Published by: World Tibet Network News ISSUE ID: 97/10/21

Reuters 21,OCT,97

HONG KONG, Oct 21 (Reuters) - The Hong Kong government said on Tuesday two new Hollywood movies about Tibet which have upset Beijing are within the law and can be shown in the former British colony.

``Under existing laws there is nothing to prevent these movies from being exhibited or shown in Hong Kong,'' the Secretary for Recreation and Culture, Brian Chow, told reporters.

Some film distributors in Hong Kong, wary about upsetting China said on Monday they would not show two new Hollywood movies on Tibet and its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

One distributor said bluntly he was afraid of angering Beijing while others gave no specific reason for their decision.

Hong Kong became part of China in July after 156 years of British rule. The fate of the films here is the latest in a string of incidents in the media this year that have aroused concern about China-relate self-censorship.

China has made clear it strongly opposes the movies, which portray the life of the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 when Chinese troops overran Tibet and suppressed a bloody anti-Beijing revolt.

The two movies deal with the life of the Dalai Lama and China's occupation of the ``roof of the world'' region which Beijing regards as historically Chinese sovereign territory.

The first film, ``Seven Years in Tibet'' directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and starring Brad Pitt and David Thewlis, opened in the United States last Wednesday.

The second, ``Kundun,'' made by the Walt Disney Company and directed by Martin Scorsese, is based on an authorised biography of the Dalai Lama. It opens in the United States at Christmas.

The Chinese government has denounced Kundun and threatened Disney with commercial retaliation if it goes ahead and releases the movie. Disney has refused to back down.