China says Dalai Lama trying to blacken its name
Tue May 6, 10:09 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080507/ts_nm/china_tibet_dc_19
BEIJING (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama is trying to blacken China's name
and prevent its rise, a state newspaper said on Wednesday, suggesting
Beijing is in no mood to compromise just days after talks with the
exiled spiritual leader's aides.
China blames the Dalai Lama for a wave of anti-government unrest
throughout its Tibetan areas which started in March and has vilified
him as a separatist bent on independence for Tibet and disrupting the
Beijing Olympics.
The Dalai Lama denies China's charge that he orchestrated the unrest
and says he wants meaningful autonomy, not independence, for Tibet.
"Trying to internationalize the 'Tibet problem' is a separatist plot
of the Dalai Lama's and a clumsy way of damaging China's international
image," the official Tibet Daily said in an editorial.
"In international society, there are some people and forces which
don't want to see China's development or for it to become powerful.
They hope China falls apart, and that the country and people forever
remain poor and weak."
Analysts say it is a common tactic of China's to maintain a hardline
public face at the same time as offering talks.
The newspaper denounced calls for Tibetan independence as a "filthy
plot" and said that it was "wishful thinking" if the Dalai Lama
thought he could prevent China's rise.
"China will naturally develop into a powerful country in the world.
China is already standing like a giant with a peace-loving and
responsible image," it said.
"Anyone who wants to achieve their sinister aims through vilifying
China will find it is like lifting a rock only to drop it on their own
feet," the editorial added.
An envoy of the Dalai Lama said on Tuesday that one-day talks with
China on the unrest in Tibet had been "a good first step" and that the
two sides would meet again after he re****ts back.
The unrest, the most serious challenge to Chinese rule in the
mountainous region for nearly two decades, prompted anti-China
protests around the world that disrupted the international leg of the
torch relay for the August Olympics and led to calls for Western
leaders to boycott the Games.
(Re****ting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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