Campaigners march through London in a colourful demonstration against China's violent crackdown on protests in Tibet
Posted on 03/22/2008 9:08:52 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
China defies international calls for Tibet talks
By David Eimer in Beijing
Last Updated: 3:45pm GMT 22/03/2008
China has defied international calls for it to hold talks with the Dalai Lama and pledged to intensify its brutal crackdown on Tibetan protests against its rule.
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An editorial in People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party which is often used to announce state policy, promised to "resolutely crush the conspiracy of sabotage and smash Tibet independence forces."
Campaigners march through London in a colourful demonstration against China's violent crackdown on protests in Tibet |
"1.3 billion Chinese people would allow no person or force to undermine the stability of the region," it added.
Hundreds of protestors have marched through central London to demonstrate solidarity with Tibetans involved in the recent protests against Chinese rule, and to put pressure on Britain and the international community to speak out against the repression.
Gordon Brown said last week that China’s Premier Wen Jiabao had assured him that China would to talk to the Dalai Lama if he agreed to abandon support for Tibetan independence and renounced violence.
But Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader has already said he supports autonomy, rather than independence, and has condemned the recent violence.
advertisementThe Chinese media has consistently blamed the Dalai Lama for the protests, and attacked the western press for its "misrepresentation" of the situation.
Chinese television has broadcast images of what it describes as "rioters", without showing any footage of the violent police response.
Foreign journalists are barred from the region, but a massive military presence appears to have ended the protests, in which the Chinese say 19 people died.
The Tibetan government in exile puts the death toll at 99.
A further 1,000 people are also reported to have been detained.
On Friday, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, met the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India, and described the situation in Tibet as a "challenge to the conscience of the world".
But the sheer violence of the protests in Lhasa, during which Chinese-owned shops and businesses were destroyed and Chinese people attacked, suggests the Dalai Lama’s influence over the younger generation of Tibetans is not as strong as it once was.
"I think his influence is waning in the sense that some young people know so little about him," Lhadon Tethong, the Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet told the Sunday Telegraph from Dharamsala.
"There is still a huge reverence and respect for the Dalai Lama, but in the more remote areas, people’s education is so poor that they don’t really understand the whole political situation."
Young Tibetans, who are resentful that Han Chinese have benefited most from state investment, led protests in Lhasa last week that the regional government said caused £14 million worth of damage and left 382 people injured.
"I think the intensity of the protests reflects the despair of the Tibetan people and the ongoing problems they face: economic marginalisation, the under-funding of Tibetan education and the lack of freedom of expression," said Gans Willen den Besten, the European campaign co-ordinator for the International Campaign for Tibet.
The Chinese authorities are determined to prevent Tibetans from demonstrating anywhere.
Last Tuesday night, 100 students at the Central University for Nationalities in Beijing held a candle-lit prayer vigil on campus. It ended with 15 of the students being led away in handcuffs.
"It was just a group of Tibetans praying, but it was organised so the Chinese freaked out," said an American teacher at the university who witnessed the protest.
With the Olympic torch relay starting next month, its progress around the world will be marked by protests that will maintain the pressure on Beijing to negotiate with the Dalai Lama.
"We’re organising to have a presence during the torch relay," said Mr den Besten. "We’ll be holding pictures of the people who died during the protests and laying a wreath in their memory."
In London, Labour MP Kate Hoey addressed crowds at the protest march, urging people to demonstrate when the Olympic Torch passes through London on its way to Beijing on April 6.
"We are not prepared to see it go through London without protesting and without showing up the Chinese government for what they are," she said. "Then we must demand that the Torch goes absolutely nowhere near Tibet."
She demanded that "not one single diplomat" should attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic games.
"What I want to see the Prime Minister do is say that while he might go to the Olympics - although I would prefer him not to, like Prince Charles - if he goes he should not attend any of the diplomatic functions and just go for the sport," she added.
Demonstrators at the march included many Tibetans living in exile in the UK, as well as British supporters.
The hundreds-strong crowd waved Tibetan flags, banners and placards as they marched from Regent's Park to Trafalgar Square in a colourful and noisy protest.
Some wore woolly hats and scarves in the yellow, red and blue colours of the Tibetan flag for protection against the bitterly cold Easter weather.
gee, I thought they would be shaking in their sandals.
So....this is what we want to teach our kids when we send them over for the Olympics?
The limits of soft power. This is one of the few places where liberals are actually protesting on the right side. But it doesn’t really mean very much. No one is going to confront China in any meaningful way, I’m afraid.
Why does it strike me that China staged this mess just before the Olympics just to see what the world would do?
I cannot afford to attend the Olympics, but this time I won’t even watch. A shame, too, because Michael Phelps is awesome!!!
Wearing clothing in the colors of the Tibetan flag-that will certainly teach the Chi-Coms a harsh lesson!How about boycotting their precious Olympics?Lord no,THAT might be too much to ask.
Gee, I wonder ...
They just compete, get the medal, and go home. They should refuse to be a prop for Chinese propaganda. People should boycott the Olympic broadcast, too.
Thanks, China, you goofy F bully, just ruined the party for everyone.
Yes, and there wouldn’t be a sovereign wealth fund in the first place, if our glorious leaders hadn’t permitted such a one-sided trade arrangement to develop and fester to this extent.
How can Bush talk about Chavez, Castro et al when he considers China a ‘friend’-hypocritical. China is evil, and we should not give them a pass...for money.
china defies nancy pelosi.
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Maybe I’m losing a few brain cells, but didn’t Pelosi critize Bush for having the Dali Lama as a guest at the White House?
I asked the hubby and he said he thought this was correct, so I don’t know why I’m asking FReepers!
The Chinese should have never been in the mix from the get-go. It's a police state supporting and aiding our enemies, if not in fact being one of our enemies.
Why put our athletes in the same position that Israels were in at Munich?
Let the chips fall where they may. If there is a recession then bring it on.
If I'm going to be broke, at least let me do it with integrity.
I agree 100 %.
I guess his influence from afar just doesn't compare with China's influence up close for 58 years.
I know. China claims to have conquered Tibet but the opposite is true. At one time Tibet conquered most of China up to its capitol of the time Xian and to Mongolia in the north. It also conquered a great portion India to New Delhi and was beginning campaigns to the west which struck fear in the Muslims there. That was under King Trisong Detsän but earlier Songtsän Gampo also had won several campaigns against China.
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