China memo questions loyalty of Communist Tibetans

By Lindsay Beck

BEIJING (Reuters) - China is questioning the loyalty of ethnic Tibetan members of the ruling Communist Party, accusing many of swearing their true allegiance to the Dalai Lama, according to an internal memo.

The Sept. 4 memo, issued by the Party's Discipline and Inspection Commission, highlights ongoing concerns about stability in Tibet, the largely Buddhist western region into which Chinese troops marched in 1950.

"It calls on the Party in Tibet to carry out a kind of campaign -- I suppose a kind of rectification campaign -- to reassess the loyalty of the members," said Robbie Barnett, a Tibet expert at Columbia University who had parts of the memo read to him.

"The content seems to be this question of whether the Party members in Tibet are reliable or are supporting the Dalai Lama."

Radio Free Asia (RFA) quoted the memo directly, saying it accused internal dissidents of "suckling at the breast of the Chinese Communist Party, while calling the Dalai Lama mother".

"There still exists a small number of dissident elements within our Party whose commitment to its ideals, beliefs, and political standpoint is a wavering one," Washington-based RFA quoted the memo as saying.

The Dalai Lama fled into exile in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule. Authorities have since all but erased his presence from the region's Buddhist monasteries but many in Tibet still consider him their spiritual leader.

The document raises at least two specific cases of disloyalty on the part of Tibetans: a Party member who was expelled for shouting "reactionary slogans", and a schoolteacher who told his pupils that the Panchen Lama recognised by China was a fake.