|
 Zhu Weiqun, chairman of the ethnic and religious affairs committee
of the top advisory body to parliament, acknowledged this would be a
difficult task but said dissenting voices were beginning to be heard
in the West.
"As China becomes more involved in international affairs, and as
Tibet and Xinjiang further open to the world, more and more
Westerners will have an understanding of Tibet and Xinjiang that
better accords with reality," Zhu wrote in a lengthy article on the
government-run website Tibet.cn.
Tibet and Xinjiang are two of China's most sensitive areas when it
comes to foreign criticism of its human rights record. Tibet in
particular is an emotive issue in the West, attracting high-profile
support from politicians and celebrities.
Zhu said the West would finally "see the real face of the Dalai
clique and 'East Turkestan'," referring to exiled Tibetan spiritual
leader the Dalai Lama and the militant forces China says operate in
Xinjiang.
Zhu said such views in the West were still "weak and isolated" but
they represented "the trend of history". Zhu was heavily involved in
the past in Beijing's failed efforts to talk to the Dalai Lama's
representatives.
"Without a doubt this will all need long-term, difficult and careful
work, as well as much patience, but time is on China's side," he
wrote.
China says it has poured money into both the strategically located
regions as part of its efforts to bring development to what it says
were backward and remote areas and that it respects the rights of
people there.
Rights groups and exiles say Beijing tramples on the freedoms of
Tibetans, as well as the Muslim Uighur people of Xinjiang, some of
whom China says are Islamist extremists who want to set up an
independent state called East Turkestan.
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Tensions in Tibet and Xinjiang have been running high.
In Tibetan regions of China, including four provinces outside Tibet,
more than 120 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since 2009 in
protest over Chinese rule. Most have died.
In Xinjiang, more than 100 people have died in violence since April
2013, including police, blamed by Beijing on religious extremists
and separatists.
Zhu signaled there would be no change in policy.
"What should be developed should be developed, and when stability
should be maintained it will be maintained — (we) must totally
disregard whatever the West says," he wrote.
Zhu also criticized foreign leaders who meet the Dalai Lama, many of
whom have later found themselves frozen out diplomatically by
Beijing.
Those who do so should "pay a price", Zhu said.
"We can only push the West to change its way of thinking if we let
them understand that China's power cannot be avoided ... and that
the West's interests lie in development and maintaining ties with
China, not the opposite," he said.
(Editing by Ben Blanchard and Paul Tait)
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