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Saturday, Mar 22, 2008
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It’s interference in our internal affairs, says Chinese envoy

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: China has criticised Speaker of the U.S. Congress Nancy Pelosi’s meeting with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala and said her observations amounted to interference in China’s internal affairs.

“ We have stated very clearly that Tibet is China’s internal affair and we don’t allow any country to meddle in it,” Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yan said here on Friday.

China appreciated the “support and understanding” of the Indian government on these incidents and saw India as “committed” to doing whatever was possible to provide safety and security to the Chinese staff and assets in the country.

Mr. Zhang said the world had so far relied on the Western media to understand what was happening in Tibet while there was “no information” from the Chinese side. Reports about the unrest in Tibet by the Western media were “biased or one-sided and to a certain extent based on their understanding.”

China also showed a documentary about the violence in Lhasa, capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, which “clearly” showed that the incidents were “masterminded and organised by the Dalai [Lama] clique.”

Large-scale looting and violence against people on the streets and in shops also showed that the Dalai Lama’s claim of peaceful dialogue was “nothing but lies.”

Mr. Zhang said the intention behind the incidents was to sabotage peace and development in the Tibetan Autonomous Region as well as denigrate the efforts of the Chinese government to organise the Olympic Games.

He said 13 civilians were killed, 56 vehicles torched and 200 houses and shops gutted in the violence in Lhasa. The riot police chose not to open fire and the documentary showed security personnel scampering to safety whenever mobs turned on them. The Ambassador said the restraint by security personnel led to injuries to scores of them, including 10 seriously.

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