China is damaging its own international credibility by prohibiting journalists from entering its Tibetan regions, the dissidents added.

Yesterday the official Chinese media alleged that the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, was manipulating the protests in a bid to take the Beijing Olympics “hostage.”

The administrative leader of Tibet, Qiangba Puncog, was quoted as saying that China must completely defeat “secessionist forces” to “ensure a successful Olympic Games.”