BONN, May 4 (Reuter) - Klaus Kinkel on Thursday became the first German foreign minister to receive Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and the meeting brought a swift diplomatic riposte from China.

Beijing views the Dalai Lama as the leader of a separatist movement and had already issued a protest ahead of the meeting. On Thursday Ye Quing, deputy chairman of China's Planning Commission, cancelled a meeting with Kinkel at the last moment.

The Dalai Lama, who campaigns from exile for more autonomy for his people, said he hoped to enlist Bonn's support in getting China to start a dialogue with him on Tibet.

Kinkel replied that Bonn would continue to ask China for "respect for human rights and the granting of religious and cultural autonomy" for Tibet, his ministry said in a statement.

Bonn felt China should start discussions with Tibet aiming for "an autonomy in which Tibet can combine its status as part of the Chinese state with ethnic, cultural and religious independence", Kinkel said.

But he also said that Germany set great store by good relations with China.

Kinkel shook hands with the Dalai Lama in front of photographers but declined to let the Nobel Peace Prize winner lay a traditional white silk shawl, which he offers to all those who receive him, around his shoulders.

A ministry spokesman said it was Kinkel's practice never to put on gifts or tokens offered in this way.

Despite cancelling his meeting with Kinkel, Ye later attended talks on transport infrastructure with Chancellery Minister Friedrich Bohl, who had also met the Dalai Lama.

Foreign ministry officials signalled relief that China's protest had not gone beyond the routine expressions of displeasure which it issues in such cases.

Last year the Dalai Lama met several senior German politicians, including parliamentary speaker Rita Suessmuth, but the government avoided all official contact with him just weeks before a high-profile visit by Chinese premier Li Peng.

On Thursday he repeated his oft-stated criticism of Tibet's Chinese rulers. He accused them of "cultural genocide", especially with a policy of bringing settlers from other areas which has made the Tibetans a minority in their own land.

He told reporters the most serious aspects of the current situation in Tibet were "human rights violations, the exploitation of the environment and the voluntary or involuntarydestruction of Tibet's culture".