China has accused the Dalai Lama and monks in India for supporting “separatism”. The Dalai Lama wants genuine autonomy for Tibetans in China. China has awarded the degree to 105 monks since 2004. Monks wrongly educated in India are banned from teaching Buddhism

A county in southwest China near Tibet has said it will ban India-trained Tibetan monks, who were "wrongly educated" from teaching in Tibetan monasteries in China because of the "severe separatist situation".

"As some monks received education overseas from the 14th Dalai Lama clique -- whom China regards as separatists -- it is necessary to tighten supervision so as to avoid the clique using local Buddhists to conduct separatist activities," a Tuesday report in the Global Times quoted Zhu Weiqun, the influential former head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference or Parliament upper house, as saying.

Another official in Litang county in Sichuan province, which borders Tibet said: "Monks wrongly educated in India are banned from teaching Buddhism."

China has accused exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and monks in India for supporting "separatism".

The Dalai Lama has said he is not advocating independence but wants genuine autonomy for Tibetans in China.

China has in recent years tightened its control over monasteries, including through blacklists that bar many monks who have travelled to India from teaching. Many Tibetan monks in China seek to travel to monasteries set up by the exiled Tibetan community in India for the quality of teaching and lack of restrictions there.

The county in Sichuan was screening monks at annual "patriotic education classes" before awarding the Gexe Lharampa -- the highest academic degree in Tibetan Buddhist studies and those "who behaved improperly at the patriotic classes or showed any signs of separatist intent are strictly monitored and banned from teaching Buddhism to the public".

Those trained in India and awarded the degree there would not be acknowledged by China, the county said.

China has awarded the degree to 105 monks since 2004.