The Tibet issue is not an ethnic issue, not a religious issue, nor a human rights issue, but an issue either to safeguard national unification or to split the motherland, a Chinese diplomat said in Geneva on Friday.

"The Tibet issue is entirely an internal issue of China which concerns the country's sovereignty," said Qian Bo, counsellor of the Chinese Mission to the UN Office in Geneva.

The diplomat was addressing a regular session of the UN Human Rights Council, during which some delegates made biased comments on the so-called human rights situation in Tibet.

Those delegates' comments were "an evident act of politicizing human rights and practicing double standards," said Qian.

Qian stressed that the human rights situation in Tibet had improved continuously since its peaceful liberation in 1951.

He said Tibetans are now enjoying full religious freedom and their traditional culture has also been carried forward.

"The progress and achievements made in Tibet are facts that cannot be written off by lies and libels," he said.

The diplomat stressed that the violent crimes committed in March in Lhasa, the capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, were mastermind and incited by the Dalai clique aimed at splitting the motherland.

The riot has nothing to do with human rights, so China cannot accept any unreasonable accusations, he said.

The diplomat also urged the Human Rights Council to avoid politicizing human rights and remove double standards in order to maintain its prestige and credibility.

(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2008)