By DPA
Beijing : China Thursday protested British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s plans to meet the Dalai Lama and said reports that it had softened its stance on dialogue with the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader were inaccurate.
“Some reports are not very accurate,” foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said when asked about reports that premier Wen Jiabao had told Brown that China was ready to hold talks with the Dalai Lama if he renounced violence and independence.
During a telephone conversation with Brown Wednesday, Wen had “just reiterated his willingness for dialogue” with the Dalai Lama on China’s long-held terms, Qin told reporters.
China was “seriously concerned” by Brown’s statement that he planned to meet the Dalai Lama in May, accusing the India-based Buddhist leader of organizing and inciting violent protests in Tibetan areas of China this month.
“As we have repeatedly pointed out, Dalai is a political refugee engaged in activities of splitting China under the camouflage of religion,” Qin said.
The Dalai Lama rejected those accusations Tuesday, saying from India that he and the Tibetan government-in-exile remained committed to non-violence and that he would step aside as the Tibetan leader if Tibetans chose a path of violence.
He also called for an independent inquiry into the violence between Chinese forces and Tibetan pro-independence demonstrators, which was touched off by the 49th anniversary of the failed uprising in Tibet against Chinese rule on March 10, 1959.