China has launched an "education" campaign in Tibet it says is designed to undermine support for the Dalai Lama and any separatist sentiment.

The Tibet Daily newspaper said the campaign was to "unify the thinking...

The initiative follows violent clashes last month between police and monks in Tibet, and pro-Tibetan demonstrations around the world.

Beijing has accused the Dalai Lama of inciting unrest - claims he has denied.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, who lives in exile in India, insists he Western media 'demonises' China ...
Olympics: China boycott ruled out ... has no political role and played no part in the protests by Tibetan Buddhist monks that erupted into rioting in the main city Lhasa.

But he condemned the Chinese crackdown that followed, and accused Beijing of committing "cultural genocide" in Tibet.

Tibetan sympathisers and human rights activists have since used the worldwide tour of the Olympic torch to protest against Beijing's hosting of the Olympic Games this August.

Security tightened

China's Communist Party has long used what it calls "patriotic education campaigns" to impose discipline and reinforce its authority, says the BBC's Daniel Griffiths in Beijing.

The Tibet Daily says the latest drive will include television programmes and a series of sessions in which the Dalai Lama will be denounced by Communist Party members, other officials and local people.

Campaigns requiring monks in Tibetan monasteries to denounce the Dalai Lama and declare their loyalty to Beijing have also been stepped up.

China has poured troops into Tibet and tightened its borders ahead of the passage of the Olympic flame through the territory, on its way to Mount Everest in early May.

It accuses the Dalai Lama of wanting to divide Tibet from China and sabotage the Olympics.

(BBC)

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