WASHINGTON: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday she was concerned about the situation in Tibet, urging China to exercise restraint toward protesters there and to reach out to the Dalai Lama.

Chinese police opened fire and wounded four protesters this week in unrest in a Tibetan community in the western province of Sichuan, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported in the country's first admission its security forces had caused injuries in their crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.

Tibet authorities also said they had arrested dozens of people involved in the wave of protests that have swept the mountain region and prompted Beijing to pour in troops to crush further unrest.

China's response to last week's violence -- which it says was orchestrated by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader -- has sparked international criticism and has clouded preparations for the Beijing Olympics in August.

"We are certainly concerned about the situation in Tibet. I spoke last evening with my counterpart, Foreign Minister Yang (Jiechi). (I) urged restraint," Rice told reporters as she began a meeting with Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama.

"We have urged for many years that China engage in a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, who represents an authoritative figure who stands against violence and who also stands for the cultural autonomy of the Tibetan people but has made very clear that he does not stand for independence," she added.

"I believe that this would be a basis on which China could reach out to ... an authoritative figure for peace and so we are encouraging that," she said. "I hope that China will exercise restraint, but it is also important that all parties refrain from violence."

China says 13 "innocent civilians" were killed in riots last week in Tibet's capital, Lhasa, that capped several days of peaceful protests. Exiled Tibetan groups say as many as 100 Tibetans have died.

 

Source : UNI