would take them across the Chinese border and into Tibet were arrested by Indian police and detained.

Unfortunately for Beijing the worst was far from over. The international shows of solidarity for the Tibetan cause set off a wave of protests throughout Tibet itself, and for the first time in decades the Chinese authorities were faced with the prospect of a new Buddhist revolt.

Initially it was limited to only a couple of monasteries outside the capital, but by Wednesday eyewitnesses were describing monks on the streets of Lhasa waving Tibetan flags, and chanting 'Free our people!' The Chinese Foreign Ministry released a statement on Thursday saying the police had dealt with 'the few monks' who had been making a disturbance but photos confirmed monks were destroying Chinese-owned buildings and setting cars on fire. By Friday there

were reports of fatalities.

China will have to act carefully. Beijing is desperate to show the world it can deal with dissent using anything other than brute force, but it knows that prolonged turmoil in Tibet could inspire similar scenes in the mainly Muslim Xinjiang region where separatist sentiments are rife. If China enters into the Olympics while fighting more than one popular uprising, it will appear to the world as an oppressive regime. Its billion-dollar makeover will have failed.

The Chinese government has tried hard to convince the world that the Dalai Lama is in fact some kind of dangerous agitator. Much to Beijing's chagrin the world's media have never seen it this way, and the Tibetan cause has benefited as a result. China may be left with no choice but to reach out to the Dalai Lama for the sake of domestic harmony.