Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

speakup

BEIJING - Diplomats from the United States and several other countries visited the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on Saturday after China admitted the group in a move to show its control over the region in the wake of deadly anti-government protests.

The quick trip comes after a similar government-controlled visit by a group of foreign journalists backfired when crying monks burst into a briefing room shouting there was no religious freedom in Tibet.

The outburst by 30 monks was a setback to the government's plans to use the three-day trip by the reporters to show that protests and anti-Chinese rioting in the Tibetan capital two weeks ago had subsided.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington that a second secretary from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing was on the trip.

"He is somebody in the political section who speaks fluent Mandarin and his portfolio is Tibet," McCormack said.

The protests in Tibet and in neighbouring provinces with sizable Tibetan populations two weeks ago have cast a spotlight on China's human rights record ahead of the August Beijing Olympics. China wants to use the Games to showcase itself as a confident, respected power.

Beijing says 22 people have died in this rioting; Tibetan exiles say almost 140 are dead.