China sees Dalai Lama hand as Tibetans take to self-immolation route to draw the world's attention

The Dalai Lama and his supporters are doomed to fail in their attempt to attain Tibetan independence by stoking self-immolations, Chinese newspaper People's Daily said Tuesday.


Instigating self-immolations in China's ethnic Tibetan areas was "among the latest tactics that the Dalai clique has taken in recent years to achieve their political purposes", the article said. Meanwhile, authorities detained a Tibetan monk and his nephew in the Kirti monastery of Aba in southwestern Sichuan province over their roles in the protests.

Since fleeing China in 1959, the Dalai Lama and his followers "have masterminded a series of seriously violent incidents, including the March 14 riots in Lhasa in 2008", it said.

"All of them are aimed at 'Tibet independence'," the article noted.

"Soon after self-immolations occur, the Dalai clique repeatedly demands 'peace talks' to be held between China's central authorities and the self-declared 'Tibetan government-in-exile' for 'solving Tibet-related issues', China's state-run news agency Xinhua said.


Leaders of the "Tibetan government-in-exile" in Dharamsala in India's Himachal Pradesh have also publicly voiced "hopes" that self-immolations in China's ethnic Tibetan areas will lead to turmoil similar to the 2011 riots in the Arab world, it said.

The article in People's Daily followed "some Western media" in pointing out that self-immolations of Tibetans have already became a means for the Dalai Lama and the "Tibetan government-in-exile" to pressure China for political interests.


"Whatever means they take, the Dalai Lama and his followers can't change the general situation of Tibet's development and stability, nor their doomed chances of splitting Tibet from China," the author said.


According to the Tibetan government-in-exile, a total of 92 self-immolation cases have taken place since 2009. Over 20 cases took place in November this year.