INSIDE TIBET: Defiant Tibetans celebrate Obama-Dalai Lama meeting. Losar protest reported from Ngaba. Kyirong to pave way for Trans-Himalayan highway. Tibet stable only due to repression
Stability not served at Tibet’s economy grows. Massive New Year passenger flow indicates Chinese presence in Tibet. Two brothers, three monks held in Chamdo. Tibetan jailed for subversive songs
Four jailed for up to 3 yrs in Nagchu. Illicit strip mining threatens Qinghai lake. Chinese Panchen made VP of gov’t Buddhist body. Tibetan flees by taking prison guard as hostage. Monasteries are scenic spots for tourism. Tibet in 2009 hottest in four decades. China plans airport for every district, city in TAR. TAR target’s 7 billion yuan private investments. Tibet road builder’s profits up 850%. China records 4,268 cultural relics in TAR.


OUTSIDE TIBET: US President keeps date with Dalai Lama. How past presidents have welcomed the Dalai Lama. Most American for Tibet’s independence. Reprieve for President Obama?
China fumes but avoids retaliation threat. Most Americans approve of Obama-Dalai Lama meeting
China derecognizes Canadian university for hosting Dalai Lama. Implications for Sino-US Relations
President Obama proposes $7.4 million to preserve Tibet’s culture. Non-meeting in Oct’09 a mistake? Non-meeting in Oct’09 a mistake? Dalai Lama honoured with Democracy service Medal
Liverpool’s Hope University to train Tibetan teachers. Tibetans mark traditional New Year with symbolic protests. Scottish parliamentary group for Tibet holds hearing. Railroad freedom centre in US to honour Dalai Lama. Red Cross grateful for Dalai Lama’s Haiti relief donation. Nepal and China for joint crackdown on Tibetans. Five undocumented Tibetans held in Nepal. Nepal begins setting up Tibet border force posts. Bihar chief Minister calls on Dalai Lama.Twin-town adoption campaign for Tibet launched in France. Taiwan following China on Tibet policy?.  Exile government to commemorate the centenary of 13th Dalai Lama’s India exile. Over 240 protests, 140 sentencings in Tehor for protests. Dalai Lama to teach, lecture in New York. Italy’s local bodies for Tibet convene in Turin. Dalai Lama to visit Slovenia in Apr’10. Dalai Lama to teach, deliver public talk in Indiana. Tibetan school heads learn about inclusive education. Documentary on Tibetan struggle premieres in India. Indian civil society meet honours Tibet independence activist. Int’l conferences hear exile Tibetan women on reproductive rights situation in Tibet . As we go to the press...

 

SINO INDIA:  India to deploy missiles to boost Tibet border deterrence. Arunachalis make clear their patriotic sentiment. China dismissive of India’s missile power



CHINA WATCH: At least 3 percent in China are police spies. China issued at least 62 media bans in 2009. Western firms feel unwanted in China. Google hacking traced to two schools in China. China to sanction US companies for arms sale to Taiwan, halts bilateral military exchanges.

ROUNDUP: China told Dalai Lama has no personal issues to discuss. Talk only about Dalai Lama, China tells envoys. Vowing no Tibet comprises, China warns Obama off ‘Dalai’


EDITORIAL: Shadow-boxing a Dalai bogeyman

Mar 10, 1959:: Over 30,000 Tibetans surrounded the Norbulingka Palace to prevent the Dalai Lama from attending a theatrical show at the Chinese Military barracks in Lhasa as the people suspected a Chinese plot to kidnap him. The episode triggered a mass Tibetan uprising.

Mar 10 1963:: The Dalai Lama promulgated the first draft constitution for a free, democratic future Tibet.

Mar 10, 1982:: The exile Tibetan Communist Party (TCP) disbanded itself pursuant to a decision taken on Jan 25, 1982.

Mar 10, 1993:: A Conference on Work of External Propaganda on the Question of Tibet was held in Beijing. It set out plans to disrupt the exile Tibetan community.

Mar 12, 641:: Chinese Tang princess Wen Cheng left for Tibet to marry the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo.

Mar 12, 1959:: The women of Lhasa organised a mammoth rally at the foot of the Potala Palace and staged mass demonstrations. The day is observed as the founding anniversary of the Tibetan Women's Association (TWA) based in India.

Mar 12, 1979:: Deng Xiaoping met Gyalo Thondup, elder brother and emissary of the Dalai Lama, and told him that except for independence for Tibet, everything could be settled through dialogue.

Mar 13, 1940:: Tibet rejected a proposal from Wu Chung-tsin, chairman of the Republic of China's Mongolian and Tibetan Bureau, for a discussion on posting a Chinese high commissioner in Tibet.

Mar 13, 1989:: The United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar agreed on the "necessity of sending UN observers to Tibet", during a meeting with M Bernard Kouchner, the French Secretary of State for Humanitarian Affairs.

Mar 13, 1997:: The European Parliament passed a resolution on Tibet, calling on the governments of the EU Member-states to have the question of Tibet's occupation and decolonisation placed on the agenda of the UN General Assembly.

Internationally, if Beijing does not show anger or protest in the strongest terms, the fear is that many heads of states will meet the Dalai Lama. - Wenran Jiang, political science professor at University of Alberta, Canada, quoted by Jaime FlorCruz in Analysis: Why the Dalai Lama angers China, CNN.com, Feb 18, 2010.

That the 1.3 billion Han Chinese have never had one of their number win a Nobel prize and that we have, with just 6 million people, says something powerful. - a monk named Tedan in Tongren (Tibetan: Rebkong) County of Huangnan (Chinese: Malho) Prefecture, Qinghai Province, referring to the Dalai Lama whose upcoming meeting with US President Barack Obama the local Tibetans were celebrating with noisy fireworks and a religious ceremony, quoted by Ben Blanchard and Maxim Duncan in Fireworks in homeland ahead of Dalai Lama's Obama meeting, Reuters, Feb 17, 2010.

If China and the U.S. identified each other as rivals I don't think they would be disappointed with each other. - Yan Xuetong, director of the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing, arguing that the path to a more constructive overall relationship may lie in both sides dropping any pretence at friendship and acknowledging they are competitors as much as partners, referring to China's anger, most recently, at President Barack Obama's upcoming meeting with the Dalai Lama, quoted by Peter S. Green and Edwin Chen of Bloomberg in Obama-Dalai Lama Meeting Shows U.S., China Must Accept Rivalry, BusinessWeek, Feb 17, 2010.

At a time when the U.S. relies heavily on China on a number of thorny geopolitical issues worldwide, if President Obama now invites the Dalai Lama to visit the White House, he will be instigating a potentially destructive downward spiral in relations. - Fred Teng, a member of National Committee on US-China Relations, quoted by China's official Xinhua news agency in Unwise for Obama to meet Dalai Lama: U.S.-China expert, Xinhua, Feb 16.

They finance our borrowing and consumption and we buy their exports to finance their social stability. - Carl Lantz, an interest-rate strategist at Credit Suisse Group AG in New York, saying the US and China are "joined at the hip economically," quoted by Peter S. Green and Edwin Chen of Bloomberg in Obama-Dalai Lama Meeting Shows U.S., China Must Accept Rivalry, BusinessWeek, Feb 17, 2010.

They are only the Dalai Lama's private representatives, so they can only talk about the prospect of the Dalai Lama, at most, the prospects of a small party around him. - Zhu Weiqun, executive vice minister of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, during a press conference Feb 2 on the ninth round of talks in Beijing between envoys of the Dalai Lama and Chinese officials, quoted in China rebuts Dalai Lama's claim as "legal representative" of Tibetans, Xinhua, Feb 2, 2010.

I don't think governments know what to do, but they know that their policies aren't working. - Charles Grant, director of the Center for European Reform and the author of its report titled "How Should Europe Respond to China's Strident Rise?" referring to China, with its growing assertiveness and non-cooperation on the world stage, including during the Copenhagen Climate Change summit, quoted by John Pomfret in China's strident tone raises concerns among Western governments, analysts, Washington Post, Jan 31, 2010.

This time we are really focusing on improving livelihood, whereas previous policies were mostly concerned with industry and infrastructure. - Luorong Zhandui, a specialist in development economics at the China Tibetology Research Center, referring to China's Politburo's Fifth Forum for Work in Tibet held in Beijing from Jan 18 to 20, 2010, quoted by Francesco Sisci in Silence on Tibetan talks is golden, Asia Times Online, Jan 29, 2010.

While Beijing saw Chinese shopkeepers being attacked by Tibetans, the rest of the world saw a minority being oppressed. - Legendary financier George Soros, urging a rising and self-critical China to also pay increasing attention to how the rest of the world viewed it, speaking on the context of Beijing's criticism of the US for its decisions to sell arms to Taiwan and to meet with the Dalai Lama, quoted by AFP in Soros urges China to mend ties with US, AFP, Feb 3, 2010.

In future, the economic growth rate of India is likely to exceed China's. - Dai Xianglong, Chairman of China's National Council for Social Security Fund, speaking at the annual DSP Merrill Lynch India Investor Conference in New Delhi, quoted by PTI in India growth likely to exceed China's: Chinese official, The Economic Times online (India) Feb 8, 2010.