Thursday, November 29, 2007

US, China, feud over Taiwan, Tibet, port dispute

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States and China on Thursday traded rhetorical broadsides over US actions on Taiwan and Tibet, as well as Beijing barring a US warship from a family holiday get-together in Hong Kong.

Beijing insisted Washington's recent arms sales to Taiwan and support for Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama had left relations "disturbed and harmed" and linked those steps to last week's port-of-call dispute.

US officials had said Washington formally complained to China after a US aircraft carrier was denied entry for a Thanksgiving holiday stop that had drawn sailors' loved ones halfway around the world in hopes of a reunion.

But on Thursday, the United States sent a mixed message over the USS Kitty Hawk being turned away, as the White House demanded more "clarification" from Beijing and the Pentagon insisted it was "moving on" from the spat.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao denied that Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi had told US President George W. Bush that the US aircraft carrier was kept out of Hong Kong because of a "misunderstanding."

"On the issue of port visits, China acts in accordance with the principles of its sovereignty and approves specific visits on a case-by-case basis," Liu said one day after Yang visited the White House.

Liu also implicitly linked US moves on Taiwan and the Dalai Lama to the decision to block the ship -- prompting White House spokeswoman Dana Perino to declare Washington "surprised by that explanation."

"We are seeking clarification," Perino told reporters, insisting Yang had told Bush Wednesday "it was a misunderstanding, there was a miscommunication."

"Regardless, it was wrong for this ship to be turned away. It inconvenienced an awful lot of families who had plans to be there to spend Thanskgiving with sailors who are on that ship, and I'm sure that they suffered a tremendous amount of disappointment because of it," said Perino.

But asked whether Washington agreed with Beijing that relations had been damaged by US arms sales to Taiwan and a high-profile show of support for the Dalai Lama, Perino sidestepped the issue.

"We are seeking clarification," she repeated. "We have lots of coooperation with China on a variety of issues."

The Pentagon reached out even more, with spokesman Bryan Whitman saying that Washington had not yet received China's explanation for why the Kitty Hawk and two other warships had been turned away but declaring: "We are moving on."

"The foreign minister has given an explanation that it was a misunderstanding. We expressed our concern. We're going to move beyond it," Whitman told reporters.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asian affairs David Sedney complained formally to the Chinese military attachi in Washington on Wednesday about the decision denying the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk and two small minesweepers to make port calls at Hong Kong.

"We expect and our hope is we will continue to have a strong military-to-military relationship with the Chinese," Whitman said.

Asked earlier about the port-of-call dispute, which has angered senior US politicians and military figures, Liu had warned that "due to the erroneous practices of the US, relations have been disturbed and harmed."

China views the Dalai Lama as a dangerous figure seeking independence for Tibet, and considers Taiwan a renegade province that must eventually be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.

On a sunnier note for Sino-US relations, US officials anounced China had agreed to a "full elimination" of a range of industrial subsidies to settle a complaint filed by Washington before the World Trade Organization (WTO).

China Reports 7 Detained in Tibet Riots

BEIJING (AP) — Rioters in Chinese-ruled Tibet destroyed shops and government offices following a dispute between Buddhist monks and a local shopkeeper, the government's news agency reported.

Seven people were arrested in the Nov. 20 clashes, the Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday. Among those held, it said, were two monks accused of robbing a motorcycle maintenance shop Nov. 19 in the town of Paingar and five others for "fanning the riot" the day after the monks' arrest.

Xinhua gave no reason for the eight-day delay in reporting the riot. Paingar is remote — about 190 miles northeast of Tibet's capital, Lhasa — and disturbances in the often restive Himalayan region are deemed politically sensitive by the Communist government.

Calls to government offices in Biru, the county seat, went unanswered. A man who picked up the phone at the Biru county police headquarters refused to discuss the incident and hung up without giving his name.

According to Xinhua's account, about 190 people, including some monks, gathered outside local government headquarters to demand the release of those arrested. The crowd then "destroyed shops and government facilities," Xinhua said.

Authorities were searching for a third monk accused of taking part in the alleged Nov. 19 robbery, it said.

The unrest is the latest sign of social tensions in Tibet, where a heavy-handed security presence and growing numbers of Chinese migrants have stirred resentment among the Tibetan majority.

In August, large protests broke out in a Tibetan area in Sichuan province after authorities arrested a man who mounted the stage at a horse racing festival and led the crowd in chanting slogans calling for the return of the Dalai Lama. Tibet's traditional Buddhist leader fled into exile in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

Xinhua did not identify those detained or provide details on the alleged robbery, although it appeared to illustrate common disputes over money exacerbated by language and cultural differences.

Xinhua said crowds were "persuaded to return home later the same day by government workers."

"The local social order is stable," it said, citing local government officials.

"Unofficial" papal meeting with Dalai Lama still possible

Rome, Nov. 29, 2007 (CWNews.com) - After announcing earlier this week that Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) will not meet the Dalai Lama in a private audience, the Vatican is now leaving open the possibility that the Pontiff could hold a "private" meeting with the Buddhist leader, the French daily Le Croix reports.

Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, has told reporters that he cannot rule out the possibility that the Pope might meet informally with the Dalai Lama, who is due in Italy in December.

The Vatican spokesman explained that an earlier statement that "no audience is planned" referred to an official visit, listed on the papal schedule. If it does take place, the visit would not appear on the Pope's official agenda.

The subtle shift in the Vatican's public announcement underlines the delicacy with which Church officials are approaching the arrival of the Dalai Lama. The Vatican is anxious to avoid any undue disruption of the ongoing informal negotiations with Beijing. Chinese government officials had reacted angrily to the reports-- never formally confirmed by the Vatican-- that the Pope would receive the Tibetan spiritual leader.

There is precedent for a meeting that would not appear on the papal calendar. The Pope met with the Dalai Lama in October 2006, but the Vatican underlined that the meeting was a "private courtesy visit" and the conversation was confined exclusively to religious matters.

Dalai Lama prays at Golden Temple


Source: Rediff.com
The Dalai Lama said on Tuesday that his successor would be chosen outside of Tibet if he dies in exile. "If my death comes when we are still in a refugee status, then logically my reincarnation will come outside Tibet," the he said on the sidelines of an inter-faith meeting in the Sikh holy city.

The Dalai Lama said he welcomed the promotion of good relations between India and China. He said he was always ready to negotiate between Tibetans and Chinese government and would always give priority to talks.

"My mission is to spread the message of peace, prosperity and love and this reason brought me here to the holy city of the Golden Temple," added the Dalai Lama.

The Tibetan spiritual leader visited the Golden Temple and paid obeisance in the sanctum sanctorum where he was honoured by the Sikh priest with a scarf. The Dalai Lama also paid obeisance at Akal Takht, the highest Sikh temporal seat, at the Golden Temple.

The Dalai Lama was honoured by the Shriomnai Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Avtar Singh Makkar and jathedar of the Akal Takht, Gyani Joginder Singh Vedanti, with woollen shawls, a set of Sikh religious books and a replica of the Golden Temple.

The Dalai Lama is in Amritsar [Images] to participate in the third meeting of the Elijah board of world religious leaders, a group founded in 1996 to promote inter-faith dialogue, that brings together prominent Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and Buddhists.


Photograph: Manpreet Romana/ AFP/Getty Images

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Dalai Lama firms move away from reincarnation


Source: ABC News
The Dalai Lama says the people of Tibet should be involved in choosing his successor, and even deciding whether the institution should continue at all after his death.

The new reincarnation of the Dalai Lama is usually chosen by senior Buddhist officials, but observers say the Dalai Lama is considering breaking this tradition in order to reduce the influence of China.

The exiled spiritual leader has suggested one possibility is borrowing the Catholic tradition of electing a Pope.

There could be a different sort of methods or ways ... one like Pope selection among the high, elder, experienced, respected spiritual leaders. It is possible to choose one successor over another one."

The Dalai Lama has warned that when he dies, China will try to promote its own candidate.

Dalai Lama Condemns Myanmar Crackdown

Source: Associated Press
By GAVIN RABINOWITZ – 55 minutes ago

AMRITSAR, India (AP) — The Dalai Lama said Tuesday he supported the recent pro-democracy demonstrations in Myanmar and condemned the crackdown on the Buddhist monks who led them, saying it reminded him of China's oppression of Tibetans.

Myanmar's military rulers crushed a series of pro-democracy protests in September, killing at least 15 people according to information authorities gave the U.N., and detaining nearly 3,000 protesters. Monks were at the forefront of the movement. Diplomats and dissidents say the death toll was much higher.

"When I saw pictures of people beating monks I was immediately reminded of inside Tibet, in our own case, where just a few days ago monks were beaten by Chinese forces," the Dalai Lama said.

"I am fully committed and I have full support and sympathy for the demonstrators," the Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters on the sidelines of the Elijah Interfaith Summit of world religious leaders in the northern Indian city of Amritsar.

The meeting, which brought together prominent Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh and Jewish leaders, focused on using religion to spread peace and resolve conflict.

The Dalai Lama urged the military junta in Myanmar — a staunchly Buddhist country — to heed the Buddha's teachings.

"They should be Buddhists. Please act according to Buddha's message of compassion," he said.

The military has ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma, since 1962, crushing periodic rounds of dissent. It held elections in 1990 but refused to hand over power to the democratically elected government.

The Dalai Lama has been leading a campaign for autonomy and religious freedom for Tibet, which China has ruled since its Communist-led forces invaded Tibet in 1951.

The 72-year-old Dalai Lama, winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, has been based in the Indian hill town of Dharmsala since he fled Tibet in the face of advancing Chinese soldiers in 1959.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Vatican, in shift, says Pope won't meet Dalai Lama

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican said on Monday Pope Benedict did not have any plans to meet the Dalai Lama next month, contrary to a previous announcement that had irked China and raised concern about efforts to improve relations.

A Vatican official who spoke on condition of anonymity told reporters in October the Pope would meet the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism on December 13. The Dalai Lama is considered a traitor by Beijing since leading a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

China responded by saying the meeting might "hurt the feelings of the Chinese people" and urged the Pontiff to take actions showing he "is sincere in improving relations".

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said on Monday "no audience is planned" with the Dalai Lama and added there had never been an official announcement of a meeting.

The Pope has made improving ties with China a major goal of his pontificate and issued a 55-page open letter in June saying he sought to restore full diplomatic relations with Beijing that were severed two years after the 1949 Communist takeover.

Still, the Vatican has long opened its doors to the Dalai Lama but has kept such encounters low-profile.

Pope Benedict held a "strictly private" and "strictly religious" audience with him in October last year, but omitted the Dalai Lama's name from the list of people received by the Pontiff that day.

The Dalai Lama has this year met U.S. President George W. Bush at the White House, as well as leaders of Austria, Germany, New Zealand, Australia and Canada.

The diplomatic push has been met with a stream of vitriol from Chinese officials and state media, calling the 72-year-old a "splittist" bent on independence for Tibet and accusing him of orchestrating anti-Chinese activities in the remote region.
The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Italy next month and politicians are debating whether he should be allowed to address parliament.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Writing by Phil Stewart)

Violence as monks arrested

Source: Scotsman.com
AN ALTERCATION between a Han Chinese shop owner and Tibetan monks in rural Tibet escalated into an ethnic riot.

Three Buddhist monks from the Baiga temple in Tibet's Naqu district got into a scuffle with the shop owner. Police arrested the monks, but not the shop owner. "The owner attacked the monks first," a Beijing source said.

The monks were taken to the county public security bureau, where they were beaten, they claimed. Several hundred herdsmen went to demand their release, but when their demands were not met, they began smashing shops owned by Han Chinese. They also attacked police officers and smashed cars and government offices.

Friday, November 23, 2007

China furious at Dalai Lama plan to name successor

By Clifford Coonan, China Correspondent
Published: 23 November 2007
China has accused Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, of violating the religious rituals and historical conventions of Tibetan Buddhism by suggesting he might appoint a successor before his death instead of relying on reincarnation.

Beijing's latest broadside against the Dalai Lama is a sign of heightening tensions between the central government and the man Tibetans see as a god-king. While reincarnation sounds like an esoteric concept to those of other belief systems, it is a deeply political issue in the isolated Himalayan enclave.

The Dalai Lama said Tibetans would not accept a successor who was selected by China after his death, prompting an angry response from Beijing. "The reincarnation of the living Buddha is a unique way of succession of Tibetan Buddhism and follows relatively complete religious rituals and historical conventions," said Liu Jianchao, a Foreign Ministry spokesman . "Dalai's remarks obviously violated the religious rituals and historical conventions."

The Chinese see the Dalai Lama, 72, as a dangerous separatist. They accuse him of continuing to inspire demands for independence among the 2.7 million Tibetans living in the Tibetan Autonomous Region and refuse to allow him back inside its borders.

The Tibetan leader, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and is based in Dharamsala in northern India, insists he is a moderate who preaches a "middle way", which seeks special autonomy for Tibet within China, not independence. He has asked to be allowed to come to China to visit holy sites such as Wutaishan, a sacred mountain devoted to Tibet's Buddha of Wisdom. He also wants to see for himself the astonishing economic progress that China has made.

Even though Tibetans remain fiercely loyal to the figure they regard as a god-king, who fled the capital Lhasa in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, there is a younger breed of hard-line Tibetan nationalist emerging to fill the power vacuum his death will inevitably leave. The Communists have ruled the religious life of the remote territory with an iron fist and the selection of lamas has been a crux issue between the two sides.

The second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism, the 11th Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu, was anointed by Beijing while still a child in 1995. The six-year-old picked by the Dalai Lama was whisked away by the government and is thought to be under house arrest.

China has been accused of simply waiting for the Dalai Lama to die, avoiding any real discussions over the future of the region. When he dies, they can simply install a replacement of their choosing. China is keen to ensure whoever succeeds the Dalai Lama is someone it can do business with and on its terms.

Mr Liu said Beijing was respectful of the conventions of Tibetan Buddhism, as it had demonstrated by "a recent rule on the reincarnation of great lamas," referring to new laws released on 1 September, which require reincarnations of "living Buddhas" to have official approval.

Relations between the Beijing leadership and the Dalai Lama have been under serious pressure following a number of high-profile appearances for the Dalai Lama, including the award of the United States' highest honour, the Congressional Gold Medal, by George Bush last month

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Dalai Lama may appoint successor before he dies, a break from centuries of tradition

The Associated Press Published: November 20, 2007

TOKYO: The Dalai Lama has said he may appoint a successor or call democratic elections before his death instead of relying on reincarnation, a Japanese newspaper reported Tuesday, following recent orders that China must approve Tibet's spiritual leaders.

The exiled leader also accused Chinese authorities of stepping up persecution of Tibetan monks and civilians, and called the region's relations with the central Chinese government "the most tense in recent years," according to the Sankei Shimbun, a national daily.

"The Tibetan people would not support a successor selected by China after my death," the Dalai Lama was quoted as telling the paper during a trip to Japan.

"If the Tibetan people wish to uphold the Dalai Lama system, one possibility would be to select the next Dalai Lama while I am still living. Among options being considered are a democratic selection by the high monks of Tibetan Buddhism, or the appointment of a successor by myself," the leader was quoted as saying.

For centuries, the search for the reincarnation of religious leaders, known as lamas — including Tibet's spiritual head, the Dalai Lama — has been carried out by Tibetan monks following the leaders' deaths.

But a recent order by China that Beijing must approve all lama appointments have lead to concerns that the central government may forcibly select a pro-Beijing leader once the current popular Dalai Lama is dead.

China has ruled Tibet with a heavy hand since its Communist-led forces invaded in 1951, and it has accused the Buddhist monk of defying its sovereignty by pushing for Tibetan independence.

The Dalai Lama says he wants "real autonomy" for Tibet, not independence. He has lived with followers in exile in India since fleeing Chinese soldiers in 1959.

The Dalai Lama arrived in Japan last week for a nine-day visit. He has been snubbed by Japanese officials, who are working to improve relations with neighboring China

Friday, November 16, 2007

The Tibet Factor

Tibet continues to be a thorn on the side of an improving India-China relationship, shows a new book

The Tibetan Saga for National Liberation by Pranjali Bandhu, Odyssey, Rs. 350

TG JACOB


The Qinghai-Tibet railway line in Qinghai Province, western China
In the current scenario of the increasing thaw and growing economic relations between India and China, the Tibet factor in this relationship needs re-examination in clear perspective. The existence of a Tibetan government-in-exile in India, the continuing stream of a refugee population, active ‘Free Tibet’ campaigning—all these represent thorns between the two governments. The Tibet issue is closely linked to the border issue, which despite several sessions of talks in the last quarter of a century has remained intractable. The nature of India-China trade relations is also not entirely satisfactory from India’s point of view. Last but not the least is India’s dependency on the US, which has only deepened with time.

In fact, India’s granting of asylum to the Dalai Lama in 1959 was done with the concurrence and support of the US government. Nevertheless, the Indian government has from the time of Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet accepted Chinese suzerainty and sovereignty over Tibet. It has endorsed the ‘one China’ principle and has never publicly upheld Tibetan independence after its occupation by the Chinese. It is, however, pertinent to keep in mind that the border issue—delineating and demarcating the border between India and China—actually involves Tibet on the Chinese side. This is a fact that is being completely overlooked and sidelined at present, both at the political level and by the mainstream media because Tibet is held to be an inalienable part of China.

Can the right of Tibetans to determine their border with India be proclaimed without India simultaneously conceding the same rights to the nationalities inhabiting the Indian side of the border, namely, the Kashmiris, the Ladakhis, the Sikkimese, the Arunachalis (including many tribal groups), the Nepalis, the Lepchas and so on? This would involve acknowledging the right to self-determination up to the right to secession of the various peoples, which neither the Indian nor the Chinese government is prepared to do. It would mean that the Indian government would have to openly acknowledge its annexation of Sikkim; it would have to own up that a wide swathe of territory from Ladakh to Myanmar including Tawang was actually politically and culturally Tibetan or stood under Tibetan influence, and it was first the British and then Nehru, who followed a forward policy in this region.

The Tawang tract and other bordering areas that had been ceded by the Tibetan government in 1914 to the British (forming part of the so-called McMahon Line) were occupied by the Indian government in 1951 and incorporated into the Indian administration.
This was done despite the fact that in 1947 the Tibetan government had formally asked India to return these border territories and had even included Sikkim and Darjeeling district in their claim (Darjeeling had been annexed from Sikkim, a dependency of Tibet, by the British).

Now that Tibet is forcibly incorporated as a province [albeit part of it as the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR)] into China, the central Chinese government is laying claim to such ‘Tibetan’ territories. In fact, it has already built townships in Arunachal Pradesh and does not officially recognize it as a part of India. In the Northwest region, it has occupied 43,180 sq km of the strategic and mineral rich Aksai Chin, besides 5180 sq km of Kashmir, ceded by the Pakistan government in its 1963 boundary agreement with China. Aksai Chin is an ancient trade route and the Chinese need it for forming a link between Tibet and Sinkiang (Eastern Turkestan) that was also similarly annexed in 1949.

The above facts are known and documented though little highlighted. A recent publication which using available documentation and research throws much light on the Tibetan issue is The Tibetan Saga for National Liberation by Pranjali Bandhu. It provides an excellent documentary background to deciphering the Tibet issue and the persisting demand for independence inside and outside Tibet.

Starting with history, it clearly establishes—false historiographical Chinese claims notwithstanding—the existence of Tibet as a state independent of mainland China for a couple of thousand years. It delineates in detail the historical evolution of the Tibetan nation and its relationship to the interventionist and dominating Chinese nation up to the eve of its outright annexation in 1949/1950 by a Chinese government under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese Communist Party’s approach to the national/ethnic question in China in general and to Tibet in particular from the time of its growing ascendancy in China is taken up for analysis and so also the events leading up to the famed 1959 uprising in Lhasa and the subsequent fleeing of the 14th Dalai Lama.

The Chinese establishment of control over the territories of not only Tibet, but also of Sinkiang (East Turkestan) and Inner Mongolia clearly had, in addition to strategic considerations an economic rationale of exploiting their vast mineral resources for industrialisation in mainland China, particularly in its eastern and southern coastal regions, in a typically colonial fashion. But the rapacious destruction of a self-reliant nomadic pastoral economy through imposed democratic reforms is camouflaged under a ‘developmental’ jargon. The Chinese having taken upon themselves the Han man’s burden of a transformation of Tibet claim that under their rule unprecedented high growth rates and material prosperity have come.

The book traces the ‘development’ trajectory of Tibet under Han Chinese aegis and concludes that the kind of ‘growth’ that has taken place has fuelled marginalisation and class polarisation within the TAR. It has benefited largely a migrant Chinese population, the Tibetan elite and middle class, while rural areas, populated largely by Tibetans, suffer from inadequate incomes, lack infrastructure, basic amenities and education and health provisions. The highly controversial Lhasa-Golmud railway has contributed to the inflow of migrants and tourists and of the outflow of wealth due to resource extraction apart from its dubious environmental impact. The degradation of Tibet, its people and environment, is multifarious. The aspects of religious, cultural and linguistic oppression, the ‘bastardisation’ of a people, the environmental devastation are recorded as being the results of a market-driven Chinese economy that no longer has any relationship to the ideas and ideals of communism.

In its final chapter the book also takes a look at the Tibetan struggle for independence. By all internationally accepted criteria, the Tibetans constitute a nation. The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and the Tibetan regions of Kham and Amdo incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Gansu, Sichuan, Yunan and Qinghai, are occupied territory. Resistance to Chinese colonisation has been met with armed suppression. It is estimated that at least one million Tibetans have died as a result of the occupation, imprisonment, torture and starvation. In the prisons there is an attempt to remould the outlook of those who believe in Tibetan freedom. Basic civil, religious and democratic rights are denied.

The media, including the arts and literature, are conspicuously muzzled and the book presents many details in this regard. Foreign journalists too are kept under tight surveillance although Beijing did indicate that they would be allowed to travel freely throughout China in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics. Moreover, it is Beijing’s policy to provide journalists free and comfortable trips to China and Tibet in order to solicit favourable ground-level reports. In this way a number of positive reports on the Lhasa-Golmud railway appeared in the Indian press after the line was commissioned in 2006. Similarly, now in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, the spotlight being on China and its human rights record, we have had glowing reports lauding Tibetan development after some more such sponsored trips.

The fact that Chinese-led ‘development’ in ‘minority’ areas like that of the TAR, Sinkiang and Inner Mongolia is leading to a growing alienation of the Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongols has been corroborated by a recent report of the London-based Minority Rights Group International. The Chinese imposed development, particularly of roads and railways, is leading to resource extraction and greater Han Chinese military and civilian presence in these areas. The result is a general dilution of local cultures and lifestyles increasing the levels of resentment among the local populations.

The Appendix provides a useful overview of the general trajectory of Communist Party politics from the time it came to power in 1949 to the present. With a couple of maps, Chronology, Index and Bibliography, The Tibetan Saga for National Liberation is recommended useful reference material for all those interested in national liberation movements in the current era taking the case of Tibet as it does for detailed examination.

Dalai Lama visits Japan's holy shrine


ISE, Japan (AFP) — Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama paid a visit to Japan's holiest Shinto shrine of Ise, western Japan, on Sunday as part of his effort to harmonise the world's religions.

The Nobel laureate, who arrived in Japan on Thursday for a 10-day stay, made his second pilgrimage to the Ise Shrine complex dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami, mythical ancestor of the imperial family.

Escorted by the chief priest of the shrine, the maroon-robed Tibetan bowed twice at the main shrine and purified himself with water from a small river inside the site in accordance with Japanese tradition.

The Dalai Lama said the visit was part of his long-established practice of making trips to religious buildings and holy places around the world.

"Wherever I go, if time permits, I always pay my respect or pilgrimage to all different religious... temples," the Dalia Lama, who first visited the shrine in 2003, said Saturday ahead of a religious forum on Sunday.

"I've fully committed promotion of religious harmony," he said.

"Religious faith is sometimes causing divisions and problems. (In the) meantime, all religions have the same message, the message of love ... and the same potential to save humanity," he said.

"Therefore, the harmony and unity among religions is extremely important," he added.

During the religious forum on Sunday, which drew high-ranking Buddhist and Shinto priests across the nation, the Dalai Lama also stressed that various kinds of religion can play an important part in modern society.

"Still, I believe various different religions have some role (for) humanity," he said.

If priests and believers of various religions work closer and build relationships of trust, "we can develop genuine harmony or the basis of mutual respect," he concluded.

The Dalai Lama will address public forums on spirituality and visit schools, but he does not plan to meet government officials as they allowed his trip on condition he did not engage in political activities.

The cold shoulder from Japan, which has uneasy ties with China, is in stark contrast to the growing embrace of the Dalai Lama by Western countries.

Last month, the United States defied China's protests and awarded the Dalai Lama the top congressional civilian honour.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper also recently became the first leaders of their countries to meet with the spiritual leader.

China, which sent troops into Tibet in 1950, opposes the international travels of the globetrotting Dalai Lama, criticising him of agitating for Tibetan independence.

The Dalai Lama, who fled for exile in India in 1959 amid a failed uprising in Lhasa, insists that he wants autonomy for Tibet within China.

"But the Chinese government officials still... continuously accuse me as a separatist. I don't know what it is," he told reporters on Saturday.

China-Germany relations shaken by Dalai Lama row

Source: Forbes.com
BERLIN (XFN-ASIA) - China called off a trip to Beijing by Germany's finance minister in the latest round of a battle over the Dalai Lama's visit to Berlin, German media said today.

The finance ministry said late yesterday that Peer Steinbrueck's visit set for next month was called off due to the 'very busy schedule' of China's new finance minister, Xie Xuren.

But German media quoted diplomats as saying the real reason was lingering Chinese anger at Chancellor Angela Merkel's meeting with the Dalai Lama in Berlin in September.

China strongly protested over the first meeting between a German chancellor and the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, warning it would disrupt relations.

The fallout from the visit was blamed for China's withdrawal from a planned meeting of world powers on the Iranian nuclear crisis in Berlin in October, forcing its cancellation.

It also axed an annual event scheduled for December in Beijing to discuss human rights.

China last week urged Germany to take responsibility for repairing ties.

Foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said last week 'some difficulties' had emerged in the relationship between the two countries due to Merkel's meeting with the Dalai Lama.

'We hope Germany can take concrete steps to remove the negative impact of its erroneous act so that bilateral relations can move forward on a rapid and sound track,' he said.

In rare public criticism of his predecessor, former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Merkel had made a 'mistake' in meeting the Dalai Lama.

'Some recent situations have hurt Chinese people's feelings, and I regret it. I am not happy with some of our government's recent moves,' Schroeder said in a speech in China, according to the state-run China Daily newspaper.

Merkel has taken a tough stance on human rights in China, raising the issue with Chinese officials during her visit to the country in August.

German media expressed alarm at the new strain in relations.

Die Welt newspaper carried a front-page picture of the cover of Chinese magazine Liaowang. The Chinese magazine portrayed an unflattering photograph of Merkel above the headline 'The Mysteries of Merkel's China Policy.'

Financial Times Deutschland said relations between the two countries were heading for 'a diplomatic ice age' and hitting trade relations between the countries.

China is Germany's biggest trade partner in the Asia-Pacific region.

The rapidly growing Chinese economy is set to overtake Germany as the world's third largest by the end of 2007.

The Dalai Lama's Berlin trip was just one of several recent encounters with world leaders that have enraged China.

US President George W Bush met him last month in Washington, where the US Congress bestowed on him the Congressional Gold Medal -- the highest US civilian award.

Monday, November 12, 2007

China convicts Tibetan of subversion

BEIJING: A court in China’s remote west has found a Tibetan nomad guilty of subversion and separatism, a human rights group said on Friday, denouncing the charges as baseless and urging his release.

Ronggyal Adrak was convicted in Sichuan province for openly demanding religious freedom and urging authorities to allow the exiled Dalai Lama to visit China, and a sentence is likely soon, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said. Adrak comes from Ganzi Prefecture, a mountain-bound area dominated by ethnic Tibetan herders that neighbours the Tibet Autonomous Region. Many of Ganzi’s herders see themselves as members of a wider Tibetan community spanning the border and revere the Dalai Lama as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism.

Adrak was arrested in August at a horse-riding festival in Litang, a town approaching the border with Tibet. Radio Free Asia reported scores of Tibetans were arrested at the festival after demonstrating for greater religious freedom and the Dalai Lama’s return. Adrak climbed a stage and called for the return of the Dalai Lama and release of two Tibetan Buddhist monks in jail on charges - disputed by Tibetan rights groups - of helping to set off bombs in Sichuan in 2004, Human Rights Watch said.

It described Adrak, convicted on Oct 29, as a victim of China’s harsh controls on Tibetans.

“This kind of repression also risks exacerbating ethnic tensions in the run-up to the Olympics,” Brad Adams, the Asia director of the group, said in an emailed statement. reuters

Saturday, November 10, 2007

US TO RESETTLE TIBETAN REFUGEES AS WELL

On a purely humanitarian ground the US government is also considering the case of the Tibetan refugees similar to that of the Bhutanese refugees in resettling them in the US”, said the US assistant secretary Ms. Ellen Sauerbrey at a press conference organized in Kathmandu yesterday.

Whether the refugees are Bhutanese, Burmese, African or Tibetan, the US views their issues purely on humanitarian grounds, added Sauerbrey.

The US only last year resettled around 50,000 refugees in the US from various parts of the world, that too on humanitarian ground, she said further.
The telegraph
In the Tibetan case too we comprehend very well the problems Nepal is currently facing, thus we have decided to give a new lease of life to the Tibetans living here as refugees, she continued.

Prime Minster Girija Prasad Koirala too has given his words in this regard however said that the Bhutanese issue must be resettled first, the US dignitary further said.

The US government had decided to resettle around five thousand Tibetan refugees living in Nepal next year, say reports.

We will talk to the Chinese government in this regard, Sauerbrey said.

Ms. Sauerbrey is heading for Thimpu, Bhutan today.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Car-ownership boom means traffic jams in once-tranquil Tibet; underground parking lot open

The Associated Press
Published: November 7, 2007

BEIJING: A boom in car ownership has brought traffic jams to Tibet's once-tranquil capital and prompted it to open its first underground parking lot, state media reported Wednesday.

Lhasa has 400,000 people and 70,000 registered vehicles, the Xinhua News Agency reported. The numbers give it a per capita car ownership rate close to Beijing's.

Such developments stem from the enormous sums of Chinese government money flowing into Tibet, transforming Lhasa — a town of distinctly Tibetan character and just 20,000 people 50 years ago — into a bustling city whose modern architecture and growing ethnic Chinese population increasingly resemble urban areas in the rest of China.

Car ownership appears to be the latest mark of modernization, with Beijing and other Chinese cities already choked by traffic congestion.

China's government hopes pumping in money will help tap Tibet's mineral wealth, open it up to new settlement and tourism, and tamp down pro-independence sentiment among native Tibetans who consider their homeland to have been a separate country for much of their history. Communist troops occupied the region in 1951, and Tibet's former rulers were overthrown following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

The new underground parking lot, which has just 36 spaces, is strategically located near Lhasa's popular dining and nightlife district where traffic jams are especially bad, Xinhua said.

Dalai Lama's welcome angers Chinese delegation

ALAN FREEMAN

November 6, 2007

OTTAWA -- The leader of a delegation of "Tibetologists" backed by the Chinese government, yesterday compared Prime Minister Stephen Harper's meeting last week with the Dalai Lama to China officially supporting Quebec separation.

"Imagine if our government supported the separation of Quebec from Canada, how do you think you would feel?" said An Caidan, a researcher at the China Tibetology Research Center.

Mr. An, who is Han Chinese, was speaking at a news conference at the Chinese embassy of four Tibet specialists who are on a cross-country tour of Canada clearly designed to counter the red-carpet welcome the Tibetan spiritual leader received last week in Ottawa.

"We are here for friendship, but what the Canadian government has done is not a token of friendship at all," he said. He added that the Chinese people remembered fondly the support given to the Communist revolution by the Canadian "hero" Norman Bethune, but were hurt by the welcome Mr. Harper gave the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama, already designated an honorary Canadian citizen, had a 40-minute audience with the Prime Minister in his Parliament Hill office and was greeted by the Governor-General at Rideau Hall.

The four members of the delegation, who are meeting with academics in Vancouver and Calgary as well as Ottawa before heading to the U.S., repeated the Chinese government's contention that the Dalai Lama is seeking secession for Tibet, a charge he denies.

The Tibetan leader, who has lived in exile since 1959, says he is seeking autonomy for Tibet within a sovereign China, but the Chinese-sponsored delegation, which also included a Tibetan doctor and a Buddhist monk, insisted it was simply part of a two-step process aimed at secession.

"He has never given up his ultimate goal of separation," countered Ciren Jiabu, an ethnic Tibetan who heads the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences. "This is only a change in tactics."

When asked whether Tibetans should have the same chance to determine whether they wish to stay part of China as Quebeckers had in the referendums of 1980 and 1995, there was clear anxiety among the visiting experts. They passed notes to each other and attempted to avoid responding.

Mr. An, who first raised the comparison with Quebec, said the two situations could not be compared because Canada was only 100 years old while the history of the Chinese nation was 5,000 years old.

Asked again whether they thought it was a good idea for Tibetans to vote in a referendum on separation, Mr. Ciren responded that "we are not in a position to be representing the will of the Tibetan people, but I think the people in Tibet will not have a referendum."

The Tibetologists are being sponsored on their trip by the China International Culture Association, which they said was a civil organization, unrelated to the Chinese government.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Tibetan who shouted 'long live the Dalai Lama' convicted for trying to split China

The Associated PressPublished: November 1, 2007

BEIJING: A Tibetan nomad held for three months for shouting "long live the Dalai Lama" has been convicted on subversion charges, a local official and U.S.-based broadcaster said Friday.

Runggye Adak had been arrested after grabbing a microphone and calling for the exiled Buddhist leader's return at a local horse racing festival in August. The incident sparked minor clashes between Tibetans and authorities in the area, leading to brief detentions for about 200 others.

An official at the Ganzi Autonomous Prefecture People's Court confirmed the man's conviction on Monday on the charge of subversion. The official, who like most Chinese bureaucrats refused to give his name, declined to give any details.

Radio Free Asia, a broadcaster funded by the U.S. government, said a sentence would be handed down next week. Subversion, a loosely defined charge frequently used to punish government critics, can carry a sentence of a few years up to death in extreme cases.

The ruling comes as China has accused world leaders who have met the Dalai Lama in recent months of interfering in China's internal affairs.

China says the Dalai Lama has been trying to split the country since he fled Tibet after a failed uprising in 1959. The Dalai Lama, who leads a government in exile based in India, says he is campaigning for real autonomy for Tibet under Chinese rule, although many Tibetans maintain their homeland was an independent country before the arrival of communist troops in 1951.

Runggye Adak, also spelled Adrak, was also charged for causing the protests that followed his detention in the traditionally Tibetan town of Lithang, according to RFA. The gatherings led officers to fire warning shots to disperse the crowd outside the local detention center.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported in that Runggye Adak had been arrested for "inciting the separation of nationalities."

"Police sources said they would handle the case of Runggye Adak, whose words and deeds were meant to separate the country and harm national unity and (who) has disrupted public order, according to law," the Xinhua report said.

RFA quoted the judge in the case as saying that Adak met the Dalai Lama in India, where his two daughters study, and returned to China with plans to split the country.

In a related development, the activist group International Campaign for Tibet said eyewitness accounts showed a Tibetan statue near the sacred Kailash mountain was destroyed by armed security personnel at the end of September. It said about 20 Tibetans had tried to prevent the destruction by forming a human shield.