US urges China to talk to Dalai Lama as concern grows over Tibet
MOSCO (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday called on China to open talks with the Dalai Lama amid mounting international unease over China's crackdown on protests in Tibet.
The Netherlands summoned the Chinese ambassador to express concern and the European Union also said it was troubled, but Russia insisted the Tibet crisis was an "internal matter" for China.
Rice renewed a US appeal for China to show restraint in Tibet saying there was now a "terrible situation".
"We have really urged the Chinese over several years to find a way to talk with the Dalai Lama, who is a figure of authority, who is not a separatist, and to find a way to engage him and bring his moral weight to a more sustainable and better solution of the Tibet issue."
"There has been a kind of missed opportunity here for the Chinese to engage the moral authority of the Tibetan people," she told reporters as she headed for a visit to Moscow.
China refuses to hold negotiations with the Nobel Peace prize winning Dalai Lama, who they accuse of separatist activities.
Tibet's exiled leaders have said about 100 people have been killed in the crackdown on anti-Chinese protests. China said Monday that the protests had claimed 13 civilian lives and denied using deadly force.
The impact of the unrest has grown with the Beijing Olympics to be held in August.
Russia insisted that China's relations with the Dalai Lama were "an internal matter" for China and criticised attempts to "politicise" Beijing's hosting of the Games.
"We hope that Chinese authorities will take all necessary measures to counter illegal activities and guarantee a rapid normalisation of the situation in the autonomous region," said a Russian foreign ministry statement.
The ministry added that "attempts at politicising the holding of the 2008 Olympic Games in China are unacceptable."
The European Union also opposed a Games boycott over Tibet.
"We are very concerned by the events in Tibet and we are calling for restraint on all sides," the EU commission's external relations spokeswoman said.
But the spokeswoman added that "a boycott would not be the appropriate way to address the work for respect of human rights, which means the ethnic and religious rights, of the Tibetans."
The influential Australian Olympic Committee said it also does not support a boycott.
But French Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande said France must "consider" withdrawing its athletes. "It is the least we can do," Hollande told French radio. "I am not saying that this would be the solution but we must use every arm and all kinds of international pressure."
China risks wrecking its international image as the Olympic host if the Tibet violence escalates, Britain's Minister for Africa, Asia and the United Nations, Mark Malloch-Brown, warned.
China has to "understand the consequences of escalation in terms of the damage to (its) international standing, and the damage to this event, the Olympics, that they've invested so much in, financially but also morally," he told BBC television.
"This is China's coming out party, and they should take great care to do nothing that will wreck that," he said.
Political pressure grew on China over the unrest.
India, where the Dalai Lama lives in exile, called for a "non-violent" solution to the troubles.
"We are distressed by reports of the unsettled situation and violence in Lhasa and by the deaths of innocent people," Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told parliament.
Mukherjee insisted the unrest must be ended "through dialogue and non-violent means," while Indian opposition politicians demanded a stronger stand on the issue.
The Dalai Lama's exiled government has been based in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala since a failed uprising in 1959.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called the Tibet violence "disturbing". Rudd, who speaks fluent Mandarin and is to meet China's leaders in Beijing next month, said Australia has expressed its views to China on the crackdown.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark urged China to react "carefully and proportionately" to the unrest. Clark has denied that her response has been muted by plans for New Zealand to sign a free trade deal with China next month.
