Foreign diplomats visit Tibet amid Olympic boycott debate

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BEIJING, Mar 28 (AFP): China Friday let the first foreign diplomats visit Tibet following deadly riots there, amid debate in Europe over whether the Chinese crackdown should trigger a boycott of the Olympics opening.
Two weeks after the protests in the Himalayan region entered a lethal phase, diplomats from a number of countries, including the United States, Britain, France and Japan, set off on the government-organised tour.
"I suppose the objective of the Chinese foreign ministry is to basically answer the international calls... to have diplomatic access to Tibet," said Australian embassy spokeswoman Janaline Oh.
Diplomats from about 15 countries were allowed to go on the hastily-arranged two-day visit, according to a Japanese embassy official.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack welcomed the move, but said it was not enough.
"We see this as a step in the right direction, but it's not a substitute for the ability of our diplomats, as well as others, to travel not only to Lhasa, but into the surrounding area specifically," he told reporters.
China brought a foreign media delegation to Lhasa Wednesday for a three-day trip following international pressure to allow independent reporting from the Tibetan capital, after it was sealed off due to the unrest.
AFP and some other major news organisations were not invited on the trip, which has been criticised for being carefully choreographed to show only Beijing's side of the story.
Nevertheless, the trip embarrassed China when monks at the Jokhang temple in Lhasa spoke out in front of the foreign reporters against Chinese rule.
"We want (Tibetan spiritual leader) the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet, we want to be free," the monks yelled.
The protests began in Lhasa on March 10 to mark the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, an event that saw the Dalai Lama flee to India where he has since lived in exile.