China mounts new attack on Dalai Lama following Tibet protests

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING - Chinese state media accuses the Dalai Lama of slamming the door on talks over Tibet's future.

It's an apparent response to rising international calls for Beijing to negotiate with Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader.

In a lengthy Sunday article, Xinhua News Agency cited past actions and statements attributed to the 72-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner that it said contradicted or undermined his calls for negotiations.

The statement came a day before the arrival in Beijing of the Olympic torch that has become a magnet for Tibetan activists and other groups seeking to use the August Games to draw attention to their causes.

China has accused the Dalai Lama of orchestrating protests in Tibet's regional capital Lhasa and other areas that turned deadly on March 14.

Beijing says 22 people were killed in Lhasa, most of them ethnic Han and Muslim Chinese migrants, while Tibetan exiles put the overall death toll at 140. The Dalai Lama has condemned the violence and urged an independent investigation into the protests.

© The Canadian Press, 2008