CHINA: China celebrated 40 years of rule in Tibet this week with promises to keep boosting the economy of the poor Himalayan region but Beijing said it would maintain a hard line on what it sees as separatist elements, including the Dalai Lama.
During big celebrations at the Potala Palace in Tibet's remote capital Lhasa, Chinese Communist Party bigwigs focused on the economic benefits China has brought to Tibet since declaring the mountainous territory an autonomous region of China in 1965.
Tibet has effectively been run by China since the People's Liberation Army marched into the region in 1950 and Beijing claims it freed the Tibetan serfs from what was effectively a theocracy until the god-king Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959.
Human rights groups say Tibetan monks and nuns loyal to the Dalai Lama have been jailed and tortured.
Demonstrations calling for independence have been brutally suppressed.
In recent months, there have been at least three meetings of representatives of the Dalai Lama and Beijing officials, but progress is slow.
The Dalai Lama has renounced independence and says he only wants more autonomy for Tibet, but Beijing sees him as a separatist and there were veiled warnings yesterday in the state media.
The Tibet event coincided with a visit by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, who said she was "guardedly optimistic" China was making progress on human rights, but said Beijing's view about changing civil rights "its own way" was not appropriate.
"There are international standards that have to be met."