There have been no self-immolation cases among local Tibetan monks so far, a high-ranking official from the Tibet Autonomous Region said on Sunday. 

"Among 1,700 monasteries and 46,000 monks in the autonomous region, there isn't one monk or local resident who self-immolated since similar events were plotted by the Dalai Lama clique," Padma Choling, chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of the Tibet Autonomous Region, told reporters on Sunday during a discussion session at the National People's Congress.

His remarks came after a string of self-immolations were reported in neighboring Tibetan-inhabited regions almost a year ago, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Tibetan authorities have insisted that self-immolations were criminal acts premeditated, plotted and manipulated by overseas separatist forces, according to Xinhua.

In view of the growing activities of terrorism in areas such as Xinjiang, Padma Choling said that such things "won't happen in Tibet."

Padma Choling also denounced the recent meeting between US President Barack Obama and the Dalai Lama, calling it "a severe interference in China's internal affairs."

"People of all ethnic groups in Tibet oppose and condemn the meeting with the Dalai Lama by any people or any organization in any form," he said.

Xinhua contributed to this story

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