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Don’t point the finger at China over Tibet, says senior official
- Wang Yang, the number 4 in the party hierarchy, says any attempt to separate Tibet is doomed to failure as international scrutiny of Beijing’s policies grow
- Official accuses supporters of exiled Dalai Lama of ‘sabotage’ at event to commemorate the ‘peaceful liberation’ of Tibet by the army
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No foreign entity has the right to criticise China over Tibet, a senior official said on Thursday as the region attracts greater international attention.
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“No one outside China has the right to point fingers at us when it comes to Tibetan affairs. Any attempt … to separate Tibet from China is doomed to fail,” Wang Yang, the Communist Party official responsible for ethnic affairs, told a ceremony outside the Potala Palace, Lhasa’s best known landmark.
Wang, the number four in the party hierarchy, is leading a delegation from Beijing to mark the 70th anniversary of the arrival in the region of the People’s Liberation Army, an event Beijing describes as a “peaceful liberation”.
The PLA’s presence in the region started in 1951 after an agreement was signed between the central government and the administration in Lhasa.
The current local government of Tibet, known as the Tibetan Autonomous Region, was founded in 1965.
Wang, a member of the seven-man Politburo Standing Committee, also praised the party for fending off “sabotage attempts by the Dalai [Lama] clique”, alongside economic development in the past 70 years.
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