Bjork's remarks lead to tougher rules

BEIJING, March 7 (UPI) -- China's culture ministry plans to impose tighter restrictions on visiting music acts after Icelandic singer Bjork yelled "Tibet, Tibet" at a Shanghai gig.

Her words, which followed her performance of the song "Declare Independence," sparked controversy in China where talk of Tibetan independence is regarded as off-limits, the BBC said.

"We will further tighten controls on foreign artists performing in China in order to prevent similar cases from happening in the future," the ministry said in a statement on its Web site. "We shall never tolerate any attempt to separate Tibet from China and will no longer welcome any artists who deliberately do this."

"I am first and last a musician and as such I feel my duty to try to express the whole range of human emotions," the BBC quoted Bjork as saying.

"This song was written more with the personal in mind. But the fact that it has translated to its broadest meaning, the struggle of a suppressed nation, gives me much pleasure," she wrote on her Web site.