Monks speak out!

Tibet Will Reopen to Tourism After Protests.

Tibet will be reopened to tourists on May 1, a decision announced Thursday even as authorities showed no sign of lifting restrictions preventing foreign journalists from freely visiting Tibet and other Tibetan regions in western China to report on episodes of ethnic unrest.
Meanwhile, Communist Party officials in Tibet plan trials this month for people arrested in the violence. Wang Xiangming, a deputy Communist Party secretary in Lhasa, the capital, said more than 1,200 people would be prosecuted, according to accounts in the Chinese and Hong Kong news media.
Tibet has been closed to domestic and foreign tourists since March 16, two days after violent riots erupted in Lhasa.
Zhanor, deputy director of Tibet’s tourism bureau, said organized tours and independent travelers could return to Tibet beginning in May, according to China Daily, the official English-language newspaper.
Authorities in Lhasa attributed the tourism closing to safety concerns and property damage from the violence.
On Thursday afternoon, Xiao Youcai, an official from Aba County, a Tibetan region in Sichuan Province, said the area had largely returned to normal after a March 16 protest. State media have reported the police in Aba fired on Tibetan protesters after they tried to storm a police station. Overseas Tibetan advocacy groups have asserted that up to 20 Tibetans were killed.

IOC rejects Tibet Olympic boycott call

The president of the International Olympic Committee has told members China's policies toward Tibet have no bearing on the Beijing Olympics in August and dismissed talk of a boycott, a journalists' advocacy group claimed.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Jacques Rogge sent a memo dated March 17 to IOC members instructing them on how to respond to anti-government protests in Tibet that have sparked wide-ranging criticism of China's iron-fisted rule over the Himalayan region.

"In his introduction, the IOC president says the events in Tibet area are disturbing but will not jeopardise the 'success' of the Olympic Games," the group, known by its French initials RSF, said in a statement emailed to reporters.

"He also says that no 'credible' government or organisation is supporting the idea of a boycott," the group said.

The existence of the memo could not be independently verified and an IOC press officer referred questions to spokeswoman Giselle Davies, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

RSF is one of a number of groups seeking to use the Summer Olympics to bring the communist government's human rights record under global scrutiny. Last year, the group staged a rare public demonstration outside the headquarters of the Beijing Games organisers, saying China had failed to make good on pledges to improve human rights when it won the right to host the Olympics in 2001.

Members of the group were also among human rights campaigners and Tibet activists who interrupted last month's Olympic flame-lighting ceremony in Greece with scattered protests.

In his memo, Rogge said the IOC "shares the world's desire for the Chinese government to bring about a peaceful resolution as quickly as possible" to the violence in Tibet, according to RSF.

However, he added that the IOC does not raise such matters with host nations, the group said.

"The IOC needs to tell the Chinese authorities that they have to respect the commitments they gave in 2001 when China was awarded these games," RSF said.

China has rejected all such criticisms as attempts to "politicise" the games, while angrily denouncing critics of its Tibet policy as "anti-China".

Beijing has accused Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, and his supporters of orchestrating deadly riots that erupted in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, on March 14 following several days of peaceful protests led by monks.

Earlier this week, authorities said they plan to put rioters on trial and reopen Tibet to foreign tourists by May - a tight timetable that would allow the government to put the issue behind it before the Games.

Both Tibet and Tibetan communities in three neighbouring provinces where the protests spread, however, remain largely closed to foreign journalists. Outside of Tibet, police turned away foreign reporters at roadblocks leading into Tibetan areas, saying they were unsafe for travel.

A state media report said officials in Tibetan areas were being forced into political study sessions in a bid to make sure Beijing's dictates are followed.

The recently issued order emphasises the need for officials to oppose Tibetan separatism, highlighting that Beijing was caught off-guard by last month's protests, the most widespread demonstrations against Chinese rule in nearly 50 years.

"The numerous party members and grassroots officials must further launch education in opposing separatism and preserving the unity of the motherland," the state-run Xinhua News Agency said, citing a notice from the party's powerful Organisation Department, which oversees personnel issues.

The notice offers a glimpse into the ways the government is dealing with the unrest.

In Washington, the Dalai Lama's special envoy told US lawmakers China must bear full responsibility for recent violence and suffering in Tibet and said his homeland was being "brutally occupied".

"The situation today is grim," Lodi Gyari said at a congressional Human Rights Caucus briefing.

Communist troops marched into Tibet in 1950 and Beijing strengthened its hold on the region after the Dalai Lama fled in a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

The current unrest has not threatened Beijing's grip on the region, although it has raised questions about the loyalty of local officials and underscored Beijing's concerns about control.

Earlier this week, Tibet's hardline party chief, Zhang Qingli, indicated some local officials had been insufficiently loyal during the unrest. Since assuming the post in 2005, Zhang has ordered officials to stop attending religious events and festivals and has reportedly presided over the firing of many ethnic Tibetan officials.

China to Quash Protests at Olympics

China to Quash Protests at Olympics

The Associated Press
November 16th, 2007

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese police will deal harshly with social or political demonstrations at the Beijing Olympics, a top security official said Friday.

With 28,000 journalists expected to attend, the Aug. 8-24 Olympics offer a rare chance for protesters to express grievances against China's communist government on issues including religious freedom, Tibetan independence and global warming.

Liu Shaowu, deputy director of the Olympic Security Command Center, said security forces would stop any form of demonstration at or around venues. He also suggested that protests deemed threatening would be snuffed out far from Olympic sites.

"As for violating China's sovereignty and encouraging separatists and terrorists, definitely we will not allow that," Liu told reporters. "We will deal with that according to Chinese law."

Liu's comments, made at a rare media briefing on Olympic security, are likely to compound concerns that Beijing will use heavy-handed policing at the games.

Defending the measures, Liu said the protest clampdown at Olympic sites is in line with the Olympic charter, which he said forbids "any form of political, religious or racial demonstration."

His assistant, Cao Dongxiang, said protesters who managed to get inside a venue would be dealt with quickly.

"If a protester holds up a banner, it's against the rules, so security will take it down," Cao said.

Bolstering security will be an extensive electronic surveillance system, which journalists saw in part during a tour of the Olympic venue for judo and taekwondo. An elaborate security control room housed 17 screens monitoring hundreds of closed-circuit TV cameras inside and outside the 8,000-seat venue.

Liu and Cao declined to give specifics but said about 100 security officials — some of them dressed as Olympic volunteers — would be on duty inside the venue at the Beijing University of Science and Technology. Hundreds more would be on duty outside, some of them armed, Liu said.

Organizers have tried to play down the policing, and Liu said International Olympic Committee officials had been pleased when they didn't see a lot of police at test events. Any appearance of overbearing security could take the luster off the games and reopen the debate about the IOC's choice of Beijing.

Liu said about 20 government agencies were involved in providing security including the 2 million-member People's Liberation Army, police agencies, customs officials, firefighters and volunteers from military and police training schools. Unlike Greece, China is getting little outside help handling security.

Chinese media reports earlier this year put the cost of security at $300 million — about one-fifth of the amount spent for the games in Athens, where NATO played a large part. Beijing organizers said last month that the operating budget had risen by at least 25 percent from $1.6 billion to more than $2 billion.

Officials said this was due largely to more spending on security and the rising value of the Chinese currency against the dollar.

"To guarantee there is a good atmosphere in the venues, we have to make sure the security is there," Liu said. "We are very confident of holding a secure Olympic games. We are confident about our security work."

Tibet's Stolen Child

Tibet's Stolen Child
Still Missing!



On May 17, 1995, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima,
the six year-old boy identified by His
Holiness the Dalai Lama as one of Tibet’s
most important religious figures - the 11th
Panchen Lama, disappeared. Suspicions that
he had been kidnapped were confirmed
in 1996 during questioning by the UN
Commissioner on the Rights of the Child,
when the Chinese government admitted to
holding the boy and his family in “protective
custody.” He has now been missing for over
a decade.






Whereabouts Still Unknown


Despite repeated appeals to gain access to him, no government representative international agency or human rights organization has been granted contact with the young Panchen Lama or his family. To date, their well-being and whereabouts remain unconfirmed.

Furthermore, in and attempt to establish their pre-eminence in all “internal affairs” of China, political or otherwise, in November 1995 the atheistic Chinese government selected a different boy and proclaimed him to be the 11th Panchen Lama. China’s chosen boy is overwhelmingly rejected by the Tibetan people and is commonly referred to as the “Panchen Zuma” (literally “fake Panchen Lama”).

China increasingly uses this boy as a mouthpiece for its calculated policies in Tibet. Both boys are victims in China’s plan to undermine and control the Tibetan people, religion and culture.



Q & A:


Why did China abduct the Panchen Lama?

The Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama have traditionally played aleading role in the recognition of
each other’s reincarnation. Intent on curbing the infl uence of the Dalai Lama within Tibet and on
controlling his next reincarnation, the Chinese government has disrupted the close relationship
between the Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lama, which dictates by tradition that the confirmation of either must be mutually recognized.


Where is the Panchen Lama?

Despite repeated requests by the UN and foreign delegations to have access to him, the current
whereabouts of the Panchen Lama and his family are unknown.


How old is he now?

The Panchen Lama turned 17 on April 26, 2006, but the last known photograph of him was taken when he was only six.




How you can help...

1. Promote awareness about the Panchen Lama at your local school,
club or place of worship. Host a video screening of ICT’s fi lm ‘Tibet’s Stolen Child’, available at www.savetibet.org.

2. Write to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Louise Arbour, urging her to take action on behalf of the Panchen Lama.

3. Join the ICT Action Network to receive regular updates and calls for action by going to www.savetibet.org/enews.