China Party Chief Warns Separatists on Visit to Tibet
China’s Communist Party chief made a rare trip to Tibet, where he drove home Beijing’s hard-line pledge to crush any separatist or anti-Chinese moves in the ostensibly autonomous mountain region, it was reported Monday.
The official New China News Agency said that party General Secretary Jiang Zemin traveled to the restive Chinese-ruled region July 20, but it did not explain the 10-day delay in reporting it. The visit also was reported on central television and in the official press.
The last visit by a Communist Party general secretary was the May, 1980, tour made by reform-minded chief Hu Yaobang, who irked party hard-liners by recommending government concessions allowing Tibet to reject any central policies “not suited to Tibetan conditions.”
Jiang brought no such message of conciliation, instead ordering local Communist officials and government soldiers to step up their vigilance against anti-Chinese movements.
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