China envoy defends move on protests

China moved against Tibetan protesters to defend law and order and not to suppress religious freedom, China's ambassador to the United States said Tuesday.

"People have every right to worship; it's not a question of religious freedom," Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong said at a conference on the environment. "I think what happned in Tibet is a law-and-order issue."

His remarks reflected an effort by the Beijing government in the run-up to hosting ths summer's Olympic Games to counter any damage to its image from the extended crackdown on demonstrators in Tibet and western China.

No government would tolerate the disorder that broke out in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, in mid-March, he said. "Any responsible government needs to do something about it."

At the State Department, meanwhile, spokesman Sean McCormack said "the Chinese government, in responding to protests, should exercise the greatest possible restraint."

"Violence serves nobody's purpose, and that applies to both sides." he said.

Seceretary of State Condoleezza Rice has appealed publicly to China to hold talks with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet who is in exile in India.

The Chinese ambassador, asked about the situation after a speech on China's environmental program, said "religion has developed tremendously in Tibet" and that "people have every right to worship."

He said economic conditions in Tibet were improving and the population has experienced large growth.