Chinese Anger And Terror Warnings Cloud Olympics

[Purveyor]

BEIJING (Reuters) - China said it was outraged by a resolution by U.S. lawmakers urging an end to a crackdown in Tibet as a Beijing-run newspaper linked al Qaeda to claimed plots to attack the Beijing Olympics.

The condemnation came in response to a U.S. House of Representatives resolution urging China to open dialogue with the Dalai Lama, end a crackdown on "non-violent" Tibetan protesters and halt "repression" in the region.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said her government was "strongly indignant and resolutely opposed" to the resolution passed on Wednesday with the backing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Jiang said the U.S. lawmakers should instead direct their ire at what Beijing calls the Dalai Lama's clique, which China has blamed for deadly rioting in Tibet's regional capital Lhasa on March 14 and subsequent protests across Tibetan areas.

"It is confusing black with white and is vicious-minded of certain members of the U.S. House of Representatives to not only fail to condemn the attacks, smashing, looting and arson in Lhasa ... but rather to point the spear at the Chinese government and people," Jiang said.

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China said on Thursday it had foiled "terrorist" plots to kidnap foreigners and carry out suicide attacks around the Beijing Olympics in August.

Police in Xinjiang detained 45 suspects, seized explosives and firearms and cracked two terrorist groups seeking to disrupt the Olympics, a Ministry of Public Security official said.

The Wen Wei Po, a Hong Kong newspaper backed by the mainland, said Uighur extremists were colluding with the exiled Tibetan Youth Congress and even al Qaeda to target the Beijing Games.

"Al Qaeda, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and Tibetan Youth Congress are all planning to make the Beijing Olympic Games the target of terror attacks, and have strengthened collusion and collaboration," said the paper in a commentary.

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