The Dalai Lama and his band of thieves

MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images

What do Chinese authorities have to say about recent events in Tibet? They call the Dalai Lama’s description of a brutal crackdown “ridiculous” and attribute the deaths to the rioters, maintaining that law enforcement personnel were not lethally armed while restoring order. Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao laid down the law Monday:

[T]he riot exposed once again the separatist inbeing of the Dalai Lama clique and the hypocritical and fraudulent nature of its so-called ‘peace’ and ‘non-violence’ allegations. Any attempts to split the motherland are firmly opposed by Chinese people of all ethnic groups including the Tibetan compatriots, and are doomed to failure.”

Liu [also] said…a dozen atrocious incidents of attacking Chinese diplomatic missions overseas by ‘Tibet independence’ forces have sprung up. They were organized and planned by the Dalai clique to split China.”

To hear the Chinese government and state-run media tell it, the Dalai Lama is a terrorist mastermind described in terms reminiscent of U.S. rhetoric on Osama bin Laden. They accuse the spiritual leader of directing his international gang of terrorists to provoke ethnic separatism and disrupt the Olympics. Someday, Chinese leaders might regret their sad attempts to marginalize their best hope for resolving the Tibet situation peacefully.