China steps up fight against Tibetan separatism
During his trip, Li also visited the Potala Palace, once the home to the Dalai Lama
BEIJING, July 22, 2012 (AFP) - China's propaganda chief has ordered officials to intensify the fight against separatism in Tibet, a report said Sunday, following a series of self-immolations in protest at Beijing's rule. Li Changchun, ranked fifth in the hierarchy of the ruling Communist Party, called for the campaign during an inspection tour of Lhasa, where he visited the Jokhang Temple, the centre of Tibetan Buddhism, the People's Daily reported.
“The lifeblood of Tibet rests in ethnic unity, social harmony and stability,” the paper quoted Li as saying during his visit to the Himalayan region last week.
“We must guide officials and the people to continually strengthen their understanding of the great (Chinese) motherland and people, and deepen and expand the fight against separatism.”
Li, China's top propaganda official, also urged an education campaign to “underscore the historic fact that Tibet is an inseparable part of China”, and which should form “the ideological basis for the fight against separatism and the maintenance of stability”.
During his trip, Li also visited the Potala Palace, once the home to the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's highest spiritual leader who fled Tibet following a failed uprising in 1959.