By Mure Dickie

BEIJING, Oct 2 (Reuter) - A senior Tibetan official has praised China's garrison in the restive Himalayan region as a "steel Great Wall" defending the nation against separatists loyal to the exiled Dalai Lama and his Western supporters.

The People's Liberation Army had played a vital role in smashing pro-independence campaigns by supporters of the exiled spiritual leader, Beijing's greatest rival for Tibetan loyalties, said chairman of the Tibet People's Congress, Raidi.

"In the war against the splittist plans of the Dalai Lama clique, the troops stationed in Tibet are a staunch pillar defending Tibetan stability and a Great Wall of steel guarding the unity of the motherland," Raidi said.

"The troops stationed in Tibet...are the greatest obstacle in the way of the splittist schemes and activities of the splittist forces," the official Tibet Daily quoted Raidi as telling a Tibet military region Communist Party congress.

Opposition to Beijing rule among Tibetans has led to sporadic riots, an underground protest movement and a spate of bombings in the vast but sparsely populated mountain region.

Beijing blames supporters of the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, for instigating the protests and has fought back with harsh military action, the arrest of activists and new controls on religion.

"Since the 1959 betrayal and flight, the Dalai Lama clique has collaborated with Western enemy forces and consistently engaged in activities for 'Tibetan independence'," Raidi said in the report in the September 24 edition of the newspaper available in Beijing on Wednesday.

"The troops stationed in Tibet have made great contributions in the two basic tasks of opposing outside aggression and internal splittism," he said in his speech to the congress.

The army had resolutely crushed riots in Lhasa instigated by separatists and had smashed plans by Dalai Lama supporters for a "peaceful advance," he said but gave no details.

China's diplomatic sensitivities over Tibet have been raised in recent months by a series of high profile visits by the Dalai Lama to Western countries.