More student protests, security clamp down in Qinghai, New language protests erupt, in Sershul County, Sichuan,8 more Tibetans sentenced, with suspended death for one for 2008 protests, India, others worried as China confirms giant Yarlung Tsangpo dam, Arrested Tibetan writer’s detention centre located, Two Tibetan businessmen jailed for up to 15 yearsThree writers tried for separatism in Amdo Ngaba, Low-rent apartments to benefit Chinese immigrants, others, Low-rent apartments to benefit Chinese immigrants, others, Three monks jailed for opposing patriotic education, Lhasa police summons top Tibet blogger Woeser, Released Karze monk seriously ill ,China marks 60th Ganzi Prefecture anniversary, Two Jomda monks jailed for over 9 years, Electricity still unknown in 40% of Tibetan villages, China opens its 5th civilian airport in ‘Tibet’, China expects to earn more with first luxury hotel’s opening at Lhasa Many Tibetans lose land to grassland protection, Tibet reports new tourism records, China expects to earn more with first luxury hotel’s opening at Lhasa.
from http://www.tibetanreview.net
A group dedicated to the freedom of Tibetans in their own homeland. Find us on Facebook
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Monday, 3 January 2011
Tibetan sentenced to 2 years prison for India visit
| Phayul[Monday, January 03, 2011 16:52] |
By Kalsang Rinchen  Chime Tashi's picture (also seen is a stamp of the Indian Embassy in Nepal) Chime was among 51 Tibetans -- 30 from his hometown Driru and 21 from other Tibetan areas -- who were arrested in 2005 while trying to escape to India through Nepal. All 51 Tibetans were arrested from a place near Nepalese border-town of Solukhumbo (Sharkhumbu) and locked in a prison in Dhingri and Shigatse for four months during which they were subjected to hard labour. The 51 Tibetans were handed over to the Public Security Bureau of their respective hometowns after four months of their arrest. The 30 Tibetans from Driru were forced to pay 4000 Yuan each to the Driru County Public Security Bureau which promised to return the "deposit" amount if they did not engage in 'illegal' activities in the next five years. Chime, however, made his second and successful attempt of traveling to India in 2008 during which he went to Bodhgaya and Varanasi where he received teachings and initiations from the Dalai Lama, whom the Chinese government reviles as a "separatist". It is also not clear if Chime made the visit with the required Chinese government issued travel permit or "illegally" without the permit. Chime returned to Tibet after the visit. He is currently imprisoned at a detention centre in Toelung near the Tibetan capital Lhasa. |
1913 Mongolia-Tibet Treaty’s historical significance discussed
(TibetanReview.net, Jan 03, 2011) A discussion was organized Dec 30-31 by the exile Tibetan government’s Department of Information and International Relation at Dharamsala on the historical significance of the 1913 Treaty of mutual recognition between Mongolia and Tibet.
The participants were Prof Elliot Sperling of Indiana University, exile Tibetan MP Mr Kelsang Gyatsen, Mr Tashi Tsering of Amnye Machen Institute, Mr Sonam Gyaltsen of the College of Higher Tibetan Studies at Sarah, Prof Tsering Shakya of the University of British Columbia, Prof Jampa Samten of the Central University of Tibetan Studies at Varanasi, and Mr Chung Tsering from the exile government’s Department of Education.
The discussion followed a symposium held Oct 13-14, 2010, also at Dharamsala, on the same subject. Twenty-seven experts from Mongolia, India, America, Korea, Russia, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Holland and Germany who took part in it concluded that the treaty was 99 percent factual and official.
The “Treaty of Friendship and Alliance between the Government of Mongolia and Tibet” was signed at Urga in Jan 1913 and proclaimed the formation of the independent states of Tibet and Mongolia. It occurred after the 13th Dalai Lama had declared Tibet an independent country.
The participants were Prof Elliot Sperling of Indiana University, exile Tibetan MP Mr Kelsang Gyatsen, Mr Tashi Tsering of Amnye Machen Institute, Mr Sonam Gyaltsen of the College of Higher Tibetan Studies at Sarah, Prof Tsering Shakya of the University of British Columbia, Prof Jampa Samten of the Central University of Tibetan Studies at Varanasi, and Mr Chung Tsering from the exile government’s Department of Education.
The discussion followed a symposium held Oct 13-14, 2010, also at Dharamsala, on the same subject. Twenty-seven experts from Mongolia, India, America, Korea, Russia, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Holland and Germany who took part in it concluded that the treaty was 99 percent factual and official.
The “Treaty of Friendship and Alliance between the Government of Mongolia and Tibet” was signed at Urga in Jan 1913 and proclaimed the formation of the independent states of Tibet and Mongolia. It occurred after the 13th Dalai Lama had declared Tibet an independent country.
Tibet Political prisoner in critical health
(TibetanReview.net, Jan01, 2011) A political prisoner in Tibet serving a 17-year jail term is critically ill and could die unless given timely medical care, said the exile Tibetan government on its web siteTibet.net Dec 30. The report attributed the condition of Jigme Gyatso to torture in prison. He is held at the Chushul prison in the outskirt of Lhasa city, meant for long-serving prisoners.
The report said Jigme was given a 15-year jail term by the Intermediate People’s Court of Lhasa City in 1996 on counter-revolutionary charges following his arrest with a group of other Tibetans residing in the city. He was originally incarcerated in Drapchi prison in Lhasa where he raised slogans shouting long life for the Dalai Lama. It earned him a two-year extension to his prison term.
He was also subjected to severe beatings, which continued after he was shifted to Chushul. The report said he was surviving on stake and described his health condition as debilitating.
Jigme was born 1961 in Sangchu county of Gansu Province but lived in Lhasa at the time of his arrest. His mother passed away two years after his arrest. He was said to be among the first Tibetans to campaign for the Tibetan cause in Sangchu.
Most Chinese suspicious of West, though less see China as superpower
(TibetanReview.net, Jan 02, 2011) Over 80 percent of the Chinese do not trust the West, thanks probably to the propaganda-oriented party-government monopolized media in China, although the number of those who consider their country a “superpower” has declined to12 percent, compared to 14.4 percent in 2008, according to China’s party mouthpiece, the People's Daily online Dec 31. The finding is based on a poll conducted by the Global Poll Centre run by the Global Times, the newspaper’s international English-language edition which aims to sell a better image of China to the outside world.
The report noted that the reduction in superpower perception, seen for the first time over the findings in the past four years, was observed “despite wide acknowledgement of China's economic might and its political and diplomatic leverage – the two major parameters in defining a superpower.” Nevertheless, the report also noted that 84 percent of the respondents were optimistic on the future global setting for China's rise, seeing either improving or stabilizing ties with other major global players.
The diplomatic rows China encountered in 2010 fuelled public awareness about the difficult factors China will face as it continue to grow, the report cited Wu Xinbo, deputy director of the Centre for American Studies at Fudan University, as saying.
The report took care to note that the finding did not indicate a decline in the Chinese people’s patriotism but showed they were being more objective. "The result shows that Chinese people are becoming more objective when considering these issues," Wu was quoted as saying.
The report also said the patriotism of Chinese people was seen in the findings, with China topping the US as the most favoured country to travel in. Besides, more than 80 percent of the participants were reported to have expressed worries about Western intentions to contain China's development, with around 40 percent calling for countermeasures to be taken against threats to China.
More than 60 percent were reported to have denounced corrupt officials for tarnishing China's global image.
The poll was based on telephone interviews of a random sampling of 1,488 people in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chongqing to analyze how Chinese see the world.
The report noted that the reduction in superpower perception, seen for the first time over the findings in the past four years, was observed “despite wide acknowledgement of China's economic might and its political and diplomatic leverage – the two major parameters in defining a superpower.” Nevertheless, the report also noted that 84 percent of the respondents were optimistic on the future global setting for China's rise, seeing either improving or stabilizing ties with other major global players.
The diplomatic rows China encountered in 2010 fuelled public awareness about the difficult factors China will face as it continue to grow, the report cited Wu Xinbo, deputy director of the Centre for American Studies at Fudan University, as saying.
The report took care to note that the finding did not indicate a decline in the Chinese people’s patriotism but showed they were being more objective. "The result shows that Chinese people are becoming more objective when considering these issues," Wu was quoted as saying.
The report also said the patriotism of Chinese people was seen in the findings, with China topping the US as the most favoured country to travel in. Besides, more than 80 percent of the participants were reported to have expressed worries about Western intentions to contain China's development, with around 40 percent calling for countermeasures to be taken against threats to China.
More than 60 percent were reported to have denounced corrupt officials for tarnishing China's global image.
The poll was based on telephone interviews of a random sampling of 1,488 people in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chongqing to analyze how Chinese see the world.
China jails three Tibetan writers to three-four years
(TibetanReview.net, Jan 03, 2011) Three Tibetan writers arrested in Jun-Jul’10 and tried on Oct 28 have been sentenced to jail terms of three to four years by the Aba (Tibetan: Ngaba) Intermediate People's Court in Sichuan Province on Dec 30, reported Radio Free Asia (RFA, Washington, DC) Dec 31. The report cited sources from the area as saying they were convicted for "inciting activities to split the nation."
Jangtse Donkho and Buddha were reported to have received four years each while Kalsang Jinpa was given three years, the report said. All three pleaded not guilty to the charges which stemmed from articles they had written about the 2008 Tibetan protest movement in a local newsletter, Shar Dungri (Eastern Snow Mountain).
In apparent protest at the unfairness of the trial, the three were reported to have remained seated when told to rise to hear the verdict, which was delivered without the presence of a lawyer for any them. Donkho was, in fact, reported to have clapped his hands when the judge read the four-year sentence for him to apparently express his sarcasm.
Earlier, during trial, Buddha had said in fluent Chinese that the articles of the kind he and the others were accused of writing had also been published by Han Chinese. He had added that the three were being victimised due to their ethnicity and had accused the authorities of perpetrating "injustice among different nationalities."
The other two writers had also spoken, in Tibetan, in their own defence, but were reportedly hampered by poor interpreting service.
Jangtse Donkho and Buddha were reported to have received four years each while Kalsang Jinpa was given three years, the report said. All three pleaded not guilty to the charges which stemmed from articles they had written about the 2008 Tibetan protest movement in a local newsletter, Shar Dungri (Eastern Snow Mountain).
In apparent protest at the unfairness of the trial, the three were reported to have remained seated when told to rise to hear the verdict, which was delivered without the presence of a lawyer for any them. Donkho was, in fact, reported to have clapped his hands when the judge read the four-year sentence for him to apparently express his sarcasm.
Earlier, during trial, Buddha had said in fluent Chinese that the articles of the kind he and the others were accused of writing had also been published by Han Chinese. He had added that the three were being victimised due to their ethnicity and had accused the authorities of perpetrating "injustice among different nationalities."
The other two writers had also spoken, in Tibetan, in their own defence, but were reportedly hampered by poor interpreting service.
Monday, 27 December 2010
Settling down Tibet’s nomads a denial of their food right
(TibetanReview.net, Dec25, 2010) To put nomadic people in a situation “where they have no other options than to sell their herd and resettle,” as being done in Chinese ruled Tibet and Inner Mongolia, is a violation of their right to food, Reuters Dec 23 cited UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Olivier De Schutter as saying. De Schutter had made the observation in a report released Dec 23 at the end of a nine-day trip to China.
The report was cited as saying such policies were in violation of China's commitment to uphold the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which prohibits depriving people of their means of subsistence.
Herders in Inner Mongolia and Tibet regions were especially vulnerable to grazing bans, forced fencing and animal slaughter policies designed to prevent the degradation of pasture lands and environmental disasters, the report was cited as noting.
The Special Rapporteur’s report was also said to highlight China's shrinking amounts of arable land and land-grabbing by authorities and developers. It was cited as saying as China's development had spread to rural areas, some farmers had been forced to give up the land they tend, often to the benefit of officials and developers who use a hazy legal framework to justify the grabs in the public interest.
The report was said to note that while China had made impressive achievements in feeding its population over the past few decades, the country's agricultural output and the right to food were distinct issues facing "important challenges." The loss of 8.2 million hectares (20.26 million acres) of arable land since 1997 to urbanisation and forest and grassland replanting efforts, the report was said to note, presented a "major threat" to China's ability to maintain grain self-sufficiency.
The following is taken from the report which can be found here
The following is taken from the report which can be found here
Threats to nomadic herders
Nomadic herders in Western Provinces and Autonomous Regions, especially in the Tibet (Xizang) and Inner Mongolian Autonomous Regions, are another vulnerable group. The Grassland Law adopted in 1985 both in order to protect grassland and in order to modernize the animal husbandry industry towards commodification has now been complemented by a range of policies and programmes, including tuimu huancao (“removing animals to grow grass”) and tuigeng huanlin (“Returning Farmland to Forest”). These programmes, part of the 1999 Western Development Strategy (xibu da kaifa), seek to address the degradation of pasture lands and control disasters in the low lands of China. They include measures such as grazing bans, grazing land non-use periods, rotational grazing and accommodation of carrying capacity, limitations on pastures distribution, compulsory fencing, slaughter of animal livestock, and the planting of eucalyptus trees on marginal farmland to reduce the threat of soil erosion. While there is little doubt about the extent of the land degradation problem, the Special Rapporteur would note that herders should not, as a result of the measures adopted under the tuimu huancao policy, be put in a situation where they have no other options than to sell their herd and resettle.
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights prohibits depriving any people from its means of subsistence, and the 1992 Convention on Biodiversity acknowledges the importance of indigenous communities as guarantors and protectors of biodiversity (Art. 8 j). China has ratified both of these instruments. The Special Rapporteur encourages the Chinese authorities to engage in meaningful consultations with herding communities, including in order to assess the results of past and current policies, and examine all available options, including recent strategies of sustainable management of marginal pastures such as the New Rangeland Management (NRM) in order to combine the knowledge of the nomadic herders of their territories with the information that can be drawn from modern science. The Special Rapporteur also encourages the Chinese authorities to invest in rehabilitating pasture, and to support remaining nomads with rural extension. The potential of livestock insurance programmes should also be explored, as tested successfully in Mongolia. Such programs, which pay nomads to restock and recover after a major disaster, encourage nomads to keep herds at much smaller scale as they would not fear losing their herding activity after such disasters if covered by such insurances.
Resettled Tibetan nomads struggling in new life
(TibetanReview.net, Sep24, 2010) Tibetan nomads who had been forced by the Chinese government into fixed urban settlements since about seven years ago under a controversial environment protection plan are finding their new life even more difficult to adjust to, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency Sep 22. "The money for selling 40 yaks and 25 sheep has been used," it quoted 33-year-old former nomad Zhaduo as saying. "It is so expensive to now live near the town center. Everything costs big money."
The report said Zhaduo, who had been moved away from his ancestral home at Rima village in Yushu County in Qinghai Province grassland, still misses his yaks and the life of a herdsman. The village lies near the source of China's three major rivers – the Yangtze, the Yellow River, and the Lancang River – which form the world's highest plateau wetland, known as Asia's water tower.
China started moving people out of the 150,000-sq-kilometre Sanjiangyuan region more than five years ago in a bid to repair the ecological system claimed to be damaged by excessive herding and to transform the area into an unpopulated nature reserve. The report said so far some 50,000 herdsmen, mostly Tibetans, had been moved closer to the town centres near their old homes.
Zhaduo’s family, now living in Jiajiniang village, twelve minutes' drive from Gyegu township of Yushu, survives by picking mountain-grown caterpillar fungus. The season for it is from May to June, with the harvest being dependent on the vagaries of nature.
The report admitted that the government will now have to find ways to provide more forms of aid, other than handing out quotas of free grain and cash subsidies to the resettled herdsmen.
The report cited Ping Zhiqiang, an official with the provincial Development and Reform Commission of Qinghai, as saying the government should help resettled herdsman master a marketable trade and assist the region in developing a profitable sector. Only then can the improvement of the ecosystem be secured.
This has not happened so far.
The report said Zhaduo, who had been moved away from his ancestral home at Rima village in Yushu County in Qinghai Province grassland, still misses his yaks and the life of a herdsman. The village lies near the source of China's three major rivers – the Yangtze, the Yellow River, and the Lancang River – which form the world's highest plateau wetland, known as Asia's water tower.
China started moving people out of the 150,000-sq-kilometre Sanjiangyuan region more than five years ago in a bid to repair the ecological system claimed to be damaged by excessive herding and to transform the area into an unpopulated nature reserve. The report said so far some 50,000 herdsmen, mostly Tibetans, had been moved closer to the town centres near their old homes.
Zhaduo’s family, now living in Jiajiniang village, twelve minutes' drive from Gyegu township of Yushu, survives by picking mountain-grown caterpillar fungus. The season for it is from May to June, with the harvest being dependent on the vagaries of nature.
The report admitted that the government will now have to find ways to provide more forms of aid, other than handing out quotas of free grain and cash subsidies to the resettled herdsmen.
The report cited Ping Zhiqiang, an official with the provincial Development and Reform Commission of Qinghai, as saying the government should help resettled herdsman master a marketable trade and assist the region in developing a profitable sector. Only then can the improvement of the ecosystem be secured.
This has not happened so far.
WikiLeaks: China pays Nepal to arrest Tibetans
CNN IBN
Kathmandu: Amid stepped up pressure on the government to curb anti-Beijing protests by Tibetans in Nepal, China has used its financial muscle to pay off Nepal Police to arrest members of the exiled community, according to secret US cables published by WikiLeaks.
Cables released by the whistle-blower website show an unnamed source of the US Embassy in New Delhi repeatedly claiming that "Chinese government rewards Nepali forces by providing financial incentives to officers who hand over Tibetans attempting to exit China".
"XXX reiterated this belief to PolOff (Political Officer) during a XXX meeting in Delhi, stating ''the Chinese government rewards (Nepali forces)'' by providing financial incentives to officers who hand over Tibetans attempting to exit China," according to the cable dated February 22, 2010 from New Delhi.
The US Embassy memo sent to US Department of State under the title ''Delhi Diary'' and classified as ''confidential'' has an update on Tibetan refugee flow that described a meeting of the source with Political Officer on February 4.
The Wikileaks, which is releasing 250,000 American diplomatic cables, has cut out the names of people mentioned as the source.
The number of Tibetans entering India had decreased over the last few years, amid mounting pressure on the government as ?Beijing has asked Kathmandu to step up patrols of Nepali border forces and make it more difficult for Tibetans to enter Nepal," according to the cables also reported by myrepublica online, the website of Nepali daily Republica.
It said the number of Tibetans entering India "markedly decreased after March 2008 uprising".
Nepal is home to around 20,000 exiled Tibetans and the capital has been the scene of several anti-China protests since the 2008 unrest in Lhasa.
Nepal has been under pressure from Western nations to allow the protests--and from China to stop them. Beijing has repeatedly asked Nepal to better control the Tibetan refugees within its borders and stop the protests.
These protests have been a source of embarrassment to Nepal''s government, which wants strong ties with China. Nepal supports ''one-China policy'' that views Tibet as an integral part of China. It has repeatedly assured its giant northern neighbour that it will not allow its territory to be used against it.
Nepal has stepped up security and warned Tibetans exiles against organising anti-China protests.
Despite tight security enforced by the Nepalese and Chinese government in the border areas, every year 2,500-3000 Tibetans cross the border on their way to meet the Dalai Lama in the Indian town of Dharamshala, where he is based since fleeing from his motherland in 1959.
Kathmandu: Amid stepped up pressure on the government to curb anti-Beijing protests by Tibetans in Nepal, China has used its financial muscle to pay off Nepal Police to arrest members of the exiled community, according to secret US cables published by WikiLeaks.
Cables released by the whistle-blower website show an unnamed source of the US Embassy in New Delhi repeatedly claiming that "Chinese government rewards Nepali forces by providing financial incentives to officers who hand over Tibetans attempting to exit China".
"XXX reiterated this belief to PolOff (Political Officer) during a XXX meeting in Delhi, stating ''the Chinese government rewards (Nepali forces)'' by providing financial incentives to officers who hand over Tibetans attempting to exit China," according to the cable dated February 22, 2010 from New Delhi.
The US Embassy memo sent to US Department of State under the title ''Delhi Diary'' and classified as ''confidential'' has an update on Tibetan refugee flow that described a meeting of the source with Political Officer on February 4.
The Wikileaks, which is releasing 250,000 American diplomatic cables, has cut out the names of people mentioned as the source.
The number of Tibetans entering India had decreased over the last few years, amid mounting pressure on the government as ?Beijing has asked Kathmandu to step up patrols of Nepali border forces and make it more difficult for Tibetans to enter Nepal," according to the cables also reported by myrepublica online, the website of Nepali daily Republica.
It said the number of Tibetans entering India "markedly decreased after March 2008 uprising".
Nepal is home to around 20,000 exiled Tibetans and the capital has been the scene of several anti-China protests since the 2008 unrest in Lhasa.
Nepal has been under pressure from Western nations to allow the protests--and from China to stop them. Beijing has repeatedly asked Nepal to better control the Tibetan refugees within its borders and stop the protests.
These protests have been a source of embarrassment to Nepal''s government, which wants strong ties with China. Nepal supports ''one-China policy'' that views Tibet as an integral part of China. It has repeatedly assured its giant northern neighbour that it will not allow its territory to be used against it.
Nepal has stepped up security and warned Tibetans exiles against organising anti-China protests.
Despite tight security enforced by the Nepalese and Chinese government in the border areas, every year 2,500-3000 Tibetans cross the border on their way to meet the Dalai Lama in the Indian town of Dharamshala, where he is based since fleeing from his motherland in 1959.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)