PRC blasts Dalai Lama as torch arrives

The scorn aimed at Tibet's exiled spiritual leader appears to indicate Beijing is digging in its heels in the face of mounting pressure from abroad to engage in dialogue with the Nobel Peace Prize winner. That pressure follows more than two weeks of protests and suppression in Tibetan-populated parts of China.

A report by Xinhua, China's official news agency, said the government had evidence the Dalai Lama and his supporters had planned the rash of anti-Chinese unrest across the Himalayan region and nearby areas this month.

The Dalai Lama's office rejected the claim on Monday and called on China to allow in international investigators.

"The self-proclaimed spiritual leader has obviously forgotten his identity, abused his religion and played too much politics," Xinhua said, adding he was building a "pro-independence infrastructure".

A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman denied what it said was a statement from the Dalai Lama that soldiers posing as monks had instigated the Lhasa violence.

But the Dalai Lama's office also denied this.

"What we can confirm at this point is we've received reports of Chinese dressing up as monks -- not instigating (the violence), but assisting in the security clampdown," Tenzin Taklha, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama, said by telephone from Dharamsala in northern India.

Several foreign leaders, including U.S. President George W. Bush, have urged Beijing to talk to the Dalai Lama's envoys to resolve the issue. China has said it would only do so if he rejected independence for Tibet and Taiwan and used his influence to end the ongoing unrest.

Meanwhile, protests continued elsewhere.

In Nepal's capital Kathmandu, police beat pro-Tibet protesters with sticks on Monday and detained more than 280 people for demonstrating against China, police and officials said, hinting at a bigger crackdown on protesters.

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