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

Chinese Power Monsters Go Ballistic--55 More Tibetans Go To Jail

China sentenced 55 Tibetans as the 8th round of talks began
The Tibet Post International
6/11/08
China sentenced fifty-five Tibetans who took part in the March protests against Chinese rule in Lhasa, Tibet on 5 November 2008 as representatives of the estranged Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama took part in the eighth round of talks with China in Beijing.
Pema Tsewang, Chinese-appointed vice chairman of the regional government for Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), announced the sentencing during a meeting with Michael Andrew Johnson, visiting member of the Australian House of Representatives.
"Following the violence, police detained 1,317 people, of whom 1,115 were subsequently released. The rest stood trial,” said Tsewang, according to the official Xinhua news agency reported 5 November 2008.
This is the overall number given since the government began sentencing people for their roles in the peaceful demonstrations in Lhasa Tibetan capital, on March 14.
The Chinese government ruthlessly cracked down on peaceful Tibetan demonstrators across Tibet leaving 218 Tibetans dead, 1290 injured and 6705 arrested or detained since 10 March 2008.
According to state-controlled Chinese media, "rioters torched 120 houses and 84 vehicles and looted 1,367 shops, causing a direct economic loss of about USD 47 million. 18 civilians and one police officer died and 382 civilians and 241 police were injured."
Previous reports from the Chinese government said 30 people had been convicted of arson, robbery, disrupting public order and attacking government offices, among other crimes, as of April 29. Their sentences ranged from three years to life. [my bold] [This reminds me that not so long ago some America citizens were so frustrated and outraged by the murder of Rev. Martin Luther King that they took it out on their own communities.]
Chinese official news agency "Xinhua" did not elaborate on the length of prison terms awarded to the fifty-five or on what charges their convictions took place. It is unknown if they had legal representation. The sentences of the other 147 people who stood trial are also unknown.
Civil rights groups and international communities condemned the arbitrary detention of Tibetans for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression and opinion to voice their grievances with China.
http://www.tibetpost.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=840&Itemid=26

More Arrests of Peaceful Tibetans

It hurts my fingers to type the words "People's Republic of China" because there is no such thing. The greedy power-crazed dictators have infected too many Chinese, (as well as many European/Americans) with their twisted version of the truth, and if the leaders of countries which have some semblance of free speech don't do something, I shudder to think of the consequences.
Imagine being imprisoned for ONE YEAR for simply asking, over a cell phone, about Tibetan independence.
New cases of arbitrary conviction to Tibetans in Tibet
The Tibet Post International
15/11/08
Ever since peaceful protests erupted in Tibet, starting from 10th March 2008, the Chinese government used the state's full force on the peaceful demonstrators through varies means and ways such as: arbitrary arrests, detentions, brutal tortures and conviction of many to imprisonment without due process of law.
According to a reliable Tibetan from inside Tibet, who broke out and explained emphasized that only above a mere fifty percent of news reach out to the Free world. New cases of arbitrary convictions are as follows:
1) On 11th November, Three monks from Thangkor Sogtsang Monastery namely: Tsultrim Gyatso aged 35, Tsultrim Jungney aged 29 and Thubten alias Lobsang Thubten aged 25 were sentenced 2 years of imprisonment for taking part in the Peaceful Demonstration in March this year by Dzod-ge District People's Court of Ngaba Autonomous Region were decided to shift to Men-Young in Sichuan Province.
2) On 5th November, a group of security personals of Dzod-ge district came to Thangkor Sogtsang Monastery and interrogated the recently released group of 16 monks. They also took a picture with them. Indication of surveillance and restrictions on the monks still continues as quarters for the district police and some of its related employees are being built in the monastery premises.
3) In our press release dated11th November, we have stated that on 6th November Dartsedo People's Court sentenced a nun whose name is still unknown from Karze region and Pema Choetso from Badhe Gang Drongpa of Karze Region were given 4 years each of imprisonment and an announcement to pass similar judgment were circulated and put on the walls for public notice. Their detailed names are nun Lhatruk alias Lhakpa Choetso aged 24 from Drak-kar Nunnery of Karze District and Richen Dorjee's daughter Pema Choetso alias Paepae who was previously a nun of the same nunnery were sentenced 2 years of imprisonment on 7th April for taking part in the recent Peaceful Demonstration.
4) Around 5th November, monk Tsewang Drakpa from Jangdha of Drag-go district was sentenced 5 years, monk Thubten Gyatso from Tawu was sentenced 4 years and monk Jangsem Nyima alias Karma Choephel from Zatoe district of Yulshul region,Tso-Ngon province was sentenced 3 years by the court of Dartsedo for taking part in Peaceful Demonstration on 6th June this in Drag-go District. They have distributed a number of documents on the paper with national emblem snow lion picture.
5) On 14th May, Bumgha from Kham Ghojo of Serta district was sentenced 6 years of imprisonment from Dhartsedo court for taking part in the peaceful demonstration recently.
6) Tashi Woeser from Chamdo was sentenced 1 year for allegedly asking when Tibet is getting Independence to his relative in Lhasa through phone. [my bold] The call was heard by the security personal.
http://www.tibetpost.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=852&Itemid=1

Bogus People's Court in Sichuan!

It just goes to show how completely useless language is when dealing with adversaries whose intentions are not good. The so-called "People's Court" has convicted four young men to YEARS in prison for demonstrating. How unbelievably fragile China's government must be to not be able to absorb any form of dissent! After all, monks, nuns and people just out of their teens can't just go out into the street to shout slogans against the tanks and guns of the poor old People's Republic [sic]! That might start a revolution--wait, didn't that..., oh, never mind.
Sichuan Court Jails Tibetans
2008-11-20
KATHMANDU--Authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, which is home to large populations of nomadic Tibetans, have jailed four Tibetan men for their part in an attempted uprising against Chinese rule earlier this year.
Sources in Dartsedo (in Chinese, Kangding) said Thubten Gyaltsen, 19, from Minyak, Tsewang Dragpa, 21, and Tenpa Choephel from Yulshul were handed jail terms of three, four and five years respectively by the Dartsedo People's Court for their role in June protests.
Meanwhile, a fourth man, a monk from the Golog Serthar Buddhist Center (in a town known as Seda in Chinese), was sentenced to six years' imprisonment after taking part in protests May 14.[…] "The family members of those Tibetans who were sentenced were neither informed [of the trial] nor offered a chance to find lawyers to defend the cases," a source in Draggo county (in Chinese, Luhuo) said.
Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and other Tibetan regions of Sichuan saw fierce fighting and also non-violent protests between Tibetan nomads and Chinese security forces in the wake of the Lhasa protests, which turned to riots on March 14.
[…] "A woman that I know was recently detained for calling outside Tibet. A young man named Tashi Oser, who is in his 20s, was detained for making a call to Lhasa. The phone lines from the Kardze area are completely blocked."
Since it is difficult to communicate, we have information [on only some] of the Tibetans who have been detained, sentenced, or killed. Many cases are not known," he added.
The Chinese authorities have also continued a wave of detentions and sentencings within the Tibetan Autonomous Region since the protests and ensuing violence.
Continuing restrictions
[…] The authorities had stepped up a "re-education" program for Tibetans with mass SMS broadcasts, residents said.
"Chinese officials are sending out text messages over the phone saying that they will never accept self-rule for Tibet, [my bold] [Shouldn't they be spending more time prosecuting the contractors of those school buildings that collapsed a few months ago and poison baby formula. dog food, whatever?] and that independence is out of the question," the Lhasa source said.
[…]
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/dartsedo-11202008090026.html