(BEIJING) - China on Thursday warned Europe not to send the "wrong signals" to Dalai Lama supporters as European foreign ministers prepared for a meeting during which they will discuss the Tibetan unrest.

"I hope people will not adopt double standards and will not send any erroneous message to the Dalai clique," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said when asked about the European ministers' stated plan to discuss Tibet.

The "Dalai clique" is China's phrase for what it says is a separatist force headed by the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader and which it blames for recent unrest in Tibet and adjacent regions.

It has provided no evidence for the accusations and the Dalai Lama denies such charges.

"We will say something," on Tibet, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel told reporters Wednesday ahead of the two-day EU foreign ministers' meeting.

The meeting starts in Slovenia on Friday.

"I believe a draft is being prepared by those that have proposed that discussion," he added, without mentioning whether the foreign ministers would mull the pros and cons of any possible Olympics boycott.

Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Didier Reynders, in an interview with a Belgian newspaper published Wednesday, did not rule out a boycott if the situation in Tibet worsened.

Qin reiterated China's position that rioting in Tibet's capital, Lhasa, and elsewhere was an outburst by "criminals" rather than an expression of popular anger at Chinese control of the Himalayan region.

"The Tibet issue is totally an internal affair of China and we do not accept any foreign interference," Qin said.

"I hope that the European Union will distinguish right from wrong and condemn the criminals."

Protests erupted into widespread rioting in Lhasa on March 14, and spread to neighbouring Chinese provinces populated by Tibetans.

China says rioters killed 18 innocent civilians and two police officers, while exiled Tibetan leaders have put the death toll from the Chinese crackdown at between 135 and 140, with another 1,000 people injured and many detained.

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