No anti-China activity on Indian soil: Krishna

‘It has been made clear that the Tibet Autonomous Region is part of China'

Against the backdrop of self-exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this month, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna assured China once again that it would not encourage anyone to undertake political or any other kind of activity that was detrimental to the relationship between the two countries.

Responding to questions at a joint press conference with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Mr. Krishna said this assurance had been given to his Chinese counterpart Yang Jeichi.

It was also made “absolutely clear” to the Chinese leadership that the Tibetan Autonomous Region was a part of China. “That should bring the curtain down on any controversy,” Mr. Krishna said.

He began his reply by pointing out that the Indian position in this regard had been stated “repeatedly, equivocally and categorically” and that India believed the Dalai Lama was an honoured guest and a spiritual leader “held as such by millions of Indians.”

Mr. Krishna was asked the question following reports that Beijing had protested against the meeting between the Dalai Lama and Dr. Singh on August 11

Source: The Hindu

China Tightens Grip on Tibet's Business Class

Weeks after a prominent Tibetan arts dealer was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges his supporters say were trumped up after he crossed powerful local officials, a second Tibetan businessman has been sentenced to life in jail. Dorje Tashi, a property developer and owner of the Yak Hotel in Lhasa, was convicted of funding overseas Tibetan groups, including the office of the Dalai Lama, according to Urgen Tenzin, executive director of the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, an India-based NGO. Dorje Tashi had been arrested in the spring of 2008 following deadly unrest in the Tibetan capital and was sentenced in June, although details of his case have still not been officially released.

As one of China's richest Tibetans, Dorje Tashi was an unusual target. In the past efforts by Chinese authorities to root out dissent in Tibet has focused on groups whose political loyalties were considered suspect, like monks and people who had recently made pilgrimages to India, where the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, lives in exile. Tashi ran a business conglomerate involved in hotels, tourism and real estate, and was responsible for the employment of hundreds. He was noted in the state-run press for contributing to various charitable causes, and his financial success was a symbol of the type of prosperity and modernity China wanted to promote in the restive Himalayan region.(Watch TIME's 10 questions video with the Dalai Lama.)

His case has strong parallels to that of Karma Samdrup, a 42-year-old arts dealer who had also been touted in China for founding the Three Rivers Environmental Protection group. He was convicted in June of buying $10,000 worth of antiquities looted from an archaeological site in the northwest region of Xinjiang, charges that had been dropped in 1998 after Samdrup showed he was allowed to trade in relics, and denied knowledge of any crime in acquiring the objects. Samdrup's supporters allege the old charges were reinstated to punish him for attempting to help his brothers, Jigme Namgyal and Rinchen Samdrup, who were arrested after accusing local police of poaching. Rinchen Smadrup was sentenced to five years for "inciting separatism," the International Campaign for Tibet reported, while Jigme Namgyal is serving a 21-month term in a labor camp.(Comment on this story.)

The arrests and heavy prison sentences of these men indicates that two years after the deadly unrest in Lhasa and other Tibetan areas, Chinese officials' suspicion of Tibetans has spread to other levels of society, including to people generally thought to be closely aligned with the Chinese state. But while China's efforts to encourage development in Tibet has helped build a class of successful Tibetan businesspeople, that prosperity hasn't built unswerving loyalty to Beijing. "It does suggest that how ever much money you pour into Tibet, you can change the physical landscape and the actual social landscape, but it doesn't change the cultural topography," says Robbie Barnett, director of Columbia University's modern Tibetan studies program. "The fact is they can create people who say this system benefits us financially, but it may not change their sense of cultural values."(See photos of a new side of Tibetan culture.)

The convictions come as a prominent Tibetan writer is facing trial for writing a book that questions China's policies towards Tibet. Tragyal, who goes by a single name and writes under the pen name Shogdung, was a scholar and editor in the western province of Qinghai who had previously advocated the government line and criticized Tibetans' religious bent. But in the now-banned book "The Separation Between Sky and Land," which was published this spring in Tibetan in China, he wrote that the March 2008 protests moved him to speak out, even though he fears for his safety. While not calling for independence, he asked for a review of the government's Tibet policy. His trial on charges of encouraging separatism has been delayed, according to the International Campaign for Tibet, an overseas activist group. But it seems unlikely he will avoid punishment. "I may lose my head because of my mouth," Tragyal writes in "The Separation Between Sky and Land." "But this is the path I have chosen, so the responsibility is mine."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2011548,00.html#ixzz0x6Zubu8E

Obama's Timidity on Tibet

BY ELLEN BORK

Over the past few years, Beijing's repressive policies have increasingly alienated Tibetans. One indication was the March 2008 uprising and riots across Tibet. Yet Beijing responded not by moderating its policies but by intensifying repression—launching a "patriotic education" campaign and targeting members of the educated elite, many of whom have long gotten along with, and even flourished within, the communist system. Among these are the writer Tragyal, long associated with the state publishing house, who awaits trial on charges of "splittism," and Dorje Tashi, a businessman and hotel owner, who received a life sentence in June for allegedly collaborating with ...

Chinese Communist party demands reforms in Tibetan monasteries

Source: PTI

A fresh purge appeared to be in the offing in Tibet with a top leader of the Communist Party of China calling for reforms in Buddhist monasteries by appointing monks and nuns who are "politically reliable".

In a move that could be aimed at weeding out pro-Dalai Lama elements in the clergy, Du Qinglin, head of the United Front Work Department of the Party's Central Committee, also demanded that "greater, concerted and solid efforts" must be made to implement democratic management in the monasteries.

"Concerted and solid efforts must be made to implement democratic management in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries," Du was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency, in what appeared to be a fresh effort to strengthen government's hold on Tibet's influential religious centres in the politically sensitive Himalayan province.

"Competent Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns who are politically reliable, extraordinarily learned and widely respected should be selected to monastery management committees through thorough democratic consultation," he said.

As per the prevailing rules, the posts of all the top monks known as Lamas have to be made with the approval of the Chinese government.

Du, also vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the remarks of sweeping changes in the powerful clergy in Tibet during a two-day conference on democratic management of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries at Xigaze in Tibet Autonomous Region, which began yesterday.

His remarks were timed even as another powerful Communist Party leader He Guoqiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo undertook a tour of the politically sensitive province visiting the Potala Palace, which was the seat of the Dalai Lamas.

Tibet's provincial capital Lhasa witnessed large scale riots in 2008 before the Beijing Olympics in which large numbers of Tibetan mainly monks were killed.

The riots were directed against non-Tibetans in which several monks reported to have taken part. Chinese government blamed the Dalai Lama for instigating the riots, which he has denied.

Du said that in implementing monastery democratic management, the lawful rights of monasteries, orderly religious activities of monks and nuns, and normal religious practice of believers must be ensured.

Monasteries play a very vital role in Tibet where Buddhism and Monks or heads of various sects of the religion wields spiritual and political influence over the masses.

Many of the top monks of Tibet including the Dalai Lama, the spiritual head, who fled to India in 1959 were selected through the complex process when they were children and then graduated through these institutions.

The 11th Panchen Lama, Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu, regarded as the second spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism sent a congratulatory message to the conference which was attended by some 150 people from Tibetan Buddhist circles and relative governmental organisations.

The Speech That Portended the Tibetan Uprising Made Public

It could be argued that the Tibetan uprising of 2008 actually began several months earlier with what appeared to be an impromptu public address by a middle-aged Tibetan nomad. Until now, no one had seen footage of his defiant speech that was released this week for the first time by Tibet rights groups.

On August 1st 2007, thousands of Tibetans were attending the famous summer horse festival in Lithang County in the Tibetan region of Kham (Ch. Sichuan province). The horses are more like ponies, but the skill of their riders is impressive. At full gallop, the Khampa horsemen lean precariously sideways off the saddle, flop to the ground with arms dragging in the dust behind them and unprotected heads inches from the earth, and somehow manage to regain an upright position.

Banned during the Cultural Revolution, the festival has since been co-opted by Chinese authorities to celebrate the founding of the People's Liberation Army, the military arm of the Chinese government and the largest military force in the world. The year 2007 marked the PLA's 80th anniversary. It was a big deal in China, observed with glitzy musical stage productions re-enacting highlights of the army's history (minus 1989 Tiananmen) and rousing political speeches promoting its "glorious achievements." Snazzy new uniforms had even been specially tailored to mark the occasion.

But this atmosphere of Chinese nationalistic ferver was about to be roundly disturbed at the Lithang horse festival by a 53-year-old nomad from rural Tibet. His name was Runngye Adak, and just before the official function began, he jumped up on stage and grabbed the microphone. Addressing the audience, he coolly but firmly voiced a number of grievances that were all articulated later in the protests that broke out the following Spring in Lhasa, and which spread across the entire Tibetan plateau.

A Western filmmaker, who requested anonymity, captured part of Adak's speech on video. Not knowing the language, he had no idea as to the significance of what he was filming. The tape was overlooked for years, but the footage has now been made public (with English subtitles) by Tibet support organizations to coincide with the third anniversary of the event. View footage here.

"...These things have happened to us; did you hear what has happened to us? Although we can move our bodies, we cannot express what is in our hearts. You know? These days there are those who say we don't need the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is the one that we six million Tibetans truly [need]"

According to eye witnesses, Adak, cutting a striking figure in a white cowboy hat and traditional chupaslung over his shoulder, called for the release of political prisoners such as Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Dalai Lama's candidate for Panchen Lama, and Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a highly respected monk and community leader, who is currently serving a life sentence on the dubious charge of "conspiring to cause explosions". Witnesses report Adak also saying that the Dalai Lama should return to Tibet. It seems that the nomad had taken the security personnel by surprise and was able to complete his address to roars of approval from the crowd before he was arrested by armed police.

China's Communist Party mouthpiece, Xinhua, said that hundreds of Tibetans gathered outside the local jail to demand Runggye Adak's release. The Associated Press later reported that scores of people were arrested in the aftermath.

Runggye Adak, known as a respected local figure and father of eleven, was charged with "provocation to subvert state power," and was indicted by the Kardze Intermediate People's Court on four counts ranging from disruption of law and order to state subversion. He was subsequently sentenced to eight years imprisonment with deprivation of political rights for four years. According to Radio Free Asia, during the trial, the judge stated that by calling for the Dalai Lama's return, Adak had "committed the crime of subverting the People's Republic of China."

In response, Runggye Adak told the court, "I wanted to raise Tibetan concerns and grievances, as there is no outlet for us to do so." He went on to say there is no one in Tibet who does not have faith in, loyalty to or the heartfelt wish to see the return of the Dalai Lama. He countered "propaganda" by the Chinese authorities that Tibetans have lost faith in the Dalai Lama, saying: "That is wrong, but we have no freedom to say so."

Adak's nephew, Adak Lopoe, was given ten years, and an art and music teacher named Kunkhyen was given nine years, both for crimes of endangering national security--in other words, for trying to inform the outside world about Adak's protest.

Runngye Adak's actions were labeled a "major political incident" by China's central government, but to Tibetans he became an instant hero. For a few minutes, an uncensored voice had been heard that mirrored their secret dreams and burning resentments.

The nomad's plea inspired renewed resistance to China's control in Lithang, which resulted in the harshest crackdown the region had seen in decades. A rigorous smear campaign against the Dalai Lama met with dismal failure, and was further hindered two months later by the conferring of the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal on the Dalai Lama by President George W. Bush, which Tibetans celebrated as a personal victory.

Said President of the International Campaign for Tibet, Mary Beth Markey, "Criminalizing devotion to the Dalai Lama has been the undoing of their [Chinese authorities] efforts to win the hearts and minds of Tibetans and certainly contributed to the anger that erupted in March 2008."

According to the International Tibet Support Network, a global coalition of Tibet support organizations, Runggye Adak's family has only been able to visit him once in the past three years and there are currently fears for his health. He is serving out his sentence in Mianyang Prison, Sichuan Province, the same prison as Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, the monk whose release he had called for in his courageous stand for freedom.

Source: HuffingtonPost

Dolma announces candidature for Tibetan prime minister poll

Source: SIfy.com

2010-08-06 14:20:00

The political scene for the election of a new prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in this town has assumed a new dimension with senior Tibetan leader Gyari Dolma announcing her candidature. Dolma, the first woman deputy speaker of the parliament-in-exile, announced Thursday that she would contest the Kalon Tripa or prime ministerial election to be held next year. No woman has so far become the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile. 'If I am given the opportunity, I would love to shoulder the responsibility of Kalon Tripa,' she told IANS Friday. 'But things will be more clear by Oct 3 (when the primary elections to nominate candidates will be held),' she added. As per the election schedule, the general elections will take place March 20, 2011. Some 120,000 Tibetan exiles worldwide - above the age of 18 - are eligible to vote. Incumbent Samdhong Rinpoche became the first directly elected prime minister in September 2001 after the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, called for a directly elected political leader of the exiles. The Tibetan government has so far seen four women ministers in the Kashag (cabinet) but no woman has so far become the prime minister. Jetsun Pema, the younger sister of the Dalai Lama, was the first woman cabinet minister. She was in the cabinet for three years from 1990. Currently, Y. Takla, minister of information and international relations, is the only woman in the cabinet. The Dalai Lama has been based in this town since fleeing Tibet in 1959. His government-in-exile is not recognised by any county.

Court rejects appeal from Tibetan environmentalist

BEIJING Source:AP

A court in northwest China has rejected an appeal from a Tibetan environmentalist who was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of grave robbing and dealing in looted antiquities, his lawyer said Monday.
The charges against Karma Samdrup -- named philanthropist of the year in 2006 by state broadcaster CCTV -- date back to 1998 but were not pursued until this year. They stem from purchases he made of carpets, wooden artifacts and other antiques at a shop in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.
Lawyer Pu Zhiqiang has said his client bought the items because he was interested in them as a collector, but did not know they had been plundered from graves in the region.
Supporters have said the June 24 trial was aimed at punishing Karma Samdrup after he spoke up for his two brothers who were detained after accusing local officials in eastern Tibet of poaching endangered species. Authorities in tightly controlled Tibet are extremely sensitive to social activism and criticism, either explicit or implied.
Pu, who complained of irregularities during the original trial, said he only learned Monday that his client's appeal had been rejected on July 7.
The Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture Intermediate Court never responded to the documents he filed for Karma Samdrup's appeal and have not explained why they rejected it, he said. Pu also questioned why the appeal was rejected so quickly after the conclusion of the original trial.
"I don't know why they're in a such a hurry. What are they afraid of? What are they trying to cover up?" he said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Phones at the court rang unanswered Monday.