Archives » Tuesday, March 18, 2008
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Mary Hennock
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Mar 18, 2008 10:13 AM
China's premier and the Dalai Lama had a heated exchange of views on Tuesday despite Beijing's insistence that it will not negotiate with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. It happened like this: Premier Wen Jiabao told a news conference in Beijing that there is "plenty of evidence" that last week's pro-independence protests and rioting in Lhasa were "organised, pre-meditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique". They had, said Wen, created "turmoil" that "inflicted heavy losses of lives and property". Hours later, the Dalai Lama held a press conference from his base in Dharmsala, India, where he denied any support for violence in dramatic terms. "If things become out of control then my only option is to completely resign", he said.
His aides later clarified that the Dalai Lama wanted to stress his opposition to violence; he meant he would resign as a political leader and head of state in exile, but not as spiritual leader. "If Tibetans were to choose the path of violence he would have to resign because he is completely committed to non-violence," top aide Tenzin Taklha explained to the Associated Press.
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