REYKJAVIK - ICELANDIC pop singer Bjork was rapped by China's embassy in Reykjavik on Thursday for apparently dedicating a song to the cause of Tibetan independence during a concert in Shanghai.

A video on Internet site Youtube shows Bjork performing in China's largest city last week and finishing the song 'Declare Independence' with a chant of 'Tibet, Tibet.' 'What Ms Bjork has done in Shanghai has aroused strong resentment among the general public in China,' the embassy said in a statement.

Bjork's support of the cause of Tibetan independence is not new - she performed at a Free Tibet concert in San Francisco in 1996.

The song 'Declare Independence", however, was originally written for Greenland and the Faroe Islands both of which belong to Denmark.

'China is a unified country with many ethnic groups, and Tibet has always been an inalienable part of China ever since ancient times,' the embassy statement said.

'This is a common position of the international community, including the republic of Iceland, and not a single country in the world recognises Tibet as a 'independent country'.'

'Any attempt to separate Tibet from China will definitely be opposed by Chinese people as well as those with a sense of justice in the world.' China sent troops into Tibet in 1950 and officially 'liberated' it a year later.

The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, later fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising and established a government-in-exile in Dharamsala. He has been at odds with the atheist communist government in Beijing ever since.

He now calls for 'greater autonomy' from China rather than fully-fledged independence.

China has complained after recent meetings between the Dalai Lama and President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. -- AFP