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"Nonviolence" in the mouth of "Dalai Lama"
For Freedom of Religion in Tibet
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Tibet Fought Against Foreign Invasion
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Abolishing Tibetan feudal serfdom equates to ending slavery in U.S.
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Dalai Lama does not represent all Tibetan or Tibetan Buddhism and he has lots of enemies, even within Tibetan Buddhism. Enclosed photo showing a demonstration against Dalai Lama by Tibetan Buddhism Monks in Germany. In this photo many Germans(like many of us) were very much surprised.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-06/23/content_8424644.htm
In every capital of every European nation Dalai Lama was met with Protest: Stop Lying
China urges U.S. to stop supporting Dalai Lama in any form
www.chinaview.cn 2008-07-28 11:18:54
BEIJING, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Relevant people in the United States should stop supporting and conniving with the Dalai Lama and separatist forces for "Tibet independence," the Foreign Ministry said here on Monday.
Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao made the remarks when commenting on a report that Republican presidential candidate John McCain had met last Friday with the Dalai Lama, who was visiting the United States.
"China is seriously concerned about the report," Liu said, noting the Tibet issue is China's domestic affair.
China opposed the Dalai Lama conducting separatist activities in any country with any individual and opposed anyone making use of the Dalai Lama issue to interfere in China's domestic affairs. The stance is persistent and clear, Liu said.
He urged relevant people in the United States to abide by the basic principles of international relations, see clearly the true face of the Dalai Lama as separating China and destroying social stability and national unity in Tibet under the cloak of religion and stop supporting and conniving with the Dalai Lama and the separatist forces for "Tibet independence," as well as anything interfering in China's domestic affairs and damaging Sino-U.S. relations.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/28/content_8786288.htm
In Germany: Dalai Lama was accused "Cultural Genocide"
In Rome: Dalai Lama was called "Hypocrisy!"
In London: "Dalai Lama GIVE Religious Freedom"
http://news.ifeng.com/mil/2/200807/0714_340_651682.shtml
"Freedom of religion" (of all religions)
is a fundamental right of Chinese citizens
under the protection of China Constitution
Every day thousands of Tibetan Buddhism belivers
(including local Lhasa residents and overseas pilgrims)
can be seen taking ritual walks encircling Potala Palace.
Tibet sees happy Buddhism believers
2008-07-04 09:54:00
Buddhism believers are taking ritual walks in front of the Potala Palace, photo from chinatibetnews.com, June 30.
Buddhism believers in the Tibet Autonomous Region enjoy the freedom of religious belief with the support from the government.
http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200807/t20080704_410827.htm
Freedon of Religion in Tibet
From Words of Past Tibet-Tour Hikers
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Expert: Big progress in religious freedom in Tibet
2008-04-22 10:55:00
A Tibet expert on Monday defended progress in religious and individual rights in the region, saying religion had progressed from a coercive force before 1951 to a legally protected freedom.
Old Tibetan law stipulated that Buddhism was the only legal religion, and other religions were banned as heresy, said Sherab Nyima, vice president of the Beijing-based Central University for Nationalities, on the sidelines of the Beijing Forum on Human Rights.
Now freedom of religion was a fundamental right of Chinese citizens, which was under the protection of the constitution, he said.
Under the feudal serfdom of old Tibet, most people were merely slaves who were deprived of basic human dignity. They had no personal rights, and no right of subsistence, not to mention political and other human rights.
Tibetan law before 1951 when Tibet was peacefully liberated even publicly protected privileges of a few and inequality, he said.
The expert said the Chinese government's respect of religious freedom was out of the respect for basic human rights.
http://eng.tibet.cn/Features2008/314sj/commentary/200804/t20080423_377117.htm
Tibetan people enjoy religious freedom
2008-05-27 15:35:00
A Tibetan Buddhism believer is reading blessing scriptures that he just took from Jokhang Temple, photo from Tibet Daily.
The religious freedom in the Tibet Autonomous Region is well protected with China's religious freedom policy. More than 40,000 monks and nuns get along well with believers as well as free thinkers.
http://eng.tibet.cn/index/editor/200805/t20080530_402510.htm
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Tibet Before 1951 Peaceful Liberation
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Tibet After 1951 Peaceful Liberation
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"Nonviolence" in the mouth of "Dalai Lama"
16:29, June 24, 2008
Buddhists always preach that no living things are to be killed and all violent actions have to be opposed. "I say that 21st century should be one of dialogue," the Dalai Lama told his audience on May 19 when he delivered a speech in Berlin, and he said repeatedly that he only wants autonomy for Tibetans. "This (21st century) should be the century of peace and dialogue," he noted.
Can his remarks hold true for the whole 21st century? Only three days latter, on May 22, he alleged in Paris that if the talks between his personal envoys and China broke down, grave violence may occur in Tibet again.
So, it is quite possible for "nonviolence" and "grave violence" to slip back and forth in the mouth of the same person.
Dalai Lama has passed himself off as "a disciple of the Gandhi school" and so he adheres to the nonviolence. He, nevertheless, has hardly expected what Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948), the leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule, had explicitly said, "Nonviolence is not a garment to be put on and put off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our very being."
But the Dalai Lama has indeed taken nonviolence as a garment to hide his shame and so he has put on and put off at will. Why does he need to put on such a garment? He could be overjoyed if "stayed naked and then he would have nothing to worry about," as a popular Chinese saying goes. It is not because he is not willing but he won't able to do so. As he had said explicitly in an address in Oslo in 1989: If Tibetans took up arms, Communist troops in China would have the excuse for the suppression of them and they would be possibly be extinct.
The Dalai Lama claimed that he advocates "nonviolence"but he is not able to stop the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) and other radical forces from going in for violence, as he said that some of the Tibetans in exile listened to him while others did not. As is known to all, 80 percent of the staff of the government in exile were TYC members, and the so-called "the charter (or constitution) of Tibetans in Exile" specifies that these Tibetans must obey the "supreme political and religious leader Dalai Lama."
Since the Dalai Lama is the "supreme leader" who controls and governs all the supreme power in politics and religion, how he is not able to check TYC and curb violence?
In numerous journals owned by TYC, there are often articles concerning the use of violence or to spouse armed struggle to materialize their dream of "Tibetan independence". There are also agitating articles in recent years to urge Tibetans to follow suit of Palestinians to carry out suicide bombing, and openly alleged that they had a lot to draw on from the terrorism of the September 11 attacks of 2001 in the U.S. The Dalai Lama, however, has turned a deaf ear and blind eye to all this.
While parroting "nonviolence", the Dalai Lama has often instigatted and voiced his support to violence both in public or in private. Sufficient evidence has showed that the March 14 Lhasa violence was part of the "Tibetan People's Uprising Movement," a schemed plotted by the Dalai clique. So, he was so elated that day and repeatedly exhorted that he appreciated with all his heart the Tibetans inside the border for their absolute loyalty, courage and determination.
What the Dalai Lama has"appreciated" is the unrest erupted in Lhasa on March 14 when rioters set fire to and looted public facilities, residential houses and shops. On the same day, he told American reports that he would not stop Tibetans because they had the right to do whatever they desired.
To date, the dust has been settled in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet autonomous region, and the splendid, towering snow mountains around remain holy. The Dalai Lama, however, has turned somewhat impatient, anxious and restless, and he even predicted that grave violence could possibly recur in Tibet. Was it something not more plain and definite that what he had "appreciated" days before the "March 14th" riot'? And what he was really hinting, inciting and expecting?
With a too fast replacement of the "nonviolence" garment by the garment of "violence", it seems that flaws or burst seams are apt to be exposed. No wonder some personality in the West have referred to the Dalai Lama as the "Drama" Lama and often found what he said or preached joining in the fun or playing the game merely on the occasion.
In order to retain the Dalai Lama's "Buddhist" compassionate face and rope in the kind-heated people, the Dalai clique have all along brandished the "nonviolence" as their banner. Whenever following in their footprints, these people can see the stripes of "violence" on their buttocks, and then roar with laughters and disperse helter-skelter.
By People's Daily Online and its author is Zong Yiwen, a council member of the China Religious Culture Communication Association
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91342/6436017.html
Dalai clique is chief criminal of violent crimes
16:54, June 07, 2008
The three bombing cases that took place in eastern Tibet's Qamdo prefecture in April have recently been cracked. All suspects are Buddhist monks who have been instigated by the Dalai Cliques' separatist thought. Plots of the attacks echo the 3.14 unrest. The Dalai clique is the chief criminal of the three bomb attacks.
"Buddhists should believe in clemency. True Buddhists should learn Buddhist scriptures by heart; love their country and their religion; abide by the law; and bring happiness to people. They should not involve themselves in cruel murders and sabotage," said Dainzin Chilai, vice-chairman of the China Buddhist Association and vice-chairman of the People's Political Consultative Conference of the Tibet Autonomous Region. His words are a reminder of the essence of Buddhism, and criticism to the Dalai clique and the few monks who are keen on violent attacks.
People's actions are inseparable from their thoughts. The bomb attack suspects are inspired and instigated by the Dalai clique's propaganda. Having listened to overseas radio broadcasts for a long time, they have accepted the Dalai Lama's separatist thoughts. Once know the happening of the Lhasa incident and the contents of "Tibet Uprising" planned by the Dalai Lama, they actively cooperated with the Dalai clique. The three bomb attacks indicate how dangerous the Dalai Lama's separatism is and therefore demands our attention.
Facts prove again that "Tibet Independence" is unpopular and violent acts are intolerable. Those who try to undermine social stability come to no good end; and the separatist activities will never succeed.
By People's Daily Online
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91342/6426375.html
Video: Tibet Riot Documentary.
Prayers return to normal at riot-hit mosque in Lhasa
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Facts exposing Dalai clique's masterminding of Lhasa violence
17:21, March 31, 2008
Xinhua was authorized to release a signed article on Sunday to reveal how the Dalai clique plotted and incited the Lhasa violence on March 14, which killed at least 18 civilians and one police officer.
The story, by Yi Duo, says that it was untrue of the Dalai Lama and his backers to claim that the riot was a "spontaneous peaceful protest" that the Dalai Lama had nothing to do with.
AN INSIDER'S CONFESSION
An unidentified suspect who was connected with the Lhasa violence has confessed to the police that the "security department" of the "Tibetan government-in-exile" asked him to distribute leaflets promoting the so-called "Tibetan people's uprising" to civilians and monks in Tibet, according to the article.
"The violence on March 14 was related to the instigation of the 'security department' of the 'Tibetan government-in-exile'," the suspect said.
"To protect myself, (the Dalai clique) asked me not to participate in the demonstrations in person, just to take charge of stirring people up," the suspect said.
"The beating, smashing, looting and burning were by no means peaceful demonstrations and the deeds were inhuman," the suspect admitted. "If they (the Dalai clique) wanted to follow the non-violent 'middle way', such violence should have never happened."
On the same day that mobs attacked innocent Lhasa civilians, a closed-door meeting was held by the Dalai Lama clique on how to build on the "achievements," the article said.
FOLLOW-UP PLOTS
The meeting finally decided to mobilize all of the monasteries in Tibet, each with more than 100 lamas, especially those of the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, and ask the monks to take to the street and involve common Tibetans in the demonstrations. The meeting also plotted to launch ongoing protests, in stages, in Tibetan-inhabited areas.
Samdhong, the "prime minister" of the "Tibetan government-in-exile," said at the meeting that they should seize the very rare opportunity provided by the Beijing Olympics to make breakthroughs in the "Tibet cause", to pave the way for the Dalai Lama to "return" to Tibet and to achieve a high level of autonomy in "Greater Tibet", as well as the goal of "abolishing" the existing management method on the reincarnation of Tibetan living Buddhas.
The Dalai clique also entrusted the "ministry of finance" under the "government-in-exile" to "financially support the decisive battle against the Chinese government," the article said.
A day after the violence began on March 14, the "Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC)", a hardline organization under the Dalai Lama's supporters that openly preaches violence, decided to "set up guerillas to infiltrate Tibet and start armed struggles" at a meeting in Dharamsala, where the "Tibetan government-in-exile" was located, the article said.
They also drafted recruitment plans and plans to purchase weapons and planned to steal into Tibet through the China-Nepal border.
The "TYC" leaders said that they were ready to "sacrifice another 100 Tibetans at least" to achieve their goal.
Besides the "TYC", other organizations that were among the Dalai Lama's supporters also sent people to Tibetan communities in India and Nepal, urging residents there to contact people in Tibet and other Tibetan-inhabited areas in China by telephone or e-mail and incite them, "in the name of the Dalai Lama", to hold demonstrations following the Lhasa violence.
Cewang Rigzin, the "TYC" president, said at a meeting on March 20 that violence has "achieved its goal" to "awaken resistance among people in Tibet and attract high-profile international attention to the Tibet issue" but the struggle "will not stop and this incident is just the prelude of this year's fight."
INSTIGATION OF LHASA RIOT
The article detailed how the Dalai Lama's backers masterminded a so-called "Tibetan people's uprising" that led to the violence in Lhasa.
Five organizations under the "Tibetan government-in-exile", the "TYC", the "Tibetan Women's Association (TWA)," "Students for a Free Tibet (SFT)," the "National Democratic Party of Tibet (NDPT)"and the "Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet (GCSMT)" announced the formal start of the "Tibetan people's uprising" on Jan. 4 this year and founded a temporary preparation office in charge of coordination and financing, headed by Cewang Rigzin, according to the report.
They claimed that the movement would be a "turning point in the history of Tibetans' struggle for freedom," the article said.
"They divided the movement into four stages," it said. The first was to recruit participants and promote the ideas of the movement. The second stage, or the action step, started on March 10, followed by the third, which was to organize demonstrations across the world. The last one was to launch actions in the regions inhabited by Tibetan people inside China.
FOREIGN ASSISTANCE
From Feb. 15 to 17, the five organizations launched training programs for people in charge of the movement activities in Dharamsala in northwest India, where the "Tibetan government-in-exile" was located.
Four days later, in the same place, they started a six-day campaign to recruit participants.
The "GCSMT" obtained financial assistance from the U.S.-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) on Feb. 27 from a fund "for activists to deal with danger."
According to an NED report, the foundation granted 1.36 million U.S. dollars to the Dalai Lama's backers between 2002 and 2006. In 2006 alone, it gave 85,000 U.S. dollars to organizations such as the "TWA" and "GCSMT."
The Dalai clique questioned about 300 Tibetans who were smuggled across the border from China during February in a bid to collect information for planned attacks on border points or infiltration into China, the article said.
On March 10, after careful selection, 101 hard-core members setoff from Dharamsala to unleash the movement.
HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF
March 10 is the anniversary of the so-called "Tibet uprising" in 1959. On that date, 49 years ago, Lhasa saw a bloody riot initiated by the Dalai Lama's backers. Rioters killed Pagbalha Soinam Gyamco, a senior lama and a member of the preparation committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region, tied his body to a horse and dragged it for two kilometers.
The day, annually commemorated by the Dalai Lama's backers, has been a reminder of violence. And history seems to have repeated itself.
On the same date this year, a ceremony was held in Dharamsala to mark the event. The 14th Dalai Lama said in a critical statement that the Chinese government had imposed "more severe repression upon Tibetans in Tibet" and "trampled on human rights and limited religious freedom".
He also expressed appreciation for the "Tibetan people's sincerity, courage and resolution."
Immediately after the ceremony, about 300 monks from the Zhaibung Monastery tried to march into central Lhasa. In the following days, monks from other temples in Lhasa also tried to demonstrate but were restrained by police.
When the monks' efforts to spread unrest failed, rioters came. They torched shops and vehicles, attacked innocent passers-by on the streets and even attacked ambulances on March 14.
TRYING TO ESCAPE RESPONSIBILITY
After the Lhasa riot on March 14, which is so far known to have claimed at least 18 civilian lives and caused 382 injuries, unrest erupted in other Tibetan-inhabited regions in the southern part of Gansu Province and the northern part of Sichuan Province.
Mobs, some shouting slogans for "Tibet independence" and bearing flags of the so-called "Tibetan government-in-exile", stormed into and attacked government offices, police stations, hospitals, schools and banks.
Moreover, the backers of the Dalai Lama spread violence even further by organizing rioters to attack Chinese embassies and consulates in the United States, Canada, India, Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Australia, the article said.
The Dalai Lama released a statement via his personal secretariat on March 14, in which violent actions were described as "peaceful protests". On the same day, the "Tibetan government-in-exile" defined the riots in another statement as peaceful demonstrations by Tibetans to protest Chinese policies.
In commenting to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on March 16, the Dalai Lama said, when prompted, that he would not ask the rioters to stop.
The Chinese government later released film and photographs showing the violent attacks that took place during the riot in Lhasa, which have been regarded as a contradiction to the vaunted "peaceful image" of the Dalai Lama.
On the advice of his supporters, the Dalai Lama changed his tune at a press conference on March 18, when he said that he should not have created an anti-Chinese mood in the international arena. The only option would be his retirement if the situation got out of control, the Dalai Lama said.
His comments were soon seen by the international community as an admission that he had a responsibility for the riots in Lhasa.
BEIJING OLYMPICS
After Beijing won a bid for hosting the 29th Summer Olympic Games in 2008, Dalai clique claimed that it would be a "decisive battle" to seek for "Tibet Independence" by interfering the Olympics.
Chairman of the working department of "2008 Free Tibet Movement" Lordain said in December 2004, "People around the world will pay close attention to China (for Olympics) and that gives us a unique opportunity to bring political pressure to Chinese government."
On February 7 of this year, Gama Qoinpe, "Speaker of the Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies" said that they should make use of the opportunity to compel Chinese government to resolve the Tibet issue in 2008 or within future two years.
In recent two years, the Dalai Lama and his followers have launched a series of Olympics-related actions for the above-mentioned purpose:
-- Members of "Students for a Free Tibet (SFT)" raised banners of "Tibet Independence" to boycott Beijing Olympics at the base camp of the Mount Qomolangma in April 2007.
-- In May, Dalai clique declared that it will hold "Tibetan Olympics" in Dharamsala and established a "organizing committee" for it.
-- Dalai clique's "Network of International Support to Tibet" also built an athlete "delegation" consisting of Tibetans living outside China and requested International Olympic Committee to allow them to "participate in the Beijing Olympics on behalf of Tibet".
-- The "TYC" decided to launch a "Death Torch" relay in April from Dharamsala to New Delhi, India's Capital.
-- Head of Dalai clique's "Tibet Independence Movement" has said that The Beijing Olympics is an important timing for international communities to press Chinese government to improve human rights, continue dialogs with the Dalai Lama and peacefully resolve the Tibet issue. Tibetans living everywhere should participate in the fighting, he said.
Source:Xinhua
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90785/6384226.html
Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth
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Catholic Church with more than 140 years of history in Tibet
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Tibet issue is not about religion
BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The People's Daily newspaper on Tuesday posted a commentary saying the Tibet issue was not a religious issue.
The Dalai clique called for the international community's concern for the Tibet issue, claiming Tibetans lacked religious freedom, the commentary said.
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An open court session
in connection with the Lhasa violence on March 14 is held at
the Intermediate People's Court of Lhasa, capital of
southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, April 29, 2008.
(Xinhua Photo) |
However, the Dalai clique's accusation against China contradicts the facts, the commentary quoted Narasimhan Ram, editor-in-chief of the Hindu Newspaper Group, as saying.
It said the living Buddha reincarnation, various ritual ceremonies and resumption of academic degrees of monks showed that religious activities in Tibet were normal.
Currently, Tibet has over 1,700 monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism,46,000 monks and nuns, four mosques and one Catholic church, the commentary said, stressing all religious activities go on smoothly in Tibet.
On average, there was one religious venue for every 1,600 Tibetans, but only one church for every 3,125 people in England, it said.
In recent years, many learned monks won Gexe Lharampa, the highest academic degree of the four ranks in the Gexe system, from the yellow sect, or the Gelugba school of Tibetan Buddhism, annually.
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An open court session
in connection with the Lhasa violence on March 14 is held at
the Intermediate People's Court of Lhasa, capital of
southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, April 29, 2008.
(Xinhua Photo) |
The commentary also said common followers have religious freedom. Sutra streamers, prayer wheels and other religious instruments are ubiquitous in Tibet.
Most followers have built scripture chambers in their own houses and over 1 million Tibetans went to Lhasa to pay homage to Buddha.
The Chinese government has allocated more than 700 million yuan(about 100 million U.S. dollars) since 1980 to maintain 1,400 monasteries and cultural relics. The Potala Palace, Norbu Linkag and the Sakya Monastery were renovated with central government funding.
The central government has also made efforts to collect and publish Tibetan Buddhism classics, including the Tibetan Tripitaka.
Many Tibetan traditional festivals have been preserved, including Spring Festival according to the Tibetan Calendar, and Shoton (Yogurt) Festival.
The commentary said the government respected and protected the religious freedom in conformity with the law.
Nowadays, religious freedom is the basic right of Chinese citizens. In addition, the legitimate rights of religious staff and followers are protected by law.
In the dark ages, only Tibetan Buddhism could be followed but nowadays religion in the autonomous region had developed with time. With Tibetan Buddhism dominating, more religions have been introduced to this area, including Muslim and Catholicism with 3,000 and 700 followers, respectively.
The above facts have showed explicitly the Tibet issue was not about religion but only a card played by the Dalai clique to woo sympathy from others, the commentary said.
The essence of the Tibet issue was a scheme for "Tibet independence" and this couldn't be disguised as a religious problem, it stressed.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/29/content_8073148.htm
Tibet in eyes of foreign journalists
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"Tibet issue" is definitely not human rights issue
15:37, April 30, 2008
Dalai clique has worked to promote the "Tibetan Human Rights issues" on its tours of Europe and the United states since the 50s and 60s of the 20th century. So, the human rights have been solemnly turned into a trump card in their hands as well as the weaponry they exploit to call the attention of the international community to the so-called "Tibet issue".
Then, is the "Tibet issue" an issue of human rights?
Concerning the human rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights made a clear and explicit explanation. "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights," says the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "No one shall be held in slavery and servitude¡&endash;"
Old Tibetan society under the rule of the Dalai clique was rigidly stratified, however, and local Tibetans were divided into three social strata within nine grades, where once five percent superstructure (monks and aristocracy) ruled the serfs, making up over 95 percent of the total population, who were economically exploited ruthlessly, politically oppressed and mentally controlled, and even their right to live could not be guaranteed.
Tibetologist Alexander Daweinier of France in her "Old Face of New China in Tibet", said all (serf) farmers were life-long liabilities in old Tibet, and that all serfs then lost all the freedom as human beings. With the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, the one million serfs then began to enjoy genuine democracy, freedom and human rights.
How can the endeavor to let former slaves be masters of their own destiny be termed as the act of "encroaching upon human rights" and how can there be such an absurdity is in the world today! Late senior leader Dang Xiaoping said, "what are human rights, how many people are there meant for; and whether these rights belong to the minority, to the majority or ¡&endash;"
If some people are said to have lost their "human rights" in Tibet, it is meant to the Dalai clique, which represents the handful of serf owners who lost their absolute "special privileges" to kill the innocent at will.
In fact, it is better for the Dalai clique to resolve their own human rights issues rather give heed to the non-existent Tibetan Human Rights issues. The Dalai clique is composed of high-level or upper-class monks and aristocrats to be represented by the Dalai families, and ordinary Tibetan exiles, nevertheless, remain in the status of being enslaved, with most of them huddling in slums in Dharamsala, India, and yet they still have to pay a type of "independence fee' for the Tibetan government in exile; they do not have any human rights to speak of at all, and at what time has Dalai clique ever paid any attention to this reality.
The Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 4, 1986, confirmed that the right to development is an inalienable human right. Since the peaceful liberation of Tibet, local economy has retained an annual growth of up to 12 percent for years, local farmers and herders are covered by the government-sponsored medical care system and their kids enjoy free boarding and education at their schools. Moreover, recent years represent the fastest period of growth in history for Tibetans to own their private homes.
In sharp contrast, the Dalai clique, who has bent on propagating or promoting the so-called "human rights," has not contributed in the least to the development of Tibet, and instead repeatedly infringed upon the rights and interests of people of various ethnicities in the Tibet region. They harassed the life and production of Tibetans residing inside Tibet in early years and, in recent years they turned to infiltrations for disruption, and successively plotted violent incidents to undermine the rights of Tibetans for survival and to development.
Dalai clique has kept up hyping the so-called Tibetan Human Rights issues with a lot of publicity simply for the reason that it poses a"fashionable topic". Meanwhile, there are always some Western politicians to work in coordination with them and speak in "all seriousness" to hoodwink people who are not aware of the truth. Hoisting the banner as "the defenders of human rights", they tried all means to denigrate the development and progress scored in new Tibet, while not uttering a single word on how old Tibet had trampled upon human rights of local Tibetans.
A noted Russian Tibetologist has referred to "three factors" in citing Dalai Lama, who had ruthlessly persecuted serfs in old Tibet, as the defender of the "human rights", namely, ignorance, shamefulness and betrayal of justice for selfish private interests. And an ace Canadian scholar is even more to the point when he said some people who "interested" themselves in the Tibet issue, not out of their "moral support" or "sympathy", but to serve the needs for their strategic global layout.
Espousing "Tibetan human rights" to stir up ethnical sentiments and to draw on the support of the West and ultimately to achieve Tibetan independence and separate China - Consequently, we can see therefrom what issue really is the Tibetan Human rights issue of the Dalai clique.
By People's Daily Online and its author is He Zhenhua
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91342/6401910.html
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Video: Where does Dalai Lama's "middle path" lead to? .
What issue is "Tibet issue"?
17:00, April 16, 2008
Dalai Lama clique has made repeated appeals and statements to impose pressure or punitive measues upon China, and Nancy Pelosi of the United States and others of her ilk also kept up noises and uproars. Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, and the European Parliament (EP) have passed resolutions on Tibet one after another. So the so-called "Tibet issue" has become increasingly fashionable.
So, people cannot but ask what issue is actually the "Tibet issue"?
To answer this question, people'd better ask Ms. Pelosi first. In her view, the Tibet issue has originated from the suppression of the Chinese government in Tibet. So, if she and her peers do not interfere in the "Tibet issue", she said with anxieties, "we have lost all more authority to speak on behalf of human rights."
Of course, we might as well see the appeals and statements of the Dalai clique, and the "Tibet issue" it is here being referred to includes "the lack of freedom in religious belief" and the so-called "ethnic inequalities".
Then, what is the "human rights issue" of the "Tibet question"? We first of all cite an example of the recent Lhasa riots. Faced with such violent actions as beating, smashing, looting and arson in Lhasa and other ethnic Tibetan areas since March 14, how can the government sit idle, and who will then come over to protect the human rights of innocent civilians? If the government's settlement of this incident is meant to encroach upon the human rights, Ms. Pelosi should better ask herself about the Los Angeles civil unrest happened right before her eyes 16 years ago, in which the US government aroused much military and police power and arrested more than 100,000 people.
The riots of 1992 in Los Angeles stunned the entire U.S. with its resultant 53 deaths, 2,325 injuries and an immense loss of property damage.
As for the Dalai Clique, people will never forget that Tibet was still under the semi-feudal serfdom till the first half of the 20th century, which was much darker and more sinister and vicious than the days under the "integration of the state and religion" in the Middle Age Europe. The ecclesiastical and secular serf owners, though accounting to less than five percent of the population of Tibet, controlled the personal freedom of serfs and slaves, who then made up 95 percent of the Tibetan population. These wretched of the earth could have their hands and feet chopped off, eyes gouged out, tongues cut or be subjected to other tortures and fatal penalties; and so they could hardly have a guaranteed right for survival under serfdom.
Afterward, it is ascribed to the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951 and the ensuing democratic reform in 1959 in the region that let serfs of old Tibet to gain their dignity and human rights.
Tibet's total population has increased from 1.14 million in 1951 to more than 2.8 million today; compulsory education, medical services and a minimum living allowance system have covered the whole of the Tibetan autonomous region. With such a historical background and present reality, how the Dalai clique, the chieftains of serfdom in old Tibet, are qualified to talk excessively and glibly about the "human rights" issue of Tibet?
The "Tibet issue" is also not a "religious issue". If Tibet is lacking the "freedom in religious belief', then how can people explain scenes of Lamaseries across the region crowded with believers or worshippers of varied ages to burn incenses, thousands upon thousands of Tibetans make pilgrimages to Lhasa, and suspending sutra streamers and Mani stone mounds put up by devout believers can be seen everywhere in Tibet?
It is even more absurd for the Dalai clique to clamor the so-called "ethnic inequalities". Let alone huge state appropriations made for developing traditional Tibetan medical science and Tibetan medicine, China has input more than 700 million yuan (about 100 million US dollars) to overhaul the imposing Potala Palace in Lhasa over recent years and to overhaul, rescue-repair and preserve traditional Tibetan culture.
Thanks to increased allocations from the central government, the Tibetans are the first among ethnic minority groups in China to have an international standard language, so that the Tibetan is currently an ethnic miority language with a permit to enter global information super highway networks.
In fact, it is crystal clear what the exact issue of the "Tibet issue" is. Dalai clique tries to seek "Tibet independence" under the signboard of varied "issues" -- This can seen from the "middle way" solution he has kept to, from their negation of the existing political system in Tibet, from their attempt to create the "Greater Tibet' that had been non-existent in history, and from their request urging other ethnicities to move out of Tibet and for the pullout of troops from the "Greater Tibet".
In the final analysis, the "Tibet issue" is not at all a "human rights issue", a religious issue, or an ethnical issue, but an issue concerning China's state sovereignty and territorial integrity, and an issue of core interests for the Chinese nation. Not a single nation on earth can tolerate to see its sovereignty sustain losses or sit idle to see its territory being seceded. On this issue, the Chinese government has made it very clear that the unity of the Chinese nation is the supreme, overriding principle, and there is no room whatsoever for any bargain on the issue of sovereignty. So any scheme to encroach upon China's sovereignty and meddle in China's internal affairs on the Tibet issue is only futile under whatever banner is hoisted.
By People's Daily Online and its author is He Zhenhua
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91342/6393934.html
Tibet Fought Against Foreign Invasion
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Only by halting violence can there be harmony
15:16, May 08, 2008
The Chinese nation has always attached importance to social harmony. For the Dalai clique that claimed its "willingness to be a member of the big family of the People's Republic of China," it also openly voiced its "appreciation and support" to the building of a harmonious society in the country.
Just as the Dalai clique said, a harmonious society cannot be separable from "freedom" and the "rule of law" and, as is known to all that either "freedom" or the "rule of law" has nothing in common with one thing -- violence. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed 60 years ago, notes that human beings have the freedom of averting terror and shortages, as terror and shortages are often associated with violence. So violent crimes also pose a direct challenge and trample upon the civilization of a modern legal system; and a society which indulge and tolerate violence can absolutely not be a harmonious society.
The Dalai clique, nevertheless, plotted and incited the March 14 Lhasa riots, in which they resorted to violence to disrupt the peaceful life of Tibetans, and brought terror and scourge to the innocent people, thus seriously infringing upon the "freedom" and "rule of law', and fundamentally undermining social harmony in Tibet. If such violent moves are prettified as "peaceful protests" with the "courage and resolve" and they themselves bragged as "winning the endorsement and support" of the international community, then why they should have given such expressions to the endorsement and recognition of the harmonious society, and how they would carry out their commitment to the sake of "interests of the Tibetan people"?
For the Dalai clique, they claimed they worked for the future of Tibet but has been bent on whipping up violent incidents in the past half century ever since 1959 for sabotaging the production and living environment of people of varied ethnicities in Tibet; they alleged they worked for "freedom" and the "human rights" for Tibetans but continuously encroached upon the ordinary people's basic rights of survival and development ¡&endash; The failure of their deeds to match their words cannot but let people doubt the sincerity of the Dalai clique, and people cannot but pander over what a member of the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), a terrorist organization, has said, namely, "peace and non-violence" were only spoken to leading Western powers.
Violence cannot give rise to harmony, and still less win public will. When peace and development have been turned into the tide of the contemporary world, violent actions to the detriment of peace have become the common foe of all people in the world yearning for peace. Under the pretexts of the "human rights" issue, or a religious issue, or whatever issues, with whatever purposes, violence can only mean moving against the current of the times and is therefore unacceptable.
Violence runs counter to what the Dalai clique has said about the Tibetan Buddhism culture with the protection of benevolence as the core. In the history of human civilizations, Buddhism has been regarded as a religion of peace and goodwill since ancient times. The vain attempt of the Dalai clique to seek "Tibetan independence" with the use of violence has not only harmed the quintessence of Buddhism with "mercy at heart" but also runs counter to the Buddhist core foundation of "not hurting all living beings", let alone carry forward and develop the Buddhist culture to seek harmony.
With the formation of equal, harmonious relationships among people of various ethnicities in Tibet since its peaceful liberation in 1951, a situation of harmony among the people of ethnicities for common prosperity has taken shape. In disregard of this reality, the attempt of the Dalai clique to fan up violent actions to disrupt the peaceful life of Tibetans and their fundamental well-being and even to connive at some extremists' evil-doings from violence to terrorism not only runs counter to the tide of the times but is unacceptable. If the Dalai clique really wants to support the construction of a harmonious society and to work for the interests of Tibetan people, it should proceed from the most rudimentary thing - that is to halt plotting and instigating violent actions.
By People's Daily Online and its author is He Zhenhua
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91342/6406995.html
Catholic Church with more than 140 years of history in Tibet
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Only by halting separatist activities can there be a way out
16:04, May 07, 2008
All people, including Buddhist monks, have their own motherland, and their hearts always yearn and turn to their motherland.
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau on the roof of the world is the common homeland of the Han people, Tibetans and people of other ethnic minorities. Tibet has been an inalienable part of China since ancient times. It became an administrative region directly under the administration of the central government of China's imperial Yuan dynasty (1271-1368 A.D.). Tibet was subsequently subjected to the administration of the central authority from the imperial Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties and the Republic of China (1912-1949) through the People's Republic of China upon its establishment in October 1949.
In history, Tibet has never been an independent nation, nor any power in the world has ever recognized the so-called "Tibet independence". This has been an indisputable historical fact and a common acknowledgement of the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, including Tibetan compatriots.
The attempt to seek "Tibet independence" and to separate the motherland in disregard of this rudimental historical fact and the common feelings of people of all ethnicities in China not only violatrd religious rites or tenets and the established historical rules or practices, but also undermines the tradition of patriotism of Tibetan Buddhism. There are very rich and profound contents of patriotism in the classic tenets of Buddhism. And past generations of eminent monks made important contributions in safeguarding the unity of the motherland.
From the struggles against colonialist powers of the West between 1624 and 1632 to the war of resistance to British imperialist armed aggression against Tibet in 1888 and 1904, and from the remarks of the 13th Dalai Lama that he knew very well that sovereignty could not be lost though Britons indeed had lured¡&endash; and the famous speech "Tibet Is China's Territory" by the Ninth Panchen Lama, or Bainqen Erdini Qoigyi Gyaincain (1938-1989).- All these have demonstrated the patriotic tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and the patriotic spirit of eminent Buddhist monks.
The shared history and common belief have enabled Tibetan compatriots and people of other ethnicities in the motherland to share weal and woe and turn mutually dependent on each other. The Tibetan culture, as an important component part of the Chinese culture, can keep up developing and prospering only when it is deep rooted in the culture of the Chinese nation.
Great changes or many vicissitudes of life in Tibet over the past five decades or so have shown to the world that the people in Tibet cannot bid farewell to the dark serfdom and move toward the modernization development if without the unity of the motherland, without the peaceful liberation and without reform and opening to the outside world in the past three decades. Breaking away from the embrace of the motherland and going in for the system of integrating politics with religion does not comply with general historical trends or the tide of the times and still less with the common aspiration of the people of the whole Chinese nation, including Tibetan compatriots.
State sovereignty and territorial integrity represent the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation, and it is the lofty duty and the mission of every Chinese citizen to safeguard the unity of the motherland and ethnical unity. History has proven and will continue to prove that the scheme to secede the motherland can never succeed but is doomed to failure.
Abandoning all views or propositions for separating the motherland and halting all activities in this regard - this will test the sincerity of the Dalai clique in safeguarding the unity of the motherland, the sincerity in what the Dalai clique said "Tibet remains in China" and the "true heart" in what is meant by the Dalai clique with the words, "for the interests of Tibetan people". People of the Chinese nation both at home and overseas shall wait and see if they will work with their concrete actions for safeguarding the unity of the motherland and if they truly "think of the future for Tibetans".
By People's Daily Online and its author is He Zhenhua
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90780/91342/6405977.html
Prayers return to normal at riot-hit mosque in Lhasa
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No one knows about Tibet better than the people from India
<<The Hindu>> Journalist first-hand Tibet visit experience:
Social well-being a striking aspect of life in modern Tibet
| by: Parvathi Menon | From: The Hindu
2008-08-28 14:16:00
Life has changed beyond recognition since 1959, when the system of monastic feudalism presided over by the Dalai Lama was overthrown and over a million serfs were set free.
In what used to be the dungeons of the Potala Palace, once the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas in Lhasa and now a religious and tourist site, is an unusual museum. The Zhol jail, a place where disobedient or rebellious serfs and labourers were subject to horrific forms of torture, was once located here. Today, photographs, paintings, models, and sound effects are used to recreate the brutality of the ancien regime against those classes whose labour created and sustained the splendid monument that soars above.
The squalor, poverty and social hierarchies of Lhasa, captured vividly in black and white photographs of the 1940s and 1950s, belong to a historical phase now squarely in the past.
Today the Potala Palace overlooks a city of modern infrastructure and conveniences. It has attractive tree-lined avenues, a busy business district, hotels, cultural centres and open spaces like the 12.2 square km Lhalu wetlands, a protected marsh that acts as what our hosts refer to as the kidneys of the Lhasa urban area. The modernity of the capital bears the impress of a strong Tibetan stamp in architecture, dress, and cultural practice.
Apart from warm clothes and altitude sickness pills, a foreign visitor to Tibet usually carries baggage of another kind. This is a belief that the 'real' Tibet lies hidden somewhere beneath what the eye sees and the mind registers; that the well being and modernisation evident in contemporary Tibetan society is a sort of maya. This perspective has been shaped by a vast literature and propaganda offensive that has emanated over the years from within the support base of the 14th Dalai Lama. It comes in large part from people who have not set foot in Tibet, and has, unfortunately, many well-meaning adherents.
A report published this year by the Dalai Lama's Dharamsala-based Government-in-Exile and titled Environment and Development in Tibet: A Crucial Issue has this to say: China claims that Tibet is experiencing growth and prosperity, but the reality is that, under Chinese rule, Tibetans are impoverished, marginalised and excluded; the sensitive and globally important ecology of Tibet is deteriorating; and many plant and animal species face extinction.
In fact, the fatal flaw of the report is that it has been written by people who have not visited their research area, for it is evident to any visitor's eye that the allegations of the impoverishment, marginalisation, and exclusion of Tibetans are unsubstantiated.
I was part of a journalists' delegation invited by the Chinese government to Tibet in July this year. To a visitor, the relatively high levels of living standards of people in the Tibet Autonomous Regions (TAR) are a striking feature of observable social life. In Lhasa, small towns and the villages of Tibet, there are no crowds of people ill, destitute, and unemployed - on the contrary, the overwhelming visual impression is of a population healthy and gainfully employed. Schools and universities hum with activity, and cultural assets like museums and ancient monasteries are treasured - these are but some marks of a society that is on the move.
Older Tibetans emphasise that life has changed beyond recognition since 1959, when the system of monastic feudalism presided over by the Dalai Lama was overthrown and over a million serfs were set free.
I consider myself middling-prosperous, says Zhuoga, the head of an eight-member farming family in Gapa, a village of 60 households, 10 km from Lhasa. She and her family members offer fruit, biscuits and Tibetan tea to her visitors in her warm and colourful sitting room decorated with Tibetan thangkas (religious scroll paintings) and carpets.
The Zhuoga household's annual income of 20,000 yuan (roughly Rs. 140,000) comes from her oilseed and corn harvest, from the rent paid by vegetable farmers for land they lease from her, from a 500 yuan annual subsidy given by the Government, and from collective work she and the family put in on village projects. School education and health care are free. Although a Buddhist, she thinks the Dalai Lama is not a good man as he masterminded the disturbances of March 14th 2008. We could not go to the city for work, she said. I was angry and scared.
Life now is like this, says Pingtso Tashi giving a thumbs-up sign. And before 1959 it was like this. He holds up his little finger. This 58-year old dam inspector and farmer is the son of former serfs. Today, hard work pays, he said. Every village family owns land and the average individual land holding of the village is 3.8 mu (15 mu = 1 hectare)
A range of special preferential policies and measures for social and economic development apply to Tibet. There is a preferential taxation policy by which income tax in Tibet is three percentage points lower than elsewhere, and farmers and herdsmen are completely exempt from taxes and administrative charges. There is a preferential interest rate on bank loans, the rate being two percentage points lower in the TAR than in the rest of China.
Yang Chen and Deji, microbiologists working for a bio-pharmaceutical company in Lhasa, and their office colleagues, are part of a cheerful and spirited group of women dressed in formal western office wear who have come to see a photographic exhibition on Tibetan women at the Tibet museum in Lhasa. Asked about the exhibition and whether it reflects the progress of women in Tibet, Yang Chen says, Yes it does. Today we are equal to men in every way. She and Ms Deji have two daughters each, and hope that the girls will one day become doctors. The one-child norm does not apply to Tibetans and other ethnic minorities as it does to Han Chinese.
http://eng.tibet.cn/index/news/200808/t20080828_422961.htm
Modern education a key to Tibet's social and economic progress
2008-09-04 10:01:00
| by: Parvathi Menon | From: The Hindu
Before 1951, 92 per cent of the population of Tibet was illiterate. That proportion is now 44 per cent.
A report published this year by the Dalai Lama's Dharamsala-based "Government-in-Exile" and titled Environment and Development in Tibet: A Crucial Issue (available on their website) seeks to perpetuate the myth that Tibetans are fast becoming a minority in their homeland as a result of a state-sponsored policy of Han settlement in Tibet. In fact, of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) population of 2.8 million, Tibetans account for 92 per cent, other ethnic minorities for around 2 per cent, and Han Chinese a little under 6 per cent.
Government officials in Tibet emphasise that the accusation that Han Chinese control the administration of Tibet is wrong. Tibetans constitute a majority of the cadre within government and the Communist Party. According to Duo Ji Ciren, Vice-Commissioner of the Administrative office of Nyingchi prefecture, 70 per cent of civil servants in Nyingchi prefecture are either Tibetans or from other ethnic minorities, and key prefectural posts are held by Tibetans.
Education has been key to social and economic progress in Tibet. Modern education only began after 1951. In 2007, enrolment in primary schools reached 98.2 per cent, in middle schools 90.97 per cent, in high school 42.96 per cent, and in colleges 17.4 per cent. Before 1951, 92 per cent of the population of Tibet was illiterate. That proportion is now 44 per cent, although the illiterate are now concentrated in the older age groups.
"You had to be a monk if you wanted education in the old society," said Dr. Losang Yundeng, 51, Director of the 210-bed County Peoples Hospital in Nyingchi. An ethnic Tibetan from a poor family of labourers in a remote village in Nyingchi prefecture, he was sent to one of the first schools to be opened in his village. When a medical team visited the village in 1972, the 15-year-old boy was chosen by his village to train as a barefoot doctor. After the Cultural Revolution, Dr. Yundeng trained at the Nanjing Medical College and later at the famous Norman Bethune Medical Academy to become a doctor.
Dr. Wangmo, 44, a brilliant Tibetan plant pathologist and professor in the Department of Plant Technology at the Tibetan Agriculture and Animal Husbandry College, Nyingchi, speaks of how education transformed life in her village. "I studied in a village which you could only get to by horse," she said. "But education gave us ability and confidence. In my school, 80 per cent of the children were Tibetan and our Tibetan education was very good." In the college where she teaches, half of the 3,000 students are girls and 80 per cent of all students are Tibetan.
Dr. Wangmo's current research is on understanding the structure of a fungus called Cordyceps Sinensis, which grows wild in certain high-altitude counties. Called "yatsagompo" in Tibetan, the fungus, which looks like an innocuous dry twig, has been the reason for a sudden increase in incomes among certain communities living in these regions. Used in traditional medicine and valued for its healing properties, the fungus is highly priced. "I have seen people earn 80,000 yuan a year from this," Dr. Wangmo explained. Her research team is also working on how to undertake the sustainable cultivation of this precious resource.
Indeed, the issue of ecological sustainability and protection of the natural habitat is one over which demonstrable measures have been taken. The Tibetan plateau is a cradle of the planet's natural wealth. It has the world's highest peaks and lakes, gives birth to Asia¡¯s mighty rivers, and has vast deposits of mineral and forest wealth.
The 10-hour drive from Lhasa to the Nyingchi prefecture, one of TAR's ecological treasure houses, is as remarkable for its stunning landscapes as it is for the absence of heavy motor traffic, roadside hoardings, the defacement of rock surfaces with advertisements or writing, and litter. The Nyingchi Prefecture has a forest cover of 46 per cent, the largest virgin forest in China. The preservation of the ecology is central to government policy here. "Our slogan is 'Build Nyingchi as the largest district in western Tibet with the best preserved ecology,'" said Mr. Ciren, its administrative head. The beautiful Environmental Museum in Nyingchi offers a stunning display of its plant and animal wealth.
China's Tibet policy was defined to us by Dong Yunhu, Director General of the State Council Information Office, as "the continuous improvement in the living standards of Tibetans," By this criterion, the implementation of China's Tibet policy is marked by measurable and visible success.
http://eng.tibet.cn/index/news/200809/t20080904_424239.htm
Dalai coterie's conspiracy aimed at sabotaging Olympics, seeks Tibet independence
www.chinaview.cn 2008-07-03 17:56:41
BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) -- While some "pro-Tibet Independence" activists claimed their goals were different from the Dalai Lama, evidence has shown conspiracies behind all the plots initiated by them were linked.
Following trips to Berlin, London and Sydney, the Dalai Lama is expected to visit the United States and France. His "visits" are scheduled to end on Aug. 20 -- four days before the conclusion of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
As early as March, some Tibetan exiles, instigated by "Tibet independence" forces, launched their "Marching into Tibet" movement from Dharamsala, India.
They plotted to penetrate the China-India border and cross over Mount Qomolangma, also known as Mount Everest, and come into Tibet. Their arrival was fixed for August, the same month of the Beijing Olympics.
While it's been more than two months since the March 14 riot in Tibet, the Dalai Lama has shown no intention of taking a break or to display any sincerity in reining in his negative comments on the Chinese government.
The past two months has witnessed his continued criticism over the way China dealt with the unrest, and "testifying" at a hearing on the country's so-called human rights issue.
On June 4, Indian police arrested 265 members of the "Marching into Tibet" movement, including the ringleaders of the "Tibetan Youth Congress"(TYC). Also detained were members of the "Tibetan Women's Association" among other secessionist organizations. Later the Associated Press reported another 50 activists attempted to march into Tibet.
A CONSPIRACY NETWORK
Shortly after Beijing won the Olympic hosting rights seven years ago, the London-based "International Tibet Support Network" held a meeting and formed a propaganda plan. This included training their underlings to speak uniformly when being interviewed by media.
They were even taught rock climbing techniques -- something that came in handy when activists climbed San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and unfurled a banner on April 9.
Compared with other "senior" high-profile groups, the network, founded in 2000, wasn't known by many people previously.
According to the U.S.-based International Herald Tribune, in the early period, the network mainly sent out media-fanning communiques to its 153 member organizations. Later, it made the Beijing Olympics the focus of its campaign.
Before the Olympic torch relay kicked off its foreign legs at the end of March, a Canadian "general commander" of a torch-disruption network drafted detailed plans to interfere with the relay and sent her orders to group members.
Another Canadian, Lhadon Tethong, sneaked into China in April, 2007, and put up secessionist slogans at the foot of Qomolangma (Everest) with other activists. According to a report from the Toronto-based Globe and Mail newspaper, Lhadon Tethong is a member of the group "Students for a Free Tibet" under the network. His father is a Tibetan who keeps close relations with the Dalai coterie's senior level.
In the past six months, the group had established about 200 branches in Estonia, the Czech Republic and other countries. Alison Reynolds, director of the network, announced it had already started to plot "post-Olympic activities."
"All these are related to the TYC. The International Tibet Support Network itself was organized by the TYC," said Xie Gangzheng, a researcher with the Sichuan Tibetology research center.
OLYMPIC PLOTTING
Before the March 14 unrest, the secessionists' intention to tarnish the Olympics had already emerged with a senior member of the Dalai clique. In addition, the TYC said it would seize the opportunity of the Games.
Some people believed the current round of "Tibet independence" activities was mostly plotted at a meeting held in Brussels one year ago.
From May 11 to 14, 2007, the Dalai coterie held the fifth international conference on supporting Tibetans in the Belgian capital. According to a website compiled by independent journalists and social scientists who observed Germany's foreign policy, 315 people from 56 countries were invited by the International Tibet Support Network to attend. After days of discussion, the conference reached consensus for an action plan.
According to the full text of the plan provided by the website, the three-year plan for their future actions on Tibet independence included seven aspects -- the 2008 Olympics topped the list.
The plan said, in the next 15 months, it had four "goals" for their activities during the Olympics which underscored the word "Tibetan National Team." They included:
1. Recruit Tibetan athletes to the team and apply for the Games;
2. Launch a global torch relay with the free-Tibet theme, starting from Greece;
3. Making August 4, 2007, their international campaign day and starting a one-year countdown;
4. Contact the public under the pretext of the Olympics and other Tibet issues.
Rolf Berndt, principal of the conference organizer, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, said the Games were "an excellent opportunity" to publicly promote the cause of the "Tibet movement."
After the conference, a "Tibetan National Team," consisting of overseas Tibetans, was set up. In May 2007, the Dalai coterie announced it would hold a Tibetan Olympics at Dharamsala the following May.
SO-CALLED MIDDLE WAY
In January 2008, new "pro-Tibetan Independence" organization emerged in foreign countries.
From January 1 to 25, seven "pro-Tibet independence" organizations held a series of press conferences in New Delhi, India, during which a written proposal of "Tibet People's Uprising Movement" was formulated and began to spread via more than 100 websites.
A campaign team headed by Cewang Rigzin, president of the secessionist TYC, then started to collect funds and initiated a four-step action plan, including provocative activities such as organized protests.
From Feb. 15 to 17, TYC held training sessions in Dharamsala for leaders of the movement. From Feb. 21 to 26, it started to recruit campaigners. On Feb. 27, the Dalai Coterie sought financial support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), in the United States as a "fund to cope with emergencies".
On March 10, 101 members of the Dalai clique set out from Dharamsala and launched the so-called "Marching into Tibet" campaign. On the same day, several Tibetan secessionists staged a torch-lighting ceremony in front of the ancient archeological siteof Olympia, Greece, to protest the upcoming Games in Beijing.
All the incidents were by no means a coincidence but well-organized and planned, said researcher Xie.
"They started to plan the whole thing by the end of last year."
The so-called "marching into Tibet" movement was expected to last until the eve of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, he added.
The planned activities of the "pro-Tibet Independence" forces included instigating Tibetans to stage global protests, storm Chinese embassies and disrupt foreign legs of the global Olympic torch relay on the same day -- March 10.
These activities aimed to create sensational effects and attract the world's attention, Xie said.
The aim of the "pro-Tibet Independence" forces was to launch secessionist activities in 2008, the year of the Beijing Olympics, said You Xiangfei, an associate researcher at the Sichuan Tibetology Research Center. "It was to make their political aims known and amplify their political ambitions."
He noted this had a direct link with the "Middle Way" put forth by the Dalai Lama in the 1980s.
By "Middle Way," the Dalai Lama means "high-level autonomy" or "real autonomy" in Tibet and other Tibetan-inhabited areas.
However, Tenzin Chogyal, the Dalai Lama's younger brother, said it would seek "autonomy" in Tibet in the first place and then drive away other nationalities living in the area.
Gyalo Thondup, another brother of the Dalai Lama, had a more specific explanation.
Under the conception of "middle way," the autonomy of "Greater Tibet" would be realized. In 20 years, the destiny of future Tibet would be decided by residents within "Greater Tibet" in a referendum, he said.
The Dalai coterie aimed at puzzling the public by adding the conception of "Middle Way" into their political slogan, the core of which was to seek "Tibet independence," said associate researcher You.
The sensational effects that the Dalai Lama created were targeted at attracting international attention and to call for international pressure on the Chinese government, Xie said. This year, a critical moment for China to host the Olympics, then became a significant occasion for the Dalai Coterie to seek "Tibet independence," he said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/03/content_8484479.htm
Expert: "Tibetan Youth Congress" a violent spearhead
www.chinaview.cn 2008-07-02 21:48:05
BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), though seemingly a civil organization, is a radical spearhead of violence supported and employed by the Dalai Lama clique, according to a Chinese Tibetologist.
The TYC was set up in 1970 at the direct incitement of the Dalai Lama, said Xie Gangzheng, a research fellow at the Sichuang Tibetology Research Center in southwestern China's Sichuan Province.
The organization was set up with the aim of colluding with "pro-independence" Tibetan youths "in-exile" to carry out secessionist activities, according to Xie.
Although ostensibly a civil organization, the TYC has been the backbone of the Tibetan "government-in-exile" since 1990, as currently 90 percent of the "government-in-exile" personnel were TYC members, according to Xie.
Since 1992, all the Kalon Tribas, or "prime ministers," of the Tibetan "government-in-exile," including the current Kalon Triba Samdom Rinpoche, were also TYC members, Xie said.
"The TYC are no different from the Tibetan 'government-in-exile' in their pursuit of 'Tibet independence' and internationalizing the Tibet issue," Xie said.
VIOLENT ACTIVITIES
According to Xie, the TYC has since its founding been a radical organization that aims to split China through violence.
Xie said the current president of the TYC, Cewang Rigzin, has refused to make any guarantees against violence since he was elected in August 2007.
Instead, Cewang Rigzin has focused on launching the "Tibetan People's Uprising Movement" and a series of extreme activities in March and sabotaging the Beijing Olympics.
To implement the "Tibetan People's Uprising Movement," the TYC held training in guerrilla warfare and explosives use.
After the March 14 riot in Lhasa, M. K. Bhadrakumar, an Indian diplomat and former Indian ambassador to Turkey and Uzbekistan, said in an article titled "India Wakes to a Tibetan Headache" that" Tibetan activists ... darkly hinted they were indeed expecting the disturbances".
Xie Gangzheng said the Dalai Lama's backers and especially the TYC remote-controlled the March 14 riot and made elaborate plans for their activities after the riot.
On March 15, the TYC approved a decision to "found a guerrilla movement as soon as possible to secretly enter China and carry out armed struggles" at a meeting of its "central executive committee" in Dharmsala, the location of the Dalai Lama's "government-in-exile" in India.
They made detailed plans for personnel, funding and armament purchases, and planned to sneak into China via the border with Nepal, which they had carefully surveyed, Xie said.
Five days later, Cewang Rigzin on March 20 announced that violence has "reached its goal to awaken resistance forces among people in Tibet and attract high-profile international attention to the Tibet issue."
He added: "The struggle will not stop and this incident is just the prelude of this year's fight," adding that they might use suicide attacks.
According to Xie, the TYC has also been actively training an armed force at a military base in Dharmsala while inciting common people to commit violence.
"The TYC is still a stubborn advocacy group for 'Tibet independence' supported by the Tibetan 'government-in-exile,' which upholds complete violence and has become an armed spearhead of the Dalai clique," he said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/02/content_8478426.htm
Interview: Abolishing Tibetan feudal serfdom equates to ending slavery in U.S
2008-07-24 10:31:00
There is no difference between the abolishing of feudal serfdom in Tibet and the ending of slavery in the United States, a senior Chinese Tibetologist said Monday.
Many Americans understand neither the history and the current situation in Tibet, nor China's Tibet policies, which always lead to wrong judgment on Tibet-related issues, especially when they are influenced by "one-sided" information, Tobdrub Wangben, vice minister of China's State Commission for Ethnic Affairs, said in an interview with Xinhua before leaving the United States for Canada.
"When I told Larry Seabrook, current New York City councilman from District 12 in New York City, that the abolishing of the feudal serfdom in Tibet in the 1950s is the same as the ending of the slavery system in the United States, Seabrook understood quite well what I was driving at," he said.
After hearing a brief introduction about the situation in Tibet and the facts of the March 14 riots in Lhasa, Seabrook offered to help Americans improve their understanding of Tibet by arranging them to visit Tibet and form their own opinion.
"If we could tell Americans as much as possible about the truth on Tibet, many of them could change their stereotyped ideas about Tibet," said Tobdrub Wangben, head of a four-member Chinese Tibetologist delegation, which arrived in New York last Thursday to promote understanding on the Tibet issue.
Harboring the hope that the delegation could tell more truth on Tibet to the American public, Tobdrub Wangben said regular and frequent exchanges of ideas between the two peoples are fairly important.
The U.S. tour was quite fruitful as many U.S. officials and legislators said that what they heard about Tibet was different from what they had heard in the past, he added.
Therefore, Tobdrub Wangben said, they expressed hope that more delegations of this kind would come to the United States and exchange ideas with the American public on a regular basis.
"The American public has shown great interest in Tibet, and of course, we will come back and satisfy their demands," he said.
http://eng.tibet.cn/index/news/200807/t20080724_414624.htm
Primary School on Roof-of-the-World
http://pic.people.com.cn/GB/31655/6543727.html
This unique Primary School is located on Roof-of-the-World, 5573 meters above sea-level.
The Government of China is committed to provide a free-of-charge and compulsory education for every Tibetan child.
The Central Government of China invested a huge sum of money to re-build this school from ruins in 1986, so that the children of the nomads can receive an education.
This school covers an area of 8400 square meters and the building provides a useful area of 1221 square meters. The children are too far away from their nomadic families and are all staying in this boarding school for the entire school term.
Every morning the whole school will be singing the China national anthem.
The windows of this school are installed with double layers(rarely seen in China) due to winter fourty below temperature.
This school uses the latest technology, i.e. teaching Fine Art with computerized CD equipment.
The six teachers in this school and some of their students.
There are 141 students and all stay in this boarding school. It is too far from their nomadic camps. Students will learn how to take care of their bedding.
The school principal (also a teacher) is teaching his student how to read/write Tibetan.
The school principal's wife decided to move to such high altitude location, just to help out cooking tasks at the school.
Teaching Biology and practice it with a micropscope.
Students using computer aided equipments and internet access receive long distance educational training.
The cracks on a young face of every student review the hardship of the sun at high-altitude and lack of oxygen. It takes a very dedicated teaching staff to remain working long term in this special school.
The students automatically line up for their meals during lunch hours. This is a very well organized school.
Older students are serving rice (the main dish) to the students.
A study of the food being served, it reviews that students receive a very well-balanced diet.
After lunch being served, students are having fun at the school play ground.
During the Dalai Lama era there was no school or university, a child had to join one of the Monasteries to receive an education and that was the reason why many Tibetan mothers were forced by their own clans to give up their love ones to the Monasteries. Today, no Tibetan mother has to make such a decision.
The truth is that during the Dalai Lama era most Tibetan women were second class citizens and very seldom had any chance of an education. Today, all Tibetan children, both boys and girls, have equal chances of a free-of-charge and compulsory education. Tibetan women today provide a major and essential workforce in the government of Tibet Autonomous Region.
Without Lhamo Toinzhub(14th Dalai Lama), Tibet is better off today!
In 1951 Lhamo Toinzhub signed widely known as 'the 17 Pacts'
to run Tibet for Chairman Mao until he sneaked out in 1959.
For almost 9 years Lhamo Toinzhub had worked for Chairman Mao.
Tibet Today still fighting her Biggest Enemy...
Click below:
Secret CIA Sponsorship of Tibetan Rebels against China Exposed---
How A Ground-breaking Book Unveiled History as It Was
http://www.china-hiking.com/tibet/invasion.htm
In 1959 conned by then Ambassador in India(Henderson) at his own free will,
Lhamo Toinzhub left Tibet and thus had given up his right to run Tibet.
As an early version of Iranian Czar or Filipino Marcos, he was tricked to leave Tibet.
Since 1959 for 49 years Tibet Autonomous Region has been run by capable
native Tibetans, most of whom were a SERF during Dalai Lama era.
These Tibetan leaders should be the only people who can make decisions
for the future of Tibet Autonomous Region, NOT Lhamo Toinzhub.
He has neither Tibetans' Trust nor experience to run Democratic and Modern Tibet.
Tibetans do not want someone both a Political and Religious leader to head Tibet.
Why do nations want to have Tibet returned to a SERF system under Dalai Lama?
It is because they want to control Tibet with a puppet like Dalai Lama.
This will lead Tibet into neither Democratic nor 'Freedom of Choice'.
Our World is enough to have only one Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini !
USA Professor asked: Want Another Taliban?
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6389959.html
Lhamo Toinzhub has to realize Tibet today is a well established society,
and stop allow himself being used as a puppy by nations against China.
It is sincerely hope before his approaching death Lhamo Toinzhub
(14th Dalai Lama) will give up his so called 'Tibet Independence'
and for once in entire life doing something good for people of Tibet.
The only way to avoid ending up in history like Iranian Czar or Filipino Marcos!
http://pic.people.com.cn/GB/31655/6543727.html
What to negotiate with Dalai Lama?
2008-07-01 16:41:00
To most people, no matter in the old Tibet or in Dharmsala today, where Tibetan government-in-exile locates, Dalai Lama is both a political and a religious figure. Although Dalai himself frequently refers to the "government-in-exile" as a "democratic government", he has never denied he is the political leader. But it does not make any sense at all to compare theocracy to a democratic system. If it did, people would assume he either lacks or ignore common sense.
Theocracy was abolished in Tibet. This is the reason why Dalai left Lhasa in 1959(click here), and it is also the result of his absence.
Tibet is an autonomous region, so the Tibetan autonomous government is the only legal government to represent Tibet, not that government-in-exile.
Therefore, to negotiate with China is actually to negotiate Dalai's future. Because he is not able to represent neither Tibet nor Tibetan on any legal grounds, and China will never consent to negotiate with him when he claims himself as the political figure of the "government-in-exile". I am not sure whether Dalai is clear about this or not.
http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200807/t20080701_410293.htm
What to talk with Dalai Lama?
2008-07-01 16:39:00
Seems a new round of talks between the Beijing central government and the Dalai Lama will start soon. Then, what are the topics on the table? Is it the current situation of Tibet, position of Tibet, future of Tibet, or the destiny of the Tibetan people, of course NOT.
The reason is simple. Dalai is a Buddhist lama, his past political status was based on the system of theocracy. The system, in which a society is ruled by a priest or monk who represent a god, has been abolished in Tibet long before. So if one is going to discuss with a monk the position and future of Tibet, and destiny of Tibetan people, doesn't that give an impression that China will allow theocracy to resume in Tibet?
Tibet is an autonomous region of China, and representing it is the government of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. The 14th Dalai Lama has set up an "exile regime" in Dharmsala, India, and he claims to be the leader of the exile regime. The fact is that not a single state in the world today admits the legitimacy of Dalai Lama's exile government in Dharmsala. If the central government is going to discuss the position, future of Tibet, and destiny of Tibetan people, doesn't that give an impression that Dharmasala exile regime is legitimate?
Tibet has achieved a lot in the past 50-odd years, but Tibet's success and progress has nothing to do with the Dalai Lama(click here). He by no means can represent Tibet or the Tibetan people now. So, China's central government is not going to discuss with Dalai Lama the current situation of Tibet, position of Tibet, future of Tibet, or the destiny of the Tibetan people, but only the future and destiny of Dalai Lama himself.
http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200807/t20080701_410290.htm
Last opportunity for Dalai Lama
2008-07-01 16:41:00
The 14th Dalai Lama is running out of opportunities. And that's why he is using the Beijing Olympics as his last straw. But could he really make the best use of this opportunity? Some Westerners are providing Dalai Lama with badly-needed guidance and support, which shed light on why he frequented Western countries in a rush. However, there are vast differences in the interest of those Westerners' and Dalai's, which can be seen through the fact that Dalai has been given a cold shoulder by the West from time to time in the past decades.
Therefore Dalai should tell the difference in interests and stop binding himself to certain political forces, which will lead to his loss of opportunities. Judging from the current situation, Dalai Lama is losing his most important opportunities on mending ties with the Chinese central government.
Of course, it remained to be seen whether Dalai Lama still has any power and influence to muster, without the support of some political forces in the West.
http://eng.tibet.cn/news/today/200807/t20080701_410291.htm
Chinese central government officials meet with Dalai Lama's private representatives
www.chinaview.cn 2008-07-03 15:37:37
BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Du Qinglin, head of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with private representatives of the 14th Dalai Lama in Beijing recently, the department said on Thursday.
Du, also the vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told the two representatives, Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, the central government's policy towards the Dalai Lama is consistent and explicit. The door for dialogue is always open.
The Dalai Lama should openly and explicitly promise and prove it in his actions not to support activities to disturb the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games, not to support plots to fan violent criminal activities, not to support and concretely curb the violent terrorist activities of the "Tibetan Youth Congress" and not to support any argument and activity to seek "Tibet independence" and split the region from the country, he said.
While the country is welcoming the 30th anniversary of its reform and opening up, Tibet, together with the rest of the country, has progressed to realize economic development and improve people's living standards while protecting the environment and effectively using resources, he said.
In Tibet, the adherence to the CPC leadership, the socialist system and the regional autonomy of ethnic minorities will not be altered, he said.
The central government will apply its policies in Tibet, support the region's economic and social development and work to improve living standards of people in Tibet as it did before.
Du also briefed them about the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12 and the relief work.
He said at time of difficulty, the Chinese nation has shown strong cohesiveness and profound love among its people. The relief work serves as vivid illustrations of China's protection of human rights.
The CPC implemented its principle of putting people first and ruling the country for the people, while the advantages of socialist system are also manifested in the quake relief, as indicated in the policy of saving lives first, nationwide mobilization for quake relief and timely and smooth flow of information, he said.
Zhu Weiqun and Sitar, two deputy heads of the department, also met with the Dalai Lama's representatives and exchanged ideas on detailed issues.
If the Dalai Lama makes positive moves, the next round of contact may be held before the end of this year, according to the officials of the department.
The Dalai Lama's representatives also expressed their ideas on several relevant issues and said they would report the results to the Dalai Lama.
During their stay in Beijing, the two toured the Olympic stadiums and talked with some Tibetologists.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/03/content_8483444.htm
Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth
click here
Dalai Lama's 'new olive branch'
2008-08-22 09:51:00
A "new olive branch" from the Dalai Lama has staggered to the public by a western guy through a piece of western newspaper.
Nicholas D. Kristop has published an article on New York Times on August 7, the day before the opening of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and for the first time, the Dalai Lama is willing to state that he can accept the socialist system in Tibet under Communist Party rule while "the main thing is to preserve our culture, to preserve the character of Tibet, That is what is most important, not politics", according to that article.
What's the matter with Tibet and what crisis Tibetan characteristic is facing? What kind of problem makes the Dalai Lama sacrifice so much, even to compromise a lot to be willing to accept the socialist system to "preserve them"?
This topic is too gigantic and Tibet is also too far away. Let's just come to the details. A few days ago, I went to Dongdan and near the Xiehe Hospital I found a small shop with a lot of Tibetan Buddhism figures in its shop window and lots of Thangka and monks pictures on its wall. At that time, I really wanted to take some photos just for my western friends to tell them how the Tibetan culture is in today's Beijing. It's a pity that the shopkeeper refused me. So for as I know, there are many other kinds of such shops in Beijing run by Tibetans or local residents. Whether it can be run for long or not, it only depends on the business. Can this phenomenon reflect an aspect of current Tibetan culture?
Yesterday, I went to China Tibetology Research Center for some work. Two kilometers east away from the Bird's Nest where the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremony was just held, the Tibetan-style building is next to some other Tibetan-style buildings, such as Tibet Mansion, Tibet Middle School, Tibetan Medicine Mansion and also the newly-finished Tibet Folk Custom Museum. Painted in deep purple, a kind of characteristic color for the top of Potala Palace and some Tibetan Buddhism monasteries as well as the color of Tibetan monks' robe, those Tibetan-style buildings gather together just like a Tibetan village in Beijing. In deed, the Tibetan culture has special characteristics and we can touch the characteristics only from the Tibetan buildings which we can easily find on street. We can definitely say that the Tibetan culture has never boomed in today's Beijing as there are so many Tibetan books and newspaper, literature and art, music and etc. What is the problem with protection and development of Tibetan culture? If there is, there is only one problem, that is after so many distort words from the Dalai Lama and some western media, how can the Chinese Government make more and more westerners believe that the Chinese Government has no genocidal policy for Tibetan culture.
As for the Tibetan characteristics, there are some Tibetan characteristics in the long history including elite and draff. There are some uncultured and outdated "characteristics", such as the feudal serf system under the combination institution of politics and religion and the feudal dictatorship of Tibetan Buddhism monasteries and large numbers of monks. Yes, all those dictatorship have disappeared and of course there is no measure to keep such "characteristics". Once there was such characteristic in the history of different ethnic groups and different countries, why should Tibet keep such "characteristics" while most of the westerners weren't keen on the medieval inquisition, the tithe and the indulgence.
The "olive branch" also mentions the disquieting future:" much of Tibet is likely to have been drowned in a sea of Chinese migration" and also delivers some "prescription":" to restrict migration into all Tibetan areas, inside and outside the "autonomous region," through China's existing system of residence permits. The Chinese authorities would stop issuing resident permits, known as hukou, to non-Tibetans for any Tibetan area..."
The fact is that the Chinese Government has no policy that the Dalai Lama said to encourage large numbers of immigration to Tibet, but with the economic development and social life progress of Chi
