Sandals in the Snow (and Garbage)

I can't even comprehend the motivation behind such an unceremonious exit as that given to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  Can you imagine the uproar if this were the Pope being hauled out by the elbow?

US Downplays Obama's Meeting with Dalai Lama as Part of Chess Game with the Chinese
Martin Barillas

February 22nd 2010

The unceremonious departure of the Dalai Lama from the White House on February 19 gained almost as much currency as the actual meeting between the Tibetan Buddhist leader and President Barack Obama. While leaving the Executive Mansion, the Dalai Lama was captured on film exiting through a door usually used by household staff where the West Wing meets the main presidential residence. The saffron-robed monk, a recipient of the Nobel Prize and revered icon for Buddhists and lovers of liberty was seen walking around trash bags in his sandals in chilly Washington DC.
The photo promptly went all over the world, sparking criticism and bewilderment. For its part, the White House released only one photo of the actual meeting between the two leaders, showing them in conversation.
China, which has occupied the mountainous nation of Tibet since the 1950s, duly registered its diplomatic pique over the visit. The American ambassador in Beijing was summoned for a consultation with the Chinese foreign ministry in protest. A Chinese spokesman averred that the Tibetan spiritual leader’s visit with Obama had “seriously harmed” Sino-American relations. The Chinese registered its “solemn representation” to the U.S. diplomat that international relations had been damaged because of Obama’s refusal to heed Chinese warnings. “We believe the actions of the U.S. side have seriously interfered in Chinese internal affairs, seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people, [really?] and seriously undermined China-U.S. relations,” said the Chinese spokesman.
[...]  The White House went forward with the meeting even while calculating it that meant angering the Chinese. “I don’t think this has come as a surprise, no,” said U.S. Ambassador Jon Hunstman. “The president had expressed his concerns for human rights in Tibet and his admiration for the Dalai Lama as an international religious figure. I can’t say what would appease the Chinese on this meeting, but of course we had told the Chinese months in advance and in fact when President Obama was here in November he did mention he intended to meet with the Dalai Lama when he had his meeting with President Hu Jintao.”
In an open letter, Arjia Rinpoche—Director of the Tibetan Mongolian Buddhist Cultural Center and one of the most respected Tibetan Buddhist leaders in exile—wrote “The visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and President Barack Obama has far more far reaching significance than many commentators are giving credit. The President, despite Chinese objections, is showing the Dalai Lama greater respect than any president before him and is also a meeting of two very special people.” In 2009, Obama met with President Hu of China and was criticized for not meeting with the Dalai Lama first. However, Rinpoche notes the criticisms, at least two U.S. diplomatic envoys went to the exiled leader’s headquarters in India to discuss preparations for the eventual visit.
http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=11986

Chinese Frogs Leap Into Tibet: Populace Flees the Hopping Hans!

China is the biggest Big Brother on the planet, no doubt about it.  Below are two views about development in Tibet and who will benefit. These reports try to walk the tightrope between reporting as the politburo wants it, and reporting facts for the real world.  First, the NY Times interpretation of this special new strategy:

China Seeks Stability in Tibet via Development
By EDWARD WONG Published: January 23, 2010
BEIJING — China’s top leaders laid out a strategy last week for bringing “leapfrog development and lasting stability” to the Tibetan regions, the state news agency reported late Friday.
President Hu Jintao and other leaders at a Tibet planning conference decided that “more efforts must be made to greatly improve living standards of the people in Tibet, as well as ethnic unity and stability,” the Xinhua news agency reported.
President Hu Jintao and other leaders at a Tibet planning conference decided that “more efforts must be made to greatly improve living standards of the people in Tibet, as well as ethnic unity and stability,” the Xinhua news agency reported.
The emphasis on economic development indicates that Chinese leaders still see the solution to the problem of Tibet as one of supplying creature comforts. If the region can develop fast enough, the reasoning goes, then Tibetans will buy into Chinese rule[...] [Anybody know anything about Tibetan Buddhism?  Like the concept of non-attachment?  Will somebody please let Hu Jintao know you can't FORCE people to be materialistic when their heritage views material success as illusion?]
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/world/asia/24china.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

Now here's the report as presented by the Xinhua News Agency.  Watch the painful effort to put a smiley face on everything:

China to achieve leapfrog development, lasting stability in Tibet
Editor: Mu Xuequan
BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- China has made plans to achieve leapfrog development and lasting stability in Tibet Autonomous Region in a bid to ensure China's development as a whole, according to a high-level meeting held here this week.
Chinese President Hu Jintao and other senior leaders attending the fifth meeting on the work of Tibet, from Jan. 18 to 20, agreed that more efforts must be made to greatly improve living standards of the people in Tibet, as well as ethnic unity and stability.
[…]  During the meeting, senior leaders also meted out plans to develop Tibetan-inhabited areas in Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai.
The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's policies towards Tibet in the new era were totally correct, suiting to national condition, Tibet's actual conditions and the fundamental interests of people of all ethnic groups in Tibet. [sic]  [I’m thinking this is a sneaky way of saying, “Yeah, this is great but only if the Tibetans want your so-called stability“.]
[…]  While vowing to take substantial measures to ensure "normal order of Tibetan Buddhism", Hu said the awareness of being part of the Chinese nation and being law-abiding citizens [my bold] must be constantly enhanced among cadre and the masses in Tibet.  [We all know that being “law-abiding citizens” can mean something different to people under the boot of an oppressive regime, no matter how many times they use the word “people” in their official titles & proclamations.]
[…]  He stressed Tibet's significance in ensuring China's national security, and efforts in building the region into a strategic reserve of natural resources, an agricultural production base, a land with unique culture and a world-class tourism destination.
[…]  Speaking of education, he said free education would be offered for all the children of farmers and herdsmen in primary schools and junior and senior high schools.  [Will Tibetan children now be educated in the Tibetan language or Mandarin?  I think I know the answer!]
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/world/asia/24china.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

I'm not just preoccupied with a free Tibet because it is a just cause or because I am a Buddhist.  Our economy has essentially collapsed and China owns us.  It's just a matter of time before the Han government insinuates itself into all aspects of American life, free speech and all.  But if you think the powers that be are going to leave the USA alone, letting us live our own lives the way we choose, I have a bridge to sell you.

Tibet Special Assembly Affirms His Holiness, the Dalai Lama's Middle Way

Let's keep our thoughts focused on clarity and truth for the Tibetan cause. The future will support an honest assessment of the issues, and rangzen will prevail!

Tibet Government-in-Exile Breaks Off Talks With China (Update2)

By James Rupert

Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The Tibetan government-in-exile, headed by the Dalai Lama, decided to break off stalled negotiations with China over Tibet’s future, leaders of the exile parliament said today.

Dolma Gyari

The exile government, based in northern India, “will not send envoys for further contacts” with China after eight rounds of talks failed to produce results, said Dolma Gyari, the deputy speaker of the legislature.

Future policy in the Tibetan campaign for greater autonomy from China will be determined by the Dalai Lama and will always be nonviolent, she and other parliament leaders said in the town of Dharamsala.

The Tibetan exiles’ declaration of no confidence in China as a negotiating partner “probably reflects an increasing erosion of faith among Tibetans inside China as well,” said Robbie Barnett, a professor of Tibetan studies at Columbia University in New York. “That will represent a major political challenge for the Chinese government,” he said.

The decision to end talks was made by a “special general meeting” of more than 500 delegates summoned by the Dalai Lama, 73, after China rejected his proposal for “genuine autonomy” in the latest set of talks this month in Beijing.

The meeting endorsed the Dalai Lama’s “Middle Way” policy toward China, which specifies a nonviolent campaign to win autonomy under the Chinese constitution for Tibet, rather than independence.

Karma Choephel

Self-Determination, Autonomy

Gyari and parliament speaker Karma Choephel summarized the decisions for journalists after the close of the week-long meeting, and declined to answer questions.

The meeting reflected growing frustration among Tibetans with their inability to loosen China’s 47-year-long rule of their Central Asian mountain homeland.

“Quite a number” of delegates said Tibetans should sharpen their demand to include self-determination, rather than autonomy, if China does not respond to their aspirations “in the near future,” Choephel said.

A call for self-determination would effectively demand full independence, say Tibetan activists such as Tenzin Tsundue, 33, a delegate to the meeting. “The demand for autonomy is a policy, but eventually, Tibet must become independent.”

[...] The exile Tibetan authorities say more than 200 people died in the [March 2008] protests and the subsequent crackdown by Chinese soldiers and police. The crackdown continues eight months later, with more than 100 people having been sentenced to prison, said Tashi Choephel, a researcher with the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy.

“I have to accept failure, things are not improving in Tibet,” the Dalai Lama told journalists on Nov. 3. Since last year, that sense of failure has spread in the Tibetan exile community, spawning a Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement that calls for “direct action to end China’s illegal and brutal occupation of our country.”

To contact the reporter on this story: James Rupert in Islamabad at jrupert3@bloomberg.net.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aoyBNv5NLCVk&refer=india

Chinese "Hard Liner" Fired, Computer Seized Over Tibet

China Tibet policymaker probed for state secret leak

Sat Nov 22, 2008

By Ben Blanchard and Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING, Nov 22 (Reuters) - A key Chinese Communist Party policymaker for Tibet is being investigated after her computer was hacked and classified documents stolen related to Beijing's talks with the Dalai Lama's envoys, sources said on Saturday.

Bi Hua, [my bold] 53 and a Han Chinese, was asked to step down recently as director of the No. 7 bureau of the Party's United Front Work Department, two independent sources with knowledge of the case said, requesting anonymity for fear of repercussions.

"She is under investigation," one source told Reuters. "But she insists she has done nothing wrong."

Her computer was hacked by unknown individuals, and classified documents stolen, the sources said.

It enabled the Dalai Lama's representatives to have a heads-up as to Beijing's bottom line towards talks.

"It was a major leak," a second source said.

Zhu Weiqun, the vice minister of
United Front Work Department of CPC Central Committee

The embarrassing security lapse came as Tibetan exiles gathered for a special meeting to discuss their future, a gathering that could possibly challenge the Dalai Lama's moderate line towards Beijing.

"People are very surprised. She was very hardline," the second source added, referring to her dismissal. "Even the old Communist Tibetan cadres could not stand what she was saying."

China's Communist Party and Tibet's government-in-exile could not immediately be reached for comment.

Separately, the Chinese Human Rights Defenders said in a statement that dissident Chen Daojun had been sentenced to three years in jail after posting articles on the Internet supporting protesters during unrest in Tibet in March.

The Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Communist rule, wants genuine autonomy for his Himalayan homeland.

But China reviles him as a separatist, and officials often accuse him of secretly harbouring pro-independence sentiments that he has publicly rejected.

China's official Xinhua news agency on Friday unleashed a new attack on the Dalai Lama, taking aim at a memorandum his envoys gave their Chinese hosts at talks earlier in the year. That visit yielded no progress and Chinese officials have recently shown little taste for flexibility.

The Dalai Lama's proposals for genuine autonomy would never be acceptable to China, as they were really a demand for independence, Xinhua said in a commentary.

"Its attempt is to set up a 'half independent' or 'covertly independent' political entity controlled by the Dalai clique on soil that occupies one quarter of Chinese territory, and when conditions are ripe, they will seek to realise 'total Tibet independence'."

The piece was a reiteration of the tough line taken by Zhu Weiqun, a vice minister who handles relations with ethnic minorities and religious leaders, at a news conference two weeks ago.

Beijing's hard line has created increasing frustration among some in the Tibetan diaspora who fear the 73-year-old Dalai Lama has not been aggressive enough.

http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINPEK30901220081122?sp=true