Pop singer Bjork has spoken out after she was condemned by Chinese fans for raising Tibet during a Shanghai concert.

The Icelandic musician repeated three times “Tibet! Tibet!” as she finished her song Declare Independence during the last show of her Asian tour this week.

In a garbled, typo-ridden statement, the eccentric singer today defended her actions:

“i would like to put importance on that i am not a politician, i am first and last a musician and as such i feel my duty to try to express the whole range of human emotions.”

“the urge for declaring independence is just one of them but an important one that we all feel at some times in our lives. this song was written more with the personal in mind but the fact that it has translated to its broadest meaning, the struggle of a suppressed nation, gives me much pleasure. i would like to wish all individuals and nations good luck in their battle for independence.”

She signed the statement off with: “justice!”

Bjork’s stand against the 57-year-long Chinese occupation of Tibet angered fans at the Shanghai concert, who said she had no place criticising the country while she was a guest in it.

After video footage of the concert was put on YouTube, angry comments were posted.

“So Bjork comes to China to earn Chinese people's money and then insult their hospitality? Fabulous,” posted one viewer.

Another wrote: “If you and your expat friends come to work in China and make Chinese people's money and still want to separate a piece of our country, then get the f*** out of China!”

But advocates of an independent Tibet have thrown their weight behind Bjork, congratulating her for taking a stand.

The acting director of the UK-based Free Tibet Campaign, Anne Holmes, said:

"We are delighted with Bjork's refusal to be silenced on China's oppression of the Tibetan people. She's shown more courage than politicians like Gordon Brown and David Miliband, whose public silence on these issues during recent trips to China is a source of shame for the British people.”

"Bravo, Bjork for showing that public figures can and should use their presence in China to speak out against China's appalling human rights record in Tibet and throughout China."

Bjork has previously said Declare Independence was written with Danish territories Faroe Islands and Greenland in mind, and last month she dedicated the song to Kosovo while performing in Japan.

Despite the singer’s political stands, it is her short temper that frequently propels her into the headlines.

In January, she grabbed a New Zealand photographer, tearing his shirt in half, after he took her picture as she arrived at Auckland Airport

In 1996, she attacked a reporter at Bangkok airport after the woman uttered “Welcome to Bangkok”.

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