By Krittivas Mukherjee

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama, branded by China as a separatist, on Sunday begins a week-long visit to a remote Indian province also claimed by Beijing as the two countries struggle to settle a border dispute.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader has defended the visit to Arunachal Pradesh as a mere lecture tour, but it has already drawn heavy criticism from Beijing, coming just two months after he visited self-ruled Taiwan, an island China also claims as its own.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet to India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule. Beijing calls him a dangerous "splittist" encouraging Tibetan independence, a charge he denies. He says he is merely seeking autonomy for Tibet.

The visit to Arunachal Pradesh comes at a time when the Asian giants, which fought a brief but bloody border war in 1962, are trying to scale down tension over troop mobilisation along their disputed border. Booming trade has eased relations, but mistrust remains.

"The Dalai Lama's visit is a tacit acknowledgement that Tawang is a part of India," said Srikanth Kondapalli, head of East Asian studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Tawang, in Arunachal Pradesh, the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama and part of territory that Beijing considers as "southern" Tibet, is the centre of the border row.

"He is testing China because they have adopted a hardline stand on Tibet and their talks are going nowhere," said Bhaskar Roy, a New Delhi-based Chinese expert. "He is saying he will keep turning the screw whenever possible to keep Tibet alive."

The last round of talks between China and envoys of the Dalai Lama failed last November when Chinese officials rejected their calls for "high-level autonomy" for Tibet, which makes up nearly a quarter of China's land mass.

In a sign China, traditional ally of India's rival, Pakistan, is seeking to reduce tension, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu accused the Dalai Lama of seeking to undermine Beijing's relationship with India without blaming New Delhi for letting the trip go ahead.

"The Dalai Lama often lies and often engages in acts to sabotage China's relations with other countries," Ma told a regular news briefing on Tuesday.

"I am confident that his scheme to wreck China's relations with the relevant country will come to nothing."

New Delhi says the Dalai Lama is free to travel anywhere in India but cannot talk politics or about the India-China border.

China lays claim to 90,000 sq km of land on the eastern sector of the border. India says China occupies 38,000 square km (15,000 square miles) of territory in Aksai Chin plateau.

Mutual trade is expected to pass $60 billion next year, a 30-fold increase since 2000, despite political differences.

"History shows great trade relations are not necessarily a guarantee against confrontation," said P. Stobdan, senior fellow at New Delhi's Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses.

(Editing by Nick Macfie)