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Dalai Lama 'instigated attack'
12/10/2007 07:25 - (SA)
Beijing - China on Friday accused exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama of instigating an attack on the Chinese embassy in India and urged New Delhi to punish those who stormed the compound.
"The Dalai Lama clique will seek every opportunity available to stir up trouble and disturb and destroy the stability and development of China's Tibetan Autonomous Region," China's foreign ministry said in a statement.
"These plots are doomed to fail."
The faxed statement to AFP came in response to Wednesday's incident in New Delhi, during which a group of between 30 and 50 angry Tibetan exiles barged into China's embassy.
Beijing has protested to the Indian government about the incident and demanded authorities "strictly punish these troublemakers", the statement said.
"We demand the Indian side abide by their commitments to not allow 'Tibetan separatists' to carry out anti-Chinese political activities in India," and take steps to ensure this kind of thing does not happen again.
According to police, the Tibetans pushed open the front gate and entered the compound, surprising the small contingent of Indian police stationed near the sprawling embassy premises.
Some of the protesters, who included Tibetan monks in their trademark maroon robes, chained themselves to the flagpole inside before they were arrested, according to an AFP photographer who witnessed the incident.
The Tibetans were protesting against Chinese regulations, in effect since September 1, stating that Tibetan living Buddhas are no longer allowed to be reincarnated without permission from the atheist communist government.
Living Buddhas are an important element in Tibetan Buddhism, forming a clergy of influential religious figures who are believed to be continuously reincarnated to take up their positions anew.
China's ruling Communist Party maintains strict controls over all religions.
In 1951, China sent troops in to "liberate" Tibet. The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 with his followers after a failed uprising and established a government-in-exile in the northern hill town of Dharamsala.
Beijing continues to accuse the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate of seeking Tibetan independence, but the Dalai Lama insists he is only seeking greater political and religious autonomy for his homeland.
- AFP
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