China will deploy officials in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries to guard against continued overseas influence of separatism on monks in its northwestern Qinghai Province, in an apparent bid to counter the Dalai Lama's popularity.
New officers are being recruited by the county government of Nangqian to be stationed at Tibetan monasteries.
The Dalai Lama was born in Qinghai province which is part of the sprawling Tibetan plateau.
An announcement released by the county government said it will choose 13 people from local governments and other public institutions to be stationed in the monasteries. Ninety-seven per cent of the county's population is ethnic Tibetan.
This is part of the province's programme to assist monks' welfare and educate them on the negative influence of separatist ideas, officials told the state-run Global Times.
"Education can ensure that monks and nuns do not participate in activities to split the country and disrupt social order," Dorje, director of the Publicity Department of the Nangqian County Party Committee, said yesterday.
Dorje said the officials will provide monks ideological, moral and legal education, and preparestudy trips or visits for them.
Lian Xiangmin, an expert at the China Tibetology Research Center, said that most of the monks are law-abiding, but some of them may be used by hostile foreign forces and religious extremists such as the Dalai Lama and could cause damage to both the monasteries and society.
"The monks are Chinese citizens first, so there is nothing wrong with educating them about the country's laws to avoid separatism spreading among them," Lian said.
