By Conrad Richter

TORONTO, April 2, CTC A Chinese propaganda magazine, "China's Tibet," continues to exploit the Shugden controversy in an effort to score points against the Dalai Lama and his exile government. For the second consecutive issue (No. 1, 1997), the Shugden controversy is the lead story.

In an article by Su Si, the Dalai Lama is accused of stirring a religious controversy to "beef up his political and economic control" of "overseas monks". The Dalai Lama's disciples "obey him on religious matters, [but] they do not follow his order to the letter politically", Su alleges. The Dalai Lama "feels impotent to exercise direct control" for "his cause" of winning Tibetan independence.

Su recounts the formation of the "Support Shugden Group" in Delhi in April 1996 (likely referring to the Dorje Shugden Devotees Charitable & Religious Society formed in Delhi and linked to the Shugden Supporters Community of the United Kingdom). Su repeats the Shugden group's claim that the Dalai Lama is exercising "religious dictatorship" and describes how the group used newspapers, radio stations, the Internet, and demonstrations to spread its views.

In a separate unsigned editorial in the same issue of "China's Tibet" the aims of the magazine are clarified for readers. The self-congratulatory article, celebrating eight years of publishing, outlines the magazine's goals to "inform the world of developments in Tibet" and to "bring to light how the Dalai Lama and his clique are working for the separation of Tibet from the motherland."

If photographs of the same issue are any indication, the magazine protrays a Tibet increasingly dominated by Chinese culture. In photographs that show local signage, all signs were in Chinese only. The front entrance of the new Tibetan Hospital for Infectious Disease in Lhasa has a large sign in Chinese only. A satellite television ground station in Ngari is shown having Chinese-only signage also. Even a modern thangka-like painting commemorating "Harmony Between Yuan Dynasty and Tibet" has commentary painted on it in Chinese only.

Veteran observers have long dismissed "China's Tibet" as blatant communist propaganda. But the publication is growing in size and sophistication. Articles appear to be more responsive to criticisms of Chinese policies in Tibet. Formerly a quarterly, it is now a bimonthly circulated to more than 100 countries. Although it claims to have been honoured as "one of China's best social science journals" it still does not give any of the names of the publishing and editorial staff.