2008 Woodie Awards
Chinese security official mocks monks
By: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: World
BEIJING - A top Chinese security official has criticized Tibetan Buddhist monks for taking part in anti-government protests, touring three key monasteries in Lhasa to drive home China's message.
Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu announced that "patriotic education" classes would be expanded at monasteries, the Tibet Daily reported yesterday. His visit was the first by a high-level central government official since protests in the Tibetan capital turned violent this month.
Unrest among Buddhist clergy has been blamed in part on the widely reviled classes, which force monks to make ritual denouncements of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and declare loyalty to Beijing.
Monks and nuns who refuse to cooperate can be jailed. The U.S. State Department said in its 2007 report on religious freedom around the world that dozens of Tibetan clergy were serving prison terms for their resistance to "patriotic" or political education.
Despite such complaints - and repeated government claims that all Tibetans support the Chinese government's stance - Meng said during his trip to Lhasa on Monday that the campaign should be expanded in a bid to "grasp and direct public opinion in the correct direction."
"Deeply enact propaganda education in ethnic and religious policies and the legal system among all the temples," he was quoted as saying. "Let all people at home and abroad and all ethnic groups thoroughly understand the true facts of the matter."
Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu announced that "patriotic education" classes would be expanded at monasteries, the Tibet Daily reported yesterday. His visit was the first by a high-level central government official since protests in the Tibetan capital turned violent this month.
Unrest among Buddhist clergy has been blamed in part on the widely reviled classes, which force monks to make ritual denouncements of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and declare loyalty to Beijing.
Monks and nuns who refuse to cooperate can be jailed. The U.S. State Department said in its 2007 report on religious freedom around the world that dozens of Tibetan clergy were serving prison terms for their resistance to "patriotic" or political education.
Despite such complaints - and repeated government claims that all Tibetans support the Chinese government's stance - Meng said during his trip to Lhasa on Monday that the campaign should be expanded in a bid to "grasp and direct public opinion in the correct direction."
"Deeply enact propaganda education in ethnic and religious policies and the legal system among all the temples," he was quoted as saying. "Let all people at home and abroad and all ethnic groups thoroughly understand the true facts of the matter."
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