Dalai Lama warns of power in hands of few

AFP

CHICAGO, US, 15 May 2013

The Dalai Lama warned Tuesday against the accumulation of power in the hands of the few, and told US politicians that maternal love at an early age was vital for policy-making.

Addressing lawmakers at the state Assembly in Wisconsin, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader said that he occasionally felt bullied as a child from the few officials who held power to guide him as a young monk.

“So, since early age, [I thought that] power in few people’s hands is always dangerous,” said the Dalai Lama, who was paying his ninth visit to the state capital Madison where he has often met academics and monks.

Lawmakers’ welcome of the the Dalai Lama offered a rare bipartisan moment for one of the most polarised US legislatures. In 2011, lawmakers fled the state to try to stop anti-union measures by Republican Governor Scott Walker.

The Dalai Lama, who was scheduled to meet Walker, made no reference to Wisconsin’s politics and instead was referring to his own decision to hand over temporal power to a leader elected among Tibetan exiles.

The Dalai Lama renewed his call for children to have a secular education in what he called universal values, such as compassion, regardless of their religious background.

“Even among politicians here, those individuals who received maximum affection when you were very young – mainly from our mother – then such people, deep inside, I think more peace, more inner strength,” he said.

But he said that politicians and businesspeople who “lack affection, from our mother, or sometimes even (suffer) abuse, then such successful people deep inside (have) some kind of sense of insecurity, fear (and) automatically distrust” others.

The Dalai Lama, 77, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, fled the Chinese rule of Tibet in 1959 for the safety of India. China regularly condemns foreign leaders for meeting him.

Copyright © 2013 Agence France-PressePublished in Asia One

Xi Jinping and the Chinese dream

IN 1793 a British envoy, Lord Macartney, arrived at the court of the Chinese emperor, hoping to open an embassy. He brought with him a selection of gifts from his newly industrialising nation. The Qianlong emperor, whose country then accounted for about a third of global GDP, swatted him away: “Your sincere humility and obedience can clearly be seen,” he wrote to King George III, but we do not have “the slightest need for your country’s manufactures”. The British returned in the 1830s with gunboats to force trade open, and China’s attempts at reform ended in collapse, humiliation and, eventually, Maoism.

China has made an extraordinary journey along the road back to greatness. Hundreds of millions have lifted themselves out of poverty, hundreds of millions more have joined the new middle class. It is on the verge of reclaiming what it sees as its rightful position in the world. China’s global influence is expanding and within a decade its economy is expected to overtake America’s. In his first weeks in power, the new head of the ruling Communist Party, Xi Jinping, has evoked that rise with a new slogan which he is using, as belief in Marxism dies, to unite an increasingly diverse nation. He calls his new doctrine the “Chinese dream” evoking its American equivalent. Such slogans matter enormously in China. News bulletins are full of his dream. Schools organise speaking competitions about it. A talent show on television is looking for “The Voice of the Chinese Dream”.

Since the humiliations of the 19th century, China’s goals have been wealth and strength. Mao Zedong tried to attain them through Marxism. For Deng Xiaoping and his successors, ideology was more flexible (though party control was absolute). Jiang Zemin’s theory of the “Three Represents” said the party must embody the changed society, allowing private businessmen to join the party. Hu Jintao pushed the “scientific-development outlook” and “harmonious development” to deal with the disharmony created by the yawning wealth gap. (read fulll article)

Dr. Lobsang Sangay: India and China were never next to each other.

Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay

An excerpt from the statement of Dr. Lobsang Sangay:

"There was never incursion in '40s and '30s because India and China were never next to each other. Tibet always served as the buffer zone. Now they are facing off each other. So two of the largest populated countries in this planet are facing each other because there is no Tibet as the buffer zone. Tibet is very much linked to India's security. The 4,000, to 5,000 kilometres of border that we have with, China has always been the threat, so hence the border dispute. Pre-1949 there was hardly even a policeman on the border. There was no need for one. Now, the military buildup that is going on and the billions of dollars India has spent on its border security, which could rather be spent on other humanitarian or educational projects. So India's security is very much linked to Tibet issue. The Chinese government in China says Tibet is one of their core issues. And all the more, India should say Tibet is one of the core issues for India, as well. 

Now the military buildup is very high. According to Indian media reports, there are 23 military division on the Chinese side or the Tibet side, 11 military division on the Indian side; five military airfields on Tibet side, only one airfield on the Indian side; and China has build a seaport in Pakistan, they're building one in Sri Lanka, attempting to build one in Bangladesh and Burma.

Thereby India is surrounded by sea, air now. With the train from Beijing to Golmud to Lhasa onto Shigatze to Nepal, maybe to border of Bangladesh also. So by sea, air and land, the two countries are facing each other. Historically, it was not the case. And it's geopolitically very important. I was born and brought up in India. India has done the most for Tibetans because largest number of Tibetans are in India. The Tibetan administration also is in India. And also on humanitarian ground, India does more than any country in this planet for Tibetans. So we always say India is our host; we are their guest. 

As for Indian tradition a guest should be content with what he was provided, so we don't want to complain. But given a choice, we wish India does more than what it does. But it's not a demand. It is not a complaint. It is just a request because actually, they do the most for us. 

As far as my administration is concerned and the Indian leadership, we have very good relationship in the last 18 months or so. Even though I left America for 16 years, I built a very good relationship, and I've seen firsthand how much sympathy and support the Indian people and the leadership have for Tibet. So India is doing a very good job. Now, we wish they do more."

Excerpt: “Our Lhasa is on the Verge of Destruction! Please, Save Lhasa!” By Woeser

Our Lhasa is on the verge of destruction; this is absolutely not a case of crying wolf!

A display image of the Barkhor Shopping Mall, currently under construction. 

Remember: in 1994, UNESCO placed the Potala Palace on the World Heritage List. But then, in 1996, the village of Shol, which had stood for 1100 years at the foot of the Potala Palace was moved and relocated. At the same time, the Potala Palace, now deprived of Shol, was fatally disfigured with a public square: a replica of all those identical squares found throughout China, that are meant to display and project supreme power and authority. In 2000 and 2001 UNESCO listed the Jokhang and the Norbulingka on the World Heritage List as extensions of the Potala, making Lhasa, already a sacred place in terms of its value for religion, history and the humanities, a part of the world’s cultural heritage. Nominally then, it ought to receive protection simply as a matter of course. But in 2002 Tibetans received a deep wound to their hearts: an artillery shell-shaped “Monument to the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet” was put up to tower easily over the square, facing off against the Potala Palace in the distance. In 2007 the Potala Palace received a “Yellow Card Warning” at the World Heritage Conference, with criticism leveled for the excessive and gross pursuit of tourism profits, for unrestrained exploitation and for failing to uphold its responsibilities and commitments. The Potala Palace was put at risk of losing its “World Heritage” designation.

What is regrettable is that now, not only does the Potala continue to be subjected every year to excessive exploitation for purposes of tourism, but, under the feet of several million tourists whose numbers continually increase, even Lhasa’s Old City is precariously and dangerously changing its appearance as it follows the trajectory of becoming an “International Tourist City.” Not only have its guts been opened, things have become drastic. It’s just as the Tibetan artist Kuang Laowu judged: “Faced with the lure of material goods and the seductions of power, cultural distinctiveness loses out and urban uniformity is imposed. Behind this seeming burst of prosperity the Old City of Lhasa, its substance, long since depleted, is yesterday’s faded lily; none of its ancient simplicity, with the traces of ages past, is to be found there.”

Tibetans going around the Barkhor.

From the “Engineering Survey” for the “Barkhor Shopping Mall” we can see that the goal of the renovation of the Barkhor quarter is to “cleanse, disperse, transform and elevate.” And the reality that is to be understood by this is that the reconstruction of the Old City is to be divided into several large parts: the heart of the Old City, the circumambulation path around the Jokhang is to be thoroughly cleared. All the street peddlers are to be moved inside the newly-built “Barkhor Shopping Mall.” All of the residents originally living along the street are to be moved to Tolung Dechen County in the western suburb of Lhasa; those households that move quickly can get a subsidy of between 20,000 and 30,000 RMB. Not moving will be a political problem. It’s said that one old person in Lhasa who was unwilling to move has gone completely mad. As for the empty homes and courtyards, they’ll be used to draw investment bids. Stores, restaurants, bars, art galleries and the like are to be established here. And on other streets and allies in the Old City, such as the space in front of the Ramoche temple, big public squares are to be opened up.

I should point out that over the last several years the self-immolations of 121 Tibetans have become the most conspicuous manifestation of the Tibet Issue. It matters little that the international community is only paying limited attention to it, it is still the focus of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile; everything is concentrated around it and other catastrophes and dangers faced by Tibetan society are getting scant notice. For example, right now the looming destruction of Lhasa’s Old City is staring us in the face. If this were taking place in the past, UNESCO could still issue a “Yellow Card Warning.” However, now no one is paying attention, no one is concerned.

But the Chinese Government is taking the Tibetan self-immolations very seriously. On May 27 last year two Tibetans committed self-immolation in the space between the Jokhang and the Barkhor police substation. The Barkhor police substation was immediately elevated to the level of “Barkhor Ancient City Public Security Bureau.” The Mandala Hotel in which the two Tibetan self-immolators had taken lodgings was seized by the authorities and turned into the “Lhasa Barkhor Ancient City Management Committee.” The Old City of Lhasa was renamed the “Barkhor Ancient City.” But the large-scale rebuilding of the Old City by the authorities that resulted from this was actually a case of killing two birds with one stone; it was even more suited to the goals and plans for “maintaining stability.”

I call on the many Tibetologists all around the world, the people and organizations studying and researching the Tibet Issue: please pay close attention to the unredeemable misfortune that is befalling the Old City of Lhasa right at this very moment.

I hope people from all walks of life will launch actions to save the Old City of Lhasa!

Our Lhasa is on the Verge of Destruction!

Please, Save Lhasa!

Originally Written: May 4, 2013
Revised: May 6, 2013

shared from High Peaks Pure Earth

Britain supports Tibet as part of China

Britain clears out the air of confusion about its stance and support towards the cause of Tibetan struggle that was though strongly dependent on the sole power of proof that was present in Tibet during the occupation of Tibet by the Chinese government. In response to the Premier David Cameron meeting with the Dalai Lama last year that offended the Chinese government, he has made a statement that Britain does not support the Tibetan state as an independent nation and recognize Tibet as a part of China. The smell of sole reason behind this statement comes out to the fact that they want a strong and healthy relationship with China which is highly beneficial for both the states!

Whatsoever reason this statement has behind it, it is a clear encouragement for the Chinese government in pressurizing all the officials across the world against the meeting the noble laureate the Dalai Lama and the practice of violating the human rights in Tibet which has resulted in endless number of Tibetan self immolation which till now tolls upto 120 people committing to it!

  

David Cameron "Let us be absolutely clear -- this government has not changed the long-standing British policy towards China and Tibet. We do want to have a strong and positive relationship with China, which I believe is in our mutual benefit. The Chinese government is aware of our policy on Tibet. We recognize Tibet as part of China. We do not support Tibetan independence and we respect China's sovereignty. When I spoke to Premier Li recently, we both looked forward to both countries working very closely together in the months and years ahead."

The meeting between Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and the Dalai Lama in London was part of the government's approach of seeking "dialogue and discussion and gathering a wide range of viewpoints on issues of importance", a spokesman for Cameron said Tuesday.

The spokesman added: "It is entirely reasonable for the prime minister to decide who he meets.

"The Chinese government always lobbies hard against any meetings between foreign governments and the Dalai Lama. We have made clear in advance to the Chinese government that British ministers will decide who they meet and when they meet them."

Intrusion in Ladakh: Warning from China

The 19-kilometres deep intrusion by an armed patrol of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into the strategically sensitive area around Daulet Beg Oldi in the Aksai Chin region, and detected on 16 April 2013, has been unprovoked.

It is necessary at the outset to dispel any notions that the ongoing over two week long stand-off between armed patrols of the PLA and the Indian Army in the barren, but strategically important, area around Daulet Beg Oldi (DBO) is an isolated or unplanned incident. Similar incidents of armed eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation have occurred with increased frequency, especially since 2008, along the entire length of our 4,057 kilometres border. On this occasion, Beijing seems to have a specific motive. Interestingly, the intrusion coincided with the release of China’s latest Defence White Paper and PLA Navy Day.

The attributes of this stand-off, which has dragged on in the full glare of India’s print and visual media for over twelve days, are different. Pertinent is that Beijing remains transparently unmoved by the adverse media publicity and damage it has caused to India-China relations. It has neither moved to resolve the situation despite three flag meetings at the level of local army commanders and communications from New Delhi requesting resolution. Beijing has thus made it abundantly clear that it will defuse the situation only at a time of its choosing. Beijing’s stance confirms too that the stand-off is not a local incident provoked by the action of a local commander, but one initiated with the full knowledge of China’s senior leadership.

The timing of this intrusion points to a specific motive. It comes just weeks before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Japan and is a warning against India expressing support to Japan. The backdrop is the steadily escalating tension between China and Japan over the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands.

In the context of China’s national interests, China’s top echelon leaders strongly apprehend that the US is putting together an alliance comprising India, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines and Australia to contain China’s rise. Articles in China’s official media, including signed articles by Minister-level Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres, have candidly stated this. China’s latest Defence White Paper released on 16 April 2013, in a thinly veiled comment declared that “Some country has strengthened its Asia-Pacific military alliances, expanded its military presence in the region, and frequently makes the situation there tenser.” The reference to the US is implicit.

Tension between China and Japan over the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands has risen since 2010. China has been adamant in asserting its maritime territorial claims over the Senkakus (Diaoyu). Two specific developments highlight the extent of this tension and Beijing’s determination not to yield concessions. The Defence White Paper released on April 16, specifically named Japan as one among “some neighbouring countries” that are taking actions to exacerbate the situation. It accused Japan of “making trouble over the issue of the Diaoyu islands”.

More significant is the statement of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson. Speaking at the regular Foreign Ministry briefing in Beijing on April 26, 2013, she repeatedly, and for the first time publicly, referred to the Diaoyu Islands as a matter of “core interest” for China.  The statement raises the level of the dispute significantly and clarifies that Beijing does not consider the matter open for negotiation.

There have been warning indicators earlier that Beijing views the growing warmth in relations between India and US and between India and Japan with suspicion. In the days following the largest ever US-ROK joint military exercises in July 2010, a Hong Kong-based pro-Beijing newspaper observed: “the issue of China’s territorial disputes with neighbouring countries will ignite the flames of war sooner or later. If a country must be chosen for sacrifice, India will be the first choice…India’s long term occupation of southern Tibet is indeed worrying…If armed force is used to resolve border disputes, China must pick a country to target first, and it will definitely pick a big country, which means choosing between Japan and India…”.  Other references stated that China’s relationship with India and Japan had limits imposed by history. With this Beijing dragged India into the South China Sea dispute.

China’s latest action needs to be viewed in the backdrop of the People’s Republic of China’s readiness to employ military force on issues of national interest relating to its security, sovereignty and territorial integrity.  Beijing is adept at using a blend of threats and promise of military retaliation to deter an adversary from taking actions contrary to Beijing’s interests. India needs to calibrate and time its response. For a start it could withhold reiteration during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s upcoming visit of the formulation that the Tibet Autonomous Region is a part of China.

personal view of Jayadeva Ranade as on IPCS

China Tibet policy with the western leaders:

Chinese leaders are aware that visiting Western leaders will be under some pressure from their domestic constituencies to raise Tibet, human rights and other “sensitive” issues.

So a mechanism has been considerately created to cater for this need. It consists of a meaningless piece of theatre otherwise known as the “obligatory-behind-closed-doors-human-rights-discussion”.

According to the well-worn script, the elected foreign official heads to China on a trade mission, accompanied by a media circus and some high-level trough-snouting capitalists (like Andrew Forrest).

It is all about commercial priorities, but naggingly, annoyingly the official (Julia Gillard in this case) feels obliged to pay lip service to humanitarian concerns that pushy lobby groups like the Australia Tibet Council and bleeding heart Greens senators have put forward.

What are they playing at? Don’t they know a handful of mining billionaires’ hefty profit margins are at stake?

If only these Tibetans weren’t setting themselves alight by the score in protest against the brutal repression that is crushing the life out of their occupied country, it would easier to ignore them.

But don’t worry, the Tibet thing can be safely dealt with in a cosy private chat with the incoming Chinese Premier. The PM knows the rules. It’s only when you raise human rights concerns publicly that the Chinese leadership takes exception.

Without a hint of chagrin Xi Jinping fields Gillard’s politely-constructed queries about the situation. She knows she has to do it. He knows she has to do it.

And he also knows that her heart and that of her party is in the right place. After all, the ALP and the Liberals have been outdoing each other to victimise some of the world’s most impoverished and defenceless people for decades. Palestinians, Iraqis, Afghans, Tamils, indigenous Australians, to name a few.

So when it comes to criticising China over Tibet, does an Australian PM have a moral leg to stand on?

With a nod and a wink, the little conversation whose actual contents will never be made public draws to a close. He offers carefully-worded reassurances that something will be done.

And then, with a mental sigh of relief, the Australian PM ticks off the little human rights box and moves on to free trade, currency exchange deals and mining concessions.

The beauty of these private “human rights” discussions is no one is offended, and no lucrative business relationships between Australian corporations and the land-grabbing Chinese oligarchy are jeopardised.

They are polite, restrained, orchestrated affairs, nothing like the stench of burning flesh that is emanating from China’s western “house of riches”.

article: China: Gillard dodges Tibet question

Chinese influence in Nepal

"Chosar: The wind-scoured desert valley in Chosar, just south of Tibet, was once a famed transit point for the Tibetan yak caravans laden with salt that lumbered over the icy ramparts of the Himalayas. In the 1960s, it became a base for Tibetan guerrillas trained by the Central Intelligence Agency to attack Chinese troops occupying their homeland.

These days, it is the Chinese who are showing up in this remote region northwest of Katmandu, the Buddhist mountain kingdom of Mustang. China is giving annual food aid to Mustang. And Chinese military officials cross over to discuss with locals what the ceremonial prince of Mustang calls "border security."

For the Chinese, that means ensuring that Tibetans stay put. Chinese officials are seeking to stem the flow of disaffected Tibetans fleeing to Nepal and to enlist the help of the Nepalese authorities in cracking down on the political activities of the 20,000 Tibetans already here.
China is exerting its influence across Nepal in a variety of ways, most involving financial incentives, and its efforts have borne fruit. The Nepalese police regularly detain Tibetans during anti-China protests in Katmandu, and they have even curbed celebrations of the birthday of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, according to Tibetan residents of Nepal.

In the first eight months of 2012, the number of Tibetan refugees crossing the Himalayas into Nepal was about 400, half as many as during the same period in 2011. Tibetans blame tighter Chinese security in Tibet, as well as Chinese-trained Nepal border guards, for the reduced migration.

The Nepalese government has also refused to allow 5,000 refugees to leave for the United States, even though the American government has said it would grant the refugees asylum.

"Nepal used to be quite easy for Tibetans, to get jobs here and integrate into the community," Tashi Ganden, a former monk and prominent political prisoner in China, said as he sat on a cafe rooftop in the bustling Tibetan Boudhanath neighborhood in Katmandu. "That was before the Chinese influence."

Nepal is one of the world's most impoverished countries, made poorer by a decade-long civil war between Maoist guerrillas and the military that ended in 2006, and by the continuing instability of the government. The nation is bordered by India and China, and Nepalese leaders have sought to use China as a counterbalance to long-running Indian influence.

The courtship between Nepal and China has gained momentum in recent years, as China has poured in aid money, infrastructure expertise and, in Lumbini, believed to be the birthplace of Buddha, investment in Buddhist sites. Meanwhile, it has been assigning ambassadors to Nepal who have backgrounds in security work.

Former President Jimmy Carter told reporters in Katmandu on April 1 that Chinese pressure was making the journey of Tibetans to Nepal more difficult. "My hope is that the Nepali government will not accede," he said, according to Reuters.

Shankar Prasad Koirala, the joint secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, said in a telephone interview that Nepal had not turned its back on the refugees. "The government of Nepal is assisting them and treating them on humanitarian grounds," he said.

Other Nepalese officials have explained that Nepal abides by a "one-China policy" and does not tolerate anti-China separatist activities on its soil.

China's campaign to block Tibetans from entering Nepal increased in 2008, after a widespread Tibetan uprising. Since then, at least 110 self-immolations by Tibetans living under Chinese rule have further inspired Chinese officials to tighten security in Tibetan towns and along the border with Nepal.

The practice of protest by self-immolation has reached Katmandu, making Nepalese officials even more anxious about the Tibetan issue. In February, a Tibetan monk, Drupchen Tsering, 25, died after setting fire to himself near a revered Buddhist stupa in Boudhanath.

Tibetans in the area asked for the monk's body, but local officials had it cremated in the middle of the night late last month, saying no family members had claimed it, and later posted notices warning against public ceremonies, according to the International Campaign for Tibet, an advocacy group based in Washington.

There has been a clampdown on open religious celebrations in recent years, with some Tibetans detained for days. Those celebrations include festivities around the birthday of the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India and had a representative in Katmandu until the office was shut down by the government in 2005.

One young man with a Tibetan father, Tsering, said he went to a monastery in Katmandu in April 2012 for a birthday ceremony, only to find the Nepalese police blocking the area. The gathering was moved to an assembly hall. "We can't even celebrate the Dalai Lama's birthday," he said. "Things have changed a lot."

Tashi, the former monk, said dozens of Tibetans were pre-emptively detained in January 2012 when Wen Jiabao, the Chinese prime minister at the time, made an unannounced four-hour visit to Katmandu. Wen had scheduled a visit for the previous month, but it was cancelled because of concerns over protests by Tibetans, local residents said. During his visit, Wen agreed that China would give Nepal $1.18 billion in aid over three years, among other support.

The earliest Tibetan refugees arrived in Nepal in 1959, when the Dalai Lama fled Tibet, and they settled in refugee camps, of which there are still 13. A Tibetan enclave sprang up around Boudhanath. Some Tibetans became rich by making carpets and handicrafts, and prominent Tibetan monasteries amassed wealth and purchased prime real estate in the Katmandu Valley.

The population was bolstered by more recent political refugees, like Tashi. The Tibetans used to be given refugee cards that guaranteed them some rights, but Nepal ended that practice in 1998.

These days, refugees pay about $5,000 to smugglers to get them to Nepal. They generally stay six to eight weeks at a transit centre in the Katmandu Valley run by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, then board a bus for India. There, the Tibetans hope to get an audience with the Dalai Lama. Some are pilgrims who eventually try to make their way back to Nepal and then Tibet. There is suspicion among long-time refugees that some of the refugees are spies for China.

Before the Tibetan uprising five years ago, 2,000 to 4,000 refugees reached the transit centre each year. That dropped to 500 to 600 in 2008, as Chinese security forces locked down Tibetan towns, and crept back up to 850 the next year. It has remained low ever since.

For decades, there had been an understanding that Nepalese border guards would allow refugees they encountered to continue on to sanctuary. But now Tibetans suspect that the low numbers of refugees reaching Katmandu could be in part a result of guards sending back Tibetans they catch, especially since China is now involved in border security training programs.

There is no independent monitoring of the Nepalese security forces on the border. Last year, CNN broadcast video of unknown Chinese men in plain clothes harassing a CNN cameraman on the Nepalese side of the border while a guard stood by.

"We don't really know what happens in border areas now," said Kate Saunders, a researcher for International Campaign for Tibet.

For China, the Mustang region is one of the most delicate border areas, given the history of the Khampa guerrilla resistance there and the flight through the kingdom in 1999 of the Karmapa Lama, who was secretly escaping to India from Tibet. The border only opens now on rare occasions for a market between Tibetans and local residents.

People of Mustang could once cross into Tibet with a letter from the king to make a pilgrimage to Mount Kailas, the holiest mountain in Tibetan Buddhist cosmology. But the Chinese cut that off a dozen years ago.

"We've asked our government to try to reopen it," said Jigme Singi Palbar Bista, the prince of Mustang. "Our people have always looked to the spiritual light of Tibet."

© 2013, The New York Times News Service"

NDTV

10th March, 1970 H. H. Dalai Lama statement: Excerpt

"The situation in Tibet has ever since been gradually deteriorating, and conditions worsened with the advent of the so-called Cultural Revolution. Eleven years may not seem long to those of us who have been able to escape into free countries, but to those of our countrymen who are still in Tibet, it has been a period of unending terror and suffering. Yet in the midst of such a desperate and difficult situation the flame of freedom, which was lit on March 10th , 1959, still burns persistently. The Communist Chinese regime in Tibet has experienced constant opposition from the Tibetans, often in the form of violence. In 1969 alone, we learnt of ambushes and raids by Tibetans on Chinese military camps and ammunition dumps in the area of Chamdo, Poh, Lhoka, Tolung, Nyemo and Shang. There were also incidents where many Chinese officers were killed and many were held prisoners by the Tibetans during meetings organized by the Chinese. Above all, the Communist Chinese must have been shocked to find mounting opposition from the young Tibetans, many of whom have been educated and indoctrinated by the Chinese themselves in Tibet as well as in China. These are clear indications that all is not well in Tibet; that Tibetans are not contended and satisfied under the rule of alien power; that desperate resistance still continues; and that the spirit of liberty is still strong.

It is now nineteen long years since the armed forces of Communist China trampled Tibet under their feet. The Chinese have had all the time required to educate, indoctrinate and produce a new group of Tibetan leaders who would totally support their regime – but this has not happened. They have not been able to produce a single notable, young Tibetan leader. They are still using a few ex-members of the old Tibetan government who are actually considered to be reactionaries according to the Chinese themselves. This is again a clear indication that the Tibetans, young and old, no matter how they are treated or brought up are not prepared to yield completely to the Communist Chinese rulers. Many of these Tibetans may be ideologically Communist, but they are definitely nationalist Communists. To these Tibetans their nation comes first, ideology second. We are fighting against colonialism and not against Communism.

When the hopes and aspirations of our countrymen, struggling to survive in a vast prison camp, are so strong and persistent; so unfailing and determined; it is not sufficient to dedicate this day only to the memory of those martyrs who laid down their lives for the freedom of Tibet. We must, also, renew our pledge to hold high the torch of freedom and to continue the struggle so that the sacred cause for which six million Tibetans are still aspiring can be achieved. It is only fitting that we in the free countries shoulder this responsibility as our duty. We, therefore, solemnly rededicate this day and earnestly renew our pledge for the cause of Tibet's independence.

The world is ever changing. International changes are occurring almost every day of the year. A change in Tibet will definitely come about. The Chinese must realize that the spirit of freedom in the Tibetans is indomitable.

I take this opportunity to express on behalf of the people of Tibet and on my own behalf, our sincere and deep gratitude to the government and people of India for their generous and understanding assistance to the Tibetan refugees living in India. We also remember and remain deeply indebted to those countries, along with India, who have supported us in the United Nations. Last but not the least, we thank the various voluntary agencies that have come forth at a time when help was urgently and desperately needed. Much of what we have achieved in the fields of rehabilitation, education and cultural activities would not have been possible without their help.

Finally, while I call upon my people to strengthen their determination and work conscientiously for the freedom of Tibet, I also appeal to all those nations who cherish freedom to give us their firm and strong support in the just cause of Tibet's independence."

The Dalai Lama
March 10, 1970

Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese Students Discuss Tibet Issue:CTA

TAIPEI: More than 50 mainland Chinese and Taiwanese university students took part in a discussion entitled “The Unavoidable Story of Tibet” held in Taipei on 31 March. The discussion was organised by a group of Taiwanese students studying in Taiwan.

Mr Dawa Tsering, the representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Taiwan, Secretary Sonam Dorje and Mr Dachompa, the president of the Tibetan Association of Taiwan, attended the discussion.

Representative Dawa Tsering answered questions from the participants and explained the policies and functions of the Central Tibetan Administration.

The Office of Tibet in Taiwan also organised a 5-day screening of Tibet related films in Hong Kong from 21 March – 6 April. On the sidelines of the screenings, it also conducted a low-key discussion on Tibet between Chinese lawyers and human rights activists.

On 4 April, it organised a prayer service in Taipei to express solidarity with all those Tibetans who set themselves on fire for the cause of Tibet and those who continue to suffer Chinese repression inside Tibet. Senior lamas from all schools of Tibetan Buddhism and local Tibetans attended the prayer service.

The Office of Tibet also plans to organise an exhibition on Tibet at the Taiwan Freedom Park from 27 April to 5 May.

source: CTA

The Dream of a Free Tibet

How old are you today? This is the most striking question for a Tibetan around the world. The passage of a generation has gone by very unexpectedly for the Tibetans in this century and the plans of most Tibetans are shifting towards something more consolidated not driven by the optismistic dreams of a Free Tibet! The hope of returning back to the homeland Tibet from the exile world for Tibetans survived the last generation of Tibetans in exile across the world. But the truth turns out to be a more complicated and cruel to the Tibetan cause. The better half of returning soon to Tibet has almost vanished from most of the optimists and a rather less virtual world for the Tibetans have come into being for the Tibetans today!

Today there is an extreme series of last assorted way of protest fuming the lives of hundreds of Tibetans in desperation. The unwavering chain of self immolations coming from the Tibetan community is a signification of hate and boundless desire of a triumphant solution for the Tibetans who have been waiting meekly for the last fifty years on! However, the Chinese community seems to be too ignorant and too innocent to care for it. Today, I have seen the toll of self immolations reach 114 and it seems like the issue of burning oneself seems to be of insignificant and that is what is pinching at the heart. Whatsoever have moved the world seems to be forcing them to issue certain press releases against the China for a look into the case! How could it be so insignificant like this? The UNO and the most powerful nations of the world claim to stand up for the cause of justice and human rights but what has brought them back from standing genuinely? This is what Tibetans across the world are greiving about today.

I came across an article stating that Tibet needs entrepreneur like the TATAs and to me it felt like an irony. What does that mean? Where should the cause of Tibetan freedom come in this area of conquest and dream of our life?

The world itself is extremely hectic with tight schedule to attend to everyday and myriad sources of inspirations and desire to work for life of wealth and luxury. However, it is not a blame game coming out here. Rather, it is the explanation of the course complexity of the route the Tibetans are along across the word today. Today, the sojourn sought by the first Tibetans with the Dalai Lama in the exile world has shifted to strongly set chain of communities that are worth economically and socially. This Tibetan world has grown to have more rationalistic approach, believing in a fight to go on for generations to come. This is what has caused the dream of a Free Tibet to live up in parallel with the livelihood that is not just towards sustenance but excellence. May be the very prospect of His Holiness's vision of Tibetan movement was in such a direction as he gave strongest emphasis since the day one in exile on imparting education to the Tibetan people.

Jigme Gyatso released after 17 years in Chinese jail

The Tibetan political prisoner Jigme Gyatso has been released after 17 years in a Chinese prison and is reported to be in poor health as a result of his treatment, an overseas Tibetan spokesman and US-backed broadcaster have said.

The 52-year-old former monk has returned to his home town in an ethnic Tibetan area in the north-west province of Gansu, according to Tashi Phuntsok, spokesman for the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile in India. He said Jigme Gyatso had been released about one year early, probably because of poor health due to harsh treatment in prison.

Radio Free Asia also reported the release, saying he appeared "very weak" upon returning home on Monday after being released two days earlier from Chusul prison near Tibet's regional capital, Lhasa, where many political prisoners are held. It said friends reported him as walking with a limp and complaining of problems with his heart and vision and other physical complaints related to poor nutrition or lack of medical treatment.

It was not immediately possible to confirm Jigme Gyatso's release. Chusul prison has no listed phone number and government and police officials in Lhasa said they had no information on the case. Tibet remains off-limits to foreign reporters without special permission.

Jigme Gyatso was among Tibet's better known political prisoners, with numerous organisations including Amnesty International calling for his release. In 2005 he met the thenUN special rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak, who called the following year for him to be set free.

He was arrested during a crackdown on dissent in 1996, and was sentenced to 15 years on charges of "inciting splittism" and the now-abolished crime of "counter-revolution". He was initially held at Lhasa's notorious Drapchi prison and was among a group of prisoners who were reportedly beaten and tortured following a pro-independence protest in 1998 coinciding with a visit by EU delegates.

His sentence was then extended by three years in 2004 after he shouted slogans in prison in support of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. China says Tibet has been its territory for centuries, while many Tibetans say it was an independent state.

China has used overwhelming force to crush successive waves of anti-government activism among Tibetans, the latest in 2008 when bloody rioting in Lhasa sparked a wave of protests across Tibet. The fate of many of those detained remains unknown, while numerous Tibetans arrested earlier on state security charges continue to serve long sentences.

from The Guardian

Kraftwerk denied China visa over 1999 Free Tibet concert

As pop stars go, they are pretty much as inoffensive as you can get, a bunch of German pensioners who practically invented electronica with their hypnotic loops and robotic antics.

But Kraftwerk have apparently fallen foul of the Chinese authorities, not for their lyrics or their dissolute ways (the most you could ever accuse them of is eccentricity) but for something they did more than 10 years ago. A case of the past catching up with the futurists.

According to reports in Beijing, the ministry of culture denied the German quartet a visa because they were scheduled to perform at a pro-Tibetan independence concert in 1999. In fact, Kraftwerk's performance at the Washington DC fundraiser was ultimately cancelled because of a lightning storm.

The Beijing-based record label Modern Sky originally invited the German group to headline its three-day Strawberry music festival in late April before China's ministry of culture denied their application. "Kraftwerk were not allowed to play … because they participated in a Free Tibetconcert," an unnamed Modern Sky employee told Agence France-Presse. "We had already arranged the show, it's a pity they can't come, it's a great shame."

The festival has replaced Kraftwerk with the British pop band Travis. "I can't say we are 100% confident with Travis as headliners," Zang Keyu, Modern Sky's director of performance and operations, told the state-runGlobal Times newspaper. "But it's a fact we have to accept."

Björk was banned from China in 2008 after repeatedly ­shouting 'Tibet' during a song called Declare Independence.

Kraftwerk thus become the latest victims of Beijing's rigorous control of who does and does not come to entertain its youth. After turning up their noses for decades at western rock for much of the 1980s and 1990s, China's authorities have come to view large-scale, multi-day festivals as a useful exercise in generating both popularity and cash.

But for even the most enlightened officials, so-called social stability remains a top priority. In 2008, Björk was banned from the country after repeatedly shouting "Tibet" during a song called Declare Independence. And after Elton John dedicated a Beijing concert to the dissident artist Ai Weiwei in November, China's cultural authorities bulked up restrictions on foreign artists.

At a 2011 folk festival in the city Suzhou, a large projection behind the stage displayed short messages sent by audience members – until Ai Weiwei's name flashed across the screen. That year's Strawberry festival was immediately cancelled and Zuoxiao Zuzhou, a rock musician who ostensibly sent the message, was briefly detained.

Kraftwerk's rejection underscores Tibet's special standing in the eyes of Chinese cultural apparatchiks. In March, the band Gang of Four, named after a cultural revolution-era political faction, toured through the country without a hitch.

as published in The Guardian

A Mother of four Burns self in Tibet again!

A Tibetan mother of four burned herself to death on Sunday in protest against Chinese rule in Sichuan province's Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) prefecture, bringing the number of Tibetan self-immolations so far to 110.
Kalkyi, 30, torched herself near a monastery in Dzamthang (Rangtang) county "to highlight the Chinese policy of violent rule in Tibet and Tibetan populated areas," a source inside Tibet told RFA's Tibetan Service.

Local Tibetans took her body into the Jonang monastery immediately after the burning protest at about 3:30 p.m. local time before Chinese security forces arrived, sources said.
Tibetan monks and laymen are conducting funeral prayers at the monastery, they said.
Kalkyi, a mother of three sons and one daughter, all under 15 years of age, was from Barma township in Dzamthang in the Ngaba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

She is the 16th woman to self-immolate since the fiery protests began in February 2009, questioning Chinese rule in Tibetan populated areas and calling for the return of Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
So far, 110 Tibetans have burned themselves in the desperate protests which are not petering out despite tighter restrictions imposed by Chinese authorities. Ninety of them have died.
Chinese authorities have recently tightened controls in Tibetan-populated areas to check the self-immolation protests, arresting and jailing more than a dozen Tibetans who they accused of being linked to the burning protests. Some were jailed up to 15 years.
Human rights groups have criticized the Chinese authorities for criminalizing the burning protests.
The authorities have also deployed paramilitary forces and restricted communications in the areas where self-immolations have occurred.

courtesy: RFA

Canadian MP calls on Xi for TIbet

"The world watched over the past couple of weeks as the National People's Congress in China met for the ceremonial formalities of installing its new president, premier, cabinet and leaders of its government.                                   New President Xi Jinping spoke of the earnest expectations of the people for better life in his remarks to the People's Congress last Sunday. I would like to note that the world is watching how president Xi Jinping's government lives by those words. 

Given this urgency, we sincerely encourage President Xi Jinping to meet with the leaders of the Tibetan government in exile to discuss the Dalai Lama's Middle Way approach for peace, human rights and stability, and for a reasonable co-existence between the Tibetan and Chinese peoples. 

We call on the leaders of China to meet in earnest with the leaders of the Tibetan government in exile to discuss the Dalai Lama's third way for human rights and democratic, regional, cultural and environmental autonomy for Tibetans within China." 

- Mr David Sweet, Canadian Parliamentarian 

Excerpt of Rabiya Kadeer's responses at 'Human Rights in China' debate:

The meeting chaired by Croatian Foreign Minister Paul Seferovich was attended by representatives of the diasporas of the occupied territories of East Turkestan, Inner Mongolia and Tibet.

A Chinese diplomat stated that no states named East Turkestan, Inner Mongolia and Tibet existed in China, and that they were historically Chinese territory.

"Historically imperial states such as Tsarist Russia and Britain will admit that they obtained colonized territories through occupation, but the Chinese will not accept it... We came here to discuss the issue of human rights, not land…History is to be written by historians. You are diplomats, not historians. You cannot write history. The Chinese Communist Party cannot write the history of my country.

You kill the Tibetan people because they want you to implement the autonomy you have provided them!…You are accusing us Uyghurs and the Mongols living in Inner Mongolia of separatism since we demand our natural and human rights!

Occupied land never belongs to the occupier. Until the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese people never established a state named Cunggu. You did not have the strength for this. You invaded our territory in 1949."