BEIJING, Aug 30 (Reuter) - Chinese communist leaders swept into the Tibetan capital of Lhasa ahead of a celebration marking 30 years since China formalised its rule in the rebellious Himalayan region on September 1, official media said on Wednesday.

Led by Communist Party politburo member and vice premier Wu Bangguo, the 70-strong Beijing delegation was welcomed on Tuesday by more than 6,000 local leaders, Tibetan lamas and laymen, Xinhua news agency said.

"When the plane carrying the delegation landed at Gonggar Airport around 11 a.m. amid cheers, more than 700 Tibetans, all in their best festive costumes, danced merrily, while a youth band played and lamas blew their long religious horns," it said.

Banners reading "Thank the Communist Party of China central committee and the State Council for their cordial attention" and "Thank the people of the whole country for their generous help for Tibet" fluttered in the breeze, Xinhua said.

Western reporters, who are rarely allowed into Tibet, have been denied permission to cover the anniversary of China's founding of what Beijing calls the Tibet Autonomous Region.

People's Liberation Army troops crushed an anti-China revolt in 1959 and Beijing solidified its rule over Tibet in 1965 by setting up the ostensibly autonomous government.

Tibet is nominally run by a pro-Beijing Tibetan, Gyaincain Norbu, but real power rests with its Communist Party secretary, who has always been an ethnic Han Chinese. Current party boss Chen Kuiyuan was appointed in 1992.

Since the late 1980s, Chinese troops and police have suppressed numerous anti-Chinese uprisings, usually led by lamas loyal to the exiled Tibetan Buddhist god-king, the Dalai Lama, who fled to India with thousands of followers in 1959.

China has pushed hard to modernise Tibet and graft it onto the Chinese motherland but many Tibetans resent Chinese rule and separatist, anti-Chinese sentiment still simmers.

Xinhua did not mention an explosive row embroiling Beijing and the Dalai Lama, who sparked China's fury in May by naming a six-year-old Tibetan boy as the 11th incarnation of the Panchen Lama, a senior cleric, replacing the one who died in 1989.

Accusing the Dalai Lama of fomenting Tibetan independence, Beijing branded the move illegal and void on grounds that senior lamas must be vetted by China, a custom dating back to 1792. Security in Lhasa usually is tightened sharply during Buddhist holidays and politically sensitive anniversaries, especially when senior Beijing leaders are visiting.

Xinhua said Wu Bangguo was met by party, government and army officials and by Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai, a government adviser and vice chairman of the standing committee of the National People's Congress, China's rubber stamp parliament.

"Tibetan residents presented each of the delegation members with a hada, a piece of silk used as a greeting among members of the Tibetan nationality, and jubilant Tibetan children presented the delegation with fresh flowers," Xinhua said. REUTER