BEIJING, Aug 25 (AFP) - Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Tang Guoqiang on Monday condemned recent comments on Tibet by US Congressman Frank Wolf as "wanton slander."

Wolf "has wantonly slandered China, disregarding the enormous progress that has been made in Tibet in various fields," he said, as quoted by the official Xinhua news agency.

"This is something lamentable and will fall through," he said.

Wolf last week accused China of gradually "swallowing" Tibet after returning from a trip to the Himalayan region he made disguised as a tourist.

"The clock is ticking for Tibet. If nothing is done, a country, its people, religion and culture will continue to grow fainter and could one day disappear," the House representative said on Wednesday.

But Tang dismissed Wolf's observations, saying he had viewed Tibet through "coloured glasses."

"Tibetan culture is developing in an all-round way and does not in any way face extinction," the spokesman said, adding that international scholars of Tibetan studies including ones from the United States confirmed the view during a seminar held here last week.

"The Chinese Government's policy is to protect and develop the culture and traditions of minority people," Tang said.

The spokesman said China had devoted resources to protecting Tibetan culture and promoting education in the indigenous language.

He said Tibet was much better off under Chinese rule than in the past, when more than 90 percent of the population were serfs.

"It was only after the Democratic Reform and the abolishment of serfdom there that the Tibetan people truly gained their freedom," he said.

Tibetans in exile and Western critics have charged China with implementing repressive policies that amount to cultural genocide in the Himalayan region.

Chinese troops took control of Tibet in 1951. The country's spiritual and temporal leader, the Dalai Lama, fled the country eight years later after a failed anti-Chinese uprising.

He has since headed a Tibetan government-in-exile in India and waged a peaceful international campaign for Tibetan self-determination. Beijing routinely denounces him as a top enemy of the nation.