OTTAWA -- China's ambassador to Canada called the Dalai Lama a liar Wednesday and said it is irresponsible for people to criticize China's record on human rights. In a rare news conference at his embassy, Lu Shumin defended the Chinese military's crackdown on Tibetan protesters that has brought calls for a boycott of this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing. "The Dalai Lama has presented himself to be a peaceful, angel-like figure, for such a long time," Lu said. "If you look at what the Dalai Lama is, what Tibet was like before 1959, you will find out really what Dalai Lama was and still is." Asked why many in Western countries support Tibetans' protests against rule by China, Lu said the Dalai Lama "has been telling lies to the world for decades." Lu also said that "any remarks made accusing China of so-called human rights suppression, I consider that irresponsible and inappropriate, and it's interference in China's internal issues." Dermod Travis, executive director of the Canada Tibet Committee, said Chinese officials around the world are trying "to tear down the Dalai Lama in some belief that this will advance their authoritarian approach to the human rights questions in China." The Dalai Lama is lauded in much of the world as a figure of moral authority, but Beijing demonizes the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and claims he seeks to destroy China's sovereignty by pushing for independence for Tibet. The Dalai Lama says he wants "real autonomy" for Tibet, not independence. Living in exile in India, he is immensely popular in the Himalayan region, which Beijing has ruled with a heavy hand since communist Chinese troops took control in 1951.
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