Thank goodness for the Slave China regime. For 40 years they have protected the world from the depredations of the violent, power-mad Tibetans.

China Thursday marked the 40th anniversary of the establishment of an "autonomous region" in Tibet with upbeat newspaper headlines highlighting economic progress, but rights campaigners dismissed the event as a "propaganda extravaganza."

In an editorial Thursday, the state-run People's Daily attributed "the great achievements made by people of different ethnic groups in Tibet over the past four decades" to the "correct leadership of the Communist Party of China."

Other official media carried such headlines as "Cheerful Tibet celebrates 40th founding anniversary," "Tibetans proud of regional progress," and "Tibetans bask in joy of bright tomorrow."

"Dramatic upheavals have taken place in the past four decades since the establishment of the region and some are beyond imagination," said China Daily.

It cited previously unheard-of traffic jams in the capital, Lhasa, attributing the busyness to an improvement in living standards which has enabled more people to buy cars.

"Without understanding the past and present of Tibet, one cannot fully appreciate the gaiety permeating the region today," read another article.

"Locals no longer bother to compare today's Tibet with what it was four decades ago. The gap is too wide, and the pace of change is accelerating all the time."

In what it refers to as Tibet's "peaceful liberation," China seized control of the independent territory in 1951, installed a communist government and then crushed an armed uprising launched in 1959.

Thousands were killed, and tens of thousands of Tibetans fled into exile together with spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Tibet was declared an "autonomous region" on Sept 1, 1965.

Critics and an India-based government-in-exile accuse China of flooding Tibet with ethnic Han Chinese in a concerted effort to dilute the formerly predominantly Tibetan population.

The region is run by a Communist Party secretary -- a position held from 1988 to 1992 by current Chinese President Hu Jintao, during whose tenure martial law was proclaimed there. No Tibetan has ever held the post, according to rights groups.

Beijing says growth in the region has exceeded 10 percent in recent years. It also claims to have transformed the Himalayan territory's society into a modern one, but critics are unimpressed.

"Beijing's current drive to develop Tibet, combined with the increasing influx of Chinese migrants into urban Tibetan areas, has led to increasing exclusion of the indigenous Tibetan population in the development of their land, and is a significant threat to the survival of the Tibetan culture and religion," the International Campaign for Tibet said this week.

In its most recent annual human rights report, covering 2004, the U.S. State Department said that "overall, the level of repression in Tibetan areas remained high and the government's record of respect for religious freedom remained poor during the year."

It reported instances of political imprisonment, detention, torture and degrading treatment, extra-judicial killings and other abuses.

In a speech in Lhasa Wednesday, the head of a high-powered Communist Party delegation from Beijing, Jia Qinglin, urged a crackdown on Tibetan separatist activities, "to ensure social stability and state safety," the official China Tibet Information Center reported.

There was no indication that any foreign visitors were involved in the activities, and Free Tibet campaigners said the region had been shut to outsiders over the commemoration period.

"China's celebration of 40 years of the Tibet autonomous region is yet another propaganda extravaganza," said a Free Tibet representative in London, Alison Reynolds.

"Whatever new measures China comes up with to enhance Tibet's so called 'autonomy,' or however much money China spends in Tibet, the Tibetan people will not be satisfied until there is political change which will give them genuine control of their own affairs."

Reynolds said in keeping with previous major anniversaries, Tibetans would likely be coerced into participating in the various events, at the risk of forfeiting pay or pensions.

Meanwhile, U.N. human rights commissioner Louise Arbour ended her first visit to China Wednesday by signing a memorandum of understanding with the government.

China Daily said the agreement provided for the U.N. to help China to find alternatives to imprisonment and revise various laws.

The U.N. will also help China teach human rights in schools, universities and in training programs for public servants.

The campaign group Human Rights in China welcomed the agreement, calling it an "important and potentially constructive development.

"It also reported, however, that on the eve of Arbour's visit Beijing had acted "to silence or intimidate independent and critical Chinese voices and groups," by placing prominent dissidents under house arrest and raiding the offices of a Chinese rights organization.

During Arbour's visit, top diplomat and state councilor Tang Jiaxuan told a human rights workshop attended by the U.N. official that China should be allowed to handle human rights issues in its own way.

"Every country should choose its own way to promote and protect human rights in line with its national conditions," Tang was quoted as saying. "There is no uniform standard with regard to national human rights action plans, institutions or education." (Thanks to CNSNews for the heads up.)