Dalai Lama faces criticism as Tibet talks continue

The Communist Party chief of Tibet on Wednesday repeated Chinese government claims that the Dalai Lama and his supporters orchestrated riots in March with "the evil intention of turning the incident into a bloodbath," Reuters reported. The remarks made by Zhang Qingli came as talks between Chinese officials and envoys of the Dalai Lama entered their second and final day. Zhang also blamed "hostile Western forces" for supporting the unrest, describing the incident as an effort to disrupt the Olympics and undermine Tibet’s stability and political harmony. Thubten Samphel, secretary of the Tibetan government in exile’s Department of Information, said the unrest was prompted by Beijing implementing the wrong polices in Tibet. Chinese state media were largely silent on the talks, while Samphel only said that negotiations would likely continue until the evening.