Tibet News

A research group cataloging ancient Tibetan books had recently discovered in a Tibetan-inhabited area in Longnan, Gansu province, more than 500 handwritten Bon religious scriptures written in the old Tibetan “language”, reported China’s online Tibet news service eng.tibet.cn Jul 13, citing Gansu Daily.

China has jailed three cousins of three brothers from Gonjo County of Tibet’s Chamdo Prefecture whom it had also jailed on framed up criminal, separatist, and national security charges. The three have been named as Tashi Topgyal, Sonam Choephel, and Rinchen Dorjee, cousins of Karma Samdup, 42, Rinchen Samdup, 44, and Chime (or Jigme?) Namgyal, 38.

Floods caused by torrential rains in the normally dry highland region in Qinghai Province have killed 25 people and left three others missing in the first week of July, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Jul 8.

A heavily overloaded reservoir on the verge of collapse in Qinghai Province was threatening to flood a city and damage the Qinghai-Tibet railway, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Jul 7.

For the purposes of further promotion of resource development in Qaidam Basin in Qinghai Province and Tarim Basin in Xinjiang, and as a new driver for regional economic development and unity of various ethnic groups, China said Jul 6 it will link the Qinghai-Tibet railway with southern Xinjiang.

Raymond Huo, an ethnic Chinese Labour MP in New Zealand, has been pulled up by his party leader for posting on the party blog site a comment regurgitating the Chinese propaganda on Tibet while criticizing Green party MP co-leader Dr Russel Norman for his protest against visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping. Party leader Phil Goff told Huo his blog postings should be in line with party policy, reported Radio New Zealand Online Jul 6.

In order apparently to emphasize and publicize the imperative of the atheist Chinese government’s final say in the intensely religious matter concerning the recognition and installation of reincarnations of Tibetan Buddhist masters, China on Jul 4 and 5 made much of the selection of the 6th “Living Buddha” Dezhub in Lhasa.

China on Jul 3 sentenced a Tibetan environmentalist in Chamdo (Chinese: Changdu) Prefecture of Tibet to a five-year jail term on a charge of posting a pro-Dalai Lama article on his website, thereby supposedly inciting separatism.

China has indicated that by appointing a person of its own choice to the position, the future Dalai Lama will not be as troublesome to it as the current one has been.

China has again claimed that the 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is doing well but, as before, refused to let anyone to see whether this is really true.

China on Jul 1 marked the 4th anniversary of the opening of Qinghai-Tibet Railway, flagging off Train T27/28 from Beijing to Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), the first train that ran and continues to run on the railway, Reported its online Tibet news service eng.tibet.cn Jul 1.

A senior Chinese official in Tibet conceded that Tibetans are being pushed out of the economic marketplace by migrants from China and are failing to gain their share of the region's resources, reported the Sydney Morning Herald Jul 1.

China says it has officially begun operating the Gunsa Airport in Tibet’s remote western Prefecture of Ngari on Jul 11, becoming the fourth civilian airport in the occupied region.

A monk who was said to be in a group that stormed a government led tour of foreign journalists at Jokhang temple, Lhasa, in Mar’08 told a tightly controlled foreign media group Jun 29 that he was not badly punished after the incident, reported the Sydney Morning Herald online (Australia) Jun 30.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has come up with the first batch of its ecological oxygen-enriched barracks for use by troops posted in the oxygen deficient mountain regions of occupied Tibet across the Indian border, reported the Times of India online Jun 27, citing a report by a PLA research team.