Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao has urged countries to respect facts and distinguish right and wrong concerning the riot in Lhasa.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao has urged countries to respect facts and distinguish right and wrong concerning the riot in Lhasa.

Liu made the remarks in response to some countries calling for a solution via dialogue. Liu said the action of the rioters is not a peace demonstration but a violent crime. He said the riot was organized, premeditated and fanned by the Dalai Lama clique. It not only caused heavy losses of life and property in the city but also seriously disturbed social order.

Liu said the riot exposed once again the separatist nature of the Dalai Lama clique and the hypocritical and fraudulent nature of its so-called "peace" and "non-violence" claims.

He said any attempts to split the motherland are doomed to fail, and are firmly opposed by Chinese people of all ethnic groups.

(CCTV March 19, 2008)