April 3 , 2008

BEIJING, April 3 (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao promised to boost support for poor ethnic minority areas but called for unity after a rash of Tibetan unrest and at least one protest in the far west dented propaganda claims of harmony.

Wen's comments in China's most diverse province, Yunnan, came as the government cranked up security ahead of the Beijing Olympics and as U.S. government-supported Radio Free Asia reported police raids on homes in the predominately Muslim region of Xinjiang, possibly in search of arms.
Police and locals reached by telephone denied the RFA report.

"All ethnic groups form one big family. We must be united and help each other, to prosper and make progress together," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Wen as saying.

But anti-Chinese demonstrations in Tibet, including a riot in Lhasa, and a protest in the Xinjiang town of Hetian last month at which some protesters held up pro-independence banners, according to a government Web site, have underscored the challenges the Communist Party faces in far-flung, minority populated areas.
The demonstrations and Beijing's reaction, which has been to crank up security, send thousands of riot police into parts of western China and roll out a huge propaganda campaign, have been a focus of international concern in the run up to the Beijing Games this August.

Hosting the Olympics is a huge source of pride for Chinese, and the government hopes the Games will showcase progress and unity in the world's most populous country. So far, though, China has had to contend with a flood of Olympic-fuelled criticism.

On Thursday, Radio Free Asia said police had conducted raids on several houses near an area called Yili, possibly looking for weapons. Yili borders Kazakhstan, where the international leg of the Olympic torch relay got under way on Wednesday.

But a municipal government official reached by telephone in Yili said: "There is no such incident. It's safe and everything is normal."

A hotel employee there said security was increased after the Lunar New Year in early February, but that everything was otherwise normal.

"We are going to our jobs every day and kids are going to school," he said. " ...It's not like Tibet."

Xinjiang is home to 8 million Muslim Uighurs, many of whom resent the growing presence and economic grip of Han Chinese. The oil-rich region borders Pakistan, Afghanistan and several other central Asian states.

Early last month Chinese authorities said air marshals foiled an attempt by Xinjiang separatists to blow up a plane in mid-air on March 7. Airport security across China has been increased.

Underscoring the fear of unrest spilling over from Tibet, officials and others in Yili vowed to learn from the Tibetan unrest at a recent meeting on maintaining stability, the prefecture's Web site reported.

The Tibetan problems "remind us that we must boost education for the masses of all ethnicities and groups, unify the thinking and consciousness of everybody, and make everyone firmly believe that only under the leadership of the Communist Party is there a road forward for China," one participant was quoted as saying.
The top Communist Party official in Tibet said the Himalayan region would reopen to domestic and foreign tourists as soon as possible, and probably by May 1, after authorities cranked up security after the March 14 riot in Lhasa.

"Tibet is trying to welcome tourists with openess and a good environment before the May Holiday," Zhang Qingli was quoted by the China News Service (www.chinanews.com.cn) as saying.

"We'll make sure to let tourists in as soon as possible."

China blames the exiled Dalai Lama, whom it labels a separatist, and his followers for stirring up the Lhasa violence in which it says 19 people died. The Tibet government-in-exile says around 140 people died. (Reporting by John Ruwitch; Editing by Nick Macfie and Sanjeev Miglani)