China's communists sack Tibet policymaker

BEIJING (Reuters) - A key policymaker of the Chinese Communist Party on Tibet has been removed from her post, two sources said on Wednesday, as a top negotiator said China had tried everything to reach out to the Dalai Lama and could make no more concessions.

Bi Hua was asked to step down recently as director of the No. 7 bureau of the Party's United Front Work Department, the independent sources with knowledge of the case said, requesting anonymity for fear of repercussions.

It was not clear what prompted Bi's removal from the helm of the bureau, which oversees Tibetan affairs.

"The Party has placed her on probation ... but she is convinced she has not done anything wrong," one source told Reuters.

The department could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Communist rule, wants genuine autonomy, not independence, for his Himalayan homeland, but China reviles him as a separatist.

A recent visit to China by personal envoys of the the Dalai Lama yielded no progress.