The Chinese government on Thursday dismissed allegations in a new report that it is putting pressure on neighboring Nepal to arrest ethnic-Tibetan protestors and to limit their right to hold anti-China demonstrations. Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters the accusations made in a report published Thursday by the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch were inaccurate.
"We don't accept these accusations. Nepal is our good friend and neighbor. We do not put pressure on our neighbors," he said.
But Liu added that friendly countries have given the Chinese government assurances that they will not allow their territories to be used for activities which harm China, including attacks on its consulates and embassies.
Human Rights Watch says the Nepalese authorities have made more than 8,000 arrests since March when a series of anti-Chinese protests began in Nepal in the wake of riots and antigovernment demonstrations over the border in Tibet.
Most of those detained were released soon after, the report said, often with no explanation as to why they were arrested.
"Nepal's government is turning the screws on peaceful Tibetan protesters at the behest of China," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
More than 100 protestors calling for independence for Tibet were arrested in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu last Friday, according to media reports from Nepal.
More than 20,000 Tibetans live in Nepal, some having fled their homeland after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.