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China accuses Dalai Lama of self-immolation protests

BEIJING — China on Tuesday accused the Dalai Lama and his associates of planning the self-immolation by a Tibetan exile in India days before Chinese President Hu Jintao visits, repeating assertions that the spiritual leader is to blame for dozens of such protests.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei offered no evidence linking the Tibetan spiritual leader to the exile who lit himself on fire and ran shouting through a demonstration in New Delhi on Monday.

He said the Dalai Lama and his associates have been instigating Tibetan independence and creating “disturbances” and that showed the Dalai Lama and his associates “single-handedly” planned the man’s self-immolation.

About 30 such protests have occurred over the past year in ethnic Tibetan areas of China, and a Tibetan self-immolated last year in India, where many exiles reside.

• From wire dispatches and staff reports