21 June 2006
TAR Party Secretary calls for tighter control of monasteries
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) in Washington DC reports that Zhang Qingli, the Party Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), declared the fight against the Dalai Lama and his supporters a "fight to the death struggle". During a meeting for officials held in Lhasa on 16 May 2006, Zhang said, that patriotic education campaign in TAR Buddhist monasteries and nunneries must push ahead and be widen to include a broader population in order to intensify the "rectification" and restructuring of each monastery and nunnery's Democratic Management Committee (DMC). This would ensure that monks and nuns obey government regulations on religious practice. Zhang told the Party officials that comprehensive implementation of the Regulation on Religious Affairs will lead to the "normalization of religious order" and the "standardization of religious activity". He described the Dalai Lama as "the biggest obstacle hindering Tibetan Buddhism from establishing normal order".