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Jen Redshaw

Zimbabwe bows to pressure from the Chinese embassy

Tashi Yangchen thought she would be sashaying across the stage of Harare's glitzy International Conference Centre tonight  to compete with more than 90 other hopefuls for the Miss Tourism World title.

Instead, she is thousands of  kilometres from the Zimbabwean capital after  being unceremoniously booted out of the competition.

The problem was her title: Miss Tibet.

Officials of the Chinese embassy in Harare are reported to have objected to her inclusion in the beauty pageant. They persuaded the Zimbabwean government to send her  home, Miss Tibet spokesman  Ngawang Samdup was quoted as saying.

Miss Tibet arrived in Harare  last week  with dozens of other models from  around the world.

Ahead of tonight's finals, the women toured key sites in Zimbabwe such as the Victoria Falls aiming to publicise them back in their home countries, in a bid to kick-start Zimbabwe's ailing tourism  industry.

The pageant's organiser, John Singh, promised the state-run Herald newspaper that the contestants 'would tell the true story of Zimbabwe as a beautiful nation to their friends and relatives'.

Desperate for tourism dollars - the industry has taken a nosedive since the launch of the controversial land reform programme five years ago - the government was pinning its hopes on the pageant.

But not to the extent of alienating China, it appears. Ostracised by most western countries, President Robert Mugabe and his government considers China to be one of its key allies.

The  Miss Tibet spokesman also claimed that contestants from Hong Kong and Taiwan had been forced to amend their titles.

Taiwan was reported to have become Chinese-Taipei while a model from Hong Kong was to contest the pageant under the Chinese banner.

There has been no confirmation of the claims from Harare, but local press reports have revised  the number of contestants from 95 to 93.

State-run media has followed the models' tour of Zimbabwe with great interest.

Evening news bulletins, better known for their coverage of the president's campaign itinerary ahead of next month's key parliamentary elections, have shown the women petting lion cubs and riding elephants.

The women have been feted in the highest circles,  and welcomed by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono,  as well as Zimbabwe's first woman vice-president, Joyce Mujuru.

But as the models take to the catwalk tonight, the organisers will be reflecting that Miss Tibet has not been the only problem.

The pageant was nearly cancelled after what was supposed to be a private deal between an unnamed licensee and Mr Singh fell through.

The cash-strapped Zimbabwean government had to fork out US$2 million  to avoid a flop.



Miss Tibet is kicked out of pageant