The Dalai Lama, 73, has offered to resign as the political head of his movement-in-exile, if this stops the continuing violence by his supporters and the accusations by the Chinese government against him.

Talking to reporters in Dharamsala on Tuesday, Dalai Lama said his only option was to resign if violence continued.

The Dalai Lama’s comments came hours after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao blamed him for the violence in Tibet and said Beijing would hold talks with the spiritual leader only if he gave up independence ambitions for his homeland.

The spiritual head of the Tibetans living in exile in India has also refuted the Chinese claims that he was behind violence in Tibet.

“It can be investigated by the Chinese,” Dalai Lama said.

An aide of the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Takhla, said that if the Tibetans were to choose the path of violence he would have to quit because he was completely committed to non-violence.

He would resign as the political leader and head of state, but not as the Dalai Lama. He would always be the Dalai Lama, the reincarnated spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao defended the crackdown on Lhasa, capital of the mainly Buddhist mountain region, and on ethnic Tibetan areas of neighbouring provinces where protests have erupted.

"There is ample fact and plenty of evidence proving this incident was organised, premeditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique," Wen told a news conference in Beijing.

"This has all the more revealed the consistent claims by the Dalai clique that they pursue not independence but peaceful dialogue are nothing but lies."

After days of anti-China protests led by monks, the unrest in Lhasa turned violent on Friday.

Mobs attacked non-Tibetan Chinese in the streets and set fire to shops and cars, in scenes sure to horrify a Chinese Communist leadership anxious to present an image of national harmony in the build-up to the Beijing Olympics.

The Dalai Lama says he does not seek independence for Tibet but wants autonomy within China, which sent troops into the region in 1950.