Hands off Tibet, China tells West

Describing the British attack on Tibet as ‘‘barbarous’’, the commentary noted that scars left by merciless invaders — bullet holes on the doors and walls of lamaseries and ruins of castles — still remain.

‘‘Tibet is a tranquil land in nature, but the holy abode has never been politically left in peace for over a century because of Western intervention,’’ the commentary, apparently penned by Xinhua’s Tibetan staff in Lhasa, the region’s capital, said.

‘‘Gone are the days when Tibet would fall victim to Western bullies with the end of the colonial era, but a century after the British invasion, the land is sill being played as a ‘card’ by some to serve their own good,’’ it said.

‘‘As long as the countries still admit that Tibet is part of China, the Tibet issue will remain a card, and only a card but nothing else, in the hands of Western politicians.’’

‘‘Undoubtedly, the Dalai Lama is a key figure in the Tibet issue,’’ the commentary said. At the same time, it pointed out that the 69-year-old Tibetan Buddhist leader chose to leave the country himself over 40 years ago.

The commentary also recalled the ‘‘training’’ the CIA imparted to Tibetan insurgents first in Taiwan and then in Colorado in late 1950s.

The commentary criticised the West for questioning the launching of various developmental programmes in Tibet, including the Qinghai-Tibet railway project to improve the life of the Tibetans.