Accuses Her of Tibet 'SMEAR'
China yesterday berated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying she is ignoring the truth about Tibet.

Nancy Pelosi
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'Human-rights police like Pelosi are habitually bad-tempered and ungenerous when it comes to China.' - China's official news agency, Xinhua, ripping Nancy Pelosi (above) for support of Tibetan independence


Pelosi's visit to the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, 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 news agency, Xinhua, yesterday published commentary accusing 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.


Comment: Pelosi, a Human-rights police ?


"Her views are like so many other politicians and Western media.

"Beneath the double standards lies their intention to serve the interest groups behind them, who want to contain or smear China."

China also accused the Dalai Lama yesterday of stoking Tibetan unrest to sabotage the Beijing Olympics.

"The Dalai clique is scheming to take the Beijing Olympics hostage to force the Chinese government to make concessions to Tibet independence," said the People's Daily, the main mouthpiece of the Communist Party.

The Tibetan spiritual leader called the accusations against him "baseless," asserting that he supported China's hosting of the summer Games.

Despite the media restrictions imposed by the Chinese government, some information was leaking out. An American backpacker who traveled to Chengdu, the capital of western Sichuan province, said he had seen soldiers or paramilitary troops in Deqin in northwest Yunnan province, which borders Tibet.

"What was an empty parking lot by the library was full of military trucks and people practicing with shields. I saw hundreds of soldiers," said the backpacker, who would give only his first name, Ralph.

There have been no reported protests in Yunnan.

Monks at the Gedan Song Zan Monastery outside of Zhongdian in northwest Yunnan prayed yesterday for peace and an end to the recent unrest among ethnic Tibetan populations in China.

The official lighting of the Olympic torch is set for today in Greece, and some 1,000 police officers will surround Ancient Olympia to keep pro-Tibetan protesters away from the ceremony.