Dui Hua has obtained and produced English translations of the indictment and verdict (original documents in PDF) for a previously unknown case of a Tibetan sentenced to three years in prison for “inciting splittism” after the March 14 riots in Lhasa. The case against Gonpo Tserang (贡保才让), a well-respected expedition guide who has trekked with foreign celebrities and participated in high-profile mountain rescue efforts, involved a series of emails and text messages sent over three days to acquaintances outside of China. These messages, which prosecutors claim “distorted the facts and true situation regarding social stability in the Tibetan area following the ‘March 14 incident” were considered by the court to be deserving of severe punishment.

This case is significant in a number of respects. First, it is the only case Dui Hua is aware of in which a Tibetan in Yunnan Province has been convicted of a state security crime following the Tibetan protests of 2008. Second, it is not at all apparent that the charge of “inciting splittism” was properly applied. The content of the messages is never specified, and it is questionable whether individuals who are not located in China are even capable of carrying out acts that would “split the nation or undermine national unity.” An argument could thus be made that, never imagining that his messages could “incite splittism,” Gonpo Tserang did not intend to do so. This is perhaps an argument that an attorney could have raised in his defense. Unfortunately, it appears that, at least for his appeal, Gonpo Tserang was not represented by counsel—very likely a result of the reluctance of most lawyers to take on criminal defense work in political cases and the threats made warning of serious consequences for lawyers who volunteered to defend Tibetans.

Below is an excerpt of Gongbo Tserang’s indictment and verdict, translated by Dui Hua:

Defendant Gonpo Tserang, male, born December 13, 1976, identification number: 523232197612131519, from Ruoergai [Dzoege] County, Aba [Ngaba] Prefecture, Sichuan Province, understands Tibetan and English and [is employed as a] guide in the expeditions department of the Xianggelila Travel Service. Prior to arrest, resided at 3-1-2 Old Civil Aviation Development, Jiantang Town, Xianggelila County. Placed under criminal detention by the Diqing Prefecture Public Security Bureau on March 23, 2008, on suspicion of inciting splittism. On April 26 of the same year, after approval from our procuratorate, he was arrested by the Diqing Prefecture Public Security Bureau in accordance with the law. He is now in custody and has no prior criminal record.

The Diqing Prefecture Public Security Bureau completed its investigation and sent the case of Gonpo Tserang, suspected of the crime of inciting splittism, to our procuratorate on June 25, 2008, for review and prosecution. After receiving the case, we notified the defendant of his right to retain defense counsel, questioned the defendant in accordance with the law, and reviewed all of the case materials. On July 31, 2008, the case was sent back to the Diqing Prefecture Public Security Bureau for additional investigation, and on August 29 the bureau concluded its investigation and reported [its findings] back to our procuratorate.

Following investigation in accordance with the law, it was ascertained that from March 16 to 18, 2008, defendant Gonpo Tserang used the Internet and a mobile telephone to send inflammatory emails and messages that distorted the facts and true situation regarding social stability in the Tibetan area following the “March 14 incident” to Daiwei, Jimu, and Pan Feilaici, [who were all] outside the country.

© dwang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: courts, judiciary, legal system, Lhasa riots, Tibet, Translation

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That daring protest, in April 2008, was transmitted around the world by the journalists on the government tour, putting a dramatic face on Tibetan defiance. Chinese officials had brought the journalists to the sprawling Labrang Monastery, in the town of Xiahe to show that Tibetans were content under Chinese rule, despite the widespread Tibetan uprising the previous month. The enraged monks, about 15 in all, punctured the official narrative.

“If we monks hadn’t seized the opportunity to express our feelings, which are feelings in all Tibetan monks, then we would have missed a chance to tell the world,” said Lobsang, 24, a squat man with a thin goatee who now lives in India. Following Tibetan custom, he goes by his given name.

The journalists left later that afternoon without knowing the names or the fates of the protesters. Some would be arrested and beaten, Lobsang said. For him and two other monks, it was the start of a harrowing year of flight from the Chinese authorities that ended only last month, when they arrived in this Himalayan hill town where the Dalai Lama lives in exile.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | 18 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Labrang Monastery, Lhasa riots, Tibet

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A drought in Tibet has intensified into the region’s worst in three decades, leaving thousands of hectares parched and killing more than 13,000 head of cattle, China’s state media said Saturday.

The report by Xinhua news agency follows a warning by China’s top weather official last month that the Himalayan region faced a growing threat of drought and floods as global warming melts its glaciers.

Drought conditions have hit five of Tibet’s six prefectures since last year, affecting 15.3 percent of the remote plateau, Xinhua said, quoting the regional drought relief and flood control headquarters.

© Liu Yong for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: drought, global warming, Tibet

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China’s ramped up criticism of Europe’s embrace of the Dalai Lama hasn’t effectively blunted popular support here for the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. And European politicians are still giving him a platform.

During a visit to Europe that ended in Paris Monday, the Tibetan offered a new and more urgent plea for help as well as a break with decades of a “turn the other cheek” policy. The change comes amid a Chinese crackdown in Tibet that began last year over broad dissatisfaction among Tibetans with Chinese policy, and an uprising among monks. [Editor's note: The original version misstated the timing of the visit.]

The Dalai Lama may not be welcome in Tibet’s capital of Lhasa. But several European cities have made him an honorary citizen. Rome and Venice gave him the title in February. He is expected to be given the keys to the City of Warsaw in July. On Sunday, he became an honorary citizen of Paris.

© Liu Yong for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dalai Lama, Tibet

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A new report from a group of Chinese scholars has for the first time challenged China’s official explanation that the deadly riots that broke out across Tibet in March, 2008, were inspired by “overseas forces” — namely the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile. (Read “One Year After Protests, an Enforced Silence on Tibet.”)

The report, which was recently published on a Chinese website, blames the riots not on outsiders but on Beijing’s policy toward Tibet, claiming the central government has backed incompetent local officials, created an economy that provides few options for young people, and deprived Tibetans of access to equal justice under the law. (See pictures of last year’s uprising in Tibet.)

While international human rights groups have said the rioting, in which at least 19 died, was a predictable response to the repression many Tibetans experience under Chinese rule, domestic criticism of the government on the politically charged subject of Tibet is rare in China.

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Human Rights, Tibet, Tibet riots

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Chinese think-tank (公盟法律研究中心/Beijing Gongmeng Consulting Co., Ltd. ) established by Beijing University law professors, and joined by several Beijing economics professors. Following the unrest and demonstrations in Tibet which started Mach 10th, 2009, they decided to see for themselves what was really happening in Tibet by visiting Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and Labrang, outside Tibet Autonomous Region.

Their findings are astonishing. They find that a new Tibetan aristocracy has taken over power. This aristocracy is even worse than the old Tibetan aristocracy. In the old system the aristocracy was reliant on some sort of accord and agreement with the people, since they were dependent on the people to pay taxes. The new aristocracy get all their funding directly for Beijing (Central government) due to “stability” reasons, and thus they do not have any incentive to care about the well-being of Tibetans.

They show how the new aristocracy cover up their own shortcomings in governance and lack of qualifications by pointing fingers at foreign forces and the Dalai Lama. This new aristocracy came to power in the cultural revolution. In other parts of China, this type of unqualified leadership was purged in the 80s, but in Tibet (due to their absolute loyality to Beijing), they were kept in power, up untill today.

They point to specific educational policy problems and find that the younger generation of Tibetans who grew up in a “liberated” Tibet has stronger Tibetan national identity than the elder generation.

The report can be found here (in Chinese).

(...)
Read the rest of Chinese Think Tank Investigation Report of 3.14 Incident in Tibet (241 words)

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Gongmeng, stability, Think Tanks, Tibet, Tibet riots

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Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project and an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, says the Chinese Communist Party seems increasingly inclined to try to use the Internet as a tool to gauge public opinion on local issues. At the same time, he says, it seems bent on strongly policing online dialogue to keep a handle on public opinion.

Qiang says strong Internet voices are emerging in favor of democratic reforms in China. He notes that this strain of opinion can at time conflict with nationalistic voices in the country, such as those that emerged in response to last year’s pro-Tibet rallies, which have also been amplified by the Internet. But Qiang says nationalistic and reform-oriented voices also overlap. “The same people who are very nationalistic” on issues like Tibet can be “very vocal to support political reform,” he says. Qiang says the “jury is still out” on what China’s experience with the Internet says about the medium as a democratizing factor. He stresses, however, that the Internet has proved to be a liberal force for the Chinese society, and could, in the long run, lead to a less repressive government in the country.

Please click here to listen to the interview.

Image source: Daihua’s Art Space.

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: CCP, democratic reform, Internet activism, Internet censorship, Tibet, xiao qiang

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A closely watched visit is set to take place in October, when a frail, 74-year-old Buddhist monk seeks an audience with President Barack Obama.

Obama must make a delicate calculation as he considers a meeting with the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet’s Buddhists, seen by his supporters as a symbol of peace but vilified by China as a “wolf in monk’s robes” who seeks to split Tibet from the rest of China.

Whatever Obama decides about the visit will spark anger.

Meeting with the Dalai Lama, as every president since George H.W. Bush has done, would infuriate China, whose help the United States sees as crucial to global economic recovery efforts and dealing with nuclear standoffs in North Korea and Iran.

© Paulina Hartono for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | 28 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Barack Obama, Dalai Lama, Tibet

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I have been told by the paper’s Advertising Manager that the Chinese Embassy in Malawi is responsible for the ad. I managed to contact the Managing Editor of the paper as well, and I asked him why they printed an advertisement designed to disguise itself as editorial content, and why, instead of clarifying that it was indeed advertising, the paper thought it necessary to incorporate their own logo into the layout of the advertising spread - thereby giving the impression that this advertising content was, in fact, approved by the Daily Times of being “worthy” of its brand. The managing editor insisted that the text reading “ADVERTISING” in the corner of each page provided all the necessary clarification.

When asked whether anyone who wanted could write up a news story - no matter its truth or falsehood - and run it in his paper as advertising, the Managing Editor told me no - there are standards in place, and each advertisement is carefully screened to see if it is worthy of being printed in The Daily Times. The Chinese Embassy’s advertisement, he said, passed this test.

At this point, he began to make some accusations. He accused me of trying to get him sacked from his job, of hating the Chinese, and of being from Tibet myself (though I speak with an American accent) - or being a covert agent of Tibet.

The blogger has scanned all 12 pages of the “advertorial” and posted the images on Flickr.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: external propaganda, Malawi, Tibet

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The Chinese government will reopen Tibet to foreign tourists on April 5 after a nearly six-week ban, according to the state-run news agency Xinhua.

Foreign tourists were barred from visiting Tibet in late February before the 50th anniversary of a failed rebellion against Chinese rule. Security was stepped up in the Tibet Autonomous Region and border areas. The anniversary passed on Saturday without serious unrest.

Update: The Dalai Lama has called on the Chinese government to open Tibet to tourists and journalists. From Bloomberg:

At a press conference in New Delhi on the 50th anniversary of his arrival in India as a refugee, Tibet’s Buddhist spiritual leader accused China of covering up violent oppression of its 6 million Tibetans. He criticized its suppression of a video this month that his government in exile says shows Chinese policemen beating a Tibetan, who died last year from his injuries.

China accused the exile government of fabricating the video and blocked the YouTube Web site, which posted it. The Dalai Lama, whose aides reaffirmed the video’s authenticity, said family members of the dead man, a China Mobile Limited employee named Tendar, have disappeared.

China’s official news agency, Xinhua, has said Tendar was beaten after attacking a policeman with a knife and died of an unidentified disease, rather than his injuries.

“If conditions in Tibet are really good, there is no reason to expel all the foreigners, all the tourists, all the media people,” the Dalai Lama said. China has barred or detained at least 10 reporters for foreign news organizations who tried to visit ethnic Tibetan regions, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China said this month.

© Japhet Weeks for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 50th anniversary, Tibet, tourism

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China was accused of using malicious software to infiltrate and take control of almost 1,300 computers in 103 countries, including those used in several foreign ministries, embassies and the private office of the exiled Tibetan politician.

“This is purely another political issue that the West is trying to exaggerate,” said Song Xiaojun, a Beijing-based strategy and military analyst. “As China grows, some in the West are trying every opportunity to manufacture fears over China’s threat.”

The claims were made in The Snooping Dragon: Social Malware Surveillance of the Tibetan Movement, a report released by the Information Warfare Monitor, which is made up of researchers from an Ottawa-based think tank and the University of Toronto, reported the New York Times.

© Paulina Hartono for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: online spying, spy, spyware, Tibet

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A vast electronic spying operation has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, Canadian researchers have concluded.

In a report to be issued this weekend, the researchers said that the system was being controlled from computers based almost exclusively in China, but that they could not say conclusively that the Chinese government was involved.

The researchers, who are based at the Munk Center for International Studies at the University of Toronto, had been asked by the office of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader whom China regularly denounces, to examine its computers for signs of malicious software, or malware.

Their sleuthing opened a window into a broader operation that, in less than two years, has infiltrated at least 1,295 computers in 103 countries, including many belonging to embassies, foreign ministries and other government offices, as well as the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan exile centers in India, Brussels, London and New York.

Update: Spy chiefs fear Chinese cyber attack from the Times Online:

INTELLIGENCE chiefs have warned that China may have gained the capability to shut down Britain by crippling its telecoms and utilities.

They have told ministers of their fears that equipment installed by Huawei, the Chinese telecoms giant, in BT’s new communications network could be used to halt critical services such as power, food and water supplies.
The warnings coincide with growing cyberwarfare attacks on Britain by foreign governments, particularly Russia and China.

A confidential document circulating in Whitehall says that while BT has taken steps to reduce the risk of attacks by hackers or organised crime, “we believe that the mitigating measures are not effective against deliberate attack by China”.

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: online spying, spy, spyware, Tibet

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There’s no doubt that Tibet’s traditional society was hierarchical and backwards, replete with aristocratic estates and a bound peasantry. And there’s no doubt that Tibetans, whether in exile or in Tibet voice no desire to restore such a society. Many Tibetans will readily admit that the social structure was highly inegalitarian. But it was hardly the cartoonish, cruel “Hell-on-Earth” that Chinese propaganda has portrayed it to be. Lost in most discussions is an understanding that Tibet’s demographic circumstances (a small population in a relatively large land area) served to mitigate the extent of exploitation. The situation was quite the reverse of China’s in the early 20th century, where far too little land for the large population allowed for severe exploitation by landowners. China’s categorization of Tibetan society as feudal (technically, a problematic characterization) obscures the fact that this socially backwards society, lacking the population pressures found elsewhere, simply didn’t break down as it ought to have and continued functioning smoothly into the 20th century. Inegalitarian? Yes. Sometimes harsh? Yes. But Hell-on-Earth for the vast majority of Tibetans? No. Traditional Tibetan society was not without its cruelties (the punishments visited on some political victims were indeed brutal), but seen proportionally, they paled in comparison to what transpired in China in the same period. In modern times mass flight from Tibet actually only happened after Tibet’s annexation to the People’s Republic of China.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | 99 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Tibet, Tibet history

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[...]the nature of the Internet has changed. The importance of photo, video and blog hosting sites has grown dramatically. While we in the mainstream media like to consider ourselves indispensable, the fact is that we are ultimately just news. Blocking YouTube, Flickr or WordPress not only restricts access to videos, photos and blog posts related to specific news events, it also impedes people trying to view the latest Kanye West video, pictures of their friend’s ski trip or their favorite blog on Korean pop stars. In other words, it screws with a whole bunch of folks’ programs.

And lastly, what’s blocked/what’s not is an easily reported story for people writing from China. You don’t have to leave your desk or even pick up the phone. It’s all there on your computer screen. The censors rarely explain their motivation, leaving everyone free to hypothesize. That’s all fat on the fryer.

But I sense this shift in how people cover the Internet in China may be lost on the government. Last weekend individual YouTube pages carrying the Tibet video were blocked here, which wasn’t a much of a story. Now the entire site is blocked, and the censorship and the Tibet video itself have all become subjects of international interest. Beijing says the video is faked and that it’s not afraid of the Internet. But blocking YouTube makes the very opposite statement. If Beijing has proof the video is fake, then detailing that would be far more devastating to the overseas Tibetans’ assertions than blocking YouTube. But for now it’s relying on equally fuzzy claims, further ensuring this story won’t go away.

See also CDT’s previous post on Voice of America’s graphic video which claims to show Chinese police beating bound Tibetan protestors last March.

© dwang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | 49 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Internet censorship, Lhasa riots, police brutality, Tibet, youtube

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This month, the European Union (EU) parliament passed a resolution on the Tibet issue, urging the Chinese government to resume dialogue with the Tibetan spiritual leader in exile, the Dalai Lama, for “real autonomy for Tibet”. However, a Chinese government spokesperson immediately rejected this, saying the call was interference in China’s “internal affairs”.

Not only the EU, but also all of its member states acknowledge that the Tibet Autonomous Region is a part of China, and they all adhere to the “one-China” policy, at least according to their laws and official statements.

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dalai Lama, EU relations, Tibet

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On the night of the “Incident of March 14”, a young man who was there in Lhasa and experienced it in person (he was later taken innocently into custody for more than 50 days), whereas I was in Beijing, said to me: “in fact, we are very weak, although we always say “nation” and “Tibet”, we are only paying lip service. When disasters happen, it’s the ordinary people who are braver than us and are always going ahead regardless of anything.” Yes, the situation was often like this - when many people shouted out loud their accumulated rancour that they had kept inside for so long, more people hid aside to keep their silence. Me too, I was silent, and silent for so many days. The reasons were not the everyday risks, for instance, the imminent danger appeared clearly on one afternoon when a policeman said kindly to me that I was prohibited to go outside; not because I feared him, his working unit, this state apparatus, absolutely not. The real reason was because there were too many feelings suffocating my throat, stuffing my brain full and making my hands stiff as I hit the keys on the keyboard.

I told a Chinese friend who sent his regards to me from the US: “During these days…tremendous suffering, and some feelings of disillusion…I cannot speak out…just like a singer suddenly loses his voice…I don’t know how to express…huge grief and indignation as well as the struggle…” Just as a singer loses his voice because of disillusion and the struggle in his heart. The disillusion stems from this country where we are living, and moreover from the people in this country we have to get along with. However, disillusion doesn’t mean being tired of life, and doesn’t mean that the courage of resistance arises so there is still some struggle from the inside. After a few months, I often heard a voice which came from an idol from my youth whom I had gradually forgotten, an Italian lady called Oriana Fallaci, who, after the events of September 11, wrote: “at this moment, if we keep silent, it’s a mistake, to speak out will be an obligation.” As a reporter and a writer she has written and spoken many words but only these words have tortured my heart.

Yes, to speak out is my obligation.

Also from Woeser’s Invisible Tibet blog: A Terrible Picture: Chinese Military and Police Beating Tibetans to Death (March 21, 2009)(...)
Read the rest of Woeser: “The Snow-Lion Roaring in the Year of the Mouse: A Chronicle of the Events in Tibet of 2008″ (937 words)

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: police violence, Tibet, Woeser

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The official Xinhua News Agency, citing an unidentified official with China’s Tibetan regional government, reported Tuesday that the video came from sources tied to the government-in-exile of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, and was pieced together from different places.

The Xinhua report said the footage purported to show a person named Tendar being beaten to death by police after a riot in Lhasa, the Tibet region’s capital, on March 14 last year. Xinhua said the person was not in fact Tendar and the wounds shown were fake.

“The Dalai Lama group is used to fabricating lies to deceive the international community and the aim of this video is to hide the truth of the March 14th riot,” Xinhua quoted the official as saying.

The government did not directly address whether YouTube had been blocked. When asked, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters: “Many people have a false impression that the Chinese government fears the Internet. In fact it is just the opposite.”

A brief comment from Xiamen-based Bulloger Lian Yue:

I think Mr. Qin Gang told the truth this time.

Because it has always been:

The Internet fears the Chinese government.

在3月24日的例行记者会上，
外交部发言人秦刚先生在回答YouTube屏蔽事件时，
第一句就说：

中国政府不害怕互联网

我觉得秦刚先生这次说出了真相，
因为从来都是：

互联网害怕中国政府

(...)
Read the rest of YouTube Blocked in China; Official Says Video Fake (Updated) (639 words)

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: police violence, Tibet, xiao qiang, youtube

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Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of the 1959 revolt in Tibet against China and the Dalai Lama’s flight from the country. Despite decades of repression, the Tibetans living under Chinese control still dare to voice their demands for more autonomy — and the return of their exiled spiritual leader

It was 6.30 a.m., and the sun had not yet risen when they left wearing their red robes to march along the narrow paths between the fields. Then they turned left at the Petro China gas station onto Democracy Street and continued in the direction of the Guinan local government offices.

It was Feb. 25, the first day of the Tibetan New Year. The monks from the Lutsang monastery had heeded the Dalai Lama’s advice to his compatriots in China that, this year, they should forgo loud and joyful celebrations. The religious leader had made it known from his place of exile in India that — in the light of the “immense difficulties and misery” faced by Tibetans — the time had come for reflection.

More photos are here.

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Tibet, tibet unrest

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The building, in the Ganzi region of Sichuan, was hit by “a bomb thrown by terrorists,” Xinhua quoted unidentified sources as saying.

“An investigation team has been set up to look into the attack,” it said in a brief report, without elaborating.

© Japhet Weeks for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 50th anniversary, terrorism, Tibet

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Tibetans widely resent Chinese rule, and Chinese leaders fear that Tibetans could seize on this month, the 50th anniversary of a failed uprising, to carry out a wave of protests, similar to what took place a year ago. Part of the mission of the security forces is to evict foreigners so that whatever occurs will be kept hidden from the world.

That, of course, has always been part of the problem with Tibet. China’s lockdown this month is only the latest episode in a long history of both Tibetans and Chinese trying to keep the mountain kingdom closed to the outside world. News of Tibet has always been difficult to obtain because much of the region lies on a remote plateau above 15,000 feet that is ringed by mountains. Information becomes that much harder to get when governments padlock the gate.

Drawing a veil over Tibet has only encouraged outsiders to project their own imaginings and desires onto the hidden land, sometimes with disastrous consequences.

© Paulina Hartono for China Digital Times (CDT), 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Tibet, Tibet history

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