China defends Tibet rule on anniversary of Dalai Lama’s exile

China has defended its heavily criticised rule in Tibet 60 years after the Dalai Lama fled into exile amid an abortive uprising against Beijing’s control, claiming those who question its policies are showing their anti-chinese bias.

China’s official Xinhua news agency said that, far from being oppressed by Beijing rule, Tibetans had enjoyed economic growth, increases in lifespan and better education in the region.

And yesterday an editorial in the Communist Party-run Tibet Daily attacked the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s traditional Buddhist leader, for what it said are his efforts to “sow chaos in Tibet” and said his “separatist plots are doomed to total failure”.

The statements in official media came as Tibetans and their supporters marked the anniversary by calling for greater international support.

The Dalai Lama has been living in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala since he fled Tibet after a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. Beijing accuses him of seeking to separate Tibet from China, which he denies.

Many Tibetans abroad say the Himalayan region’s resources are being exploited for Beijing’s benefit while Tibet’s language and unique Buddhist culture is being destroyed.

In India’s capital, New Delhi, at least 3,000 Tibetans marched through the centre of the city yesterday carrying Tibetan and Indian flags and a portrait of the Dalai Lama while calling for freedom for Tibet.

“We have come here to remind the new generation that China snatched our country ... that’s why we got together and started this movement,” said one marcher, Sonam Yougyal, 52.

Hundreds of Tibetans and Taiwanese also rallied in Taipei, the capital of the self-governing island democracy that China also claims as its territory.

Chinese rule in Tibet is believed to have grown harsher since anti-government protests in 2008 culminated in attacks on businesses and individuals of Han Chinese ethnicity, the country’s ethnic majority. The government says rioters killed 18 people. An unknown number of Tibetans were killed by security forces in the aftermath.

Recently, traditionally Tibetan regions of western China have been racked by a series of self-immolations by Buddhist clergy and lay people calling for the return of the Dalai Lama, who is now 83.

China has refused to meet the Dalai Lama or his representatives until they submit to Beijing’s authority.