31. Jan 2010
Tibetan jailed for subversive songs
(TibetanReview.net; Xinhua) A court in Sogpo/Yulgan (Chin: Henan) MAC, Malho (Chin: Huangnan) TAP, Qinghai province, has sentenced Tibetan singer Tashi Dhondup to one year and seven months in jail. The date of the sentencing is unclear. The young popular singer had gone into hiding in November 2009 after the authorities banned his album, which was titled "Torture without trace". The thirteen songs in the album were said to express nostalgia for the Dalai Lama and refer to the crackdown across the Tibetan plateau during and after the spring 2008 protests. He was arrested in a restaurant in the provincial capital Xining on 03 December 2009.
01. Feb 2010
Reports on the Sino-Tibetan dialogue
(CTA; Xinhua) In a statement about the ninth round of the Sino-Tibetan dialogue issued on their return from China, the envoys of the Dalai Lama reported that they submitted a note to the Chinese authorities addressing in seven points "the fundamental issues raised by the Chinese leadership" about the Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for All Tibetans presented during the last round of talks in November 2008. They said, the notes clarified that the Dalai Lama's concern is "with the rights and welfare of the Tibetan people" and that he "and other members of the exiled leadership have no personal demands to make”. The fundamental issue to be resolved, they said, is the “faithful implementation of genuine autonomy that will enable the Tibetan people to govern themselves in accordance with their own genius and needs". The envoys called upon the Chinese side to "stop the baseless accusations against His Holiness and labelling him a separatist". According to them, a major difference between the two sides remains the "conflicting perspectives on the current situation inside Tibet". At a press conference organised in Beijing, Chinese officials told they had made clear to the envoys of the Dalai Lama that Beijing would never back down from claiming full sovereignty over Tibet and that rule by the Communist Party of China (CPC) had been a boon to the region. No concessions could be made on territorial issues. Further, the envoys are not qualified to discuss Tibetan affairs with the government, as they would only represent the Dalai Lama. Both sides, however, pronounced themselves in favour of continuing the dialogue process. The Dalai Lama's envoys suggested a "common effort to study the actual reality on the ground, in the spirit of seeking truth from facts" and get "a common understanding of the real situation".
02. Feb 2010
Tibetan returnee freed; two monks quit over alleged spying
(VOT) A Tibetan monk arrested in September 2009 in Lhasa has returned home in Tsolho (Chin: Hainan) TAP after his release according to the Voice of Tibet (VOT) radio service. Jamyang Chodrak was arrested after he returned to Tibet from India where he spent eight years studying at Drepung Gomang Monastery in Karnataka. In another incident, two monks of Lutsang Monastery in Mangra (Chin: Guinan) county, also in Tsolho TAP, had to quit the monastery after they were reportedly found gathering intelligence on the monastery and the activities of the monks for the Chinese authorities. Protests against the authorities took place in Lutsang in March 2008 as well as in February 2009.
03. Feb 2010
US president proposes $7m to preserve Tibetan culture
(PTI) US President Obama has proposed a US$7.4 million allocation in his 2011 budget for the preservation of Tibetan tradition and culture in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) and other parts of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The Obama administration said this fund would be made available to non-governmental organisations to support activities which preserve cultural traditions. It will be directed towards promoting sustainable development and environmental conservation in Tibetan communities.
04. Feb 2010
Chinese Panchen Lama made Vice President of Buddhist Association
(Xinhua) Gyaltsen Norbu, the young man controversially appointed by the Chinese authorities to be the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995, has been appointed vice-president of the Buddhist Association of China. Describing the 19-year-old as "one of the two most senior living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism", Xinhua said he was "elected" to the post by the nearly 600 delegates from China's religious circles who attended the association's eighth national conference in Beijing on 01 - 03 January. Another Xinhua report said Gyaltsen addressed the closing ceremony of the conference in both Tibetan and Chinese. It cited him as saying he would uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China, adhere to socialism, safeguard national unification, strengthen ethnic unity and expand Buddhist exchanges, on the basis of adherence to the law and love for the nation and Buddhism. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the boy recognised by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama has not been seen since 1995, when he was six years old.
05. Feb 2010
University removed from list of accredited institutions over Dalai Lama visit
(Canwest; Phayul) The Chinese government has removed the University of Calgary from its list of accredited institutions - a move school officials say is connected to the Dalai Lama's visit in 2009. The university hosted the 1989 Nobel Peace Laureate and awarded him an honorary degree when he visited the city in September 2009. In December 2009, officials were made aware the Chinese government had removed the university from a list posted on the Ministry of Education's website. A call made by Canwest journalists to the Hotline for Overseas Studies Service Centre in Beijing asking for information about attending the Canadian university elicited the following advice :"If you don't already go to that school yet, it is better not to go because you will face risks". The university of Calgary currently has about 600 students from mainland China and Hong Kong.
06. Feb 2010
Nepali police arrest five Tibetans in Kathmandu
(Phayul) Phayul reports that Nepali police arrested five Tibetans including a woman in the Baudhanath (also know as Boudhanath, Bodnath etc.) district of Kathmandu, an area with a strong concentration of Tibetan refugees. The exact reason for their arrest is not known. Phayul sources say the Tibetans were on their way back to Tibet after going on a pilgrimage to India.
10. Feb 2010
Cash incentives to celebrate Losar for propaganda purposes
(VOT) The Chinese authorities in Lithang (Chin: Litang) county, Kardze (Chin: Ganzi) TAP, Sichuan province, are handing out cash incentives to Tibetans of 10,000 – 30,000 Yuan (UK£930 - UK£ 2,800; EUR€1,070 – EUR€3,200; US$1,400 – US$4400) for the celebration of the Losar festival, VOT radio service reports. VOT said the Chinese authorities in various parts of Tibetan regions are encouraging Tibetans to celebrate the New Year on 14 February with pomp, likely reacting to diverse appeals to mark the festival in a low-key manner. A VOT source in Sera monastery in South India, said the authorities told the Tibetans to celebrate this Losar for the "economic development and social stability" and the "success of the central government’s policy on ethnic minorities" under the PRC. "They even promised to incur all expenditures for any festivity and entertainment program during the Tibetan New Year".
10. Feb 2010
Tibetan prisoner escapes with Chinese hostage
(RFA) Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports that a Tibetan inmate of a jail in Sichuan province has kidnapped a prison guard in retaliation for harsh treatment in detention. RFA sources in the region said the guard was taken hostage in Kardze county. "One of the Tibetan inmates in the prison, known as Pasang, forcibly took hostage one of the prison guards, known as Chang Kasong, and broke out of the jail", one source said. The breakout sparked a widespread manhunt with roadblocks and hundreds of police manning checkpoints along the roads. A reward of 100,000 Yuan (UK£9,300; US$14,000; EUR€10,700) was announced for Pasang's capture. Local sources said the kidnapped Chinese prison guard had a reputation for treating Tibetan inmates harshly. "[He] is one of meanest officers in charge", one source said. "He is notorious for his ill-treatment of Tibetan prisoners".
