PARIS, April 15 (AFP) - The Dalai Lama is due to arrive in France on Wednesday for a pastoral visit including meetings with French Buddhists but no meetings with politicians, organizers said.

Even before he arrived Beijing warned France and other western governments that they should keep pledges to have no official contacts with the Tibetan spiritual leader.

"We hope that .. western countries will respect their commitments on the issue of Tibet," foreign ministry spokesman Shen Guofang said. "The question of Tibet should not be allowed to damage relations between China and these countries," Shen said.

The Tibetan leader, who is also visiting Spain and the United States in a three-week swing, will specifically visit a Buddhist monastery in the Savoie region of eastern France.

The Dalai Lama, who in March paid a landmark six-day trip to Taiwan which angered China, arrived at the weekend in Spain for stays in Barcelona and the Basque region in the northeast of the country.

The 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner travels regularly to urge the international community to support his call for talks with Beijing on Tibetan autonomy.

The French trip will begin in Caen, northwestern France, followed by Nancy and the Cote d'Or region in eastern France. He will then travel to the United States for several days, before returning to France.

From April 26-29 thousands of Buddhists are expected to attend teachings by the Dalai Lama in the Buddhist community of Karma Ling d'Arvillard, near La Rochette in eastern France.

While the Tibetan leader will give a number of press conferences and addresses, no meetings with French politicians are scheduled, according to his published itinerary.

During his last trip to France in October 1996, the Dalai Lama met a number of key politicians although not with President Jacques Chirac or Prime Minister Alain Juppe.

At the time 329 French MPs signed a petition calling on China to begin talks on the status of Tibet, which they described as an "occupied territory."

In the United States from April 22-24, the Dalai Lama will inaugurate the Third World Parliamentarians Conference on Tibet in Washington, the trip organizers said.

The conference has been organised jointly by the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, located in the Indian hill town of Dharamsala, and the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet.

The Dalai Lama has been living in exile in India since fleeing his homeland in 1959. India is home to an stimated 100,000 Tibetan exiles, most of whom escaped Tibet with him after an abortive anti-China uprising.

The Tibetan leader heads a government-in-exile in Dharamsala. It is not recognised by any country.

In Barcelona on Sunday, the Dalai Lama said he would be willing to renounce in the short-term the cause of Tibetan independence, if Beijing could guarantee the establishment of an autonomous Tibetan government.

However, Shen poured scorn on his remarks.

"We know that the Dalai Lama often says during his trips oversaeas that his obejective is not Tibetan independence, but he has never made such a statement through the communications channels open with us," Shen said.

"He does this only to fool international opinion," Shen said, adding that the Dalai Lama should be regarded as a political exile rather than a religious figure.