Screaming from a fearful "Olympic Host" ? -- China claims Tibet
'independence forces' planning suicide attacks
-- Micky's HO: Is this a self-fulfilling prophecy with Chinese
characteristics? --
International Herald Tribune
China claims Tibet 'independence forces' planning suicide attacks
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
BEIJING: China said Tuesday that "Tibet independence forces" were
planning to use suicide squads to carry out bloody attacks, in the
latest of a string of accusations that have taken aim at sup****ters of
the Dalai Lama.
The prime minister of Tibet's government-in-exile denied the claims,
saying Tibetans are committed to a "nonviolent path."
"To our knowledge, the next plan of the Tibetan independence forces is
to organize suicide squads to launch violent attacks," Wu Heping, a
spokesman for the Chinese Public Security Bureau, said at a news
conference Tuesday.
"They claimed that they fear neither bloodshed nor sacrifice," Wu said,
though he offered no firm evidence to sup****t the claims.
Prime Minister Samdhong Rinpoche of Tibet's exiled government reiterated
his group's nonviolent position Tuesday. "There is no question of
suicide attacks," Rinpoche said. "There is absolutely no doubt in our
mind that we want to follow the nonviolent path."
Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama and his sup****ters of orchestrating
anti-government riots in Lhasa last month as part of a campaign to
sabotage the August Beijing Olympics and promote Tibetan independence.
The 72-year-old Nobel Peace Prize recipient has denied the charge,
condemning the violence and urging an independent international
investigation into the unrest and its underlying causes.
As the Olympic flame headed to Kazakhstan on Tuesday to start a
monthlong global tour that is expected to be a magnet for protests
against Beijing's policies, The People's Daily also said in a commentary
that China is prepared for the difficulties because "to successfully
host the Olympics is the wish shared by 1.3 billion Chinese people."
The flame - which left on a chartered plane after an elaborate kickoff
ceremony held under tight security in Beijing, which will host the Games
in August - is to make 21 stops before returning to mainland China on May
4.
Activists in London, Paris and San Francisco have pledged to disrupt the
tour to bring attention to causes ranging from Tibetan independence to
the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region. But even Kazakhstan and then Turkey
on Thursday could be flash points for China's Muslim Uighur minority
living abroad.
Protests that began March 10, the anniversary of a 1959 uprising against
Chinese rule, turned violent four days later and spread across a wide
area of western China inhabited by Tibetans.
Chinese state media have focused overwhelmingly on the victims of the
violence in Tibet, releasing the names of 14 of the 18 civilians and one
police officer it says were killed in the Lhasa riots. Tibetan exiles
say the toll from the violence plus the harsh crackdown after the
protests was much higher, leaving nearly 140 people dead.
On Tuesday, Bhaichung Bhutia, the Indian soccer captain, said he will
refuse to carry the Olympic torch in New Delhi to protest China's
crackdown.
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