| BEIJING - CHINA has urged its citizens to rein in their 'patriotic fervour' in a sign control-conscious Beijing may be growing uncomfortable with a nationalist outburst over Tibet as the Olympics approach. A dispatch issued late on Thursday by state-controlled Xinhua news agency called Western media coverage of recent unrest in Tibet 'despicable' and backed a subsequent wave of Chinese indignation on the Internet. But it also said nationalist energies should remain 'rational' and focused on building the nation. 'Patriotic fervour should be channelled into a rational track and must be transformed into real action toward doing our work well,' said the report, published only in Chinese, suggesting it was meant for domestic consumption. The statement appeared to fit a pattern in which the government - which swiftly quashes any expressions of public opinion it does not like - gives free rein to attacks on foreign targets when it serves Beijing's political interests, only to reel them in when they threaten to spiral out of control. After US forces mistakenly bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999, greatly embarrassing Beijing, large anti-US protests were allowed before authorities later reined them in. A similar situation occurred in 2005, when protesters threw rocks at the Japanese ambassador's Beijing residence amid anger over a range of grievances between the two Asian rivals. China's government and state media have repeatedly condemned what they call bias in foreign coverage of China's crackdown on Tibetan riots, which erupted in Lhasa on March 14 and spilled over into other Tibetan-populated regions. The allegations appear to have emboldened Chinese netizen attacks on the foreign media and China's critics. But as it prepares to open its doors to the world for the Olympics, China may now be worrying the outbursts were going too far, said David Zweig, a China foreign-affairs expert at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. 'It clearly has gotten out of hand. Clearly, they can't control the netizens, who are much more active these days,' he said. The online campaigns include a call for a boycott of French goods in retaliation for protests against China's Tibet policies that threw the Beijing Olympic torch relay's Paris leg into chaos last week. Web users also have set up the website www.anti-cnn.com to criticise the US-based news network's alleged anti-China bias. On Friday, the email boxes of major news organisations in Beijing, were flooded with emails furious over 'vicious distortions' in Tibet coverage. Some Western media in China have also reported receiving threatening phone calls. China's propaganda machine has launched a campaign to portray the Tibet violence as a 'criminal' act instigated by the exiled Dalai Lama, dismissing reports by activist groups that the anger was provoked when Chinese police in Lhasa broke up peaceful anti-China protests by Buddhist monks. The allegations of Western bias have stemmed mainly from a few news photos that were inaccurately captioned online or cropped in a way that suggested Chinese heavy-handedness. The charges come as China has barred foreign media from reporting first-hand on the unrest. Rioters went on a rampage that claimed the live of 20 people, China said, while exiled Tibetan leaders say more than 150 people in their Himalayan homeland died in the Chinese crackdown. China has launched other verbal attacks, including using Xinhua to brand US Congressional leader Nancy Pelosi as 'disgusting' for her criticism of China. While China's people are rightfully outraged about the killing of some ethnic Chinese in the riots, Beijing may now be realising its official attacks, and copycat anti-Western campaigns, could hurt its international reputation, Mr Zweig said. 'China is playing to two audiences. They are winning domestically but losing internationally. This is not going to win China any friends,' he said. -- AFP | 
