by the government in Beijing, where he will open a hospital wing built using funds he donated. China later angered Indians with a protest over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh to campaign for his Congress Party in state elections.

“During the last two months there has been this hue and cry in India that the country is not standing up to the Chinese,” Alka Acharya, associate professor in Chinese Studies at New Delhi’s Centre for East Asian Studies, said in an interview from Itanagar, Arunachal’s capital. Not allowing the Dalai Lama to travel would have been seen as a “capitulation.”

Indian newspapers and TV networks reporting Chinese troop incursions across the two countries’ 3,550-kilometer (2,220- mile) border, later denied by both governments, in September set the tone for the last two months of tit-for-tat protests.

‘Honored Guest’

Singh responded by calling the Dalai Lama an “honored guest” who is not allowed to participate in political activity. China views the Tibetan spiritual leader as having an agenda to divide the country, charges he denies. India on Oct. 14 shot back again, raising its concern over Chinese “activities” in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Talks between top officials last week ended with vow to build “trust.”

Parts of Arunachal Pradesh, including the Tawang region, are claimed by China as differences over the two nations’ frontier fester even after a dozen rounds of talks since 2005.

While bilateral trade has flourished -- India’s exports to China rose 31 percent to $10.8 billion in the year to March, 2008, and imports from China climbed 55.4 percent to $27.2 billion -- the Indian media reports reflect a lingering distrust of the country’s northern neighbor.

‘Irrational Fear’

Indian Express columnist Shekhar Gupta wrote in September that Indians must “start a process now of ridding ourselves of this irrational and uncalled-for fear of China” as it hopes to make up lost ground. China’s $4.3 trillion economy is nearly four times the size of India’s, racing ahead from being just over twice as large a decade ago.

For China, the future of the Tibetan leadership is an extremely sensitive subject, said Bahukutumbi Raman, an analyst at India’s Chennai Center for China Studies.

Continued Tibetan resistance to Chinese rule makes the Communist government “determined to impose a successor” to the Dalai Lama, he said in September.

Tawang was the 17th-century birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama and China may suspect that Tibetan dissidents will identify a child from the area as their next leader after the current Dalai Lama dies, Raman said.

India gave refuge to the Dalai Lama and 80,000 of his followers when they fled Tibet across the Himalayas after a failed uprising in 1959. He set up a government-in-exile in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala in 1960.

“If my visit creates problems, I’m very sad, that’s all,” the Tibetan leader told reporters in Tokyo on Oct. 31, speaking of his planned visit.

Asked in the Japanese capital whether his successor may be found in Tawang, he restated that he will play no role in such efforts.

----With assistance from James Rupert and Kartik Goyal in New Delhi, Debarati Roy in Mumbai, and Stuart Biggs in Tokyo. Editors: Jim McDonald, Sean Collins

To contact the reporter on this story: Jay Shankar in Bangalore at jshankar1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 8, 2009 02:56 EST