Published by: World Tibet Network News, Tuesday, August 13, 1996

By Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING, Aug 12 (Reuter) - A senior Tibetan official defended China's rule on Monday, brushing aside allegations that an influx of ethnic Han Chinese was diluting the population of the restive Himalayan region.

A recent sample survey showed that Tibet's population stood at 2.389 million as of October 1, 1995, up 193,000 from July 1, 1990, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Han Chinese accounted for 3.3 percent of Tibet's 1995 population, down from 3.7 percent from 1990, Xinhua quoted Raidi, chairman of the standing committee of Tibet's regional People's Congress, as saying.

"From this we can see that the ratio of Han people to Tibet's population has shown an annual tendency towards decline," Raidi said.

The region's exiled god-king, the Dalai Lama, and Western human rights groups have accused China of orchestrating the systematic emigration of millions of Han Chinese -- the country's predominant ethnic group -- to the vast but thinly populated regions of Tibet as well as Xinjiang in the northwest.

Raidi rejected allegations by exiled Tibetans that "officials from other parts of China sent to work in Tibet serve as tools of the Chinese government to strengthen its rule in Tibet," Xinhua said.

Those holding such views either did not know the actual conditions in Tibet or harboured ill intentions, he said.

"Officials and technicians sent by the central government...are helping Tibet expand its economy," he said.

Last year, 591 officials from other parts of China went to Tibet to work for three years.

Raidi said 168 workers from other parts of China were expected to travel to Tibet later this year, most specialising in culture, education, science, technology, public health or enterprise management.

The survey showed that about 30,000 people from other parts of China worked in Tibet between January 1990 and May 1995, he said, adding that they were engaged primarily in commercial activities and moved frequently around the region.

Tibet has been rocked by periodic unrest, with many monks and nuns jailed for rioting. Many Tibetans still revere the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Beijing.

Chinese authorities launched a campaign recently to teach Tibetan monks and nuns to love the communist government to counter the Dalai Lama's alleged attempt to split Tibet from China, said an edition of the Tibet Daily seen in Beijing on Monday.