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China has warned India of damage to diplomatic ties for allowing Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to visit a part of India claimed by Beijing.
Tibetan exiles said Beijing was using similar tactics to its territorial claims in the South China Sea, but so long as India provided refuge, the Dalai Lama would keep campaigning for Tibetan autonomy.
Villagers in Tawang, a Buddhist centre in the far north-eastern corner of India, were busy stringing bright new prayer flags in anticipation of the Dalai Lama's arrival.
Local monk Lobsang Gyatso said the Dalai Lama would be warmly welcomed.
"His Holiness's visit is purely religious," he said. "Nobody has any right to say that his Holiness could not come here."
Historical sensitivity
China though, sees things differently.
Tawang is in Arunachal Pradesh, a sensitive border region controlled by India but claimed by China as "southern Tibet".
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang earlier issued India a blunt warning.
"I urge India again ... not to take measures that could further complicate the border issues or provide a stage to the 14th Dalai clique for anti-China separatist activities," he said.
China was especially riled at India, because Tawang holds historical significance for the Tibetan spiritual leader, who Beijing describes as a "dangerous separatist".
Exiled Tibetan politician Tubten Wangchen said the village was home to one of his predecessors.
"The sixth Dalai Lama, he was born there, so there is a long history link between the Dalai Lama and Arunachal Pradesh," he said.
That was not lost on Beijing, which insists the next Dalai Lama should come from inside Tibet — with Chinese approval.
Jayadeva Ranade is the president of the Delhi-based Centre for China Analysis and Strategy and said choosing a Dalai Lama was not something China could control.
"If there is another Dalai Lama reincarnated outside China, where they have no control, even if they go ahead and announce one of their own, the Tibetan people will not accept him," he said.
"They will be confronted with this situation where there are two Dalai Lamas, which of course is something which is quite worrying for them" he said.
Mr Ranade also said it was significant India's Prime Minister had refused to bow to Chinese pressure and cancel the visit.
"We have a Government which is holding firm and in fact pushing back," he said. "There is no tentativeness now in the policy."
Exiles watch on
Above Dharamsala in India's Himalayan foothills, China's irate response was being closely monitored.
Tibet's government in exile, the Dalai Lama, and former political prisoners all take refuge there, dependent on India's continued goodwill.
"We would be in critical situation without Indian support," said Venerable Bogdaro, a monk and former political prisoner, who has alleged he was tortured during several years in Chinese custody.
Mr Bogdaro said the Tibetan exiles' ability to maintain their fight for autonomy from China depended on the Dalai Lama — their global figurehead — being free to travel and speak out.
"From the 7th century until today, the 14th Dalai Lama is the most famous," he said.
"For six million Tibetans, the Dalai Lama has been the someone who we look up to."
Now 81, the Dalai Lama has himself fuelled speculation on whether he would have a successor at all.
That was widely seen as a move designed to discredit any Chinese choice.
Topics: religion-and-beliefs, religious-leaders, world-politics, india, china
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