By Conrad Richter

TORONTO, Feb 5 -- A Chinese government propaganda magazine has an article on the Shugden controversy that has plagued the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan exile government. The latest issue (volume 7, number 6) of "China's Tibet" magazine recounts events leading to the recent friction between devotees of the Tibetan Buddhist protector deity, Dorje Shugden, and the Dalai Lama's Tibetan exile government in Dharamsala.

Calling the Dalai Lama a "self-styled believer in 'religious freedom'," the two page article by Wei Se ridicules the Dalai Lama for his "staunch disavowal" of an "innocent guardian of Tibetan Buddhist doctrine" and for having "declared a virtual war against a holy spirit of the Gelug Sect."

Wei goes on to describe the events of a public lecture on Buddhism given by the Dalai Lama in March 1996 in which a "hysterical Dalai Lama yelled that anyone unwilling to obey his will should leave." Later that year, according to Wei, the "Dalai's cronies rushed to areas in India and Nepal inhabited by Tibetans" and "forced Tibetans to obey the Dalai's order."

China's Tibet, published in English in Beijing and distributed by subscription worldwide, has never admitted to China's abuses of human rights and its forceful occupation of Tibet. Despite recent favourable coverage of Buddhism in Tibet, it ignores China's dark history of religious repression and wanton destruction of monasteries and temples.

Even to casual observers of Tibet, the magazine is clearly intended to promote China's claim on Tibet. The Tibetan exile communities are referred to as the "Dalai clique," and wherever possible it repeats the Chinese government's claim that it liberated Tibet by ending "feudal serfdom" and the "dictatorship of lamas and nobles."

The magazine attempts to portray China's hold on Tibet as benevolent, extolling economic and social advances and showing photographs of contented Tibetans. Tibetans, however, are rarely protrayed in positions of responsibility. Even the magazine itself is dominated by Chinese writers and photographers as only 37% of articles and 22% of photographs in the most recent issue are attributed to Tibetans.