Sunday Times 2
Beijing vows to step up fight against Dalai Lama
View(s):BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s top official in charge of religious groups and ethnic minorities vowed on Tuesday to step up the fight against exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, as a rights group reported police shootings of monks marking his birthday.
The comments by Yu Zhengsheng, number four in the ruling Communist Party’s hierarchy, appear aimed at thwarting speculation that China’s new leadership could take a softer line on the Dalai Lama.
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama at his 78th birthday celebrations at Bylakuppe, India (Reuters)
Beijing considers the Dalai Lama, who fled China in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule, a violent separatist. The Dalai Lama, who is based in India, says he is merely seeking greater autonomy for his Himalayan homeland.
Visiting a heavily Tibetan area of the western province of Gansu, Yu told local officials and religious leaders that the Dalai Lama’s separatist activities ran counter to the country’s interests and to Buddhist tradition.
“For the sake of national unity and the development of stability in Tibetan regions, we must take a clear-cut stand and deepen the struggle against the Dalai clique,” the official Xinhua news agency cited Yu as saying.
Buddhist leaders must be guided to oppose separatism and any efforts to damage the Communist Party’s leadership, added Yu, who is head of a largely ceremonial advisory body to parliament which aims at coopting religious and minority groups.
Yu repeated that ties with the Dalai Lama could only improve if he openly recognised that Tibet has been a part of China since ancient times and abandoned his Tibetan independence activities, Xinhua reported.
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