BEIJING, Tuesday, April 22, 1997 (AP) -- Signaling its desire to preserve improved ties with Washington, China reacted mildly today to a visit to the United States by the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Cui Tiankai said China opposed the trip. Nevertheless, he announced that Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen would visit the United States next week.

Qian's visit also comes despite Washington's support for a failed effort to censure China last week at the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

China reacted swiftly against smaller countries that backed the U.N. effort. It canceled the visit of a minister from Denmark, which sponsored the censure effort, and a four-country European tour by Vice Premier Zhu Rongji.

Beijing's decision to go ahead with Qian's visit Monday and Tuesday highlights the importance it places on ties with Washington. Chinese President Jiang Zemin is expected to pay his first state visit to Washington later this year, capping an improvement in ties since a bitter dispute over Taiwan in 1995.

At a twice-weekly briefing, Cui said Qian would meet President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

The Dalai Lama, viewed by China as a dangerous independence activist, is visiting Washington this week to gather support for his campaign to win autonomy for his Tibetan homeland.

China's communist army, trying to revive the control emperors held off and on for 700 years, entered Tibet in 1950. The Dalai Lama fled nine years later when an uprising against Chinese rule collapsed.

White House officials have been coy about whether the Dalai Lama will meet top administration officials.

Washington will be ``conniving with and supporting the Dalai Lama's activities to split the motherland'' if it allows him to visit or meet American leaders, Cui said.

``It will be interfering in China's affairs and we resolutely oppose this,'' Cui said. But he stopped short of demanding that the visit be stopped, saying instead that it should be ``carefully handled.''

``We feel that some of the present improvements in China-U.S. relations have not come easily,'' Cui said. ``The two sides should treasure this situation.''