TAIPEI, Taiwan, Jan 13 (AP) -- The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, has accepted an invitation to make his first trip to Taiwan, despite a warning from China.

The Chinese Buddhism Association, which made the invitation, said today that the Dalai Lama will limit his activities to visiting temples during his visit, tentatively scheduled for March.

Last week, China warned Taiwan against extending the invitation, repeating its claim that the Dalai Lama uses religion to cloak his goal of splitting Tibet from China.

China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has ruled Tibet with a heavy military presence since a 1950 invasion.

Beijing frequently lambastes both the Dalai Lama and Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui as secessionists.

Master Ching Hsin, head of the Buddhist association, told reporters that the Dalai Lama will avoid any contacts with government officials in Taiwan.

Taiwan is home to the Nationalist government that fled China in 1949 after losing a civil war to the Communists. The Nationalists also continue to claim sovereignty over Tibet and Mongolia.

A spokesman for the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile in Dharamsala, northern India, confirmed that the Dalai Lama plans to make the trip.

"We have agreed in principle to visit Taiwan, but details are being worked out," Tenpa Tsering said.

In addition to the Buddhism association, the spokesman said, "his holiness has received invitation from 80 monasteries in Taiwan to visit."

The Dalai Lama, considered a living Buddhist deity by his followers, fled to India after an abortive Tibetan uprising against the Chinese in 1959. Since then he and an estimated 130,000 Tibetans have lived in exile, mostly in India, Nepal and Bhutan.