Posted on 04/20/2008 2:48:47 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
China salaries overseas Chinese for anti-Tibetan protests
Phayul[Saturday, April 19, 2008 21:25]
By Phurbu Thinley
The Global Human Rights Torch Relay, scheduled to pass through 37 countries, arrived in Minnesota (MN) State on April 16 on its America leg of the ongoing relay. The torch arrived after passing through New York earlier on Sunday. The organisers of the torch relay hope to draw attention to human rights concerns in Tibet, as well as the Chinese government's persecution of the Falun Gong, Buddhists, rights advocates and others.
In Minnesota, the relay kicked off from the State Capitol and arrived at the University of Minnesota Coffman Front Plaza, covering 11 miles, for the main even of the torch relay. Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong, China Democracy Movement, MN Tibetan community, Falun Dafa Twin Cities Club, Burmese representative, Genocide Intervene were among others taking part in the torch relay advocating: “The Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot coexist in China”.
Upon reaching the University of Minnesota, Tenzin Namlha, a good friend of mine who now resides in MN, was taken aback seeing an unusually large contingent of supposedly pro-China campaigners protesting side by side, apparently to disrupt the relay’s event. Tenzin, who recently moved to US from Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, was among some 300 odd members of MN Tibetan community, who took a day off from work on Wednesday, to take part in the peaceful human rights torch relay.
What shocked Tenzin most was when a Chinese student carrying a pro-China banner approached him, in the midst of event, and asked him how much he got to take part in it; evidently with no idea of the whole torch relay event.
“What happened is that there were lots of pro-Chinese, and one of them came to me and asks me how much I got,” Tenzin wrote in our usual online chat. “He thought I might be one of them (Chinese),” Tenzin went on.
“And then I asked him back (the same question) and he said he got 350 dollars (US) from the Chinese government to protest against us (Tibetans and human rights activists). He specifically told us that lots of students, almost all of them were paid to protest against Tibetans,” he added.
During his brief interaction with the outwardly frank Chinese student, Tenzin said he learned that pro-Chinese activists at the San Francisco leg of Olympic torch relay were all paid to protest against pro-Tibet campaigners. “And it’s not just yesterday, they were paid to go to protest against us in San Francisco too,” Tenzin wrote in our chat on Wednesday.
“The pro-Chinese in San Francisco were all paid to protest against us man,” he wrote in his casual chat language.
Interestingly, what happened later proved even more unexpected for Tenzin.
“So I asked him ‘why are you protesting, I mean do you have any idea about what’s going on’” Tenzin went on with his narration.
“That Chinese guy told me he didn’t know what’s going on,” Tenzin wrote saying he literally had to explain to his Chinese counterpart in “detail” about what had been “going on in Tibet” and that the “Human Rights Torch Relay” is “not talking about Tibet at all”.
According to Tenzin, on hearing the explanation, the bemused ‘Chinese guy’ later put his banner down to join Tibetans and other groups to denounce Chinese government of its human rights record.
“We were all talking about human rights in China and then he put his banner down and joined our group!” Tenzin exclaimed, adding “It’s really funny man”.
Tenzin further wrote: “He doesn’t even know why he is protesting. And it’s not just him; he said most of the students who are pro-Chinese don’t know why they are protesting”.
When asked how they get money from Chinese Government, Tenzin said he was told by the Chinese stranger that one of the student’s or a group’s leaders would take money from Chinese embassy or consulates from respective locations and then pay them to individuals.
Tenzin and other Tibetans later on the very same day went to Rochester, which is almost two hours drive from Minneapolis, to see the exiled Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to hear him speak.
The Dalai Lama was attending a day-long conference at Mayo Clinic's Siebens Building titled "Investigating the Mind-Body Connection: The Science and Clinical Applications of Meditation" where he also gave a talk titled "Compassion in Medicine".
Tenzin said he was again disturbed seeing many Chinese protesters, made up of mostly Chinese students studying at the University of Minnesota, outside the Mayo Clinic building, carrying Chinese flags and anti-Dalai Lama and anti-Tibetan banners.
Tenzin said he and other Tibetans expected to get a glimpse of their leader, but could not see him after waiting there for more than an hour. He blames the Chinese govt-funded protest for obstructing their chance to see the Dalai Lama.
“Well the Chinese really came into our nerves yesterday, but we all Tibetans kept our patience,” Tenzin wrote before signing off.
Meanwhile, Chinese Communist Party’s official mouth piece, Xinhua, which alone acts as the absolute source of Tibet related news in China, carried the Rochester incident story as - Chinese Americans protest against Dalai Lama's separatist activities.
The story posted on Friday goes on to say: “American Chinese and Chinese students across the United States have been voluntarily and spontaneously staging a series of peaceful protests against the Dalai Lama's separatist activities as he tours the country.”
Ping!
China hit by fresh anti-Western protests
1 hour, 56 minutes ago
Fresh protests broke out across China on Sunday in reaction to the Western media's coverage of China's handling of Tibet ahead of the Beijing Olympics, state media said.
The latest demonstrations came after thousands of Chinese rallied Saturday in support of their country, with branches of the French retailer Carrefour heavily targeted.
People gathered in front of Carrefour stores, chanting slogans of “Oppose Tibet independence” and “Oppose CNN’s anti-China statements,” referring to the international broadcaster, the official Xinhua news agency said.
They also chanted “Support the Olympics,” “Play up! China,” and “Condemn CNN” through loudspeakers.
More than 1,000 people assembled in front of a Carrefour store in the northwestern city of Xian holding protest banners, Xinhua said.
There were also demonstrations in the northeastern city of Harbin and the eastern city of Jinan, the report added.
The protests came despite the deployment of police in massive numbers across China after weeks of state-approved anti-Western rhetoric culminated in Saturday's protests.
Police surrounded branches of Carrefour, which has been at the centre of a boycott by Chinese consumers over its alleged support of the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama — a claim it denies.
At one point, 53 police cars were seen on the rooftop parking lot of a Carrefour store in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao, an AFP photographer witnessed. Dozens of law enforcement vehicles were seen on the streets around the store, he said.
Several hundred police were also seen monitoring shoppers inside the branch, while scores of policemen patrolled major intersections around it.
Beijing has been seen as inciting anti-Western sentiment leading up to Saturday's protests where demonstrators showed support for China's control of Tibet in cities including Beijing, Qingdao, Wuhan, Hefei, Kunming and Xian.
State press had earlier Sunday urged calm as a heavy police presence was deployed to hotspots amid rainy weather that affected much of China.
Saturday's protests led to Carrefour store closures in at least Qingdao, Wuhan and Hefei but on Sunday those stores were operating normally, managers there said.
Several thousand Chinese also rallied Saturday in Paris, Britain, Berlin and Los Angeles in support of their country and against allegedly biased media coverage of the Olympic torch relay and unrest in Tibet.
In Los Angeles, police said up to 5,000 people gathered outside the Hollywood offices of broadcaster CNN in protest against one of the channel's commentators, Jack Cafferty, who described China as a “bunch of goons and thugs.”
The channel has since apologized and said the April 9 remarks referred to the Chinese government, not the people, but the row only added to the anger felt by many Chinese worldwide following protests during the Olympic torch relay.
In Paris Saturday, up to 4,000 Chinese students and other expatriates gathered in the Place de la Republique wearing T-shirts daubed with the slogan “One China, One family” and brandishing signs critical of the western media, police said.
More than 1,000 people, mainly students, also gathered outside the BBC’s offices in Manchester, north-west England, while around 300 staged a demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament in London.
Several hundred pro-Chinese activists also demonstrated in Berlin's Potsdamer Platz in the business district gripping banners with messages like “Media = untruths,” and “China Olympia, one world, one dream.”
The protests come more than a week after torch relays in Paris and London were disrupted by activists critical of Beijing’s human rights record and its recent crackdown on unrest in the Himalayan region of Tibet.
Meanwhile, British and German leaders say they will stay away from the opening ceremony of the Games in Beijing in August and French President Nicolas Sarkozy is considering following suit.
Violence in Tibet's capital Lhasa erupted on March 14 after four days of peaceful protests against 57 years of Chinese rule, and spread into neighbouring Tibetan-populated areas.
Exiled Tibetan leaders say more than 150 people have died in the government crackdown. China says Tibetan “rioters” have killed 18 civilians and two policemen.
China has since sanctioned angry anti-Western rhetoric in state-controlled media in response to protests that marred the Olympic torch relay in London, Paris and San Francisco this month.
But in recent days state media have called for calm in commentaries that have underscored the need for social stability ahead of the Beijing Olympics, the first time the nation has hosted such a prestigious event.
“The more the Dalai Lama clique tries to disrupt the Olympic torch relay and some Western politicians and media take advantage to launch attacks and condemn China, the more we need to unify and with the people of the world hold a successful Olympic Games,” the official Xinhua news agency said.
News broadcasts on state television also urged calm on Sunday, condemning a perceived Western bias against China, but also urging citizens to act responsibly ahead of the Beijing Games.
Saturday's protests were the biggest anti-Western demonstrations in China since thousands of protesters took to the streets to protest against Japan's wartime past three years ago.
“China salaries overseas Chinese”
A real tongue twister.
Anyone?
Inflation. Was $200 only five years ago.
No surprises here really, it’s just a bit more blatant than the way they buy our politicians. Also, no surprise that your average chinese student knows nothing of Tibet. The Ministry of Education has seen to that.
If I put on Fu Manchu makeup, think they’ll pay me $350.00 to spend a day carrying their banners? I could use the dough.
Ha haaaaaaa! The Hu Jintao clique is pathetic. No telling how many Han Chinese in Red China would just as soon see their commie masters tied to rafts and set adrift in the Yangtse river.
When asked how they get money from Chinese Government, Tenzin said he was told by the Chinese stranger that one of the student’s or a group’s leaders would take money from Chinese embassy or consulates from respective locations and then pay them to individuals.
"A man named Norman Hsu will be contacting you."
Chinese Regime Implicated in Staging Violence in Lhasa—UPDATED
‘Beijing orchestrating Tibet riots’
Agents Provocateur? ["Tibetan supporter" who attacked torch bearer may be Chinese agent]
China salaries overseas Chinese for anti-Tibetan protests (rent-a-mob: $350 per head)
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