Foreign media taken to Tibet

BEIJING, March 26 (UPI) -- China, facing mounting criticism of its crackdown on protesters and clampdown on information in Tibet, Wednesday let a foreign media team visit the region.

The group of news reporters left Beijing Wednesday for Tibet, Xinhua reported.

In recent days, foreign reporters have been barred from going to the region where Tibetan protesters have been demonstrating against Chinese rule of their homeland.

The three-day trip for the foreign media team arranged by the Information Office of China's State Council comes after days of attacks by China against what it claimed to be biased reporting of the events in Tibet by Western media.

The group is comprised of 26 journalists from 19 media organizations, including The Associated Press, Britain's Financial Times, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post and Taiwan's Central News Agency, Xinhua reported.

Others in the group were not mentioned. The BBC reported earlier it was not among those invited.

Xinhua also reported Lhasa, Tibet's capital, was returning to normal after the unrest that "was believed to have been organized, premeditated and masterminded by the Dalai Lama clique."