Tags:
Journalism of Courage
China said it was outraged by a resolution by US lawmakers urging an end to a crackdown in Tibet as a Beijing-run newspaper linked al Qaeda to a perceived plot to attack the Beijing Olympics.
The condemnation came in response to a US House of Representatives resolution urging China to open substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama, end its crackdown on non-violent Tibetan protesters and halt cultural repression in the restive mountain region.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said her government was 8220;strongly indignant and resolutely opposed8221; to the resolution passed on Wednesday with the backing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Xinhua news agency reported.
Jiang said the US lawmakers should instead direct their ire at what Beijing calls the Dalai Lama8217;s clique, which China has blamed for deadly rioting in Tibet8217;s regional capital Lhasa on March 14 and subsequent protests across Tibetan areas.
8220;It is confusing black with white and is vicious-minded of certain members of the US House of Representatives to not only fail to condemn the attacks, smashing, looting and arson in Lhasa 8230; but rather to point the spear at the Chinese government and people,8221; Jiang said.
The Dalai Lama, Tibet8217;s exiled spiritual leader, has rejected claims that he orchestrated the violence, and Western governments have urged China to open up conciliatory contacts.
But China has further underscored the gulf of perceptions over Tibet by saying that groups campaigning for independence there have joined militant Muslim Uighurs fighting for an independent 8220;East Turkestan8221; in the northwest region of Xinjiang.
Chinese authorities said on Thursday that they had foiled plots to kidnap foreigners and carry out suicide attacks around the Beijing Olympics in August.
COLLUSION
Police in Xinjiang detained 45 suspects, seized explosives and firearms and cracked two terrorist groups seeking to disrupt the Olympics, a Ministry of Public Security official said.
The Wen Wei Po, a Hong Kong newspaper backed by the mainland, said Uighur extremists were colluding with the exiled Tibetan Youth Congress and even al Qaeda to target the Beijing Games.
8220;Al Qaeda, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and Tibetan Youth Congress are all planning to make the Beijing Olympic Games the target of terror attacks, and have strengthened collusion and collaboration,8221; said the paper in a commentary.
Any Western countries that tolerated these groups risked 8220;disaster8221; for all, the paper said.
It said the Tibetan Youth Congress, which campaigns for regional independence, was a terrorist group that has 8220;become the core of power in the Dalai clique8221;.
Human rights groups have said the Chinese government is using the perceived terror threats, denied by exiled Uighur groups, to justify tough political and religious controls in Xinjiang.
Konchok Yangphel, a Delhi-based spokesman for the Youth Congress, said the Wen Wei Po report was ridiculous.
8220;We are trying to stick to non-violence and demonstrations and have not engaged in violence,8221; he said by telephone. But he said the group did not rule out the possibility of violence occurring in Tibet 8220;if people are forced by Chinese violence8221;.
The accusations and denials come amid surging Chinese public criticism of protests and international rebuffs over Tibet that have dogged the Games torch relay.
Beijing has condemned protests have followed the relay through London, Paris and San Francisco. The next stop is Argentina.
