Posted on 03/18/2008 2:11:22 AM PDT by AmericanInTokyo
China says Tibet rioters trying to wreck Olympics By Chris Buckley and Lindsay Beck
BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao accused the Dalai Lama of orchestrating riots in Tibet in which dozens may have died and said his followers were trying to "incite sabotage" of Beijing's August Olympic Games.
And a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman went as far as saying the Dalai Lama should face trial.
Premier Wen defended the crackdown on Lhasa, capital of the predominantly Buddhist Himalayan region, after last week's protests, and on neighboring Chinese provinces where copycat rioting by Tibetans erupted over the weekend.
"There is ample fact and plenty of evidence proving this incident was organized, premeditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique," Wen told a news conference.
"This has all the more revealed the consistent claims by the Dalai clique that they pursue not independence but peaceful dialogue are nothing but lies."
The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism who fled into exile in India in 1959, has denied the accusation.
The Nobel peace laureate says he wants autonomy for Tibet within China but not outright independence.
Monk-led anti-China protests in Lhasa, the biggest in almost two decades, turned ugly on Friday, weighing uncomfortably on the Communist leadership anxious to polish its image in the build-up to the Olympic Games.
Wen said the protesters "wanted to incite the sabotage of the Olympic Games in order to achieve their unspeakable goal."
Tenzin Taklha, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama, said in Dharamsala, in India, that the rioting started with one or two incidents. "Because of technology, because of word of mouth, word quickly spread," he said. "This was very spontaneous."
The Dalai Lama had called for an investigation into a Chinese crackdown and whether it was deliberate "cultural genocide."
Asked to comment, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said: "In fact, what the international community should concern itself with and should ask about is precisely what role and function he played in this serious incident of criminal violence involving fighting, smashing, looting and arson.
"The one who should be tried and investigated is the Dalai Lama himself," Qin said.
Asked to clarify, the spokesman added: "I feel at least he should be put under moral trial."
"NO CALLS FOR BOYCOTT
Western nations have called on Beijing to exercise restraint, but International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge told Reuters in Trinidad on Monday that there had been "absolutely no calls" from governments for a Beijing Games boycott.
In Taiwan, which China considers its own, presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou of the opposition Nationalists, who have traditionally favored better ties with China, said on Tuesday he would consider an Olympic boycott if elected on Saturday.
"If the Chinese Communists continue to suppress the Tibetan people and the situation in Tibet continues to worsen and if I am elected president, I would not rule out not sending a team to the 2008 Beijing Olympics," Ma told reporters.
Foreign policy analyst Tony Kevin at the Australian National University said the muted international reaction to the crackdown was expected, given China's economic and strategic importance.
"China ... is subjected to different standards of human rights than less important countries," he told Reuters.
Exiled representatives of Tibet in Dharamsala put the death toll from last Friday's protests at 80.
But Chinese authorities said security forces exercised restraint in response to the Lhasa burning and looting, using only non-lethal weapons, and only 13 "innocent civilians" died.
"Local government and relevant departments in Tibet have exercised massive restraint according to the constitution and laws, quickly quelled this incident, and protected the rights of Lhasa residents and of people of all ethnic groups in Tibet," Wen said.
There was no word from Lhasa of any action taken after the passing of a Monday midnight deadline for people involved in the rioting to surrender.
Foreign journalists are not allowed to travel to Tibet without permission but Wen said China would consider organizing a trip.
(Additional reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim
That's all I have to add.
You have been duly pinged, sirs!
BTTT
I suppose it is too bad for Chinese that they could not put down uprising by rounding up a few screaming protesters.
Lesson number one from Chinese. Quantity matters: vastly superior number of bodies in human wave can even overwhelm machine gun barrages.
So what is the problem with Tibetans applying this lesson on a modest scale?
Lastly, Mr. Wen, you were right beside Zhao Ziyang, when Zhao was trying to avert bloody crackdown during TAM uprisings. Zhao was purged, and you survived, now becoming a kinder gentler figurehead of oppressive regime, and joining the gang in Poliburo, denouncing oppressed people looking for their freedom. Life must be real good to sell out like that. I can understand one may have to make a compromise to survive, but this is over the top.
Dalai Lama offers to resign if Tibet situation worsens
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080318091540.gvo5fvqt&show_article=1&catnum=0
The Dalai Lama said Tuesday he would resign as Tibet’s spiritual leader if the unrest in his homeland worsened, and rejected Chinese allegations he was behind the violence.
“If things are getting out of control, then the option is to completely resign... resignation is the only option,” he told reporters, adding that he had made the same pledge to step down during previous outbreaks of violence.
“This movement is beyond our control,” he said.
The Dalai Lama said he was not in a position to tell Tibetans living under Chinese rule to “do this or do not do that.”
He also said Chinese officials were welcome to visit him and investigate their charges that his India-based exile movement was behind the anti-Chinese unrest that erupted in Tibet last week.
“Come here, please investigate the facts. The Chinese can come look at everything,” the 72-year-old said.
> TIBET RIOTERS TRYING TO WRECK OLYMPICS
Good. More power to them! Who needs the blimmin’ Olympics anyrate? A thoroughly discredited competition chock full of cheats and druggies, a complete and utter waste of money.
The Olympics are already wrecked. They’re being held in Beijing.
I’d rather waste time than watch the olympics.
This sentence sounds like Olympics are taken hostage in Beijing. Actually, you can say that is the case.
I agree to a point, there are Olympic sports I enjoy and require no drug use.
I am actually glad for the Tibetans, their sovereign nation is occupied by an aggressive imperialist power. It is right for them to resist.
Yup. If I were an athlete, I wouldn’t compete in that filth they call air.
China is going to get a big black eye if they suppress Tibet like they did Tianenmin square. On the other hand, they will get a huge boost if they simply let it go, grant independence and establish friendly relations with it.
which do you think they’ll do? be a stinker or show some class?
Great cartoon!
Where are all those old Volvos with “Free Tibet”?
Too bad for Saddam that he didn't make so much stuff and help offshore the US manufacturing base. Not that any of our elite, or their kids, have anything to do with manufacturing.
The entire leadership of the PRC should face trial for murder and genocide in the Hague. Too bad the Hague is as big a sham as the Chinese government.
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