News roundup on Tibetan issues from around the world from the last week. Click on the heading to go to the full article. The CPG is not responsible for the veracity of news articles!
Main News
Tibetan New Year marked by security agenda; mass deployment of troops for prayer festival
(International Campaign for Tibet, 7th March 2017) The Chinese authorities used the Tibetan New Year (Losar) period last week, traditionally marked by devotional ceremonies, to focus on the security agenda of the Party state and warn of a continuing harsh fight against ‘separatism’, a politically charged term used to blame the Dalai Lama.
Tibet priorities ecology over development projects
Internet Blocked in Tibetan Areas of China in Run-up to Sensitive Anniversary
(Radio Free Asia, 10 March 2017) Authorities in southwestern China’s Sichuan province are blocking internet access in a Tibetan prefecture in the run-up to a sensitive political anniversary, fearing Tibetan residents may organize protests inspired by exiles living outside the country, sources say.
Chinese authorities reward monks, nuns in Rebkong for being ‘cooperative’
(Phayul.com, March 07, 2017) In a bid to prevent mass protest during the Tibetan Uprising Day on March 10, Chinese officials in Qinghai Province have begun distributing certificates and cash awards to monks, nuns and monasteries deemed ‘cooperative’ towards the communist party, Radio Free Asia reported citing a local source.
Tibetan man detained for storing photos of Dalai Lama, Tibetan flag on Wechat
(Phayul.com, March 08, 2017) A Tibetan man has reportedly been detained by Chinese authorities in Sershul County for storing photos of the exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama and the banned Tibetan national flag in his Wechat account.Gendun from Sershul County in the Kardze Prefecture, Sichuan Province has been detained by Chinese authorities for storing the photos of the banned Tibetan national flag and the photo of the Tibetan leader reviled by China as a “separatist’.
Rebgong Monks Petition For Return of Confiscated Land
(Radio Free Asia, 2017-03-06) A Tibetan monastery in northwestern China’s Qinghai province is appealing for the return of property formerly leased to a teacher’s college but seized by local authorities after the college moved to a new location, Tibetan sources say. The property, comprising one third of the total estate of Rongwo monastery in Rebgong (in Chinese, Tongren) county in the Malho (Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, was confiscated in 2016, prompting monks to petition for its return, a local source told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
Parliamentary and Diplomatic News
Time to mourn but reason for pride and hope, says Tibetan PM on ‘Uprising Day’
(Phayul.com, Friday, March 10, 2017 21:49) The day in a year which starkly reverberates Tibetan issue among the Tibetans is the ‘Tibetan Uprising Day’ commemorated on the March 10 in remembrance of the 1959 Lhasa uprising where thousands of Tibetans were brutally killed by Chinese army. Here, in the virtual capital of the Tibetan exile set up, the Tibetan Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay at Tsuglakhang courtyard said, “Although today is a time for us to mourn, there are reasons for us to be proud and hopeful. Hopeful of the fact that on this historic day, Tibetan men and women from all three provinces marched in unison, bravely challenging Chinese invasion.”
Xi Jinping-Trump summit may be on the cards for April
(South China Morning Post, 10 Mar 2017) China and the US are looking for ways to hold a summit between President Xi Jinping and his counterpart Donald Trump as soon as possible, diplomatic observers said. A meeting between the heads of the world’s two biggest economies could take place next month, Michael Green, from the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said on Friday on the sidelines of an event in Hong Kong.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Draws Attention to Cultural and Religious Discrimination
(UNPO, March 10, 2017) On the occasion of the 34th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein addressed Beijing’s continued discrimination against citizens in Tibet on cultural and religious grounds. He stressed the importance of ensuring human rights in Tibet and condemned China’s unlawful imprisonment of human rights activists. Human rights issues will remain an important topic in subsequent dialogues with China.
India asks Beijing not to politicize Dalai Lama’s Arunachal visit
(Phayul.com, Friday, March 10, 2017) DHARAMSHALA: Rejecting China’s objection to the exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama’s scheduled visit to Arunachal Pradesh, India on Thursday asked China not to politicize the visit, saying the Tibetan leader is a revered figure with right to travel anywhere he wishes to.
Members of Congress Express Solidarity with Tibetans on National Uprising Day Anniversary
(International Campaign for Tibet, March 10, 2017) Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi today released this statement in observance of Tibetan Uprising Day, which commemorates resistance to occupation by Chinese government forces in Tibet on March 10, 1959: “Each March 10th, we honor the determination of those who stood against the Chinese government’s brutal attack on Tibetans during the Lhasa Uprising. These people of faith, propelled by the longing to preserve their religion and culture stood defiant in the face of oppression. Refusing to be silenced by violence; they cried out for their just cause. And, around the world, we heard them and continue to hear their cause today.”
Enraged Chinese leaders retort “missing brain” comment by the Dalai Lama
(Phayul[Tuesday, March 07, 2017) DHARAMSHALA: Following the much shared and watched interview of the Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama conducted by British satirist/comedian John Oliver in which he said that Chinese leaders have “part of brain missing”, China has hit back vehemently calling the octogenarian Tibetan leader a ‘deceptive actor’.
‘Tibet women’s soccer’ gets support from US Congressmen after visa debacle goes viral
(Phayul.com, March 06, 2017) DHARAMSHALA: The Tibetan women’s football team ‘Tibet Women’s Soccer’ that came into international forefront following their visa rejection by the US embassy in Delhi to attend a football tournament in Dallas, has got a shot in the arm with two support from two prominent US Congressmen. The US lawmakers wrote to the newly appointed US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson seeking entry for the team to US for the sporting event.
Trends
Second Terminal to Open in Tibetan Airport (“西藏江南”打造第二条进出藏空中通道, article in simplified Mandarin)
(TIBET.CN, 11th March, 2017) Tibet’s Nyingchi Milling Airport is currently building its second terminal, providing a second route into Tibetan air space. Nyingchi Milling Airport said that the terminal plans to open during the year, with flights from Xi’an and Beijing, and increase the existing route flights. In the next few years, Nyingchi Milling Airport will focus on opening routes with Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xiamen and other cities. It is understood that the new terminal station Linzhi Mi Lin covers an area of 10,300 square meters, in accordance with the 2020 directive to meet the passenger transport capacity of 750,000 passengers, the annual cargo throughput of 3,000 tons, the peak hour passenger traffic 678 person-time standard design. Up to 30 flights a day can take off and land.
Chinese political academy holds first seminar for Catholic clergy
(Xinhua, BEIJING, March 4, 2017) The Central Institute of Socialism (CIS) held its first seminar for Catholic clergy in China to discuss Chinese culture and religious policies. Scholars, including Canadian professor of politics Daniel Bell, have been invited to lecture on topics including Confucianism, development of Christian culture in China and the history of relations between Chinese politics and religion.
A Conservationist in Monk’s Robes: Gen Tashi Sangpo, the Bird Lama
(Cornell Lab of Ornithology, February 27, 2017) Tashi Sangpo has spent the past two decades promoting conservation and biodiversity in the 5,000-square-mile Golok region of the Tibetan Plateau, where he grew up. Now part of Qinghai Province, China, the region encompasses the headwaters of the Yellow, Mekong, and Yangtze rivers. Birds stop there to rest during migrations north or south. Forests and grasslands are ringed by the Sermo mountain range, dotted with sparkling lakes and wetlands and crisscrossed by nomadic peoples herding yaks and sheep.
Lhasa tops China’s happiest cities in 2016: CCTV poll
(TIBET.CN, 10 March, 2017) Lhasa, capital of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, led China’s 2016 Happiest Cities list, according to big data analysis and a survey polling more than 100,000 families conducted by China Central Television (CCTV).
Opinion and Analysis
“Conflict and Resolution: A Response to Liu Junning” By Shokjang
(High Peaks, Pure Earth) High Peaks Pure Earth has translated an article by Tibetan intellectual, writer and blogger Shokjang (aka Druklo) on June 7, 2014. It was posted in Chinese and Tibetan on Woeser’s blog on June 30, 2014. Shokjang’s piece is a dense rumination on China’s ethnic policies and his is a rare outspoken Tibetan voice in this debate that has been taking place amongst Chinese intellectuals for a few years now. [Editor’s note: In February 2016, Shokjang was sentenced to three years in prison by the People’s Intermediate Court in Rebkong for writing material likely to incite discord]
China ready to do a deal with India for concessions in Tawang?
(India Today, March 2nd, 2017) India sees China as occupying 38,000 sq km of its territory in Aksai Chin, while China claims 90,000 sq km in Arunachal Pradesh. China’s long-time negotiator on the border talks, who retired in 2013, has said that Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh is an “inalienable” part of Tibet and that a boundary settlement would not be possible unless India agreed to make concessions in the eastern sector. But if India did so, China would also make concessions in Aksai Chin, suggested Dai Bingguo, spelling out in detail for the first time his thoughts on a solution.
Cross-Party Group on Tibet in the Scottish Parliament 