In response to the 14th Dalai Lama's European tour, Zhang Yijiong, an executive vice minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, urged nations and governments to speak and act with caution, take relations with China into consideration, and respect China's sovereignty. Zhang has called the Dalai Lama a "political figure under the cloak of religion" who has been working on separating Tibet from its motherland for decades. Zhang was speaking during a CPC National Congress press conference on Saturday.