Published by: World Tibet Network News, Wednesday September 4 1996

OSLO, Sept 3 (Reuter) - The Oslo-based radio station Voice of Tibet (VOT) said on Tuesday China was jamming its short-wave broadcasts to the Chinese-ruled region and other parts of Asia.

Oeystein Alme, VOT project manager in Norway, said he had asked Norwegian authorities to protest the blockade.

The Chinese state radio station, Radio China International, began the jamming on August 30 by broadcasting from Beijing on the same frequency, he said.

"Today I have delivered a letter to Foreign Minister Bjoern Tore Godal asking him to raise the issue with the Chinese authorities and to demand that China stops this violation of basic human rights," Alme told Reuters.

There was no immediate comment from the foreign ministry.

VOT, which began broadcasting in May, sends out a 15-minute daily programme of reports and features on politics, religion, human rights and cultural issues to Tibetans at home and exiled in India and Nepal.

"Jamming is a violation of international law and regulations to which the People Republic of China is also party," Alme said.

He said China previously jammed VOT broadcasts in July, when the radio station was forced to change frequency.

VOT programmes are delivered in three dialects from a network of producers in Norway, Italy, Britain and the United States.

Rough estimates indicate that between 60 and 80 percent of the six million Tibetans in Tibet, India and Nepal have access to a radio.

"We have many reports from the region that the bradcasts are very popular and very much appreciated by the Tibetan community," Alme said.

The Chinese army marched into Tibet in 1950 and took control of the Himalayan region. In 1959, its spiritual and temporal leader, the Dalai Lama, fled to India after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule.