Non Chinese propaganda on Tibet. M

Dalai Lama to resign if Tibet violence worsens - New Zealand's source for World News on Stuff.co.nz

Monday, 14 April 2008200804140500
Dalai Lama to resign if Tibet violence worsens

The Dalai Lama has said he will resign as leader of Tibet's exiled government if violence in his homeland spreads out of control.

"If violence becomes out of control then my only option is to resign," the spiritual leader said at a news conference. "If the majority of people commit violence, then I resign."

The Chinese government has accused the Dalai Lama of orchestrating last month's riots in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and unrest that followed in other ethnic Tibetan areas, as part of a bid for independence and to ruin the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing.

The Dalai Lama reiterated comments that he was not pushing for a separate state, and said "violence is totally wrong."

Meanwhile, Chinese media has denounced the Dalai Lama and his supporters as "anti-human rights", and slammed top US politician Nancy Pelosi as "the least popular person in China" for her stance on Tibet, in editorials.

The belligerent commentaries by the official Xinhua news agency came the day after Beijing announced the arrest of nine Buddhist monks for bombing a government building in Tibet.

A Tibetan source with strong contacts in its capital, Lhasa, said the city was also swirling with rumours of fresh clashes between monks and security forces at the important Drepung monastery. No one at the monastery or the local police station could be reached for comment.

China has gone on the offensive in the face of mounting international criticism of its handling of violent riots in Tibet and a subsequent crackdown, which is clouding the run-up to the Olympic Games in August.

It considers a growing number of boycott threats, and the chaotic protests that marred a global torch relay, as an unfair mix of sports and politics ahead of an event officials hoped would celebrate three decades of economic reforms and opening.

Beijing has blamed the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, for orchestrating the March 14 riots in Lhasa and unrest that followed in other ethnic Tibetan areas, as part of a bid for independence and to ruin the Olympic Games.

The Dalai Lama says he is not pushing for a separate state and denies he was behind the unrest. On Saturday a rock-star size crowd of tens of thousands of people packed a Seattle stadium to hear him call for non-violence.

He said on Friday that he did not support a boycott of the Beijing Olympics, but the broadside from the official Xinhua agency denounced him as a sham.

__________________
National Debt =