Published by: THE WORLD UYGHUR NETWORK NEWS 18 September 1997

Voice of America, 9/17/97

By Stephanie Ho

China has re-emphasized its sovereignty over the restive border regions of Tibet and Xinjiang -- where Chinese authorities have worked to put down independence movements. Stephanie Ho reports officials from Tibet and Xinjiang insist there is ethnic harmony between minorities and the Han-Chinese majority.

Although China has spent hundreds-of-millions of dollars on projects in Tibet and Xinjiang, the country has had difficulty integrating minority groups.

In Tibet, ethnic Tibetans are regularly arrested for what Chinese authorities say are separatist activities. Several bombs have exploded in Xinjiang, and bombings in Beijing earlier this year are blamed on Xinjiang separatists.

The deputy secretary of the Tibet communist party committee, Raidi, says the central government has maintained its policy of freedom of religion, but admitted to some problems. He blamed bad management at temples, accusing some religious figures of being involved in pro-Tibetan independence activities.

(Chinese) "This was complicated by the factor of the serious penetration into the monasteries and temples by the separatist cliques led by the Dalai Lama."

To strengthen government management of religion in Tibet, the communist official says the government started a program of what he called patriotic education in the region's 17-hundred temples.

(Chinese) "So far, we have completed the patriotic education or the education is going on in over 900 monasteries and temples since last year. And a total of over 30-thousand lamas and nuns have received or are receiving the education on patriotism. As for the content of the education, we educate the lamas and nuns on the rule of law, on our ethnic and religious policies, as well as national unity."

In Xinjiang, Uighers are the largest minority. They are turkic-speaking muslims.

Earlier this year, Uigher separatists were accused bombings in several cities in Xinjiang. The secretary of the Xinjiang communist party committee, Wang Lequan, raised the possibility bombs that exploded in Beijing during an important meeting of the national people's congress, were not set by people from Xinjiang.

(Chinese) "You may check the Beijing daily, there is a notice there. this case is still under investigation. It has not been broken yet. So far there is no evidence indicating that this crime is committed by people from Xinjiang. Besides, bombing is not a monopoly for people from Xinjiang."

All the Chinese officials were quick to point out that the source of separatist activities in Tibet or in Xinjiang came from what they called outside forces -- which is their way of saying the unrest was instigated outside China.