Bush raises Tibet with China's Hu

US President George W

US President George W. Bush telephoned Chinese President Hu Jintao today to raise his concerns about unrest in Tibet and encourage the Chinese government to talk with the Dalai Lama, the White House said.

"The president raised his concerns about the situation in Tibet and encouraged the Chinese government to engage in substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama's representatives and to allow access for journalists and diplomats," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

China sought to contain ongoing protests in its ethnic Tibetan regions, as it stepped up detentions in Tibet's capital Lhasa and vowed tighter control over monasteries.

The western province of Qinghai was the latest area to report anti-government activities, with several hundred of civilians staging a sit-down protest after paramilitary police stopped them from marching.

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The Tibet unrest - and China's response to it - has also become a lightning rod for criticism of its Communist authorities ahead of the Beijing Olympics, marring the country's desire to use the Games as the "coming out" party.

The unrest began with a series of peaceful marches in Lhasa earlier this month that soon led to a deadly riot. China says 19 people died in the violence, while representatives of the Tibetan government-in-exile says 140 died in clashes.

China has pinned the blame for the protests on the Dalai Lama, who  fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. He denies he masterminded the demonstrations.

But echoing China's public security minister, Chinese scholars vowed to press ahead with "patriotic education" in Tibet's monasteries, accusing monks there of being duped by the Dalai Lama into supporting separatism.

The education campaigns, which have increased under Tibet's current Communist Party boss, Zhang Qingli, are blamed by some for sowing resentment of Beijing within the region's Buddhist monasteries, but the scholars said they were necessary.