Published by: World Tibet Network News Wednesday, December 17, 1997

BEIJING, Dec 13 (AFP) - Chinese authorities have called for tougher action against Tibetan separatists whom they say are becoming more active and harder to control.

"The conflict between the separatists and the counter-separatists becomes more and more active and difficult," warned a front-page editorial in the Tibet Daily, received here Saturday.

"We have to continue resisting the disturbances. Fighting separatist activities is a long-term battle and is an important task for the Tibetan government," said the newspaper in its December 4 issue.

China has ordered its campaign against the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, to be extended to all areas of Tibetan society to eliminate his influence.

Beijing's top officials in Tibet have in recent weeks increased their attacks on the Dalai Lama, calling the fight against him a "matter of life or death."

The 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who lives in exile in northern India, fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

"The Dalai Lama is the chief of the political gang seeking independence of the region," the editorial said.

"The Dalai Lama is the origin of the trouble in Tibet. He has not changed his counter-revolutionary nature. He will continue to oppose us and pursue these separatist activities of agitation," it added.

"We have to be vigilant and continue our patriotic education in the temples and in the rest of society.

"The firm fight against the Dalai Lama must be carried out in the education, cultural and religious domains. We should attack with force all separatist activities and disturbances".

China's recent crackdown against "hidden reactionaries" targeted monks and nuns in Tibetan Buddhist temples whom authorities accused of secretly sympathizing with the Dalai Lama.

"We have already punished severely the separatists hidden amongst the monks," Raidi (eds: one name), the Chinese Communist Party's number two in Tibet, said in a speech last month to local party members.

China's hardline policy on Tibet has been widely criticised. President Jiang Zemin's recent US visit was marred by noisy protests from human rights and religious activists supporting Tibetan independence and culture.

Washington sparked complaints from Beijing when it appointed a special coordinator for US policy in the troubled Himalayan region, which China has controlled since 1949.