NEW YORK, Oct 31 (Reuters) - China denounced Washington's appointment on Friday of a special coordinator for Tibet affairs as an ``unacceptable'' intervention in Chinese internal affairs.

``The U.S. move is unacceptable,'' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofeng told reporters in New York when asked to comment on the naming of the Tibet coordinator.

``Tibet is an inseparable part of China and is China's internal affair. No country should interfere in Chinese internal affairs,'' he said.

The State Department, acting on a promise to Congress and ignoring Chinese objections, on Friday named a special coordinator for Tibet affairs with a mandate to promote dialogue between the Beijing government and the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet's Buddhists.

It made the announcement while Chinese President Jiang Zemin was in New York as part of a nine-day U.S. tour, which has been punctuated by street demonstrations against China's role in Tibet.

Shen said the Himalayan region had made much progress since the Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against communist rule. The communists had spent heavily to refurbish the Potala palace, the famed fortress in the Tibetan city of Lhasa, he said.

The Tibet coordinator, director of policy planning Gregory Craig, also has a mandate to help preserve Tibet's distinct culture, a State Department spokesman said.

Jiang, who held a two-day summit with President Bill Clinton this week, was due to travel to Boston on Saturday and speak at Harvard University, where he faced more protests over China's role in Tibet.