China blames Dalai for Tibetan's self-immolation bid in Delhi

Beijing, Mar 27: China today accused the Dalai Lama of "masterminding" the self-immolation bid by a Tibetan activist in New Delhi ahead of the visit of President Hu Jintao to attract world attention on Tibet independence.

"I want to point out that recently the Dalai group is sparing no efforts to incite Tibet independence activities by creating various troubles", Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Hong Lei told a media briefing here.

Asked about China's reaction to the self-immolation bid on the eve of BRICS summit to be attended by President Hu, Hong said "the behaviour once again shows that the Dalai group is masterminding similar actions".

"Such behaviour for Tibet independence splittist political scheme is doomed to fail and will be strongly condemned by the international community", he said. The immolation bid at Delhi follows over 30 such attempts in some of the Tibetan areas in China over the past few months, calling for the return of the Dalai Lama from his exile in Dharmasala.

Despite heavy security arrangements in Tibet and the four Tibetan provinces surrounding it, the immolation bids mainly by Buddhist monks and nuns have continued periodically.

PTI