Published by: World Tibet Network News, Wednesday, Apr 17, 1996

BEIJING, April 16, 1996 (Reuter) - China denied Tuesday a recent report on human rights abuses in Tibet, saying it was intended to cause chaos in the deeply religious, Chinese-controlled region.

The International Campaign for Tibet, a private advocacy group, said in a report Monday that China was torturing monks and nuns detained for pro-independence activities and suppressing religious growth in Tibet.

"Things mentioned in that report have never happened," Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang said at a news conference Tuesday.

The Campaign for Tibet report also charged that controls on the rebuilding of temples, recruitment of monks and nuns, and the management of monasteries had been tightened since 1994.

"I'm really at a loss as to what is the basis of such a report and who has supplied such information to that organization," Shen said.

"Whoever has done it in fact has the designs of seeing chaos caused in Tibet."

He said Tibet's economy was growing rapidly, that religious rights were guaranteed and new temples were being built.

Chinese media in Tibet have recently called for tighter controls on Tibetan temples to clamp down on pro-independence propaganda and combat increased opposition to Chinese rule.

China dismisses Western concerns about human rights abuses as interference in its internal affairs and says life in Tibet has improved immeasurably since the People's Liberation Army marched into the region in 1950.