China says Dalai Lama manipulating foreign opinion

BEIJING—China lashed out at the Dalai Lama again on Monday, accusing Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader of manipulating opinion and governments in the West, just days after offering talks with his aides.
China has blamed the exiled Buddhist leader’s “clique” for unrest across Lhasa and other Tibetan areas, which it says was aimed at upstaging the Beijing Olympic Games in August.
But after an international diplomatic chorus urging dialogue with the Dalai Lama, Beijing abruptly announced on Friday that it intended to meet his aides in the next few days. China’s barrage of criticism has continued, however.
“After five decades of life in exile, the Dalai clique has learned how to cater to the West by flaunting human rights, peace, environment protection and culture, among others,” the official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary.
“But they never say a single word about the inhuman serfdom in Tibet under their rule,” it said. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Dalai Lama is deceiving foreigners when he tells them he did not plot last month’s unrest in Tibetan capital Lhasa, and that he supports the Beijing Olympics, Xinhua said.

—Agencies