China cracks down on mass Buddhist uprising

The Dalai Lama said on Mar. 20 that he feared villagers in remote parts of Tibet were "facing death" from Chinese troops intent on seeking retribution for last week's protests, but emphasized that he was prepared to meet Chinese leaders to resolve the crisis. Speaking to journalists in the office of his long yellow bungalow in the north Indian town of Dharamsala, the Buddhist religious leader warned that columns of army trucks were being sent across the Tibetan plateau, with troops deployed in many villages as unrest flared in far-flung corners of the country. "There are many remote places cut off from the world where the only sign is Chinese troop movement. I am really worried that a lot of casualties may happen. Then [there are] no medical facilities. So I am appealing to the international community, please think about these helpless unarmed innocent people who simply love Tibetan culture and are not willing to accept others' bullying. These are now facing death." There is no doubt the fallout from deadly riots on Mar. 14 has been bloody. The Dalai Lama's government-in-exile puts the number of dead at "about 100." China says 16 people were killed. The reincarnation of the "compassionate Buddha" denied allegations by the Communist party in Beijing that he had masterminded the protests from his home in northern India, where he has lived since he was forced to flee during a failed uprising in 1959. The demonstrations, he said, had been spontaneous and "frustration had burst out" in Tibet. "People know they will suffer more. More Chinese soldiers, more arrest, more torture. In spite of that people are expressing loudly." The Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, appeared to hold out an olive branch earlier this week with the offer of face-to-face talks -- but only after the Dalai Lama gives up what is viewed in China as a campaign for Tibetan independence. The Dalai Lama said that he had long ago accepted Chinese control over Tibet in exchange for guarantees of genuine internal autonomy. "The whole world knows the Dalai Lama is not seeking independence, 100 times, 1,000 times I have repeated this. It is my mantra -- we are not seeking independence." He added that he was "always ready to meet Chinese leaders, particularly Hu Jintao"-- a reference to China's president, who in 1989 oversaw a bloody crackdown in Lhasa as regional Communist party secretary. Unless there was "a real concrete development" in the Tibetan situation, the Dalai Lama said he was unlikely to visit Beijing for peace talks, which he said would be likely to raise unrealistic expectations of a breakthrough. The Dalai Lama said he would adopt a wait-and-see policy. "I have to think about that very carefully. We will see after this crisis. In the next few weeks and months I will see if there is something more positive." The spiritual leader also warned younger radicals who consider autonomy a sell-out of Tibetan independence to "think through the consequences." "Today we are almost like a nation dying. At this moment, the importance is survival and a practical solution is necessary," he said. The propaganda war over the roof of the world has seen Beijing's rhetoric take on a harder edge in recent days -- Tibet's communist party chief described the Dalai Lama as "a wolf in a monk's robe, a monster with a human face but the heart of a beast." The Dalai Lama said such attacks were part of "government propaganda" which had helped to the fuel the "hatred towards Tibet, towards me." "It is a pity. This Chinese official statement is meant for Chinese public. Do you think the outside world believes that? Really, I feel sad. The Chinese public's lack of information [allows] the government to manipulate their ignorance." The protests, which come months before the Beijing Olympics, have seen China become edgier about Tibet -- aware of the growing success of the Dalai Lama, winner of the 1989 Nobel peace prize, in gaining international support. Dozens of Tibetan prisoners were paraded on military trucks in Lhasa on Mar. 17, with their heads bent and wrists handcuffed behind their backs, as soldiers from China's People's Liberation Army tightened their grip on the Tibetan capital. As a midnight deadline approached for rioters to surrender, soldiers carried out house-to-house searches. Some of those suspected of taking part in the mayhem on Mar. 14, when Tibetan anger at Chinese rule erupted into the burning of shops, banks and businesses, had already been detained. Four open army trucks carrying about 40 people, mostly young Tibetan men and women, drove in a slow convoy along main roads, witnesses said. Loudspeakers on the trucks broadcast calls to anyone who had taken part in the riots to turn themselves in. Those who gave themselves up might be treated leniently, the rest would face severe punishment, the broadcasts said. Claims and counterclaims from Chinese officials and Tibetan exiles over the number of casualties and a ban on foreign journalists in Tibet have resulted in much confusion. The search for those involved began in earnest in Lhasa as soldiers began house-to-house searches, checking all identification papers, residents said. Anyone unable to show an identity card and a household registration permitting residence in Lhasa was being taken away. Officers carrying automatic rifles were seen checking the ID papers of passers-by and two armored personnel carriers prevented people from praying at the Jokhang temple. Some Tibetans claimed they were being watched everywhere they went. As Lhasa, the city at the heart of the protests, fell silent, protests continued to erupt around the region and worldwide. The unrest has spread swiftly into neighboring provinces in China with a large ethnic Tibetan population. Tensions also boiled over outside the county seat of Aba in Sichuan province when armed police tried to stop Tibetan monks from protesting, according to a witness who refused to give his name. The witness said a policeman had been killed and three or four police vans had been set on fire. Eight bodies were brought to a nearby monastery while others reported that up to 30 protesters had been shot, according to activist groups the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy and the London-based Free Tibet Campaign. The claims could not be confirmed. About 200 Tibetan protesters hurled Molotov cocktails, burning down a police station, a market and houses. The demonstrators also reportedly torched two police cars and a fire truck in Aba. In Gansu's Maqu county, which borders Sichuan province, thousands of monks and ordinary Tibetans clashed with police in various locations. Monks and Tibetans in the town of Xiahe staged two days of protests, one peaceful in which they raised Tibetan national flags, the other in which government offices were smashed and police tear-gassed the crowd of more than 1,000. Worldwide Protests Over Tibet Crackdown Meanwhile, about 100 Tibetan immigrants and supporters in Sydney, Australia demanded that Chinese authorities stop killing their countrymen. The protesters burned Chinese flags while more than 20 police kept order outside the Chinese consulate in Australia's largest city. "Stop killing," the protesters shouted. "Shame! Shame! China, shame!" "We will never give up!" In Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, at least 59 Tibetan exiles, including monks and nuns, were detained after police broke up two protests outside a United Nations complex, using sticks and tear gas. Small protests outside Chinese embassies led to arrests in several European capitals. In Munich, Germany, police detained 26 Tibetan demonstrators after they tried to force their way into the Chinese consulate. Chinese flags were burned and slogans including "Save Tibet" and "Stop Killing" were daubed on the consulate walls. About 150 people also held a peaceful rally in Berlin. In London, a group of about 80 pro-Tibet demonstrators hurled placards and sticks at China's embassy and tried to storm the building. In New York, an unnamed 21-year-old man was arrested after trying to drape the Tibetan flag over a billboard above the New York Police Department's substation in Times Square.