Above: A girl looks at candles forming the words "Free Tibet" lighted by activists during a night vigil at the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall in Taipei March 17, 2008. China has launched a crackdown in Tibet after protests and rioting racked the regional capital Lhasa this week. REUTERS/Nicky Loh (TAIWAN)
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BEIJING (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama said on Tuesday he was willing to step down as head of the Tibetan government in exile if that was needed to stop the riots in his homeland, but China repeated its charge that he had masterminded the violence.
The government-in-exile, based in the Indian Himalayan foothills, said it believed 99 people had died in clashes between Chinese authorities and Tibetans over the past week, including 19 on Tuesday alone.
Chinese state television reported that 100 people had given themselves up to police after taking part in the violent protest against Chinese rule, the region's worst in nearly two decades.
It cited Baima Chilin, vice chairman of the Tibet government, as saying those who surrendered had been "participants, and some were directly involved in beating, smashing, looting and arson".
The report was the first word of people surrendering after Chinese authorities set a Monday midnight deadline for rioters to hand themselves in or face tougher punishment if caught.
Premier Wen Jiabao defended the security crackdown imposed on Lhasa, capital of the predominantly Buddhist mountain region, and on neighboring Chinese provinces where rioting by Tibetans erupted over the weekend.
"There is ample fact and plenty of evidence proving this incident was organized, premeditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique," Wen told a news conference in Beijing.
"This has all the more revealed the consistent claims by the Dalai clique that they pursue not independence but peaceful dialogue are nothing but lies."
"This has all the more revealed the consistent claims by the Dalai clique that they pursue not independence but peaceful dialogue are nothing but lies."
"STOP VIOLENCE" ON BOTH SIDES
The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, denied the charges and said he would quit as Tibetan leader if the violence got out of hand.
"Please help stop violence from Chinese side and also from Tibetan side," the Nobel peace laureate told a news conference in Dharamsala, northern India. "If things become out of control then my only option is to completely resign."
The Dalai Lama has said he cannot give up his role as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. His spokesman, Tenzin Taklha, said the rioting started with one or two incidents.
"Because of technology, because of word of mouth, word quickly spread," he said. "This was very spontaneous."
The Dalai Lama consistently says he is not seeking independence for Tibet but wants autonomy within China, which sent troops into the region in 1950.
A senior U.S. diplomat said Washington had seen no evidence that the rioting was orchestrated by the Dalai Lama.
"We don't have any evidence one way or the other on that score and I think you have to ask the spokespeople in Beijing what evidence they have to support that," Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Christensen said.
OLYMPIC "SABOTAGE"
There have been reports of further demonstrations this week. An exiled rights group, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, said on its Web site (www.tchrd.org) on Tuesday that 30 people had been arrested after protesting near Lhasa.
The group also reported three small protests and a massive military presence in Litang, an ethnic Tibetan town in Sichuan province, next to Tibet. Litang has seen unrest in the past.
Reuters was unable to confirm the reports. Phone calls to officials were not answered and foreign media are barred from traveling to Tibet without permission.
Chinese authorities have said that security forces exercised restraint in response to the burning and looting in Lhasa, using only non-lethal weapons, and just 13 "innocent civilians" died.
Wen said the protesters "wanted to incite the sabotage of the Olympic Games in order to achieve their unspeakable goal".
International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said on Monday no governments had called for a boycott of the Games. But the rights group Reporters Without Borders urged officials to boycott the opening ceremony over the "brutal repression" in Tibet, and France said it might examine the idea.
"The initiative of Reporters Without Borders ... was made this morning. Let's consider it," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told a news conference on Tuesday.
ELsewhere in Europe, about 100 people protested in front of the Norwegian parliament against the Chinese crackdown on Tibet, demanding independent access to the region by the media and the U.N. and the launch of peace talks with the Dalai Lama.
In Brussels, one demonstrator was injured and four were detained when members of a 250-strong crowd of exiled Tibetans tried to force their way into China's mission to the European Union, police said.
In Taiwan, presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou of the opposition Nationalists -- who have traditionally favored better ties with China -- told reporters he would consider an Olympic boycott if elected on Saturday.
Source: Reuters
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