US asks China to resolve grievances of Tibetans

WASHINGTON: With a number of self-immolation bids by Tibetans highlighting ethnic tensions in China, the US has asked Beijing to address its "counterproductive policies" in Tibet and respect human rights to resolve the grievances of Tibetans.

A Buddhist nun in China's southwest Sinhuan Province has died after setting herself on fire, in the eleventh case of self-immolation among Tibetans in western China in recent months.

State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, said the US has "consistently and directly" raised with the Chinese government concerns about Tibetan self-immolations.

"... and we have repeatedly urged the Chinese government to address its counterproductive policies in Tibetan areas that have created tension and that threaten the unique religious, cultural, linguistic identity of the Tibetan people," she told reporters at her daily news conference.

She said the US has also repeatedly urged the Chinese government to allow access to all Tibetan areas of China for journalists, diplomats and other observers so that accurate information can flow out of the region.

"Let me take this opportunity to again call on the government of China to respect the rights of all of its citizens who peacefully express their desire for internationally recognised freedoms and particularly the rights of Tibetans to resolve their underlying grievances with the government of China," she said yesterday.