Updated on Friday, November 21, 2008, 00:00 IST

Beijing, Nov 21: China launched a new attack on the Dalai Lama's drive for Tibetan autonomy on Friday, vowing not to compromise with leaders of the Tibetan exile community meeting to debate the future of their movement.

An editorial in the official Tibet Daily newspaper denounced the Nobel peace laureate's "middle way" proposal that the region be granted control over its internal affairs while remaining a part of China.

It said that approach was tantamount to seeking outright independence for the region, which China insists has been part of its territory for 700 years. Many Tibetans say they were effectively independent for most of that time before Chinese forces invaded shortly after the 1949 communist revolution.

The Dalai Lama's "so-called 'middle way' is a naked expression of 'Tibet independence' aimed at nakedly spreading the despicable plot of opposing the tide of history,'' the statement said.

The editorial appeared aimed at sending a clear message to exile Tibetans meeting this week that China will not yield in its hard-line approach.

The gathering in the Indian hill town of Dharmsala, the base of the self-declared government-in-exile, has exposed rifts between many young Tibetans who advocate a declaration of independence from China and the older guard, who stand by the Dalai Lama's path of compromise.

The divide was sharpened by a March uprising of Tibetans across western China that marked the biggest challenge to Chinese rule in Tibet in nearly two decades.

Last month's talks between China and representatives of the Dalai Lama produced no progress and in their wake, China has ratcheted up its rhetoric against the Dalai Lama and his proposals. Beijing has sought to portray the spiritual leader as a ruthless autocrat who would carry out ethnic cleansing in Tibetan areas and reintroduce the region's traditional feudal theocracy.

''Throughout the 'middle way' can be found distortions of history, ignoring of facts, and deviations from our constitution.

Bureau Report