"What I have seen and heard in Tibet completely differed from the distorted propaganda by the Dalai Lama," a renowned Spanish Tibetologist has said.

The March 14 riot in Lhasa in 2008, involving violent crimes against people and property, was premeditated and masterminded by followers of the Dalai Lama, Inaki Preciado Idoeta told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"But the Dalai Lama neither made an apology for the riot nor condemned those who perpetrated the violence," said Precidao Idoeta, one of the first Spanish diplomats to China and also a famous sinologist in Spain.

He has visited Tibet several times since the 1990s and also temporarily lived there for his research.

"I can speak Chinese and the Tibetan language and communicate well with the local people, so I can get first-hand materials about the region," he said.

Commenting on Dalai Lama's accusation that the Chinese government has destroyed the Tibetan culture and language and the Tibetan people have no freedom of religion, he said that was an excuse used by the Dalai Lama to split the country.

"Under the current education system in the autonomous region, all the Tibetan students are required to learn the Tibetan language during the nine-year period of compulsory education," he said.

"Many books and magazines in Tibet are also compiled in the Tibetan language. All these show that the Tibetan culture has been well protected and inherited," the scholar said.

Talking about the plan of the so called "Tibet government-in-exile" to hold "a series of commemorative events" from this March to the next, Preciado Idoeta said the Dalai clique needed to do something after receiving large amounts of money from western anti-China forces.

They will not stop making trouble because the clique has an entire network of international anti-China forces and the support from some western media, he added.

Some western media have been playing a shameful role in the past years by distorting truth on Tibet, deceiving readers and spreading those malicious rumors last year, the Spanish expert said.

An article will be published without hesitation if it criticizes the Chinese government and supports the Dalai Lama, however, the objective reports written by people who know the truth about Tibet are hard to appear in those media, he said.

The western people are blindfolded owing to those biased reports and China should try to get them shake off those wrong ideas. China should take measures to boost its overseas reports and introductions on Tibet, as to make people know the current situation in Tibet in a better and comprehensive way, Preciado Idoeta said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2009)