China on Tuesday condemned accusations made in a Spanish court that Beijing had engaged in genocide in Tibet and warned Madrid not to interfere in the region.
“First of all, this talk of genocide and killing in Tibet is a complete fabrication and a complete slander,” said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao. “Tibet is an internal affair of China and we strongly oppose any country using the so-called Tibetan issue to interfere in China’s internal affairs.”
Liu was referring to a lawsuit that opened in Spain on Monday in which Tibetan groups are seeking to have genocide charges brought against former Chinese officials. Spanish law allows prosecution of rights crimes even if they occurred abroad.
The complaint was bought by the Tibet House foundation in Barcelona, its director, Thubten Wangchen, an exiled Tibetan who is now a Spanish citizen, and a nongovernmental organization, the Tibet Support Committee.
The complaint cites a former Chinese president, Jiang Zemin, a former prime minister, Li Peng, and five other top officials as responsible for repression in Tibet.
