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.
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