Published by: World Tibet Network News Friday, January 2, 1998
BEIJING, Jan 2 (Reuters) - China is winning its battle against separatists in Tibet, a local Communist Party official was quoted as saying on Friday.
In a New Year's message lauding the achievements of authorities in the restive Himalayan region in the past year, Yang Chuantang said that ``ethnic unity was further strengthened.''
``Tangible achievements were made in the struggle against separatism,'' Yang said in a radio message monitored by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
``The situation in various localities was further stabilised.''
In a report last month, the International Commission of Jurists said repression in the Himalayan region had been stepped up since the start of 1996, and called for a U.N.-run plebiscite to decide Tibet's future.
Chinese troops imposed Communist control on Tibet in 1950, replacing a Buddhist theocracy.
Nine years later Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled into exile after an abortive uprising. Monks and nuns have led a struggle for independence ever since.
Yang, Deputy Secretary of the regional Communist Party Committee and the second-ranking government leader, said Tibet had managed to balance ``reform, development and stability.''
``New strides were taken in the construction of socialist spiritual civilisation, as well as in democracy and the legal system. The party's policy on nationality and religion were implemented correctly and comprehensively.''
The Geneva-based jurists' committee said China had declared ``total war'' on the Dalai Lama.
Its report said ``political re-education'' had been intensified in monastaries that had survived Chinese Communist rule, and torture and other forms of violence were increasing.
Meanwhile, official Chinese media have reported that China has mounted a food relief operation in Tibet to cope with record snowfalls that have killed livestock and threatened nomadic herdsmen.
About 50,000 Tibetans were affected by the snowstorms, but no deaths have been recorded.
