COMMUNIST PARTY TO GUIDE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN TIBET, SAYS CHINA

BEIJING/SYDNEY: China will uphold the leadership of the Communist Party in Tibet to further its economic development, and guide Tibetan society in accordance to socialism, the region’s top official said on Saturday.

Chinese troops entered Tibet in 1950, and a year later, the Chinese government formally gained control over the region and its devoutly Buddhist Tibetans. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule. “First and foremost we must uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China,” said Tibet’s party secretary Wu Yingjie at a news conference in Beijing.

“Since the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, everyone has discovered that only with party leadership can Tibet continue on this road of prosperous development,” Wu said.

International support for the Tibetan community has surged in the past year with renewed support from rights groups and international governments, led by the United States. There are as many as 150,000 Tibetans living in exile.

Australia seeks access to trial of blogger Australia has asked for its officials to be given access to the trial of an Australian pro-democracy blogger detained for two years in Beijing on spying charges when he goes to court on May 27.

Foreign minister Marise Payne confirmed Australia had been notified by Chinese officials that Yang Hengjun will face trial next Thursday.

“This has been a closed and opaque process to date. As a basic standard of justice, access to the trial for observers should be a bare minimum to conform to international norms of transparency,” Payne said.