Beijing to Take Hard Line on Tibet : Policy of ‘Merciless Repression’ of Protests Announced

The government has called for the “merciless repression” of anti-Chinese protests in Tibet and will assign the military commander of the troubled region to carry out the task, a Chinese source said today.

The new policy toward the fiercely anti-Chinese area was announced by Qiao Shi, standing committee member of the powerful Politburo and head of China’s security apparatus, during a tour of the region earlier this month, said the Chinese source, who is close to the government in Lhasa.

In meetings with local officials, Qiao revealed that Beijing has decided to alter its policy toward Tibet from “lenient” to “severe,” said the source, who declined to be identified.

The government of the region must “adopt a policy of merciless repression toward all rebels,” the source quoted Qiao as saying in speeches to senior local officials.

Since last September, the Himalayan region has been rocked by a series of violent protests staged by Buddhist monks, or lamas, demanding Tibetan independence. At least 11 people have died and hundreds have been injured in the protests.

Local officials said Monday they had detained more than 200 people after an anti-Chinese uprising in March when thousands of Tibetans burned cars, threw rocks and attacked police in central Lhasa. They said they were also still holding 15 people involved in similar riots in October.

Qiao, accompanied by a bodyguard of armed police, toured several Tibetan monasteries, including the remote mountaintop Ganden shrine where at least one rock was thrown at his car, the source said.

As part of its tough new policy, Beijing has also approved the appointment of Jiang Hongquan, commander of the Tibet Military Area and a member of the Communist Party Central Committee, as the next party secretary of the region, the source said.

Jiang will replace Wu Jinghua, who has held Tibet’s top political post since June, 1985.

“We must take a firm and clear-cut stand in informing the masses in Tibet there can be no restoration of reactionary rule in Tibet,” Doje Cering, chairman of the region, quoted Qiao as saying. “The dream of separatists to split the motherland can never be attained.”