Pelosi, Dalai Lama Accused of Sabotage

CHENGDU, China — China accused the Dalai Lama yesterday of stoking Tibetan unrest to sabotage the Beijing Olympics and also berated House Speaker Pelosi, saying she is ignoring the truth about Tibet.

This month's violence in Tibet and neighboring provinces has turned into a public relations disaster for China ahead of the August Olympics, which it had been hoping to use to bolster its international image.

Ms. Pelosi's visit to the Dalai Lama in Dharmsala, India, on Friday was the first by a major foreign official since the protests broke out. The Democratic leader said if people don't speak out against China's oppression in Tibet, "we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world."

China's official Xinhua New Agency published commentary yesterday accusing Ms. Pelosi of ignoring the violence caused by the Tibetan rioters.

"'Human rights police' like Pelosi are habitually bad tempered and ungenerous when it comes to China, refusing to check their facts and find out the truth of the case," it said.