Zhang Qingli, Tibet's hardline Communist Party boss, repeated government claims that riots in Tibet in March were instigated by the "Dalai clique" - Communist jargon for his supporters, who were intent on causing a bloodbath.

"The March 14 incident was planned for a long time by the Dalai clique with the support and instigation of hostile Western forces," the Tibet Daily paraphrased Zhang as telling a visiting delegation of a disabled organisation.

The Dalai Lama has denied the charge.

"They harboured the evil intention of turning the incident into a bloodbath, of disrupting the Beijing Olympics and destroying Tibet's stability and political harmony," he added.

But other state media was largely silent on the talks, which could burnish the country's international image weeks before the Beijing Olympics, referring only to Foreign Ministry comments that China opposed any nation's leader meeting the Dalai Lama.

It is their second closed-door meeting since rioting erupted in Tibet in March and heaped international pressure on China to deal with the Nobel laureate, who fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule.

The current round of talks, the sixth since 2002 and delayed by three weeks in the wake of China's deadliest earthquake in three decades, was preceded by a glut of goodwill, arguably somewhat more from the Dalai Lama's side than China's.

During a trip to Britain in May, he said he was willing to attend the Aug 8-24 Beijing Olympics if talks between his envoys and China yielded results. He did not elaborate.

But a Chinese source with ties to the leadership said an Olympic invite for the Dalai Lama or a summit with President Hu Jintao was out of the question unless Hu can mollify conservatives in his ruling Communist Party.

The Dalai Lama says he wants autonomy for the Himalayan region. But China is unconvinced and brands him a separatist.

"It's a bit awkward. The Dalai Lama never actually claimed to have sponsored any of these protests and came out and said they couldn't really control them," said Dru Gladney, president of the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College, California.

"So if they say we won't allow any more protests and then protests erupt, naturally then it shows they can't really control them."

Anti-Chinese protesters had disrupted the international leg of the Olympic torch relay and Chinese studying or living abroad staged counter-protests.

The government-in-exile has urged Tibetans to stop protesting outside Chinese embassies and consulates worldwide.

In a concession, Chinese authorities have freed many Tibetans detained in the wake of the rioting, a source with knowledge of the releases said, requesting anonymity.