China on Wednesday warned Taiwan's new government against allowing exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to visit, after a high-profile Taiwanese legislator invited him to the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own.

China regards the 80-year-old monk as a separatist. Taiwan's former President Ma Ying-jeou, who favored closer economic ties with China, refused the Dalai Lama entry several times since his last visit to Taiwan in 2009.

On that occasion Ma did allow him in, but did not meet him.