By Conrad Richter

TORONTO, July 19 -- A Chinese propaganda magazine has accused the Dalai Lama of profiting personally from his historic visit to Taiwan earlier this year. The slanderous claims are made in an editorial published in the current issue (Volume 8, No. 3) of China's Tibet.

The editorial, signed by Ping Lun, an editorialist previously unknown to the Western observers, claims the Dalai Lama "returned loaded with US$500,000" and that "reliable reports" suggest he "made" even more than this amount. "The 14th Dalai is one to be bought over" Lun writes.

China's Tibet is a propaganda magazine known to Western observers for its unbridled criticism of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan exile government. It recently gloated about a controversy over the worship of a Tibetan protector deity which cast the Dalai Lama in a bad light. It also gloated over the fact that the Chinese government succeeded in installing its own candidate for the the Panchen Lama, the second most important lama in the Tibetan politico-religious system, in place of the Dalai Lama's choice.

China's Tibet exists to promote the central Chinese government's objectives in Tibet. It mixes criticism of Dalai Lama with glowing reports of prosperity and happiness in Tibet under its stewardship. For years it ridiculed the Tibetan Buddhist system, but in recent years it has reversed itself and now has published many complimentary articles about an apparent Buddhist revival in Tibet. The magazine fails to give the name of the publisher or editor-in-chief, but judging from its editorial direction it is under the close watch of the central government in Beijing where it is published and from where it is distributed worldwide.