Dalai Lama

DALAI LAMA

Dharamsala

18 March, 2008

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE OFFICE OF HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA

Contacts: Chhime R. Chhoekyapa, Secretary: Mobile + 91 (09816021879)

Tenzin Taklha, Joint Secretary : Mobile + 91 (09816021813

I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to world leaders and the international community for their concern over the recent sad turn of events in Tibet and for their attempts to persuade the Chinese authorities to exercise restraint in dealing with the demonstrations.

Since the Chinese Government has accused me of orchestrating these protests in Tibet, I call for a thorough investigation by a respected body, which should include Chinese representatives, to look into these allegations. Such a body would need to visit Tibet, the traditional Tibetan areas outside the Tibet Autonomous Region, and also the Central Tibetan Administration here in India. In order for the international community, and especially the more than one billion Chinese people who do not have access to uncensored information, to find out what is really going on in Tibet, it would be of tremendously helpful if representatives of the international media also undertook such investigations.

Whether it was intended or not, I believe that a form of cultural genocide has taken place in Tibet, where the Tibetan identity has been under constant attack. Tibetans have been reduced to an insignificant minority in their own land as a result of the huge transfer of non-Tibetans into Tibet. The distinctive Tibetan cultural heritage with its characteristic language, customs and traditions is fading away. Instead of working to unify its nationalities, the Chinese government discriminates against these minority nationalities, the Tibetans among them.

It is common knowledge that Tibetan monasteries, which constitute our principal seats of learning, besides being the repository of Tibetan Buddhist culture, have been severely reduced in both in number and population. In those monasteries that do still exist, serious study of Tibetan Buddhism is no longer allowed; in fact, even admission to these centres of learning is being strictly regulated. In reality, there is no religious freedom in Tibet. Even to call for a little more freedom is to risk being labeled a separatist. Nor is there any real autonomy in Tibet, even though these basic freedoms are guaranteed by the Chinese constitution.

I believe the demonstrations and protests taking place in Tibet are a spontaneous outburst of public resentment built up by years of repression in defiance of authorities that are oblivious to the sentiments of the local populace. They mistakenly believe that further repressive measures are the way to achieve their declared aim of long term unity and stability.

On our part, we remain committed to taking the Middle Way approach and pursuing a process of dialogue in order to find a mutually beneficial solution to the Tibetan issue.

With these points in mind, I also seek the international community's support for our efforts to resolve Tibet's problems through dialogue, and I urge them to call upon the Chinese leadership to exercise the utmost restraint in dealing with the current disturbed situation and to treat those who are being arrested properly and fairly.

DALAI LAMA

Dharamsala

18 March, 2008

News

Google News search for Dalai Lama

Articles

Dalai Lama 'taking Olympics hostage', From correspondents in Beijing - 24th March 2008
(Credit: News.com.au)

China accused the Dalai Lama overnight of using unrest in Tibet to back demands for Tibetan independence ahead of the August Olympic Games in Beijing.

The verbal attacks on the exiled Tibetan leader, accused on Saturday of colluding with Muslim Uighur separatists in China's western Xinjiang region, appears to be part of an intense propaganda and security drive to stifle anti-Chinese unrest before the Games.

Unrest in Tibet began when Buddhist monks demonstrated in the capital, Lhasa, on March 10, the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule, and on subsequent days.

Five days later anti-Chinese rioting shook the city. Chinese authorities said one policeman and 18 civilians were killed.

Anti-government protests then flared in nearby provinces with large ethnic Tibetan populations, leading to violence in which several people were killed and many injured.

In Sichuan, Gansu and other troubled provinces troops continued conspicuously patrolling the streets of Tibetan towns, and kept schools and Buddhist monasteries under tight guard.

The official Xinhua news agency reported overnight that 94 people had been injured in Tibetan areas in Gansu, almost all of them police.

The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, has in recent days criticised the violence and said he wants talks with China to negotiate autonomy, but not independence, for his homeland.

But the government is intensifying propaganda telling its citizens and the rest of the world that the Dalai Lama has caused the trouble in Tibet and accusing him of wanting to ruin the Beijing Olympic Games.

"We must ... win the final victory in all respects against the secessionist forces to help ensure a successful Olympic Games with a stable social situation in the Tibet Autonomous Region," Xinhua quoted Tibet's governor, Qiangba Puncog, as saying.

The ruling Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily, said overnight that the Dalai Lama, winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, had never abandoned violence after fleeing China in 1959 following a failed revolt against Beijing.

"The so-called 'peaceful non-violence' of the Dalai clique is an outright lie from start to end," the paper said.

"... The Dalai Lama is scheming to take the Beijing Olympics hostage to force the Chinese government to make concessions to Tibet independence."

Beijing's efforts to isolate the Dalai Lama could become a sticking point with Taiwan's President-elect Ma Ying-jeou, who said the exiled leader would be welcome on the disputed island, and that an Olympic boycott was possible.

China calls Taiwan a breakaway province that must accept reunification.

"The Dalai Lama, if he wants to visit Taiwan, he'd be more than welcome," Mr Ma said in Taipei overnight, a day after his landslide election win.

"If the situation in Tibet worsens, we would consider the possibility of not sending athletes to the Games," said Mr Ma - who wants closer economic ties and political dialogue with China.

Yesterday the People's Daily accused the Dalai Lama of planning attacks with the aid of violent Uighur separatist groups seeking an independent East Turkestan for their largely Muslim people in Xinjiang.

Up to now, most of the ferocious criticism of the Dalai Lama came from the official press in Tibet but others are joining in.

"Tibet is an inseparable part of China. In the history of the world there has never been a country or a government that has ever recognised Tibetan independence," Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme was quoted by Xinhua as saying today.

The 86-year-old is a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the top advisory body to parliament.

He represented Tibet in 1951, signing the surrender agreement with Beijing a year after Chinese troops took control of Tibet for the Communist winners of China's civil war.

China's denunciations of the Dalai Lama have drawn applause from many Han Chinese citizens, who have said Western critics fail to appreciate their government's efforts to develop Tibet.

But the campaign has begun to draw some domestic critics.

Yesterday a group of 29 Chinese dissidents urged Beijing to end the bitter propaganda, allow United Nations investigators into Tibet, and open direct dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

Troops have choked off much travel in Tibetan areas and blocked access by foreign reporters, and officials have said they are also guarding against unrest in Xinjiang.

Profiles

Social and Community Entrepreneurs

Politics