China has expressed anger after election posters depicting the Tibetan flag were placed outside its embassy in Denmark.
Several posters featuring a local election candidate next to Tibet’s flag were put up around the embassy building in Copenhagen.
They were placed by candidate Thomas Rohden before being removed from the suburb of Hellerup.
China has ruled Tibet since the People’s Liberation Army took control in 1951, with the remote region’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama being forced into exile.
On Wednesday, the Chinese embassy in Denmark condemned the posters, which they say were hung up “under the guise of elections”.
“We express our strong indignation at this deliberately provocative behaviour,” a statement read.
“We never interfere in other countries’ elections, but we firmly oppose any attempt to interfere in China’s internal affairs and to undermine its sovereignty and territorial integrity under the pretext of an election campaign or so-called ‘freedom of speech’.”
“Tibet is an inalienable part of China’s sacred territory and any attempt to separate Tibet from China is doomed to fail,” the embassy added.
Danish police confirmed in a statement on Monday that several election posters had been stolen on the embassy’s street and added that they were investigating the “theft”.
Rohden — a known critic of Beijing — said on Twitter that he had replaced the posters outside the Chinese embassy on Tuesday.
The candidate said the move was in protest against Denmark’s 2012 health partnership with the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu.
Human rights activists have accused China of practising torture, forced sterilisation, and cultural erosion in Tibet, which Beijing has denied.
