Source: Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities are ramping up political indoctrination among Tibetan Buddhist clergy and officials in charge of religious affairs as part of a campaign to strengthen the ruling Communist Party’s grip on religion.
A Tibet government website reported this week that 35 officials traveled to the eastern city of Suzhou last month for “training” in China’s policies on Tibet, ethnic and religious theories and diplomacy.
An unidentified number of monks and nuns also underwent three days of training in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, ending on June 2. As facilitators who pass on instruction in government policies, they were told to be “reliable in politics and take a clear-cut and firm stance,” the website Tibet.cn reported.
The clergy and officials under the party’s United Front Work Department responsible for religious affairs were from the Tibet Autonomous Region and ethnically Tibetan areas of Yunnan province.
Categories: Asia, China, The Muslim Times, Tibet