By DPA,
Beijing : With envoys of the Dalai Lama due in China for talks with the government on the crisis in Tibet, the Chinese media Saturday again hit out at the Tibetan spiritual leader.
The Dalai Lama was once more branded a “criminal” by Xizang Ribao newspaper, which accused the “Dalai clique” of urging Tibetans to take part in the violent March 14 protests in Tibet and other Tibetan inhabited regions in neighbouring provinces.
The violence left 19 people dead, according to the Chinese government. However, the Tibetan government-in-exile said 203 people have been killed, most of them Tibetans shot by Chinese police.
Xizang Ribao said the Dalai Lama had repeatedly tried to split China since going into exile in 1959, and it further accused the Nobel Peace Prize laureate of a “political plot”.
The Tibetan exile administration said in a statement on its website Friday that special Envoy Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari and Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen would arrive in China Saturday for informal talks with representatives of the Chinese government.
“During this brief visit, the envoys will take up the urgent issue of the current crisis in the Tibetan areas,” said Chimme R. Chhoekyapa, secretary to the Dalai Lama, who is based in India’s northern hill town of Dharamsala.
“They will convey His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s deep concerns about the Chinese authorities’ handling of the situation and also provide suggestions to bring peace to the region,” he added.
The Chinese government has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of “plotting and inciting violence” and “disrupting and sabotaging the Beijing Olympic Games” the March unrest in Tibet, which triggered a sharp military crackdown by Chinese authorities.
On Friday last week, China announced that it would take up a dialogue with representatives of Tibet’s spiritual leader and said it was ready to talk about everything except sovereignty over Tibet.
But even after Beijing said it was reopening talks, the Chinese state media have continued to attack the Dalai Lama saying he was the “master of rhetoric” and his attempt to “split the motherland” – Tibet from China – was “doomed to failure”.
Since 2002, the Chinese government has engaged in six rounds of dialogue with representatives of the Dalai Lama, however no progress was reported. The last round was held in June 2007.