<< Palden Choetso

The series of self-immolations, unprecedented in Tibetan Buddhism’s modern history, has continued despite an increasingly large Chinese security presence in the predominantly ethnic Tibetan area.

The protests against Chinese government policies — including claims of oppression of Tibetan culture, language and religion — have resulted in official condemnation of what Beijing sees as a conspiracy by exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

The nun, Palden Choetso, shouted “Long live the Dalai Lama” and “Let the Dalai Lama return to Tibet,” according to a report relayed to the London-based rights group Free Tibet.

China's state-owned Xinhua news agency reacted by reporting that, “initial police investigation showed that the case was masterminded and instigated by the Dalai Lama clique, which had plotted a chain of self-immolations in the past months.”

About 35-years-old, according to Xinhua, Palden Choetso was from a nunnery in north Sichuan and reportedly carried out the self-immolation at a road crossing just before 1 p.m. Xinhua listed her identity as Qiu Xiang – a Mandarin Chinese name.