BEIJING: A state news agency says China "resolutely opposes" a decision by Taiwan's president to allow the Dalai Lama to visit the self-governed island.

The Xinhua News Agency reports that a spokesman for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office says a visit by the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, "in whatever form and capacity," would be condemned by China.

The spokesman, who was not named in the report Thursday, said the invitation was "an attempt to sabotage the hard-earned good situation in cross-Strait relations."

Officials from a Taiwanese opposition party extended the invitation to the Dalai Lama to visit typhoon victims.

Earlier this month, Typhoon Morakot, the worst to hit the island in 50 years, killed at least 670 people.