Tibet ordered to step up anti-Dalai Lama propaganda

China has ordered more ideological education in Tibet to reduce support for exiled Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama.

The region’s hardline Communist Party leader also ordered harsh punishment for local party officials found lacking in their political commitment to Beijing’s official line during sometimes violent anti-government protests last month and the harsh crackdown that followed.

China has accused the India-based Dalai Lama of orchestrating the violence to sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games and achieve an independent state.

In a report today in the Tibet Daily newspaper, regional party chief Zhang Qingli was ordering officials to boost ideological education among young people, focusing on negative portrayals of Tibet before the Communist invasion in 1950, and continued vilification of his political agenda.