Published by World Tibet Network News - Tuesday, March 25, 1997

BEIJING (AP) -- China is challenging the Dalai Lama's insistence he does not advocate independence for his Tibetan homeland, saying Tuesday that the exiled religious leader was an insincere schemer.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Cui Tiankai accused the Dalai Lama of "misleading the press and confusing people's minds" while harboring his aim to split Tibet from China.

The Dalai Lama, now on his first visit to Taiwan, said he only wants Tibet to have true autonomy, not independence, from Beijing. As spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, he has said his six-day trip is religious and cultural.

But China views both the Dalai Lama and Taiwan's leaders as being bent on splitting their home regions from China. It regards Taiwan as a renegade province and suspects President Lee Teng-hui wants to lead the island to outright independence.

"Dalai on the one hand internationally spreads this argument that he does not want Tibetan independence and on the other hand everywhere engages in activities to split the motherland," Cui said.

"This proves he fundamentally lacks sincerity and has not abandoned his advocacy of so-called Tibetan independence."

Chinese troops entered Tibet in 1950. Since the Dalai Lama fled in 1959, Tibet has been subjected to waves of harsh repression. The latest campaign aims to purge Buddhist monasteries of clergy who remain loyal to the Dalai Lama and the independence cause.

Although the Dalai Lama has urged peaceful resistance to Chinese rule, the independence movement has grown more violent. At least four bombs went off in Tibet last year. The last one, on Dec. 25, damaged Lhasa government buildings and injured five people.