China Digital Times

Stories tagged with: Lhasa riots (79)

• China Has Sentenced 55 Over Tibet Riot in March

  

  Fifty-five Tibetans have been sentenced for their role in the March riots, according to the New York Times:

  The prison sentences range from three years to life, Xinhua reported.

  The report in Xinhua was based on comments made Tuesday by Baema Cewang, vice chairman of the Tibet regional government, when he met with Michael Andrew Johnson, a visiting member of the Australian House of Representatives.

  Xinhua did not give details of how the sentences were handed down or what sort of trial the prisoners had received, if any.

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  • November 6, 2008 11:25 PM

• Jigme, the Tibetan Monk Who Spoke Against Chinese Police, Is Arrested

  

  The political fallout from the March anti-Chinese Tibetan unrest continues.  Jigme, a Tibetan monk who was taken into police custody on suspicion of involvement in the Lhasa riots, has been in hiding since speaking out on the Internet and to the foreign press about his treatment in detainment.  He was arrested today after returning to his monastery.  From the Times Online:

  More than 70 police, including members of the paramilitary People’s Armed Police, raided the dormitory of the Labrang monastery in western China that was Jigme’s home, sources told The Times.

  Police vehicles, their sirens wailing, drew up outside the monastery just after midday. Armed officers poured out and entered Jigme’s cell near the front of the ancient edifice that sprawls up a hillside in Gansu province.

  [...]Friends told The Times that he decided to return to his monastery after police, who had  visited his family, said he would be safe from arrest if he returned to his monastery. With the onset of winter, he decided to believe the authorities.

  CDT’s previous coverage of Jigme’s story, found here, has details of his experiences in prison and includes this YouTube video of his testimony (in Tibetan):

  Read more about the Lhasa riots here on CDT.

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  • November 4, 2008 11:16 AM

• Tibet, Six Months On: ‘There Is No Freedom Here’

  

  Reporters for the Guardian have been granted permission to visit Tibet six months after violent riots hit Lhasa, and have produced a video report on their visit:

  Six months after deadly protests against Chinese rule, a semblance of normality has returned to Lhasa. But many Tibetans still live in fear.

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  • October 1, 2008 11:09 AM

• Tibet Monk in Hiding Tells of Interrogation, Abuse

  

  A Tibetan monk who was detained on suspicion of involvement with the riots that broke out in Lhasa in March has provided details to the AP of his experience:

  What followed, according to Jigme, was two months of interrogation and abuse over his suspected role in this spring’s uprising against Chinese rule across Tibet and a broad swath of Tibetan-inhabited regions in western China.

  His telephone interview with The Associated Press on Friday gives one of the few detailed first-person accounts of the crackdown on the riots and protests that continue six months after the events.

  Chinese authorities contacted by phone said they had no information about Jigme’s case, making his claims impossible to verify.

  But the basic facts of his story correspond with testimony given by monks and nuns detained in previous campaigns and widely reported by credible overseas human rights groups.

  A video of his testimony is also posted on YouTube (in Tibetan):

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  • September 15, 2008 3:10 PM

• China Jails 12 More Tibetans Over March Riots

  

  From Reuters:

  Chinese courts jailed 12 more rioters for their roles in unrest in Tibet, state media said, weeks before the Beijing Olympics and after Beijing deported a Tibetan British woman it accused of anti-government activism.

  China’s official Xinhua news agency said late on Thursday that to date China has convicted 42 people for their role in the riots while another 116 await trial. Some 953 people were detained by the police, Xinhua said, quoting Palma Trily, the No. 1 vice-chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region government.

  He did not give details on the length of the latest 12 sentences handed down on June 19 and 20 but said neither these rioters nor 30 people convicted earlier had received death sentences.

  Read also China jails 42 over Tibet unrest, others on trial: state media by AFP, and No death penalty handed down so far over Lhasa violence by Xinhua.

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  • July 11, 2008 7:11 PM

• The Economist Covers China: Earthquakes, Demonstrations, and the Beijing Olympic Games (with live webcast)

  

  Asia Society will have a live webcast of a discussion between the Economist’s Beijing bureau chief, James Miles (who was the only accredited journalist to be on the scene in Lhasa during unrest there in March) and Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director, Asia Society Center On US-China Relations. The webcast will be broadcast here at 6:30 pm EST.

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  • July 9, 2008 2:17 PM

• Ahshn: Lhasa Witness, March 2008

  

  From the Woeser’s blog, translated by Perry Link and students of Chinese 153 at Yale University:

  In March, 2008 the weather was cooler than normal in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, as the anniversary of “March 10″ was approaching. On this day in 1959 the Chinese People’s Liberation Army crushed a popular uprising. The Chinese government refers to it as the “Day of Revolt,” but Tibetans know it as the “Day of Suffering”–or, for those who had to flee their homeland at the time, the “Day of Exile.”

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  • May 16, 2008 12:09 PM

• China Says 30 Protesters Jailed Over Riots in Lhasa (Update 1)

  

  The number of jailed Lhasa protesters now roars to 30. From Bloomberg:

  Chinese authorities in Tibet said 30 people were jailed yesterday for taking part in pro-independence riots in Lhasa last month.

  Three protesters were sentenced to life imprisonment and the shortest jail term was three years, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the Intermediate People’s Court of Lhasa in the Tibetan capital. Seventeen people were sentenced yesterday morning and 13 in the afternoon, Xinhua said.

  From AFP:

  Chinese authorities on Tuesday jailed 17 people for between three years and life for their role in last month’s Tibetan unrest, state press reported.

  The 17 were involved in violence on March 14 in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, the Xinhua news agency said, announcing the first verdicts for anyone connected with the unrest that has embarrassed and angered China ahead of the Olympics.

  A court in Lhasa handed down the verdicts on Tuesday, Xinhua said, giving few other immediate details.

  Update: Other media reports say 30 people have been sentenced. From the Washington Post:

  A Chinese court Tuesday sentenced 30 people to jail for their alleged participation in last month’s deadly riot in Lhasa, the first convictions following an aggressive manhunt to find the leaders of anti-government protests that swept through Tibetan areas on China’s western plateau.

  Those convicted will serve terms that range from three years to life in prison, state media reported. More than 200 people attended the “open trial,” according to the state media, although it was unclear if any of the accused had legal representation. Foreign journalists are barred from reporting in Tibet.

  See also this story from the Associated Press.

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  • April 29, 2008 4:12 AM

• Dalai Lama Says His Aides Are Talking to China

  

  In Seattle, the Dalai Lama reveals his representatives are engaged in “private talks” with the Chinese government aimed at resolving questions surrounding last month’s riots. From the New York Times:

  “Just a few days these are going on,” the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, said of the discussions. He said it was unclear what the talks might yield.

  He would not say specifically what matters were being discussed, and he said he had not been directly involved in the conversations.

  …He rejected the suggestion that Tibetan leaders might make concessions to engage in more extensive dialogue with China. “We’ve become refugees,” he said, adding that Tibetans had little left to concede.

  Asked whether he would accept an invitation to the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, he laughed and said he did not expect to receive one. More important, he said, was for China to take steps to earn the international respect and trust it hopes the Olympics will help nurture. As part of doing this, he said, China should release Tibetans arrested since the protests began and provide those injured with proper medical care. He also said China should open Tibet to the news media.

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  • April 14, 2008 12:16 AM

• On the Other Side of Tibet

  

  Wenran Jiang, the acting director of the China Institute, University of Alberta, says, “Failing to understand the deep-rooted emotions on both sides will only hinder potential solutions.” From The Globe and Mail:

  Emotions have been running high on all sides since riots and unrest broke out last month in Tibet and the surrounding provinces. Critics of the Chinese government charge that what happened was the result of a resistance movement by the Tibetan people against Beijing’s long-time repressive policies in the region. They call for international attention to the Tibetan situation, organize protests along the routes of the 2008 Beijing Olympic global torch relay and push for a boycott of the Summer Games.

  The Chinese authorities claim that the Dalai Lama and his separatist forces masterminded these unrests, which turned into violent rampages, looting, burning and killing of innocent civilians. Beijing insists that law and order be restored and rioters be punished; it will not tolerate further violence, and has indicated it will do whatever is necessary to fight Tibetan independence, even at the cost of damaging its reputation as Olympic host.

  It is not surprising that such a bitter confrontation has extended beyond China’s borders. Tibetans in exile took to the streets in India and Nepal. In major European and North American cities, well co-ordinated demonstrations were staged in front of Chinese embassies and consulates as the unrest was spreading in Tibet and neighbouring provinces.

  For their part, many in the Chinese diaspora have exhibited a strong sense of nationalism that opposes any Tibetan independence movement and resents any form of boycott of the Beijing Olympics.

  What is surprising, however, is the very high level of mobilization of Chinese public opinion that is not as much a response to Beijing’s rallying calls for national unity as it is a strong reaction to what many Chinese perceive as the one-sided reporting of the Tibetan unrests by the mainstream Western press. Chinese people everywhere want their side of the Tibet story told.

  Unlike in 1989, when Chinese all over the world, including scholars and students from the mainland, protested against the government crackdown on students in Tiananmen Square, Chinese people have taken to streets this time in support of Beijing. In the past week, such rallies have taken places in European cities, in Montreal and Calgary, and one is expected in Edmonton this weekend.

  While many overseas Chinese believe that Beijing’s extremely harsh and hostile words against the Dalai Lama are neither effective nor well received by the Western public, they still see mainstream Western news media as being excessively anti-China. (Many noted errors in the reporting, including the mislabeling of photos of Indian and Nepalese police confronting demonstrating monks as Chinese soldiers cracking down in Tibet.)

  They have fed their observations back to Chinese cyberspace instantly, and what we are witnessing is an emerging synergy of cybernationalism connecting many Chinese at home and abroad.

  But what has propelled this strident nationalism? Why has the disdain for Tibet independence and its ambitions become so highly charged and emotional? Hasn’t the Chinese Communist Party simply been using nationalism as a tool of legitimacy for staying in power? Aren’t most Chinese brainwashed since childhood?

  First of all, there is an overwhelming sense among the Han Chinese (the country’s predominant ethnic group) that Tibet has been part of China for centuries. True, Chinese control over Tibet was weakened when China was invaded by Western powers in the 19th and 20th centuries. But the Han have not forgotten the earlier ties. As well, Central Intelligence Agency-funded Tibetan covert operations against China in most of the Cold War years are well documented, stirring further resentment.

  As such, historical memory ensures that in the minds of the Han, any perceived attempts to separate Tibet from China will be linked with the humiliation the Chinese suffered at the hands of Western and Japanese imperialism. So, to most Chinese, a potential boycott of the Beijing Olympics is viewed as a denial of China’s moment in restoring its respectable position in the world.

  Second, many Chinese deeply believe to this day that the People’s Republic of China has lifted Tibet’s people out of a medieval serfdom that was degrading to the majority of Tibetans, especially women.

  The attitude, felt particularly by the communist and socialist idealists, is not unlike that felt some years ago by many in North America who saw the spread of their European culture as bringing civilization to the native people. Just as aboriginal children were put in boarding schools and forced to learn English, many Chinese thought they were giving emancipation to an oppressed people under the name of socialism and progress.

  While not denying Chinese policy failures in Tibet over the years, many reacted angrily to the recent charge that they were committing “cultural genocide” in Tibet. They point out that what China did in Tibet is generous in contrast to how native Indians were treated in North America over 400 years.

  Finally, many Han Chinese also think Tibetans should appreciate the tremendously high level of financial and other support that has been poured into their region, both from the central government, in the form of subsidies, and from the market adventurists who have invested heavily in the area in recent years. To the Han, such economic development is seen as eliminating poverty and bringing prosperity to the ordinary people of Tibet, as in the rest of China.

  That’s why the shocking images of angry young Tibetans violently attaching Han Chinese and other non-Tibetans made Chinese people recoil in indignation. (Even though they might note that while the gap between the rich and poor in the rest of China is mostly a distribution issue, the division line between the haves and have-nots appears to be drawn along ethnic lines in Tibet.)

  Taken together, these historically-conditioned perceptions will continue to shape events. And failing to understand the deep-rooted emotions on both sides will not only hinder potential solutions to the complex issues involved, but may risk generating further divisions.

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  • April 5, 2008 10:27 PM

• India Tiptoes in China’s Footsteps to Compete but Not Offend

  

  India steps gingerly around the issue of Tibet so as not to offend it’s dominant neighbor to the north. From the New York Times:

  Since protests against China broke out among the Tibetans who make their home in exile here, India has urged the Dalai Lama to refrain from talking politics and assured Beijing that the Olympic torch will pass unmolested when it arrives here this month…

  Next week, lifting a page from the Chinese, India is scheduled to play host to an India-Africa summit meeting intended to bolster trade with mineral-rich Africa. It is all part of a push by India, like China, to scour the planet for natural resources to aid its growth.

  But as the two emerging Asian giants engage in their own version of the Great Game, it is impossible for New Delhi to escape the reality that the playing field is badly skewed in China’s favor, and hence the need for caution.

  Listen to NPR’s program: Former Olympian, Activist Debate Beijing Boycott

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  • April 3, 2008 10:07 PM

• Alternative Thinking on the Tibet Problem

  

  An anonymous translator highlights a recent article of Southern Weekend which takes a different approach to the Tibetan question.

  Since mid-March, the violent incidents in Lhasa, Gansu, Sichuan and other Tibetan areas has attracted the attention of the whole world and the political impact is still being felt. These events have also stirred up the feelings of Chinese overseas more than any event before.

  On March 28, the Dalai Lama disseminated through Western media his “Public Letter to My Chinese Brothers and Sisters.” In this message he pronounced that he does not support splitting the motherland and that he supports the Beijing Olympics.
  Two days later, while on a visit to Laos, Premier Wen Jiaobao said: “Provided that the Dalai Lama renounces claims of independence, and in particular exerts his influence to stop the present violent activities in Tibet, and acknowledges that Tibet and Taiwan are inseparable parts of China, we can resume discussions with him.”

  Prior to March 27, China’s President Hu Jintao in a telephone call with President Bush also said, “If the Dalai Lama genuinely relinquishes ‘Independent Tibet’ claims, and stops splitting the motherland, especially stops inciting and planning the violent and illegal actions in Tibet and thereby harming the Beijing Olympics, and acknowledges that Tibet and Taiwan are inseparable parts of China, we agree to continue discussions with him.”

  The responses of China’s two leaders reflects this reality: the powerful influence of Tibetan Buddhism among the Tibetan people is a reality; and the Dalai Lama’s influence on the Tibetan people as the religious leader of Tibetan Buddhism is also a reality.
  On the basis of the above-mentioned realities, some pragmatic policy changes should be considered.

  First we should distinguish between the majority of Tibetan religious believers and the government-labeled “Dalai Lama clique.” Because the Dalai Lama is the only religious leader Tibetan devotees recognize, this cannot be handled as a typical political issue and should not be labeled as splitting the Motherland. This is in accordance with the policy of regional autonomy and must be upheld.

  Second, we should also clearly distinguish between average exiled Tibetans and the upper strata of the “Dalai Lama clique.” The Tibetans who followed their leader into exile in 1959 are a complex mixture, and half a century has gone by. We should adopt the policy of “smiling when meeting a stranger” and extend a hand of welcome to them as long as they commit to not splitting the motherland.

  Even in the “Dalai clique” we should distinguish between those who advocate non-violence and the extremists who ardently advocate violent methods. No matter who it is, the central government should clearly distinguish between those who do not advocate independence for Tibet and the extremists who advocate independence.

  Guo Jinlong, the Beijing mayor who was formerly Communist Party Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region, implemented the following policy: Communist Party members should not be permitted to practice religion or have religious beliefs, but non-Party members should be free to practice religion; clearly distinguish between normal religious and ethnic activities and splittist activities in the guise of religious and ethnic activities; regarding violations of the law, regardless of ethnicity, violations must without exception be handled according to the law. According to many who have worked in Tibet, this policy achieved great success.

  In fact, many Chinese experts believe that Tibetan Buddhism is different from other extremist religious groups, its appeals are moderate. It accords with the spirit of China’s efforts to build a harmonious society. It has reasonable elements and extremist elements.

  For this reason, the Tibet situation and experience is different from that of other ethnic minority autonomous regions, and must be treated differently in order to resolve the above-mentioned problems.

  An attache in a major European embassy recently expressed to this reporter: the Dalai Lama’s wish of a “Greater Tibet” is an unrealistic expectation at present, but the EU supports dialogue, seeing it as good and positive.

  A good starting point for dialogue between the two sides is to not split China and support the Beijing Olympics.

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  • April 3, 2008 8:47 PM

• CNN: What’s Wrong With You?

  

  China’s largest English daily, China Daily, writes a four-page online editorial to debate CNN and other western media’s reporting on Tibet, claiming “CNN website publicized a picture showing people running in front of two military trucks on March 17. The original picture uploaded by netizens, however, actually also shows about 10 mobsters throwing stones at the trucks.” Also Chinese netizens set up an anti-cnn.com website, which, on one day alone, received 12409 hits. From China Daily:

  

  …More notably, the websites of Germany’s Bild newspaper, N-TV and RTL TV, and the Washington Post all used pictures of baton-wielding Nepalese police in clashes with Tibetan protesters in Kathmandu, claiming that the officers were Chinese police. However, the fact is that Nepalese security forces were confronting demonstrators with batons.

  All the above-mentioned Western media completely turned blind eyes to the principles of fairness and objectivity, which they have been preaching, in the reports about riots in Tibet. Their distorted reports are far from mistakes they claimed.

  Chinese netizens angered by biased and sometimes dishonest reports about the recent riots in Tibet by some Western media established the anti-cnn website in order to collect and make public the biased reports and shed light on the truth that the Western media are aimed at tarnishing the image of China.

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  • April 2, 2008 11:13 PM

• Boycotting Olympics Won’t Change China’s Ways

  

  Rick Morrissey writes on Chicago Tribune, saying that Boycotts don’t seem to accomplish much when it comes to the Olympics.

  The rumble of protest is growing louder. Outrage over China’s treatment of Tibetans has led to calls for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics.

  There are all sorts of reasons not to stage a boycott of the 2008 Games, many of them thoughtful. Two immediately come to mind: The Olympics are supposed to be beyond the reach of politics, and athletes don’t deserve to be punished for international conflicts.

  The Soviets responded to our 1980 boycott by boycotting the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, and it’s almost impossible to find anyone who believes the dueling boycotts did anything other than hurt the athletes who weren’t allowed to compete.

  Read Reuters’ report: Amnesty lays into China on rights before Olympics, which says, “The Olympics have so far failed to catalyze reform in China and pledges to improve human rights before the Games look disingenuous after a string of violations in Beijing and a crackdown in Tibet.”

  See also AP’s Video: Olympic Torch Given to Chinese Amid Protests

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  • April 2, 2008 12:14 AM

• Calling China

  

  Planning to write his next column on China and the Tibet protests, New York Times pundit Nicholas Kristof has issued an open call for commentary on his blog. The invitation is as follows:

  In any case, my sense is that many Chinese — whether in China or outside the country — are deeply indignant at U.S. media coverage of Tibet in particular and China-U.S. relations in general. I get waves of angry emails whenever I write about China and Darfur. So here’s your chance: What do we get wrong, and why?

  Frankly, it strikes me that China’s problems are rather similar to America’s: an obliviousness to how one’s own country is perceived abroad, a nationalistic people who are sometimes blind to the power of nationalism on the part of others (e.g. Iraqis and Tibetans), lousy leadership in the center, and a tendency to take steps intended to preserve national security that end up undermining that security.

  What do you think? Are the parallels real? Americans are welcome to weigh in as well, but In particular I’d love to get some thoughtful Chinese voices.

  For some sense of why Kristof’s writing on China and Sudan elicits angry emails (presumably from Chinese readers), see his January column “China’s Genocide Olympics” (via the IHT).

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  • March 31, 2008 1:24 AM