- Title: CHINA: China sends troops west towards Tibet but says all is calm in Lhasa
- Date: 18th March 2008
- Summary: (BN12) BEIJING, CHINA (MARCH 17, 2008) (REUTERS) FOREIGN MINISTRY NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) LIU JIANCHAO, FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN, SAYING: "Attacking China's embassies abroad, vandalising property and endangering the lives of Chinese staff posted abroad. They are a threat to safety. It shows them up as separatists, and the Dalai Lama clique as separatist a
- Embargoed: 2nd April 2008 10:40
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA5LRFCCZOR6LB5YV3OUFVKQSSW
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: Convoys of Chinese troops head west as Tibet unrest spreads to neighbouring Chinese provinces. Chinese state television broadcasts pictures of calm streets in the Tibet capital Lhasa and Beijing condemns the recent unrest there.
Chinese troops were seen heading west on Monday (March 17) as Beijing said it had shown great restraint in the face of violent protests by Tibetans over the past week.
Throughout the day on Monday, military trucks and civilian buses were seen carrying the troops towards the direction of the western side of Sichuan province that is close to its provincial border with the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Even as the governor of Tibet said no guns were used against protesters in the regional capital, Lhasa, troops poured into neighbouring areas to enforce control after violent ethnic Tibetan protests that seem to have spread across the western region.
In Kangding, a city some 300 kilometres west of Chengdu in Sichuan province, troops were seen patrolling the streets in the city centre carrying guns and batons, in a show of force.
Police cars were parked across corners of the streets surrounding the city centre but most residents interviewed said the situation in the city was calm.
An ethnic Tibetan in Sichuan's Aba prefecture said fresh protests flared near two Tibetan schools on Monday, with hundreds of students facing off against police and troops.
The resident, who asked not be identified, said 18 people, including Buddhist monks and students, were killed when troops opened fire with guns on Sunday (March 16). Earlier a policeman was burnt to death, he said. His account could not be immediately verified.
The developments underscore how, even as China asserts iron control, the violence will hang over the country, with foreign protests, pleas for leniency and China's crackdown weighing uncomfortably on the build-up to Beijing hosting the Olympic Games in August.
In Lhasa, residents were counting down to a midnight deadline for protesters to give themselves up or face tougher punishment.
Residents contacted there said the city was under tight police watch ahead of a Monday midnight deadline for protesters to give themselves up.
Foreign reporters are barred from travelling to Tibet without official permission and tourists have been asked to leave. Over a dozen Hong Kong journalists were forced out of Lhasa on Monday after being accused of illegal reporting.
Chinese state media on Monday night broadcast pictures of Lhasa that it said had returned to normal, in the wake of protests and violence that shook the city on Friday (March 14). The images on the evening news showed a peaceful city with clean streets, and regular industry.
It also showed children happily returning to school and studying, as well as markets full of vegetables and shoppers.
The Mayor of Lhasa, Doje Cezhug, was reported to have said that most roads were running smoothly, many organisations were back at work, and the students of many schools were back in lessons.
China's ruling communist party was clearly keen to play down the chaos in the city and emphasise its success in handling the situation.
Meanwhile, China on Monday denounced attacks on its embassies by pro-Tibetan activists.
"Attacking China's embassies abroad, vandalising property and endangering the lives of Chinese staff posted abroad. They are a threat to safety. It shows them up as separatists, and the Dalai Lama clique as separatist activists working to destroy the peace and stability. We strongly condemn the violent action of Tibet independence activists," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao at a briefing in Beijing.
He called on other countries to protect China's diplomatic personnel and said authorities would put an end to any violence.
And police were quick to arrive on the scene as around 40 students staged a sitdown protest at Beijing's Central University for Nationalities.
Any student protest in Beijing is significant, bringing back memories of the pro-democracy student protests around Tiananmen Square in 1989 which were crushed by the military with great loss of life.
Teachers were urging their students to get up and leave the protest.
Guards on the gate were denying students entrance to the campus without their ID cards.
The protests in Lhasa have been the largest since protests in 1989 that rocked the capital.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959 and set up a government-in-exile in Dharamsala.
Beijing reviles him as a separatist though he says he only wants more autonomy for the region, which Communist troops entered in 1950.
The last major rioting in Tibet was in 1989.
Tibet is one of several potential flashpoints for the ruling Communist party at a time of heightened attention on China ahead of the Olympic Games. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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