Tibetan Government-in-Exile Statement Regarding China-Tibet Talks
Filed Under Tibet, Human Rights, China | Posted on May 8, 2008
Statement by Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Kasur Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari
Dharamsala, 08 May 2008
Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen and I had the honour of briefing His Holiness the Dalai Lama immediately after our arrival yesterday from China. Kalon Tripa, Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche, joined us in the briefing. We also briefed the Deputy Speaker, Mrs. Dolma Gyari, this morning. The Speaker, Mr. Karma Choephel, is currently on an official visit.
On 4 May 2008 in Shenzhen, China, we met with Executive Vice Minister Zhu Weiqun and Vice Minister Sithar of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party. We would like to express our appreciation to the hosts for accepting our suggestion to hold this informal meeting in Shenzhen as well as agreeing to a meeting of principals without aides. Executive Vice Minister Zhu Weiqun and Vice Minister Sithar were our counterparts for the last several years. This long relationship made it possible to have open and frank discussions in a friendly and respectful atmosphere, despite the prevailing tense and grave situation in Tibet.
Our main purpose of seeking this urgent informal meeting was to discuss the critical situation in Tibet. There were strong and divergent views on the nature as well as the causes of the recent tragic events in Tibet. These views were expressed in a frank and candid manner. On our part we rejected categorically the accusation made against His Holiness the Dalai Lama of instigating the demonstrations and unrest in Tibet. Instead we made it clear that the events in Tibet are the inescapable consequences of wrong policies of the authorities towards the Tibetans, which goes back several decades. The recent crisis in Tibet is a clear symptom of deeply felt grievances and resentment of the Tibetans with these policies. The task at hand is to address the legitimate concerns of the Tibetan people in a realistic and constructive way.
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The Five Aggregates
Filed Under Buddhadharma | Posted on May 5, 2008
The five aggregates (Sk. skandha), in Buddhist thought, are the components that make up the imputed “self”. While we have a tendency to view the self, as well as other selves and external phenomena, as a cohesive and self-existent whole, in reality what we call “I”, “me”, “you”, “it”, etc. are simply impermanent coalescences of separate but interrelated physical and mental factors, called the aggregates. Our failure to realize this in a truly meaningful way leads to a great deal of suffering. As we misconceive the true nature of the self, we misconceive the self’s importance relative to those people and events which disturb our happiness.
Briefly, the Five Aggregates are:
1. Form (rupa skandha)
It is the four Great Elements — earth, water, fire, wind — and their derivatives.
The form aggregate corresponds generally to physical and material factors (the four elements), and more specifically to our sensory capability and the objects of the senses (sight, touch, smell, taste, and sound.) In other words, the form aggregate is what allows to experience and to be experienced within the physical universe.
2. Feeling (vedana skandha)
It is feeling born of contact with eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind.
Feeling is the emotional separation of sensory perceptual experiences (form) into positive, negative, and neutral responses. It is the beginning of the formation of attachment and aversion. When we experience a phenomena as pleasurable, we begin to develop attachment to that experience; when the experience is unpleasant, we develop an aversion to it.
3. Discriminating Awareness (samjna skandha)
It is perception of form, sound, smell, taste, tactile sensation, mental phenomena.
Also called perception or simply discrimination, this aggregate is essentially a process of classification. Based upon the initial feeling, we assign names and labels to our experiences, and begin to file and sort our perceptions into conceptual slots, such as “good” or “bad”, “friend” or “enemy”, “self” and “other”.
4. Karmic Formations (samskara skandha)
It is volition regarding form, sound, smell, taste, tactile sensation, mental phenomena.
This aggregate is also translated as mental formations, volitional formations, or compositional factors. It refers to our predisposition to respond, behave, or think in a given manner. Because it involves thought and behavior, there are karmic (moral) consequences involved. If we respond in a virtuous manner, we accrue positive karma; if we respond non-virtuously, we accrue negative karma.
5. Consciousness (vijnana skandha)
It is eye-, ear-, nose-, tongue-, body-, mind-consciousness.
Consciousness is the cognitive aspect of existence. In addition to the five physical senses, Buddhist thought recognizes a sixth sense, that relating to the non-physical mind. Consciousness produces experience by unifying external objects with cognition. Consciousness might also be viewed as the storehouse of previous perceptions, emotions, conceptions, and moral tendencies that unify and influence the other aggregates.
An Example
The experience of a snake is often used as an example. We’re walking blithely through the woods when we come upon a snake lying in our path. The form of the snake registers in our eye-sense and eye-consciousness. Upon our seeing the snake, a feeling develops. For most of us, that feeling is unpleasant, though there are folks out there who have a special affinity for our reptilian fellow-beings. Immediately thereafter, we begin to classify (discrimination) the object: it’s a snake, it’s frightening, it’s ugly, or maybe it’s cute and cuddly? Now we begin to formulate and implement our response (karmic formation): Do we kill it (bad, bad karma)? Do we avoid it and leave it alone (neutral karma)? Do we say a small prayer wishing the snake to be free from suffering and the causes of suffering (good karma)? Through this entire process, consciousness is active, creating and recalling perceptions, cognitions and conceptions to guide the process.
So What?
Now notice that we described two possible reactions to the snake — one of fear and hatred, and another more compassionate — but the snake had nothing to do with those reactions: the snake is just a snake, intrinsically neither ugly and frightening nor cute and cuddly. Those emotional and cognitive responses exist only in the mind of the perceiver, in the storehouse of consciousness that guides the experi. And so it is with all experience. Our suffering and our happiness derives not from our external experiences, but from our own learned cognitive habits and tendencies. And that is the great teaching of the Buddha: as we have learned habits that cause us to suffer, so we can unlearn those habits and learn new ones that promote our happiness.
China to Spy on International Visitors to the Olympics
Filed Under Human Rights, China | Posted on May 4, 2008
China ‘using internet spy filters’
A US politician has accused the Chinese government of ordering US-owned hotels in China to install internet filters that can spy on international visitors coming to watch the summer Olympic games. Republican Senator Sam Brownback made the claim as he and other politicians denounced China’s record of human rights abuses and called on President George Bush not to attend the opening ceremonies in Beijing.
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Brownback called China “the foremost enabler of human rights abuses around the world” and said the Chinese government is turning the summer games into “an Olympics of oppression”.
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At a news conference, Brownback and the other politicians also condemned the Chinese government for supporting repressive governments in Sudan and Burma, suppressing dissent in Tibet and forcibly returning North Korean refugees who flee across the border, where they face imprisonment and torture.
China and Tibet Begin Talks
Filed Under Tibet, China | Posted on May 4, 2008
Tibetan envoys, Chinese officials hold talks in Shenzhen
Envoys of the exiled Tibetan leader Dalai Lama and Chinese officials began talks Sunday on the current crisis in Tibet, officials said. The talks, which are the first between the two sides since anti- China protests erupted in Tibet in March, were planned for at least the next two days, Tenzin Taklha, spokesman of the Dalai Lama said.
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On Friday last week, China had announced it would take up a dialogue with representatives of Tibet’s spiritual leader and said it was ready to talk about everything except sovereignty over Tibet.
But even after Beijing said it was reopening talks, the Chinese media have continued to attack the Dalai Lama saying he was the “master of rhetoric” and his attempt to “split the motherland” - Tibet from China - was “doomed to failure.”
Chinese president hopeful on Tibet talks
President Hu Jintao said he has hopes for a positive outcome between representatives of the Dalai Lama and Chinese officials at talks that began Sunday — the first since violent anti-government protests erupted in Tibet in March.
“I hope that the contacts with the Dalai Lama’s side from today will yield a positive outcome,” Hu told Japanese reporters in Beijing, the Kyodo News agency reported.
Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharmsala, India, said the envoys have arrived in the southern city of Shenzhen and talks began Sunday morning. He said he didn’t know any other details.
The talks were scheduled to last for a day or two, he said.
“We are positive that something good will come out of it,” Samdhong Rinpoche told The Associated Press.
H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama Time Magazine’s Most Influential Leader
Filed Under Tibet, Commentary | Posted on May 4, 2008
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has been named Time Magazine’s most influential leader in the “Leaders and Revolutionaries” category. Deepak Chopra’s essay that accompanies the distinction notes,
He and his people have struggled all their lives with the audacity of hopelessness. Oppression and exile are their daily bread. Yet the Dalai Lama, 72, remains calm in the face of cruelty. What does he think of the human race? “We are the superior species on Earth but also the biggest troublemakers,” he once told me.
In the Leaders and Revolutionaries category, His Holiness edged out:
2. Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister
3. Barack Obama, U.S. Senator and Presidential Candidate
4. Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator and Presidential Candidate
5. John McCain, U.S. Senator and Presidential Candidate
6. Hu Jintao, President, People’s Republic of China
7. George W. Bush, U.S. President
8. Jacob Zuma, African National Congress Chair
9. Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian Politician
10. Kevin Rudd, Australian Prime Minister
The other categories and the “winners” in those categories are:
Heroes and Pioneers: Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie, actors and human rights activists
Scientists and Thinkers: Michael Bloomberg, New York City Mayor
Artists and Entertainers: Lorne Michaels, creator and producer of Saturday Night Live
Builders and Titans: Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo CEO
Tibet-China-Olympics Update: April 30, 2008
Filed Under Tibet, Human Rights, China | Posted on April 30, 2008
Mass detentions of monks have continued in the past week and more monasteries have been sealed off by armed troops as a rigorous patriotic education campaign across the Tibetan plateau leads to increasing unrest. As the crackdown deepens, reports have reached ICT of the suicide of monks in different areas in protest at hardline policies or in despair due to the climate of fear and uncertainty. New images published on ICT’s website show pictures of the Dalai Lama and important religious teachers that have been defaced by troops or officials, and further reports have emerged of officials or police trampling on photographs of the Tibetan religious leader.
UN chief urges Tibetan dialogue with China
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday welcomed initiatives by the Chinese government for dialogue with the Dalai Lama, saying he hopes Tibetan representatives will seize the opportunity.
He also expressed regret at how the Tibet issue has become entwined with the Olympic Games, which Beijing will host this summer.
Seoul to Tighten Visa Rules for Chinese Students
South Korea said Thursday that it will toughen entry visa rules for Chinese students in the wake of their violent protests during a recent Olympic torch relay in Seoul.
The tough stance comes as public anger shows little signs of subsiding over violence committed by Chinese demonstrators on South Korean activists protesting Beijing’s crackdown on Tibetan separatists, and its treatment of North Korean refugees.
Tibetan Protesters Denied Fair Trial
The trials of 30 Tibetans accused of participating in violent protests on March 14 in Lhasa were not open and public, as claimed by the Chinese government, and did not meet minimum international standards of due process, Human Rights Watch said today. On April 29, 2008, the Intermediate People’s Court in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), conducted a “sentencing rally” (xuanpan dahui), during which the Tibetans’ sentences, which ranged from three years to life in prison, were announced.
U.S. Congressman Pushes for Vote on Global Online Freedom Act Before Beijing Olympics
U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), a senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee met this week with Robert Menard, founder of the leading human rights group Reporter’s Without Borders redoubling their lobbying efforts to move Smith’s bill, the Global Online Freedom Act (HR 275) to the House floor for a vote ahead of the Beijing Olympics this summer.
“American high-tech firms have produced the technology and know-how that has led to a modern-day information revolution. Sadly, however, instead of working to allow everyone to benefit from these advancements, these same high-tech firms are colluding with dictators and tyrannical regimes such as China to suppress human rights information and punish pro-democracy advocates,” said Smith.
Smith’s Global Online Freedom Act will promote online freedom by prohibiting U.S. Internet companies—such as Yahoo! and Google—from cooperating with repressive regimes that restrict information about human rights and democracy on the Internet and use personally identifiable information to track down and punish democracy activists. The bill would make it a crime for Internet companies to turn over personal information to governments who use that information to suppress dissent.
Chinese Students Turn Violent in Seoul
Violent attacks were reported by some of the thousands of Chinese ’students’ who filled Seoul’s streets today in support of their country. Rocks, garbage, chunks of wood, and who knows what all was thrown at supporters of human rights for Tibetans, for the Chinese people themselves, and for North Korean defectors who are unfortunate enough to be found within China. These defectors from the communist North are routinely refouled back into the clutches of the Kim Jong-il regime for their likely imprisonment, torture and execution.
Analysts: China talks aimed at saving Olympics, not Tibet
As the Dalai Lama reflected Sunday on a surprise Chinese offer to resume talks, experts cautioned that Beijing may be looking more toward salvaging the Olympic Games than meaningful dialogue.
China’s talks offer is a sign Beijing feels it must respond to the intense global pressure over its crackdown in the remote Himalayan region after last month’s deadly anti-Chinese riots, analysts agree. But they warn that China is more concerned about avoiding a possible Games boycott and ending the embarrassing pro-Tibet protests that have disrupted the Olympic torch’s round-the-world journey toward Beijing.
“The Chinese haven’t made any concession,” said Brahma Chellaney an analyst at the New Delhi-based Centre for Strategic Studies think tank.
“Their primary interest is to see the Olympics conclude” successfully.
Tang Danhong: Reflections on the Tibetan Situation
Filed Under Tibet, Human Rights, China | Posted on April 28, 2008
This comes via TIBETSPACE. Tang Danhong, a Han Chinese and filmmaker currently living in Israel writes “a moving appeal for human equality coming from someone with first-hand experience of the struggle from both the Tibetan and the Chinese sides.”
It is, indeed, a powerful and moving appeal. The full text of the article is available in Chinese and in English translation, and is definitely worth a read. A few excerpts follow.
Why can’t we sit down with the Dalai Lama who has abandoned calls for “independence” and now advocates a “middle way,” and negotiate with him with sincerity, to achieve “stability” and “unity” through him? Because the power difference of the two sides is too big. We are too many people, too powerful: Other than guns and money, and cultural destruction and spiritual rape, we do not know other ways to achieve “harmony.”
Why can’t you understand that people have different values? While you believe in brainwashing, the power of a gun and of money, there is a spiritual belief that has been in their minds for thousands of years and cannot be washed away. When you claim yourselves as “saviors of Tibetans from slavery society,” I am ashamed for your arrogance and your delusions.
What makes me feel most ashamed is the “patriotic majority”: You people are the descendants of Qinshi Huangdi who knows only conquering by killing; you are the chauvinists who rule the weak by force; you are those cowards who hide behind guns and call for shooting the victims; you suffer from Stockholm Syndrome; you are the blood-thirsty crazies of an “advanced” culture of Slow slicing and Castration. You are the sick minds waving the “patriotic” flag. I look down on you. If you are Han Chinese, I am ashamed to be one of you.
Tibet is disappearing. The spirit which makes her beautiful and peaceful is disappearing. She is becoming us, becoming what she does not want to become. What other choice does she have when facing the anxiety of being alienated? To hold onto her tradition and culture, and revive her ancient civilization? Or to commit suicidal acts which will only add to Han nationalists’ bloody, shameful glory?
Wow.
Desmond Tutu Joins the Call for Olympics Boycott
Filed Under Tibet, Human Rights, China | Posted on April 28, 2008
Phayul reports that Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu is calling on world leaders to boycott the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. Tutu is quoted as saying:
The leaders of the free world, for goodness sake, don’t attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games until it is quite clear that they (the Chinese) mean business and that they will stop the violence against the Tibetans.
Let us make China know this is a moral universe.
U.S. Hands are Not Clean with Respect to Human Rights
Filed Under Human Rights | Posted on April 28, 2008
Fortunately, the United States has a long way to go before it catches up with China in its abuse of human rights, but the U.S. is far from perfect. As we call on the American government to pressure the People’s Republic of China to clean up its human rights act, we should also note that such pressure would be much more credible if the Bush administration cleaned up its own act first.
Human Rights Watch is calling on the United Nations to address U.S. violations in Iraq:
UN: Tell US to End Illegal Detention Practices in Iraq
US-Led Force Holds Thousands Without Due Process
(New York, April 28, 2008) – The United Nations Security Council should address serious concerns about the detention practices of the US-led Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF) in its debate on Iraq, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to council members. The United States invokes Security Council resolutions to justify holding thousands of Iraqis for indefinite periods, without judicial review, and under military processes that do not meet international standards.
In the letter, Human Rights Watch said that according to the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), the MNF was holding 24,514 detainees at the end of 2007. Since the declared end of the US occupation of Iraq in June 2004, detained persons should be provided due process under international human rights law. Security Council Resolutions 1546, 1637, and 1723 allow for internment of Iraqis “for imperative reasons of security,” but the US improperly uses this language to justify holding the detainees without judicial review, as if the operative law were the Fourth Geneva Convention, which governs the treatment of civilians during international armed conflicts.
“The Security Council should insist that the United States abide by international law for persons detained,” said Joe Stork, Middle East deputy director at Human Rights Watch. “The Bush administration pushed the Security Council to declare that the US-led occupation of Iraq had ended in June 2004, and the end of occupation means that international human rights standards apply – judicial review, access to legal counsel and family members, and a fair trial.”
Human Rights Watch has serious concerns about the widespread torture of detainees by the Iraqi authorities. Where there is a fear of torture, the US should retain physical custody over individuals formally transferred to the Iraqi justice system for prosecution.
Human Rights Watch also called on the US to allow UNAMI, as well as independent Iraqi and international human rights observers, to visit its detention facilities and make their findings public.
“Four years since abuses at Abu Ghraib became known, Washington should finally allow independent monitors who can report publicly to visit its facilities and speak with detainees,” Stork said.
A Security Council mandate, which concludes at the end of this year, forms the basis for the US military presence in Iraq, and US and Iraqi officials are negotiating a post-2008 status-of-forces agreement and other pacts. Human Rights Watch said the Security Council should make clear that it expects such arrangements to establish a legal basis for detention by non-Iraqi forces that meets the international human rights commitments of both the Iraqi and US governments.
NOTE TO MY PRO-CHINA COMMENTATORS: Notice how I can criticize my own government without fear of reprisal, imprisonment, torture, or death? Try that in your country.
Tibet-China-Olympics Update: April 25, 2008
Filed Under Tibet, Human Rights, China | Posted on April 25, 2008
Committee on Foreign Relations: Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs holds hearing on the Tibet crisis
The subcommittee concluded a hearing to examine the crisis in Tibet, focusing on peaceful action that would be in accordance with international standards of religious freedom and human rights, after receiving testimony from John D. Negroponte, Deputy Secretary of State; Steve Marshall, Senior Advisor, Congressional-Executive Commission on China; Richard Gere , International Campaign for Tibet, New York, New York; Lodi Gyari, Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Washington, D.C.; and Lobsang Sangay, Harvard University Law School East Asian Legal Studies Program, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
For the transcript of Lodi Gyari’s testimony, visit ICT here.
153 Tibet Groups warn Coca-Cola of humanitarian disaster unless Tibet pulled from Torch Relay
More than 150 Tibet groups worldwide have signed a letter sent today to Coca-Cola stating that the key Olympics sponsor will be complicit in a humanitarian disaster in Tibet unless it uses its undoubted influence to force the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to drop Tibet from the Olympic Torch Relay.
Human rights groups to block torch relay in South Korea
As a sign of protest at China’s repressive policy in Tibet and against North Korean renegades, human rights groups in South Korea said they will disrupt the Olympic torch relay scheduled for April 27.
“We urge China, as a host of the Olympic Games, to abide by the common values of humankind and respect the human rights of the weak,” said Christian Accountability for Society, Save North Korea and Helping Hands Korea in a joint press conference held in front of the World Peace Gate at Seoul’s Olympic Park. “China must stop its forceful repatriation of North Korean refugees and its violent crackdown on Tibetan protestors.
Negroponte Urges China to Stop Vilifying Dalai Lama
The second-ranking diplomat in the Bush administration has urged China to stop vilifying the Dalai Lama and instead open talks with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte appeared before a U.S. Senate committee Wednesday. He said the United States is trying to convince Beijing that only by engaging the Dalai Lama in dialogue can it resolve the long-standing grievances of the Tibetan people.
Chinese spectators ‘attacked Tibet protesters at Canberra torch relay’
Mobs of Chinese supporters were accused of assaulting pro-Tibet campaigners on the sidelines of the Olympic torch relay in Australia today as scuffles broke out and at least seven protesters were arrested.
There was none of the violence or disruption that marred the torch relay in London or Paris, and the Olympic flame travelled uninterrupted through Canberra, the capital.
But observers said that behind the barricades Chinese nationals assaulted Tibetan activists and tore down their flags. Confrontations between an estimated 15,000 China supporters and about 3,000 pro-Tibet demonstrators reportedly flared all along the 16km route as the groups held aloft opposing banners and shouted competing slogans.
China launches renewed “Patriotic Education” Campaign across all sections in Tibet
The Chinese authorities in the “Tibet Autonomous Region” (’TAR’) and other Tibetan areas in neighboring provinces have launched a two-months renewed “Patriotic Education” campaign covering almost every sections of society beginning primarily with the monastic institutions, party cadres, security forces and government employees, farmers and private entrepreneurs, educational institutions and common people, to denounce the Dalai Lama and the “splittist forces” in the coming two months.
Chinese Military gather “Evidence” to frame TIbetans in future propaganda exercize
The Chinese military in TIbet are hard at work, confiscating everyday items and busily trying to portray them as weapons. At Rongpo monastery, Rebkong County, Chinese armed forces barged into the chamber of the protective deity (a small room where the monastery’s deity statue is housed). Often such rooms serve as a safe place where hunters and poachers give up their hunting weapons while vowing not to hunt animals any more. From the monastery chamber the Chinese armed forces took the knives, bows and arrows and placed them outside the monastery. Pictures were then taken which will be used for propaganda the purpose of which is presenting a false picture of Tibetans.
US government urged to enact an ‘action plan’ on Tibet
The Senate Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer, on April 23 convened a hearing on “The Crisis in Tibet: Finding a Path to Peace”, where members of the committee discussed working with the Bush administration on an “action plan” on Tibet to highlight several key areas the US government should use as leverage for improving the human rights situation in Tibet, as well as encouraging dialog between the Chinese government and representatives of the Dalai Lama.
Compelled by the current crisis in Tibet, Senator Boxer convened the hearing and pursued a strong line of questioning, leading Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte - who heads the US-China senior dialog - to concede that US government attempts to address concerns over Tibet using “quiet diplomacy” had produced “results that are so far minimal at best” from the Chinese government.
The ‘action plan’ on Tibet discussed at the hearing included prioritizing the establishment of a US consulate in Tibet’s capital city Lhasa, pushing for US officials to attend and monitor trials of Tibetans detained during the recent unrest, encouraging President George W. Bush to travel to Tibet if he attends the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in August this year, exploring avenues of cooperation over Tibet with European governments, and pursuing other non-US governmental means of influencing the situation in Tibet, such as supporting UN human rights officials’ calls for access to Tibet, and even exploring what role the United States Olympic Committee could play in alleviating the immediate situation in Tibet.
Olympic torch relay hit by protests in Japan
Protesters Friday waved the Tibetan flag and denounced China’s rulers as the Beijing Olympic torch came to Japan for the latest leg of a worldwide relay marred by demonstrations. Japan, which is trying to repair uneasy ties with China, has promised tight security for the torch run on Saturday through the central mountain town of Nagano, the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics.
As torch-bearers rolled into Nagano, hundreds of Falun Gong supporters marched with a loud brass band through the city’s streets to condemn China’s leadership, which considers the spiritual movement an “evil cult.”
“Stop the mass murder by the Chinese Communist Party,” read a banner held by marchers in yellow Falun Gong T-shirts, who were closely watched by dozens of police.Separately, at least two demonstrators unfurled Tibetan flags as the Chinese torch delegation stopped at a highway rest area on its way to Nagano, 180 kilometres (110 miles) north of Tokyo.
As the crackdown deepens in Tibet and people continue to ‘disappear’ almost every day in Lhasa, preparations are underway by the authorities for a ceremony known as ’safeguard the torch and love one’s country’ to be held in the Potala Square to mark the torch’s ascent of Mt. Chomolungma (Everest) in early May. The ceremony, which is likely to be attended by thousands of Chinese people, is due to take place when the torch passes through Lhasa, according to a report published on a well-known and unofficial Chinese language website citing several sources. It will take place against the backdrop of the Dalai Lama’s former home, the Potala Palace, the political and religious center of Tibetan government before the Chinese invasion and the Dalai Lama’s escape into exile. The report stated that travel agencies in Lhasa had been informed about the ceremony.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama issues “An Appeal To All Chinese Spiritual Brothers And Sisters”
Today I would like to make a personal appeal to all Chinese spiritual brothers and sisters, both inside as well as outside the People’s Republic of China, and especially to the followers of the Buddha. I do this as a Buddhist monk and a student of our most revered teacher, the Buddha. I have already made an appeal to the general Chinese community. Here I am appealing to you, my spiritual brothers and sisters, on an urgent humanitarian matter.
The Chinese and the Tibetan people share common spiritual heritage in Mahayana Buddhism. We worship the Buddha of Compassion – Guan Yin in the Chinese tradition and Chenrezig in Tibetan tradition – and cherish compassion for all suffering beings as one of the highest spiritual ideals. Furthermore, since Buddhism flourished in China before it came to Tibet from India, I have always viewed the Chinese Buddhists with the reverence due to senior spiritual brothers and sisters.
China plans to meet Dalai Lama envoys
Chinese officials will meet representatives of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism whom China blames for a wave of unrest, Xinhua news agency reported on Friday, citing official sources. The move marks a change in tactics on the part of Beijing, which has stepped up its vilification of the Dalai Lama since anti-government protests hit Tibet and rippled across ethnic Tibetan parts of China in the past weeks.
”In view of the requests repeatedly made by the Dalai side for resuming talks, the relevant department of the central government will have contact and consultation with Dalai’s private representative in the coming days,” Xinhua quoted an official as saying.
A spokesman for the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India, said he had not received any communication from China about a meeting and China’s Foreign Ministry said it had no details.
China Fails to Respond to UN Rights Expert’s Question on Panchen Lama
The People’s Republic of China has failed to provide a direct response to Ms. Asma Jahangir, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief of the UN Human Rights Council, with regard to a specific question she put to the Chinese authorities in a communication of last May on case of the Panchen Lama. The Panchen Lama turns 19 today remaining under enforced disappearance since May 1995.
In a document highlighting cases forwarded to governments that was submitted by Ms. Jahangir to the Seventh Session of the Council held here from 3-28 March, the Special Rapporteur said that she intervened on the case of the Panchen Lama by writing to the Chinese authorities on 9 May, 2007. In that communication, the expert asked: “… what measures the Government has taken to implement the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, adopted on 30 September 2005, where the Committee recommended that your Government should “[a]llow an independent expert to visit and confirm the well-being of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima while respecting his right to privacy, and that of his parents.”
Ms. Jahangir’s communication observed that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima “was reported to remain in isolation and concerns were expressed about his whereabouts, well-being and fate. It was further alleged that the Chinese Government interfered in the identification and training of significant reincarnations in order to control the political loyalties of these important figures in Tibetan society, weaken the influence of the traditional religious authorities and use the reincarnates’ influence among Tibetans.”
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