China's top political adviser on ethnic and religious affairs has said he believes the Dalai Lama's recent speech in Geneva was born out of "major frustration" over "increasingly unpopular 'Tibetan Independence' activities".

Beijing lodged a strong protest after the Dalai Lama joined other Nobel laureates on Friday at a human rights conference in Switzerland co-sponsored by the United States and Canadian missions.

Zhu Weiqun, head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, suggested US support for the event could "deal a new blow to efforts to improve China-US relations".