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China Party Chief Warns Separatists on Visit to Tibet

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From United Press International

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.”

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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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