The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Beijing

Monks from one of Tibetan Buddhism's most sacred temples defied China's crackdown to protest in front of visiting foreign reporters in Lhasa on Thursday, voicing their support for the Dalai Lama.

The embarrassing protest came as China again refused to hold talks with the exiled spiritual leader, after US President George W. Bush added his voice to calls for dialogue in an effort to solve the Tibetan crisis.

Two weeks of deadly demonstrations by Tibetans against China's rule of the remote Himalayan region have angered authorities in Beijing and put them under international pressure as they prepare to host the Olympics in August. China has insisted its response to the protests, the biggest challenge to its rule of Tibet in decades, has been restrained and that it has brought the situation under control.