The Monthly magazine on all aspects of Tibet (Est. 1968) Friday, 9 May 2008
Tibetan Review
Advertisements

NEWS IN HEADLINES              (Updated) May 3, 2008

 

INSIDE TIBET

OUTSIDE TIBET

 

HIGHLIGHTS

Beijing's talk offer beggars sincerity

May 03, 2008

The indifferent suddenness and the casualness of the manner in which China sounded out an intention to “have contact and consultation with Dalai’s private representative in the coming days” shows that China did not entirely have its mind committed to what it appeared to be talking about.

Ontario to raise Tibet concerns during minister's China visit

May 03, 2008

Speaking “as a long-standing friend of China," the Canadian province of Toronto’s Deputy Premier George Smitherman asked the provincial legislature to "express concern with the current situation in Tibet and encourage the parties to engage in meaningful dialogue," reported The Star (Canada) Apr 11.

Over 1.25 million people sign online petition to ask China to discuss Tibet

May 03, 2008

The global advocacy network www.avaaz.org has so far obtained over 1.25 million signatures on an online petition urging China to discuss Tibet with the Dalai Lama.

Exile gov't asks Tibetans to unite after largest uprising by far

May 03, 2008

The exile Tibetan government Apr 23 described the recent uprising in Tibet as being “larger in scale than all the uprisings that have taken place during the past 49 years”.

Dalai Lama says private talks with Beijing on, no clues on likely outcome

May 03, 2008

During his Seattle visit from Apr 11 to 15 for a conference on “Seeds of Compassion”, the Dalai Lama restricted discussions about the Tibet issue to a press conferences and interviews, including one on Apr 13 at the Grand Hyatt in Seattle.

Tibet News

Outside News

Sino-India Relations

China Watch

Letters to the Editor

  

TR May'08 (Titles)

Tibet in History this Week

May 11, 1983: Addressing the annual general meeting of the Tibetan administration, the Dalai Lama confirmed that he wanted to visit Tibet some time in 1985 if the circumstances were congenial.
May 1955: Many refugees from Kham and Amdo streamed into Central Tibet following large-scale atrocities by invading Chinese troops. This year, demonstrations against Chinese rule begun in Lhasa in Central Tibet in March spread to Kham and Amdo province which have since become parts of Gansu, Sichuan, Qinghai and Yunnan provinces of China.
May 1958: Deng Xiaoping, the Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, formally approved the construction of the site for China's Northwest Nuclear Weapons Research and Design Academy (the Ninth Academy) in Haibai (Tibetan: Tsojang) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.
May 1980: The Tibetan government in exile sent to Tibet a second and a third fact-finding mission, made up of youngsters and educationists, respectively.
May 1982: Over 115 Tibetan political activists were arrested and branded as "delinquents" and "black marketeers".
May 1990: China announces new plans for birth control in Tibet, underscoring ongoing reports of forced abortion and sterilisation of Tibetan women as well as infanticide.
May 1996: Monks of Gaden Monastery in Tibet clashed with the Chinese police when the latter came to confiscate the photos of the Dalai Lama. More than 60 monks were arrested.

News in Quotes

It was not an attempt to change opinion, but to override it. In short, it was much like what China does to Tibet.- Oliver Sherouse, referring to the large number of Chinese students of Duke University in North Carolina, USA, who turned up in a huge number in the semblance of "a raucous lynch mob", to both physically and vocally push and drown a small group of Tibet protesters while claiming to present their own version of the situation in Tibet, stated in Crushing dissent at Duke, Duke Chronicle, (NC, US) Apr 16, 2008.
Despicable as China's actions in Tibet may be, I would argue that protesters should take a larger view. They should realize that China has become the chief patron of the vilest regimes in the world – undercutting at almost every turn, and every place, the West's efforts to promote human rights. - Joel Brinkley, Professor of journalism at Stanford University and a former New York Times foreign policy correspondent, in his commentary China's dark ties go beyond Tibet, San Francisco Chronicle(USA), Apr 19, 2008.
Enslave Tibet! - One of the hundreds of hate e-mail, text and telephone messages received by Jamyang Nordup, 50, owner of Tibetan Culture House, a shop in San Francisco, and vice president of the Tibetan Association of Northern California after the Olympic torch relay protests in the city, quoted by Jennifer Upshaw in Tibetan shopkeeper in San Rafael harassed for his activism, Marin Independent-Journal Apr 12, 2008. Nordup suspected the messages to be coming from overseas via the Chinese government.
Gandhi took huge gambles, starting the Salt March and starving himself nearly to death — a very different approach from the Dalai Lama's "middle way," which concentrates on nonviolence rather than resistance. - Patrick French, author of "Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History of a Lost Land", in He May Be a God, but He's No Politician, - Business people confident of future in Lhasa despite huge loss in unrest, The New York Times , Mar 22, 2008.
We have been very concerned about the closed nature of all of this, the lack of transparency. - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, referring to China's tight control on access to Tibet and information about the situation there while insisting that the world accept its version of the events there, quoted by the AFP in Rice urges China to grant media, diplomatic access to Tibet , AFP Apr 11, 2008.
All the world is with Tibet. - Yamaha rider and former world champion Valentino Rossi of Italy, speaking ahead of a meeting of riders to decide if they should protest at the next Grand Prix in Shanghai on May 4, adding, "But we need to be careful, or else they will arrest all of us," quoted by Reuters , in Motorcycling-MotoGP riders consider protest over Tibet. Reuters , Apr 11, 2008.
They have been detained according to the government policy of not allowing demonstrations against China. - Bibhutiraj Pandey, a police officer, referring to the detention of at least 140 Tibetans for staging protest before za Chinese consular office in Nepal's capital Kathmandu, quoted in 104 arrested in Tibet protests, Adelaide Now , (Australia), Mar 31, 2008.
It is obvious that Beijing would love to see violence in this matter so that it can connect this with its anti-terror campaign, enabling it to crack down unscrupulously on the Tibetans, just like the way it deals with Xinjiang. - Dawa Tsering, China specialist with the exile Tibetan government, explaining why China might be behind the violence in Tibet, quoted by Ding Xiao of Radio Free Asia's Mandarin service in Tibetan Protests Linger Amid Armed Police Presence in Western China , RFA , (Washington, DC) Apr 2, 2008.
Such a visit would underscore American concern, even if the Chinese trot out fake monks to express fake contentment with fake freedom. - Nicholas D Kristof, suggesting that US President Bush balance his attendance at the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing with a trip to Tibet to show his concern on the situation there, stated in his Op-Ed A Not-So-Fine Romance , New York Times , Apr, 2008.
It was Nehru who made a mistake on the Tibet issue in 1953... and the successive governments are following it. - president Rajnath Singh of India BJP, referring to India's first prime minister's recognition of Tibet as part of China in a 1953 trade agreement with China, quoted by the PTI news agency in Nehru had recognised Tibet as part of China: Rajnath, The Times of India , Apr 1, 2008.
How can those sloppy hooligans be impersonated by honorable army soldiers? - An unnamed "PLA officer-turned scholar", rejecting the Dalai Lama’s allegation that Chinese PLA soldiers were reported to have dressed as monks to provoke violence during the Mar 14 turmoil in Tibet's capital Lhasa, quoted by Xinhua in Newspaper refutes Dalai's blemishing of Chinese army Xinhua , Apr 2, 2008.
This you see is the biggest problem... The Tibetans are angry that the Hans are taking over their country and their businesses... they are fighting back. - Lee Quong Liang, a new Canadian from mainland China who had migrant kin doing business in Tibet, quoted in All Hans on deck in Tibet, The Asian Pacific Post (Canada), Mar 26, 2008.
They locked us in for several days because they feared we would demonstrate. - A 20-year-old monk of the three-century-old Lutsang monastery, home to 300 monks, in Lutsang Town of Manga (Chinese: Guinan) County in Tsolho (Chinese: Hainan) Prefecture, Qinghai Province, quoted by the AFP in Chinese, Tibetan cultural rift grows after riots, AFP , Mar 27, 2008.
It's clear-cut; we need to be upfront and absolutely straight about what's going on. - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd after meeting with US President George Bush in Washington, DC, noting, "It is absolutely clear that there are human rights abuses in Tibet," quoted by the Associated Press in Bush, Australian urge caution on Tibet, San Jose Mercury News (USA), Mar 28, 2008.
China really hasn't allowed much reporting on the underlying causes of all the unrest, so it's a bit hard to tell what's going on. … but I really can't be sure if it's the Dalai Lama's fault. - Wu Lisheng, 40, a Beijing salesman, when asked about the riots in Tibet, quoted by Mark Magnier in The Los Angeles Times Apr 5, 2008.
My taking part does not condone in any way what China is doing (in Tibet). A lot of the athletes feel the same way. - Children's television programme presenter Konnie Huq over her decision to carry the Beijing Olympic Games torch during its London leg, quoted by Dipankar De Sarkar (IANS) in Anti-China protests in London surprise Olympic torch ceremony, Thaindian.com, (Thailand) Apr 6, 2008.
They were barking orders at me, like 'Run! Stop!' and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, who are these people? - Ms Konnie Huq, an Olympic torch carrier in London, referring to the Chinese minders of the Olympic torch, quoted in Lord Coe blasts 'horrible Chinese thugs' who barged their way through London as IOC considers scrapping the relay This is London , (UK) Apr 8, 2008.
The reformers won out years ago by saying this is a good thing. - Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah state, USA, who had previously represented the U.S. government in China, referring to China's decision in 2001 to compete for the right to host the Olympic Games, quoted by Lisa Riley Roche in Huntsman supports protests over China's treatment of Tibet Deseret Morning News , Apr 8, 2008.