China bans 'popular feelings'

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities will harshly dealwith anyone who spreads rumors which "excite popular feelings"or disturb social harmony in the already restive region ofTibet, the government said on Thursday.

The notice, coming just months before the Beijing Olympics,seems to be aimed at Tibetans who listen to foreign radiobroadcasts about the recent demonstrations in their remotemountainous region, skirt China's firewall to access overseaswebsites or simply exchange news with friends. "We willseverely root out and give no indulgence to people withulterior motives who spread rumors or excite popular feelings,"the Chinese-appointed government in Tibet said in a statementon its website (www.xizang.gov.cn).

Rumors which are "malicious and create seriousconsequences" will be "strictly dealt with in accordance withrules," it added, without elaborating.

China says that only about 20 people died in theanti-Chinese riots in Tibet, mainly innocent people killed byTibetan mobs, and accuses the exiled spiritual leader, theDalai Lama, of instigating and masterminding the unrest.

But the government-in-exile and some human rights groupsput the number at possibly over 100 and have said Chineseforces opened fire on demonstrators. Pro-Tibet protests havealso dogged the international leg of the torch relay for theBeijing Olympics.

China is regularly forced to put out statements denyingrumors which circulate on the Internet or by text messageclaiming, for example, that eating bananas can spread AIDS.