The 14th Dalai Lama encourages deluded lamas and lay followers to engage in self-immolation, says a white paper issued on Wednesday.

In August 2011, the new leader of the so-called Tibetan government-in-exile announced a new commitment to non-violence, says the white paper entitled Tibet's Path of Development Is Driven by an Irresistible Historical Tide.

"Subsequently, the Dalai group leadership began to incite Tibetan lamas and lay followers inside China to engage in acts of self-immolation, leading to a series of such incidents in a number of regions," says the white paper issued by the Information Office of the State Council.

On May 29, 2012, at a Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) candlelight rally to commemorate Tibetans who had conducted self-immolations, its head claimed, "Tibetan independence will neither fall from the sky nor grow from the earth; rather it relies on our efforts and action and needs sacrifice," the white paper says.

From September 25 to 28, 2012, the Dalai group convened the "Second Special Meeting of Tibetans in Exile", describing self-immolation as the highest form of non-violence, hailing its unfortunate victims as "national heroes," building memorials and raising special funds for them, it says.

For a period that ensued, the Dalai group vigorously preached that "self-immolation does not go against Buddhist doctrine" and that "self-immolation is martyrdom and Bodhisattva deeds," duping Buddhist believers in Tibet - and particularly innocent young people - and setting them on a path of ruin.

"The inevitable result was a sudden increase in self-immolations," it says.

Investigations by China's public security organs into incidents of self-immolation revealed clearly that they are being manipulated and instigated at the highest level by the Dalai group, according to the white paper.

The Dalai group has also released the "Self-immolation Guide on the Internet" - an instruction manual to incite Tibetans residing within China to burn themselves, it says.

"Inflicting self-immolation in public is itself an act of violence, intended to create an atmosphere of terror and horror," the white paper says.

In order to safeguard people's rights and defend the dignity of the law, the Chinese government has taken a series of measures to stop self-immolation, save innocent lives, and bring the criminals involved in these incidents to justice in accordance with the law, according to the white paper.

Special:

Editor: Lucia Su