Joining others, US President George W Bush has asked his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao to talk to the Dalai Lama’s side on the Tibet issue but the latter said they would do so only if the Tibetan spiritual leader “truly” abandoned his quest for ‘Tibet independence.’

“President Bush telephoned President Hu Jintao of China today. The President raised his concerns about the situation in Tibet and encouraged the Chinese government to engage in substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama’s representatives and to allow access for journalists and diplomats,” a statement by the White House said.

“The President pushed very hard on concern about violence in Tibet, the need for restraint, the need for consultation with representatives of the Dalai Lama. As you know, there have been consultations between Chinese authorities and representatives of the Dalai Lama in the past,” National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said.

“Those have been suspended. The President urged that those be restored as part of a process for Chinese authorities to addressing, reaching out to and addressing the grievance of the people in Tibet” Hadley said in a briefing on Wednesday.

Hu told Bush that the Dalai Lama should especially stop activities to “fan and mastermind” violent crimes in Tibet as well as in some regions and to sabotage the Beijing Olympics in August and accept Tibet and Taiwan as inseparable parts of China.

The riots in Lhasa were “by no means peaceful demonstrations or activities of non-violence as claimed by the Dalai Lama clique but were undisguised serious and violent crimes”, the official Xinhua news agency quoted the Chinese President as telling Bush. Justifying the Chinese action to quell the unrest, Hu said, “no responsible government would sit by and watch when faced with this kind of violent crime, which gravely violated human rights, seriously disrupted social order and seriously endangered the safety of public life and property”. Sending a strong message to China, French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday suggested that he might boycott the upcoming summer Olympics over China’s crackdown in Tibet. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had announced that he would meet the Dalai Lama.