Since a Chinese crackdown on mass protests in Tibetan capital Lhasa in mid-March, international attention has been focused on human rights in China, and several European Union countries have called for a boycott of the August Olympic Games.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu said in a statement: "The Dalai Lama should stop all actions aimed at splitting of the country and damaging the image of the Beijing Olympics."
The protests in Tibet began on March 10, when Buddhist monks held a demonstration marking the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule of the mountainous province. The rallies turned violent four days later, when exiled Tibetans say Chinese forces launched a brutal campaign of arrests and shooting, killing around 140 people. Beijing says only 13 people were killed, 12 of them Han Chinese murdered by Tibetan separatists.
China has accused Western media of bias in its reporting on the protests, and criticised the favorable coverage given to the Dalai Lama. The 72-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader will travel to the United States and Japan next week, plans that have infuriated Beijing.
The Dalai Lama has long stated that he is seeking autonomy, rather than independence for Tibet, and has repeatedly condemned violence of any kind. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his iinsistence of peacful protests in pro-Tibet campaigning.
Chinese Public Security Bureau spokesman Wu Heping told a news conference on Tuesday that independence forces in Tibet were plotting terrorist attacks, a charge that the Dalai Lama's supporters quickly refuted.
"To our knowledge, the next plan of the Tibetan independence forces is to organize suicide squads to launch violent attacks."
"They say that they fear no blood and no victims," Wu Heping said, adding that police have already detained a key member of the 'Dalai Lama clique,' who is currently testifying.
"The main aim of the Dalai Lama clique is to undermine public order and stability, to strengthen pressure on China shortly before the Beijing Olympics and, finally, to destroy the unity of China," the official said.
