05 July 2008
Bush to attend Olympic ceremony
(BBC; AP) US President George W Bush will attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, the White House said. Human rights groups and opposition politicians including presidential hopeful Barack Obama had urged Bush to consider boycotting the ceremony.
05 July 2008
Dalai Lama’s envoys issue statement
(CTA; AP) In a statement issued in Dharamsala following the most recent round of talks in Beijing, Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, the Dalai Lama's special envoys, said that "The Chinese side expressed the view that the dialogue process has been productive and that we need to keep in mind that a half-a-century-old issue of great complexity, cannot be resolved in a matter of years". They, however, also stated that, despite their hope that recent unrest in Tibet would encourage China to adopt a more positive approach, "on the contrary, due to their excessive concern about legitimacy, the Chinese side even failed to agree to our proposal of issuing a joint statement with the aim of committing both parties to the dialogue process". Although the Tibetan envoys agreed to attend a further round of talks in October, after the Olympics, the statement added: "We were compelled to candidly convey to our counterparts that in the absence of serious and sincere commitment on their part, the continuation of the present dialogue process would serve no purpose". Beijing rejected the accusations that it was not serious about talks over the status of Tibet. "The central government is sincere about holding contact with the Dalai side", foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters. "Both sides have expressed their will to continue the contact".
06 July 2008
“Atmosphere and conditions” required for further Sino-Tibetan contacts
(AFP; BBC Monitoring; Xinhua) In an interview published by China's official news agency Xinhua, a "Responsible Person of the Central United Front Work Department" whose exact identity was not disclosed stated that, unless the Dalai Lama gives no support "for activities aimed at disturbing and sabotaging the Beijing Olympic Games", gives no support for and makes no attempt to "conspire and incite violent criminal activities", gives no support for and takes "earnest steps" to check the "violent terrorist activities" of the Tibetan Youth Congress, and gives no support "for any ideas or activities that sought to achieve 'Tibet independence' and split the motherland", "there would hardly be the atmosphere and conditions required for the contacts and discussions" between his representatives and those of the Chinese authorities. He also said that Tibet's "illegal" government-in-exile, the CTA, has no role in the dialogue. "The central government will never hold consultations with such an illegal organisation", he said, adding that the dialogue only concerned the "personal future" of the Dalai Lama.
07 July 2008
HRW: Beijing still blocks media
(HRW) Beijing continues to block and threaten foreign journalists despite repeated promises to lift media freedom restrictions ahead of the Olympic Games, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report. The government has prohibited local Chinese-language media from publishing unflattering news ahead of the Games, leaving foreign media as the only source of factual reporting about a wide range of crucial issues in China. But systematic surveillance, obstruction, intimidation of sources, and pressure on local assistants are hobbling foreign correspondents' efforts to pursue investigative stories. The 71-page report, "China's Forbidden Zones: Shutting the Media out of Tibet and Other 'Sensitive' Stories", draws on more than 60 interviews with correspondents in China between December 2007 and June 2008.
07 July 2008
Monks removed from Lhasa’s monasteries
(The Times) As part of a policy to rid the monasteries of any monks not registered as formal residents of the TAR, more than 1,000 monks from ethnic Tibetan regions in neighbouring provinces have been removed from Lhasa’s monasteries and reportedly detained in different locations around the city of Golmud in Qinghai province. The monks were living in Lhasa for studies. They have been told they will be kept in Golmud only until the end of the Olympic Games. "After that they have been told that they will be allowed to leave, because they are not guilty of a crime", one man whose brother is among the detained said, "but they will be ordered to return to their home villages and will not be permitted to go back to the monasteries in Lhasa". There were no reports that any of those being held were being mistreated, he added. Meanwhile, apparently fearing a fresh outburst of unrest on the Dalai Lama's birthday on sixth July, the Chinese authorities tightened security around Tibet's main monasteries on the edge of Lhasa.
08 July 2008
Sarkozy to attend Olympics
(AFP; AP; Reuters) During talks at the G8 summit in Japan, French President Nicholas Sarkozy confirmed his intention to attend the opening ceremony for the Olympic Games in Beijing in August, and informed Chinese President Hu Jintao of his decision. Earlier, Sarkozy had made his attendance dependent on progress in dialogue between Beijing and the Tibetan government-in-exile. Sarkozy will also represent the 27-nation European Union as France currently holds the rotating EU presidency. A day earlier, China's ambassador to France warned Sarkozy against meeting with the Dalai Lama. Ambassador Kong Quan told reporters that a meeting during the Dalai Lama's visit to France in August 2008 would have "serious consequences". The French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner summoned China's ambassador to explain the comments and demonstrations attended by French MPs were held in front of the Chinese embassy in Paris.
08 July 2008
Nepal’s Supreme Court orders release of three prominent Tibetans
(PTI; TibetInfoNet) Nepal's Supreme Court ordered the release of Tashi Dolma and Ngawang Sangmo, President and Vice President of the Regional Tibetan Women's Association; and Kalsang Chung, Director of the Tibetan Reception Centre. The three were arrested from their homes in June 2008 by plainclothes police and handed three-month prison sentences under the Public Security Act for their alleged involvement in anti-China activities. Local sources in Kathmandu stated that they had been on a list of eleven prominent members of the Tibetan community in Nepal handed over to this effect by the Chinese embassy to the Nepali government. Earlier during the proceedings, Nepal's Home Secretary Umesh Prasad Mainali had written to Supreme Court stating: "They were arrested for involvement in activities against China and activities that threatened the cordial relations between the two countries". The Court, however, ruled that their detention was illegal. Justices Min Bahadur Rayamajhi and Top Bahadur Magar said the accused were arrested without mentioning the effect of their activities on peace and security in Nepal, hence their detention was illegal. "There is no basis for reaching a conclusion that they threatened peace and security just by chanting slogans", the judges said in their ruling. The international community had also expressed concern over the arrests, and France, on behalf of the EU, issued a statement saying: "We note that none of the three participated in violent actions and that Kalsang Chung is not known to have participated in any protests at all".
08 July 2008
Amnesty writes to Chinese president
(AI) Amnesty International has published a letter to China's President Hu Jintao urging several key improvements on human rights. Amnesty is calling for the release of all prisoners held for expressing political views, and all those detained after the March 2008 protests in Tibet and for police to stop detaining people during a pre-Olympics clean up. Amnesty's secretary-general, Irene Khan, says if China addresses these human rights issues it will go a long way towards the Olympic Games being remembered positively and not just on the sports field. The open letter to the Chinese President says "hundreds of thousands of voices" have been obtained by Amnesty International over the past 12 months echoing Amnesty calls for China to honour a 2001 pledge toward human rights development. In her letter Ms Khan says, while there have been notable improvements on the human rights situation in China, "preparation for the Olympics has actually had a negative impact in some areas of human rights".
09 July 2008
Spanish lawsuit against Chinese leaders in Tibet
(Phayul) Spain's Comité de Apoyo al Tibet (CAT) filed an extension of a previous lawsuit, submitted to the Spanish High Court in January 2006 accusing Chinese leaders Li Peng, Jiang Zemin and five others of crimes of genocide, torture and terrorism against the Tibetan people. The extension claims that the actions of the Chinese authorities during and since the March unrest bears further legal proof and striking resemblance to the crimes denounced in their initial lawsuit. The extension names five political and military leaders that bear responsibility: Zhang Qingli, Party Secretary the TAR; Wang Lequan of the Politburo in Beijing; Li Dezhu, head of the Ethnic Affairs Commission; General Tong Guishan, commander of the PLA in Lhasa; and General Zhang Guihua, Political Commissar of the Chengdu military command. If held accountable, any of these leaders traveling to a country with which Spain has an extradition treaty could be detained.
09 July 2008
British Tibetan woman deported from Beijing
(Reuters) Beijing has defended its decision to deport an ethnic Tibetan woman who is a British citizen, saying she was a key member of the pro-independence Tibetan Youth Congress and had engaged in unspecified illegal activities in the country. Dechen Pemba, 30, was escorted onto a plane to London after being interrogated by Chinese security officials in Beijing, where she had been living for two years. She told Reuters by telephone from her family's home in London that she was innocent and said the deportation was made by a paranoid government less than one month before the start of the Olympics. The Tibetan Youth Congress denied she was a member, and she also issued a statement denying any association with the congress.
10 July 2008
LMU: No apologies for honorary doctorate to the Dalai Lama
(OoT) In a letter circulated to the media, the London Metropolitan University (LMU) has confirmed that their vice-chancellor did not apologize to the Chinese authorities for awarding an honorary doctorate to the Dalai Lama. The controversy arose after the China Daily in an article headlined "London school regrets honoring Dalai Lama reported that Mr. Brian Roper, vice-chancellor of the university, had "recently apologised for bestowing an honorary doctorate to the Dalai Lama after the move drew intense criticism from a number of Chinese". In a statement, the LMU clarified: "The Vice Chancellor of London Metropolitan University, Brian Roper, recently met with representatives of the Embassy of the PRC in the UK (…) [where] he expressed regret at any unhappiness that had been caused to Chinese people by the recent award of an honorary doctorate to the Dalai Lama. It was not the university's intention to cause any such unhappiness. LMU has not and will not be apologising for the award of an honorary doctorate to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Nor will we be retracting the award".
11 July 2008
European Parliament resolution on China and Tibet
(ICT) The European Parliament has expressed continuing concerns about human rights abuses in China and Tibet, and adopted a resolution that "deplores the fact that China's human rights record remains a matter for concern owing to widespread and systematic human rights abuses". The Parliament welcomed the resumption of contacts between "the representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities", and calls for an intensification of these contacts. MEPs also condemned the fact that "participants in the protest in Lhasa [are] still being traced, detained and arbitrarily arrested". They also called on Beijing to end its 'patriotic re-education' campaign, and allow free media access to Tibet. The President of the Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, announced that he would not be attending the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing, due to the lack of progress in talks between Beijing and Dharamsala.
11 July 2008
China jails twelve more Tibetans over March riots
(Xinhua) Xinhua reported that Chinese courts jailed twelve more Tibetans following the unrest in March. The report said that, to date, the authorities have convicted 42 people for their alleged role in the riots while another 116 await trial. Security forces detained some 953 people, Xinhua said, quoting Palma Trily (Tib:Padma Trinley, the executive vice-chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) government. He did not give details on the length of the latest 12 sentences handed down on 19 and 20 June but said neither these nor 30 people convicted earlier had received death sentences. "Whether or not the death penalty will be applied for suspects still being investigated has to be determined based on Chinese laws", Palma Trily was quoted as saying.
11 July 2008
Nepal bans climbers for two years over Tibet
(IANS) The Nepal government has, for the first time, imposed a two-year ban on two Western climbers. The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation imposed the ban on American William B. Holland after he was detained at the Everest base camp in May with a 'Free Tibet' T-shirt in his backpack. He was subsequently turned away and deported from Nepal. The Nepali authorities have imposed a two-year ban on the American, which prohibits him from climbing any peak in Nepal. In an unprecedented move, the local trekking agency that handled logistics for Holland's expedition was fined Nepali Rs.10,000 (UK£77; US$155; EUR€98). The second Westerner to receive a two-year ban was Josef Kubica from Slovakia who was caught on Everest without a climbing permit.
11 July 2008
Nepal tourism may suffer serious setback
(Zeenews) Nepal's tourism industry, recovering from a decade-long insurgency, may face a substantial setback this year as the Chinese Embassy has halted issuing visas for tourists visiting Tibet through the Himalayan country. This season, tour operators have been unable to get a single visa, said Rameshwor Sapkota, chairman of the Association of Trans-Himalayan Tour Operators in Nepal. An official at the Nepal Tourism Board has estimated that the country may lose some 20,000 to 25,000 visitors if the situation continues throughout the year. Although China officially lifted the ban on issuing visas on 01 July, in practice, none have been issued, he said.
15 July 2008
Tibetan Party members under pressure
(TCHRD) Tibetan Communist Party members whose children are studying in the exile educational institutions run by the "Dalai Clique" were given a two-month ultimatum to recall their children and warned of dire consequences "according to the Party rules and policies", if they fail to abide. The new regulation was jointly prepared by the TAR Party's Discipline Inspection Commission (Chin: Jie Wei) and the TAR Government Discipline Committee (Chin: Jian cha ting) and has been posted on an official website (www.chinatibetnews.com).
17 July 2008
Tibetan nomad sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for “splittism”
Kalgyam Adak, the nephew of Runggye Adak, has been sentenced to five years imprisonment, by the Dartsedo (Chin: Kangding) People's Court in Kardze TAP in Sichuan province, according to reports by the Free Tibet Campaign (FTC). Adak was sentenced for "inciting splittism", according to FTC sources. Kalgyam was arrested on 03 October 2007, during a 'patriotic education' campaign in Lithang county following the arrest of Runggye Adak, in August 2007. The arrest had led to large-scale protests by nomads in the area. Another of Runggye Adak's nephews, Adak Lupoe, a senior monk at Lithang monastery and Jamyang Kunkhyen, a musician and teacher, were sentenced to ten and nine years respectively. A fourth Tibetan, Jarib Lothog, was sentenced to three years in prison, and Runggye Adak received eight years.
18 July 2008
3,000 US immigrant visas for Tibetans
(ICT) US Representatives George Miller and Jim Sensenbrenner introduced the Tibetan Refugee Assistance Act to provide 3,000 immigrant visas to long-staying Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal. Congressmen Miller and Sensenbrenner traveled to Dharamsala, India, as part of the Congressional delegation led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi in March 2008. The Tibetan Refugee Assistance Act extends support by providing 3,000 immigrant visas to qualified Tibetans over a three-year period. "Our legislation represents one small but very significant step that the Congress can take to help the Tibetan people", Rep. Miller said. "The Tibetans face severe persecution under the Chinese government and must be recognized by the United States for refugee assistance. I am honored to have the have the opportunity to work with Rep. Sensenbrenner and our other colleagues to address this particular problem and I look forward to working with the State Department as this bill moves forward".
