China says Dalai Lama trying to ruin Olympics

[Every Breaking Wave]

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BEIJING - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao accused supporters of the Dalai Lama on Tuesday of orchestrating violent clashes to taint the Beijing Olympics, saying the Nobel laureate's backers were provoking violence to promote Tibetan independence.

The Dalai Lama, meanwhile, urged his followers to remain peaceful, saying he would resign as head of Tibet's government-in-exile if the situation spins out of control.

But he also suggested the Chinese may have fomented the protests in Tibet and neighbouring provinces in order to discredit him.

In China's highest-level response to the unrest, Wen underscored the Communist leadership's determination to regain control of Tibet and nearby parts of China and reassure the world it is fit to host the Games.

"There is ample fact - and we also have plenty of evidence - proving that this incident was organized, premeditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique," Wen told reporters at his annual news conference at the end of China's national legislative session.

""By staging that incident they want to undermine the Beijing Olympic Games, and they also try to serve their hidden (independence) agenda by inciting such incidents," said Wen, who is portrayed as a mild-mannered conciliator by China's state media.

The Lhasa protests, led by monks, began peacefully March 10 on the anniversary of a failed uprising in 1959 against Chinese rule. Tibet had been effectively independent for decades before Chinese Communist troops entered in 1950.

The increasingly violent demonstrations in Lhasa, led by Tibetan Buddhist monks, left 16 people dead and injured dozens, according to the government. The unrest spread into neighbouring provinces with large Tibetan populations.

China has denied a claim by the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile in India that 80 Tibetans died.

The protests have focused world attention on China's human rights record ahead of the Beijing Olympics. The Communist government wants to ensure that the Aug. 8-24 games boost its international image.

Sports officials from the European Union, Russia, the United States, Canada and Australia have ruled out an Olympic boycott. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Tuesday, however, that the EU should consider boycotting the opening ceremony if violence continues in Tibet.

Wen said Lhasa was returning to normal and "will be reopened to the rest of the world." He did not say when.

John Kenwood, a 19-year-old tourist from Victoria, B.C., who left Lhasa Tuesday morning, said he saw street cleaners wearing orange vests emblazoned with the Beijing Olympics symbol.

"When the fighting began, you saw no Chinese," said Kenwood as he arrived in Nepal. "Now you see no Tibetans on the streets. The young Tibetans are probably hiding."

China's tight control over information and ban on trips by foreign reporters restricted independent reporting from the region.

The Dalai Lama, speaking in Dharmsala, India, the seat of his government-in-exile, urged non-violence on both sides.

"I say to China and the Tibetans - don't commit violence," he told reporters.

However, he also said it was possible some Chinese agents are involved. "Sometimes totalitarian regimes are very clever, so it is important to investigate," he said.

Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama said that "if things become out of control," his "only option is to completely resign."

Later, one of his top aides clarified the Dalai Lama's comments.

"If the Tibetans were to choose the path of violence, he would have to resign because he is completely committed to non-violence," Tenzin Taklha said.

"He would resign as the political leader and head of state, but not as the Dalai Lama. He will always be the Dalai Lama."

Meanwhile, authorities pressed ahead with efforts to round up protesters in Lhasa.

Duoji Zeren, the vice-governor of Tibet, was quoted on state television as saying that authorities "would take determined methods to capture the primary suspects," but did not give any details.

Witnesses said authorities have been rounding up people since the weekend, but there has been no confirmation of any sweeping arrests since a Monday midnight deadline expired for protesters to turn themselves in or face severe punishment without any apparent surrenders.

The India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said thousands of Tibetans converged on the streets in Seda, a county seat in the southern province of Sichuan, and the situation was "extremely tense."

Sichuan, which borders Tibet, has seen other sympathy protests in recent days. Telephone calls to the county's government, police and religious affairs bureau were not answered.

Nepali police arrested about 50 protesters who were demonstrating to demand a UN investigation into China's crackdown on Tibet, officials said. It was the third protest in recent days close to the UN headquarters in the capital, Kathmandu.

Some 600 people protested in Lausanne, Switzerland, demanding the International Olympic Committee call off a section of the Olympic torch relay in Tibet.

The IOC said it joined with others in calling for a peaceful resolution to the tensions in Tibet but it intended to go ahead with the relay section through Lhasa in June.