The Bush administration has been urged to pay more attention to Tibetan issues during a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing in Washington.

Tibetan rights advocates said they were encouraged that the hearing was one of the first on China held by the new Democrat-controlled Congress.

Members of Congress said they intended to increase pressure on the White House to try to advance the issue of Tibet in the administration's dealings with China.

'The US government has a moral responsibility to promote the peaceful resolution of the problem of Tibet,' said committee chairman Tom Lantos, a Democrat.