China says unity at stake over Tibet

China's conflict with the Dalai Lama was purely a question of national unity and nothing to do with ethnicity, religion or human rights, Chinese President Hu Jintao said on Saturday.

He spoke after China again bared its teeth against foreign critics, denouncing the European Parliament's call to boycott the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics if Beijing does not start talks with the Dalai Lama about Tibet.

Hu's comments, reported by the Xinhua news agency, were among the clearest yet from the top echelon of China's leadership framing the Tibet troubles as an existential threat to the country.

"Our conflict with the Dalai clique is not an ethnic problem, not a religious problem, nor a human rights problem," Hu said.

"It is a problem of either preserving national unity or splitting the motherland."

Chinese officials have warned that groups campaigning for independence in Tibet have joined Muslim Uighurs fighting for an independent "East Turkestan" in the northwest region of Xinjiang.

Hu, who made his comments in a meeting with visiting Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, also reiterated China's position that it was open to talks with the Dalai Lama, but that Tibet's exiled spiritual leader was blocking the way.

Hu said China was ready to meet the Dalai Lama provided he desist from trying to "split the motherland", "incite violence" and "ruin the Beijing Olympics".

The Dalai Lama has rejected claims he orchestrated deadly rioting in Tibet's regional capital Lhasa on March 14 and subsequent protests across Tibetan areas.

Asked on Friday night on U.S. television station NBC's "Nightly News" whether he wanted the world to boycott the Olympics this summer, the Dalai Lama, now on a visit to the United States, replied, "No."

He said his message to China was: "We are not against you. And I'm not seeking separation.'"

"HURT FEELINGS"

The denunciation of the European Parliament's boycott call was China's latest unyielding response to foreign criticism after the Tibetan unrest. It used language very similar to Beijing's condemnation a day earlier of a resolution by U.S. lawmakers that urged an end to a crackdown in Tibet.

The Parliament, in a non-binding resolution adopted by an overwhelming majority this week, called on European Union leaders to consider "the option of non-attendance" of the opening ceremonies of the Games.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the European parliamentarians had "rudely interfered in China's internal affairs", "seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people" and "confounded black and white", Xinhua reported on Saturday.

"The European Parliament turned a blind eye to facts. It did not condemn the Dalai clique who masterminded and organised the violent crimes, but instead emboldened the 'Tibet independence' violence and Dalai's separatist activities," she said.

Western governments have urged China to open up conciliatory contacts with the Dalai Lama.

China could breathe a sigh of relief that the latest leg of the Olympic torch relay, riddled by protests in Europe, sailed smoothly through Buenos Aires under heavy guard on Friday, dodging nothing more serious than a few tossed water balloons.

The chaos in Paris, where protesters tried to wrestle the flame from the hands of torch bearers, was still a centre of attention in China on Saturday with publication of an angry commentary in the People's Daily, the Communist Party's newspaper.

It focused on an episode from the Paris relay when a wheelchair-bound Chinese torch bearer fended off protesters. The incident has become notorious in China as an example of the rowdy demonstrations.

"Is attacking a handicapped person the human right of 'Tibetan separatists'?", the People's Daily asked.

"What happened in Paris let more people clearly see the true face of 'Tibetan separatists' and revealed the so-called 'freedom' and 'human rights' that the Dalai clique wants," it concluded.