06 August 2008
Dalai Lama offers prayers and good wishes for Beijing Olympics
(Tibet.net) The Dalai Lama extended greetings and offered prayers and good wishes for the success of the Beijing Olympics. "I would like to offer my greetings to the People's Republic of China, the organisers and the athletes participating in the forthcoming Olympic Games in Beijing", he said in a statement from Dharamsala. "I send my prayers and good wishes for the success of this event". The Dalai Lama has consistently maintained his support to China's hosting of the Games, saying it should be a moment of great pride for the Chinese people. "Right from the time of China's application to hold the Olympic Games, I have supported China's right to host the Games", he reiterated in his statement, adding: "These Games should contribute to promoting the Olympic spirit of friendship, openness and peace".
07 August 2008
Bush: China must end detentions, ensure freedoms
(AP) En route for the Beijing Olympics, President Bush expressed "deep concerns" about the state of human rights in China and urged Beijing to allow political freedoms for its citizens. "America stands in firm opposition to China's detention of political dissidents, human rights advocates and religious activists", he said in Bangkok in a speech to foreign diplomats, Thai government leaders and business officials. President Bush says he has built a relationship with China's leaders - through opposing independence for Taiwan, co-operating in negotiations over North Korea's nuclear programme and sharing economic interests, for example - that has allowed him to be "honest and direct" on sensitive internal matters. "I have spoken clearly, candidly and consistently with China's leaders about our deep concerns over religious freedom and human rights", he said. Earlier, during a news conference in Seoul with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, he said China's pre-Olympics crackdown on dissent has been "a mistake".
07 August 2008
Olympians write to Hu
(www.sportsforpeace.de )127 international athletes, including more than 40 competing in the Beijing Games, have signed an open letter to China's President Hu Jintao calling for a peaceful solution to the Tibet issue and respect for human rights in the People's Republic of China (PRC). In the letter they ask for: a peaceful solution for the issue of Tibet and other conflicts in the PRC; an end to the intimidation and imprisonment of human rights defenders; freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of opinion in the PRC, including Tibet. The athletes end the letter by saying: "Your decision on these issues will determine the success of the Olympic Games and the image the world will have of China in the future. We are asking you to respect human rights in China in order to achieve lasting peace and reconciliation".
07 August 2008
2,000 Tibetans protest in Kathmandu despite warnings of "strong measures"
(DPA; PTI) Nepalese police said they had arrested at least 1,100 Tibetans protesting near Chinese embassy building in Kathmandu, a day ahead of the official start of the Beijing Olympics. The demonstration was the biggest by Tibetan exiles in Nepal since their protests started in March. In a separate report from the state-run Rising Nepal newspaper, Nepal's government has warned "Tibetan separatists" of "very strong" action if they continue with "their anti-China protests". The report, quoting unnamed official sources, claims that in contrast to what has become routine for demonstrators and police - where those arrested are in general swiftly released - in future, protesters will be identified and detained for longer periods. The Kathmandu district administration also announced a ban on pro-Tibet demonstrations in areas of the city including the Constituent Assembly building, the Prime Minister's Office and the Chinese Embassy. The Nepali Government has come under increasing criticism from foreign governments and international human rights agencies for its handling of the protests.
08 August 2008
Tibet Sun launched
(TibetInfoNet) Tibet Sun, a new Tibetan information medium was launched in Dharamsala, India. The launch was synchronised with the start of the Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Tibet Sun is internet based and provides news and reports with a special focus on Tibet. It is run by Tibetan journalist and photojournalist Lobsang Wangyal, who is also known as the producer of several cultural events in the Tibetan exile community. Wangyal also wrote the first OpEd for Tibet Sun: "Time is running out for China".
08 August 2008
Tibetans and supporters protest against Olympics
(TibetInfoNet) Tibetan exiles and their supporters held demonstrations across the world to mark the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games. Supporters began staging symbolic protests in Beijing itself, and to date have staged them in Tiananmen Square, outside the Olympic Stadium, at the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park and outside the CCTV Building. There were protests in Europe, North America and in a number of towns in India, with 3,000 marching in Dharamsala and up to 150 monks attempting to storm the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi. Demonstrations were also held in Hong Kong and daily demonstrations continue in Kathmandu.
08 August 2008
CTA refutes "brainwashing" Nepali children, accuses Shugden sect
(Tibet.net; The Tribune) The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) has refuted Nepali press reports that it would lure Children from Nepal for "brainwashing" them in the name of educating them. CTA clarified that it concentrates on providing education to young Tibetans escaping from Tibet and hence does not have the financial resources to extend this to Nepali children. CTA also hinted that "some disgruntled elements in the exile Tibetan community", by which it meant members of the Shugden sect standing in opposition to the Dalai Lama, taking advantage of the poverty and unemployment in Nepal to carry out mass recruitment of young Nepalese children in the name of the Dalai Lama and CTA in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries run by the sect. They were then using Nepalese to create unrest in the Tibetan community in exile.
09 August 2008
Shooting of two Tibetan women adds to tension in Ngaba
(FTC; SFT) The Free Tibet Campaign (FTC) reports that two Tibetan women received gunshot wounds in Ngaba town in Ngaba (Chin: Aba) county. FTC said "reliable sources" told them that Sonam Wangmo, from Ngaba county, and Zhang Yeying, Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAP) shopping in the afternoon when shots were fired, hitting Sonam Wangmo in the arm and Zhang Yeying in the hand. FTC's source said four or five shots had been fired from a nearby building known to be accommodating troops recently quartered in the town. Tibetans who went to the assistance of the women reported that the Chinese troops claimed that the firing had been a mistake. The women's present medical condition is unknown.
12 August 2008
"Hybrid Tibetan-Peking opera" set for last days of Olympics
(Xinhua) Liu Can, spokeswoman with the Meilanfang Grand Theatre announced that the National Peking Opera Theatre and the Tibetan Opera Troupe will, from 21-23 August 2008, stage a performance retracing the journey of Princess Wencheng to Tibet as "one of the key cultural performances during the Beijing Olympic Games". Wencheng, a Tang dynasty princess became one of the wives of the seventh century Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo. The episode is widely seen in the PRC as having "formed close economic and cultural relations [between Tibet and China], laying the groundwork for the ultimate unified nation". Liu said the story would be dramatised in a mix of Tibetan and Peking operas. "Instruments like drums and cymbals of Tibetan opera will be merged into the orchestra of Peking opera. There will also be duet and harmonic vocals featuring both singing styles", said Liu. "We will carry on the luxurious visual styles of both operas. Dragon robes and brocades from Peking opera will be presented along with the loose-bodied, luminous Tibetan clothes". The Tibetan roles will be played by professional Tibetan opera actors in the Tibetan language, while the Chinese ethnic roles will be played by Peking opera peers in Mandarin.
13 August 2008
Tibetan monks confined during Games
(AFP; RFA) Authorities in Tibetan areas have placed a curfew on Tibetan Buddhist monasteries during the Olympics, forbidding Tibetans from travelling to Beijing and confining some monks around the clock, Radio Free Asia (RFA) sources say. "Since the beginning of August, many monks have been confined to their monasteries day and night", a spokesman for the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in Dharamsala said. He also said monks at Drepung monastery in Lhasa, had been cut off from contact with the outside world. Monks near the Kumbum monastery in Xining told Agence France-Presse that the railway station had refused to sell them tickets and e-mail services to the monastery have also been discontinued until after the Olympics.
13 August 2008
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Border sealing triggers food crisis in northern Nepal
(The Himalayan Times, The Times of India) More than 15,000 people in the Nepalese districts of Sankhuwasabha, Taplejung and Gorkha have run out of rice, salt, oil and other essentials due to the sealing of the Nepal-Tibet border since 22 May 2008. These areas depend heavily on supplies from Tibetan towns like Dendang, Riu, Jonga and Kongdang to purchase essentials, since trips to the next markets in Nepal take up to seven days. Some border check-post re-opened on 10 July to ease the food shortage, but they were closed again after three days in order to check infiltrations into Tibet before and during the Beijing Summer Olympics.
A local Nepali official is quoted as saying he was confident that the border check-posts would be re-opened after the Olympics end. Meanwhile, Nepalis doing trade with Tibetan border towns have seen their business plummet.
14 August 2008
French Foreign Minister will meet the Dalai Lama
(AFP; AP) French media reports that Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will meet the Dalai Lama who is giving a series of teachings in France till 23 August. French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office have already said he will not meet with the Dalai Lama saying he did not ask to meet with the president during his 11-day visit to France. The Mayor of Nantes, where the Dalai Lama will be giving teachings, has said that he will raise the Tibetan flag over the city hall for the duration of his visit. Beijing called on France to carefully handle the "sensitive" issue of Tibet. "China's position on the Tibetan issue is consistent and clear", the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement, and "we hope that France will pay attention to China's concerns [and] carefully handle the related important and sensitive issue", it said.
15 August 2008
Asia's second largest copper mine to open in Tibet
(Xinhua) Production of the largest proven copper deposit in the PRC will start in Chamdo (Chin: Changdu) prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) in September, after two years of preparation, said a senior industry official in Tibet. Yang Qianrang, an industrial planning official with the regional economic commission, said that a production line with an annual capacity of 10,000 tons of refined copper has been built at the Yulong Copper Mine. The mine, with a proven deposit of 6.5 million tons of copper will be the second largest in Asia, and upon completion in 2010 is expected to produce 30,000 tons annually.
15 August 2008
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Tibetan nun mishandled in detention in Nepal
(Tibet Sun) Sonam Deki, a 43-year-old nun, was severely beaten by police while she was detained at Boudha police station in Kathmandu following her participation in a demonstration in front of the Chinese embassy on 14 August 2008. Deki was among four Tibetans detained at the police station. She was handcuffed and beaten by three or four policemen who forcefully stuck their bamboo sticks in her mouth and hit her with rifle butts on her legs. She was also punched and kicked all over her body, causing profuse bleeding in the night, forcing the police to take her twice to hospital. She was later forced to consume painkillers by the police. She was released around 13:00 on 15 August. Tibetan volunteers rushed her to a hospital, and her condition is said to be serious.
15 August 2008
Visa fees for Chinese nationals in Nepal
(Kathmandu Post) Under a new amendment of Nepal's immigration regulations, Chinese nationals have to pay a visa fee for short stays in Nepal. Previously, there was a provision of not charging visa fees to nationals of all South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries and China for three days. Under the new amendment, SAARC nationals are given visa-fee waivers for 30 days, but Chinese national have to pay a visa fee even for a one-day stay in Nepal as Chinese authorities did not reciprocate the previous arrangements made by Nepal.
