China ups Tibet death toll,fears unrest may spread
By Nick Macfie
BEIJING, March 22 (Reuters) - China said 19 people were killed in riots in the Tibetan capital last week and official media warned against the unrest spreading to the northwest region of Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims bridle under Chinese control.
The rising death toll comes amid mounting international concern over China's handling of the protests, overshadowing the run-up to the Beijing Olympic Games in August that the host hopes will be a celebration of its arrival as a world power.
The official Xinhua news agency on Saturday quoted officials in Tibet's capital Lhasa as saying 18 civilians and a policemen were killed in the riots, which Beijing insists were engineered by Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
It said another 58 people were seriously injured. Exiled Tibetans claim as many as 100 have died in the protests which spilled over this week into neighbouring ethnic-Tibetan areas.
PRESSED TO BE MORE OPEN
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier pressed Beijing to be more open and let the rest of the world see for itself what is happening there.
"China is only hurting itself by preventing foreign observers from seeing what is going on," he told the Bild newspaper.
Beijing has poured troops into the region but is barring foreigners from entering Tibet and some neighbouring ethnic-Tibetan areas.
U.S. presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain have both criticised China over the issue with McCain saying it was "not acceptable conduct from a world power."
Chinese officials are adamant that the discontent in Tibet, which Communist troops marched into in 1950, is being driven by the "Dalai clique" of exiled Tibetans intent on independence and the official media has stepped up criticism of the Dalai Lama.
Xinhua quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang as saying that "China firmly opposes any encouragement or support for the secessionist attempt of the Dalai's clique".
The Beijing Times said pro-Tibet independence elements had attacked 17 Chinese embassies consulates in the United States, Europe, Australia and India since the monk-led protests.
The attacks occurred almost simultaneously, an "obvious" sign they were planned and organised by the Dalai clique, it quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao as saying.
The English-language China Daily dedicated its front page to a report and graphic illustrating what it said was inaccurate or biased reporting in the West which put China in a bad light.
GREATER AUTONOMY
The Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, denies he wants anything more than greater autonomy for his homeland, has criticised the violent protests and offered to come to Beijing for talks with Chinese officials.
China has put a security blanket over the remote Tibetan region, fearful the protests -- which some analysts say also have their roots in the economic gap with the Han Chinese -- could spread to other parts of the country.
The official media of the northwest region of Xinjiang warned against outbreaks of unrest there inspired by Tibetan protests.
"No matter whether it's Tibetan independence, Xinjiang independence or Taiwanese independence, their goal is all the same -- to create chaos and split the motherland," said a commentary on the official Xinjiang news Web site (www.tianshannet.com).
"China and Beijing's holding of the Olympic Games in 2008 has led separatists at home and abroad to believe they have a golden opportunity. To put it bluntly, if they don't wreck things, they won't feel comfortable, because they won't have achieved their goal of spoiling China's image." (Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)
BEIJING, March 22 (Reuters) - China said 19 people were killed in riots in the Tibetan capital last week and official media warned against the unrest spreading to the northwest region of Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims bridle under Chinese control.
The rising death toll comes amid mounting international concern over China's handling of the protests, overshadowing the run-up to the Beijing Olympic Games in August that the host hopes will be a celebration of its arrival as a world power.
The official Xinhua news agency on Saturday quoted officials in Tibet's capital Lhasa as saying 18 civilians and a policemen were killed in the riots, which Beijing insists were engineered by Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
It said another 58 people were seriously injured. Exiled Tibetans claim as many as 100 have died in the protests which spilled over this week into neighbouring ethnic-Tibetan areas.
PRESSED TO BE MORE OPEN
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier pressed Beijing to be more open and let the rest of the world see for itself what is happening there.
"China is only hurting itself by preventing foreign observers from seeing what is going on," he told the Bild newspaper.
Beijing has poured troops into the region but is barring foreigners from entering Tibet and some neighbouring ethnic-Tibetan areas.
U.S. presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain have both criticised China over the issue with McCain saying it was "not acceptable conduct from a world power."
Chinese officials are adamant that the discontent in Tibet, which Communist troops marched into in 1950, is being driven by the "Dalai clique" of exiled Tibetans intent on independence and the official media has stepped up criticism of the Dalai Lama.
Xinhua quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang as saying that "China firmly opposes any encouragement or support for the secessionist attempt of the Dalai's clique".
The Beijing Times said pro-Tibet independence elements had attacked 17 Chinese embassies consulates in the United States, Europe, Australia and India since the monk-led protests.
The attacks occurred almost simultaneously, an "obvious" sign they were planned and organised by the Dalai clique, it quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao as saying.
The English-language China Daily dedicated its front page to a report and graphic illustrating what it said was inaccurate or biased reporting in the West which put China in a bad light.
GREATER AUTONOMY
The Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, denies he wants anything more than greater autonomy for his homeland, has criticised the violent protests and offered to come to Beijing for talks with Chinese officials.
China has put a security blanket over the remote Tibetan region, fearful the protests -- which some analysts say also have their roots in the economic gap with the Han Chinese -- could spread to other parts of the country.
The official media of the northwest region of Xinjiang warned against outbreaks of unrest there inspired by Tibetan protests.
"No matter whether it's Tibetan independence, Xinjiang independence or Taiwanese independence, their goal is all the same -- to create chaos and split the motherland," said a commentary on the official Xinjiang news Web site (www.tianshannet.com).
"China and Beijing's holding of the Olympic Games in 2008 has led separatists at home and abroad to believe they have a golden opportunity. To put it bluntly, if they don't wreck things, they won't feel comfortable, because they won't have achieved their goal of spoiling China's image." (Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)
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