Washington/Beijing, Mar 27: 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 the need to -- 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 yesterday.

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". Meanwhile, Hadley denied that Hu, also General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China, brushed off Bush on Tibet. ".... It was a very lengthy exchange. And it was well prepared, and you got a good flavor of it in the release that was issues by Beijing's authorities. It was a serious conversation on really all of the issues..." Hadley said. "I thought it was interesting that President Hu said that the government was willing to continue contacts in consultation with the Dalai Lama as long as -- and, again, as he said, there's an abandonment of Tibetan independence and stopping activities that involved crimes and the use of violence. "And of course, as you know, the Dalai Lama has been very public in his views on both the issue of independence and the use of violence" the top White House official added.

".... The question is whether this will turn out to be an opening for a consultation process between Chinese authorities and representatives of the Dalai Lama. So we'll have to see..." Hadley said. So far, six rounds of informal talks have been held between Beijing and the representatives of the Dalai Lama on the Tibet issue. However, no concrete progress has been reported so far. Sending a strong message to China, French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday suggested that he might boycott the upcoming summer Olympics over China's crackdown in Tibet.