Thousands gathered to listen to the Dalai Lama in Mexico City on Sunday, after China complained over Mexican President Felipe Calderon's meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

"We're all equal, we all want to have a happy life, and we all have rights to be happy," the Dalai Lama told a crowd of some 35,000 people, some carrying banners reading "Mexico loves Tibet."

The speech, made during the spiritual leader's third visit to Mexico, was entitled "Finding Happiness in Difficult Times."

Beijing voiced anger Saturday after Calderon met with the Dalai Lama the previous day.

In line with normal practice, the foreign ministry and the Chinese ambassador to Mexico made a formal complaint over the meeting.

During the private talks, however, the Mexican leader reiterated his country's recognition of China's full sovereignty over Tibet.

Beijing regards Tibet as an "inseparable" part of China and the Dalai Lama -- who lives in exile in India -- as a "splittist" bent on dividing the country. It regularly protests his meetings overseas.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner fled Tibet following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. He later founded Tibet's government in exile in Dharamshala, northern India, but gave up his political leadership role in May.

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