Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama. (AFP Photo)

BEIJING: China's Communist authorities have now disclosed the somewhat embarrassing fact that some party officials were actually donating funds to the Dalai Lama , who is regarded as “a dangerous separatist” by the country's rulers.

The disclosure came from a discipline watchdog suggesting that a crackdown on the Dalai Lama's secret supporters within the Communist Party is on the cards. The party would not take kindly to anyone undermining its authority on a sensitive issue like the Dalai Lama, observers said.

The disclosure came from Wang Yongjun , head of the party's discipline watchdog in the Tibet Autonomous Region, who wrote an article published by a magazine run by the Central Discipline Organization of the Communist Party, and the Ministry of Supervision in the government discussing this gross violation of discipline.

Some party officials have not just donated funds, they have also joined illegal underground organizations and provided intelligence to overseas organizations which have been engaged in providing intelligence to the Tibetan leader and supporting subversive activities, he said.

Wang said some party officials have failed to “uphold their political integrity”. “They are completely ignoring political discipline," he said while warning that such behavior has affected the party's unity and its ability to fight separatism.

China regards the Tibetan leader as a political exile who is trying to split the country under the guise of religion.

In fact, the party has known about such indiscipline for a long time but did not disclose the details for fear of embarrassment.

Tibet's discipline organization issued a report in 2016 saying that 15 party officials were suspected to have links with illegal overseas separatist organizations since 2014, according to the China News Service.

