16 Tibet Monks Detained In Bombings, Beijing Says

BEIJING, June 5 -- Security forces in Tibet have arrested 16 Buddhist monks on charges of planning or carrying out separatist bombings that authorities said were inspired by propaganda from the Dalai Lama, the New China News Agency reported Thursday.

The arrests, which the official agency said took place in May, refocused attention on Tibet after nearly a month during which the devastating earthquake in Sichuan province has dominated news from China and eclipsed a still-intense security crackdown in the restive mountain region.

Since rioting March 14 in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, security forces have arrested scores of Tibetans, many of them monks, and sentenced them to prison on charges including arson, murder and inciting subversion against the state. In addition, thousands of monks have been forced to undergo what authorities call "patriotic education," designed to inspire loyalty to Beijing's rule and discourage support for the Dalai Lama and his exile group in India.

Chinese authorities have accused the Dalai Lama, who says he espouses greater autonomy for Tibet, of pursuing independence.

A group of Hong Kong and other Chinese-language reporters allowed into Tibet this week on a government-supervised trip said they saw armed police posted at major intersections in Lhasa. The police had been withdrawn earlier, they reported, but returned in force because of what authorities in Lhasa said were fears of renewed unrest before the Olympic torch relay is to pass through later this month.

In addition, thousands of Buddhist pilgrims are gathering in Lhasa beginning this week for the annual Saga Dawa festival, marking the Buddha's birthday according to the Tibetan calendar. "It cannot be ruled out that there will be some bad people who will try to sabotage the event," Pelma Trilek, Tibet's executive deputy chairman, told the visiting journalists.

Trilek said the concerns were based in part on comments made by the Dalai Lama during his recent European tour. The Dalai Lama, revered by many Tibetans as their spiritual leader and symbol of their nationalist aspirations, said in London that he feared renewed trouble if talks between China and his government-in-exile broke down.

The next round of exploratory talks, scheduled for next week in Beijing, has been postponed indefinitely. It was unclear what effect the arrests announced Thursday would have on the prospect for another round or, ultimately, moving on to substantive negotiations.

"We hope the Dalai Lama can create the conditions for the next points of contact by his concrete actions," Qin Gang, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said when asked about the delay.

The dialogue between Beijing and the Dalai Lama's representatives resumed May 4 in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. China agreed to resume the meetings after foreign leaders, including President Bush, said it was the best way to address the tension that led to the March 14 rioting, which killed 18 civilians and one policeman by official count and spread to other Tibetan-inhabited areas.

The bombings and bomb plots reported Thursday took place during April in eastern Tibet's Mangkam county, the New China News Agency said, quoting the regional Public Security Bureau. It did not say whether anyone was killed or injured.

One bombing hit an electricity transformer April 5 and another targeted a local police station April 8, a security spokesman was quoted as saying. A third bombing April 15 hit a home, he said.

In addition to the 16 arrested, police were seeking three Tibetans on suspicion of involvement, the spokesman said. All the arrests were made in May, he said, without explaining why they were being announced now.

"According to the local police, all the suspects have confessed to their crimes, claiming they had been listening to foreign radios for a long time and were following separatist propaganda from the Dalai Lama," the agency said. "They said March 14 had inspired them."