published by: World Tibet Network News, Thursday,November 30, 1995

BEIJING, Nov 30 (Reuter) - Chinese police have seized banned publications which promoted the idea of splitting Tibet from China, an official newspaper said on Thursday.

Police raided wholesalers in the central Chinese city of Xian on November 1 and found 11 stores illegally selling not only the publications about Tibet but also pirated pornographic material, the Legal Daily said.

About 2,200 copies of the publications and audio-visual products were seized, the newspaper said.

The newspaper did not identify the "Small Living Buddha," a boy reincarnation of a Tibetan holy lama, nor did it say how the publications promoted splitting Tibet from China. It gave no reason for the delay in reporting the seizure.

Beijing on Wednesday named six-year-old Gyaicain Norbu as Tibet's new Panchen Lama.

The move was a direct challenge to the choice of the Dalai Lama, who had earlier selected another six-year-old boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. The Dalai Lama has said he cannot change his choice.