Dalai Lama willing to step down to end rioting

The Dalai Lama said on Tuesday he was willing to step down as head of the Tibetan government in exile if that was needed to stop the riots in his homeland, but China repeated its charge that he had masterminded the violence.
The government-in-exile, based in the Indian Himalayan foothills, said it believed 99 people had died in clashes between Chinese authorities and Tibetans over the past week, including 19 on Tuesday alone. Chinese state television reported that 100 people had given themselves up to police after taking part in the spasm of violent protest against Chinese rule, the region's worst in nearly two decades.
It cited Baima Chilin, vice chairman of the Tibet government, as saying those who surrendered had been "participants, and some were directly involved in beating, smashing, looting and arson".
The report was the first word of people surrendering after Chinese authorities set a Monday midnight deadline for rioters to hand themselves in or face tougher punishment if caught. Premier Wen Jiabao defended the security crackdown imposed on Lhasa, capital of the predominantly Buddhist mountain region, and on neighbouring Chinese provinces where rioting by Tibetans erupted over the weekend.
"There is ample fact and plenty of evidence proving this incident was organised, premeditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique," Wen told a news conference in Beijing.
"This has all the more revealed the consistent claims by the Dalai clique that they pursue not independence but peaceful dialogue are nothing but lies." The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, denied the charges and said he would quit as Tibetan leader if the violence got out of hand.
"Please help stop violence from Chinese side and also from Tibetan side," the Nobel peace laureate told a news conference in Dharamsala, northern India. "If things become out of control then my only option is to completely resign."
The Dalai Lama has said he cannot give up his role as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. His spokesman, Tenzin Taklha, said the rioting started with one or two incidents. "Because of technology, because of word of mouth, word quickly spread," he said. "This was very spontaneous." The Dalai Lama consistently says he is not seeking independence for Tibet but wants autonomy within China, which sent troops into the region in 1950.
A senior US diplomat said Washington had seen no evidence that the rioting was orchestrated by the Dalai Lama. "We don't have any evidence one way or the other on that score and I think you have to ask the spokespeople in Beijing what evidence they have to support that," Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Christensen said.