Reuters: Chinese talks welcomed 26 April

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama has appealed to the world community to "please help" resolve the crisis in his homeland that has been rocked by deadly anti-Chinese protests during a press conference today held in the Indian capital. "We have no power except justice, truth, sincerity... that is why I appeal to the world community to please help," the Buddhist icon told a news conference in the Indian capital where he was conducting meditation sessions. "I am here helpless, I just pray," said the exiled spiritual leader two weeks after anti-Chinese protests in the Himalayan region turned bloody, leading to calls for a boycott of the August Beijing Olympic Games.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao blamed what he called the 'Dalai clique' for orchestrating the unrest in Tibet and trying to sabotage the Olympics.

China alleges the exiled Dalai Lama is conspiring to wreck the Beijing Olympic Games by masterminding a wave of protests that began with peaceful rallies. China says 19 people have been killed as those rallies turned to riots, the Tibetan government-in-exile puts the death toll at about 130.

Tibet’s spiritual leader in exile, the Dalai Lama, has accused the Chinese government of committing “cultural genocide” in his homeland. Speaking on the sidelines of an interfaith conference of world religious leaders in Amritsar, India, the 72-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner also fueled speculation that he will name his successor before his death, breaking with Buddhist tradition.

Pro-Tibet protests continue across Dharamsala with hundreds of local Tibetans taking to the streets demanding international action against China’s violent clamp down on demonstrators. Monks and ordinary people marched to the Dalai Lama’s residence and held a candle light vigil calling on China to disclose the number of deaths and arrests over the last 10 days.

The Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday (March 18th) defended the security crackdown imposed on Tibet's capital Lhasa following the unrest there and suggested there was evidence that it was orchestrated by the Dalai Lama's inner circle. The Tibetan government-in-exile said from the Dalai Lama's base in Dharamsala in India that it now believed 99 people had died in clashes between the Chinese authorities and Tibetan protestors over the past week.

China - which views the Dalai Lama as a separatist and traitor -condemned the Congressional award as interference in China's internal affairs. But at a news conference earlier in the day, President Bush said that he did not think his attendance at the ceremony would damage U.S. relations with China. Jon Decker reports.

The spiritual leader was driven into exile after the 1959 uprising against the Chinese regime. He denies he masterminded the recent protests in the capital of Tibet from his base in Dharamsala and says he wants greater autonomy for his homeland, not independence, as China suspects.

The Nobel Laureate, who won the Peace Prize in 1989 for leading a non-violent struggle for the liberation of his homeland, reiterated his assertion that he was not for a separate Tibet, but, sought meaningful autonomy for Tibet within China. The Dalai Lama led an inter-faith prayer meeting at Rajghat on Saturday in remembrance of Tibetans who lost their lives during their recent protest against China.

President George W. Bush played host to the Dalai Lama, a day before the Buddhist spiritual leader receives the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor Congress can bestow.