Thursday, March 6, 2014

Week Ending 7 March, 2014

International Tibet Network News Digest & Analysis: 7 March 2014

Self-Immolations, Protests, and Restrictions in Tibet
Tibetan Monk Detained Over Banned Cell-Phone Content - RFA
6 March | Lobsang Choejor, a senior monk of Drongsar monastery in Chamdo’s Pashoe county, was taken into custody on March 4 after police “conducted a raid and searched his room”.

Tibetan Monk Dies After Being Severely Beaten in Detention - RFA
5 March | Tashi Paljor, a Tibetan monk, was detained last week by Chinese police on suspicion of possessing politically sensitive writings. He has died after being severely beaten in custody.

News
Spanish Socialists commit to defense of universal justice after controversial ruling due to pressure from China - ICT
6 March | Soraya Rodriguez has announced in Madrid that the opposition Socialist Party will appeal to the Constitutional Court against the recent legislative move in Spain to limit the power of the judiciary to investigate and prosecute serious crimes under international law.

The Dalai Lama leads Senate in prayer - Yahoo News
6 March | For the first time, HH Dalai Lama led the United States Senate prayers.

How China keeps tabs on Tibetan exiles - Newsweek
5 March | Jeff Stein investigates how Chinese spies utilize digital technology and other surveillance methods to track the activities of Tibetan activists and supporters.

Let Dalai Lama return, says chief Tibet communist - The Times
5 March | Phunwang’s book, A Long Way to Equality and Unity, is timed to coincide with the opening of Xi Jinping’s first parliament as China’s President, but comes after a weekend atrocity in the southwestern city of Kunming that killed 29 people and has brought the country’s ethnic friction into horrifying focus.

10 March Uprising 2014- International Tibet Network
5 March | An interactive map listing 10th March Tibetan Uprising Day events around the world, with a countdown clock and event submission form.

Opinion and Analysis
After 3/1: The Dangers of China’s Ethnic Divide - The New Yorker
3 March | Evan Osnos writes, “Acts of such spectacular violence exert unpredictable forces on the public and on the leaders who are charged with protecting it, transforming judgments of when and how to use force and decisions about what can be sacrificed in the name of security, as well as the definitions of citizenship, patriotism, and innocence.”

Tibet’s Enduring Defiance - New York Times
2 March | Woeser writes, "Why would anyone choose to commit suicide by having every inch of his body charred? This question holds the key to the driving force behind these desperate acts: Self-immolators seek to protest in the most extraordinary manner by suffering what ordinary people could not possibly bear."

Xi Jinping consolidates power and stabilizes China - Washington Post
1 March | David Ignatius writes, “Since taking over as party chief in November 2012 and as president last March, Xi has transformed what was a colorless collective leadership into an aggressive instrument of control and reform.”


Monday, March 3, 2014

Week Ending Februrary 28, 2014

International Tibet Network News Digest & Analysis: 28 February 2014

Self-Immolations, Protests, and Restrictions in Tibet
U.S. State Department finds “severe” repression in Tibet, targeting of friends and relatives of self-immolators - ICT
27 February | The Tibet section of the 2013 Human Rights Report provides a comprehensive account of human rights abuses suffered by Tibetans under a widespread crackdown imposed by Chinese policies and accelerated in the year since Xi Jinping became President.

Tibetan Prisoner Released in Poor Health Following Abuse in Jail - RFA
26 February | Initially detained for five months in Machu county, Lobsang was shackled and “severely beaten and tortured by authorities,” Demjong said, adding that Lobsang later suffered “persistent” torture after being moved to a jail in the provincial capital Lanzhou.

‘Absurd and terrifying’ new regulations escalate drive to criminalize self-immolations by targeting family, villagers, monasteries - ICT
24 February | The 16-point document was issued in Tibetan and Chinese on April 8, 2013 by Dzoege county government in Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, but has only just been received by Tibetans in exile due to a deepening crackdown in the area including more systematic measures to block information flow.

News
China denounces appointment of U.S. special coordinator on Tibet - Reuters
24 February | China’s foreign ministry claims China will never recognize the United States' appointment of special coordinator for Tibetan issues Sarah Sewall, saying it opposes any foreign intervention in its internal affairs.

Obama voices support for Tibetan human rights - Al Jazeera
21 February | The talks between Obama and the Dalai Lama came despite China's call for the US to scrap plans for the meeting, warning it would "seriously damage" ties between the two countries. The White House said that Obama supported the Dalai Lama's path of peaceful dialogue and encouraged China to resume long-stalled talks with the exiled leader or his representatives.

On China Transcript: Journalism - CNN
19 February | In China, the rules are different, with entire regions off limits to reporters, and entire topics, taboo. In their quest to get the story and to shed light on the truth, journalists face harassment and even violence.

Opinion and Analysis
Flames in Tibet: Five Years of Resistance - International Tibet Network
26 February | Five years after Tapey’s protest at least 127 Tibetans, young and old, men and women, have lit their bodies on fire across Tibet, calling for freedom and of their wish to bring the Dalai Lama home. The vast majority have lost their lives.

Why Was the Dalai Lama Hanging Out with the Right-Wing American Enterprise Institute? - Vanity Fair
26 February | David Rose investigates “What was the Dalai Lama doing for two days among free-marketeers and capitalist-roaders at a fabled conservative think tank?”

China's Top Political Advisor Woos Spanish Senate to Ensure End of Tibet Lawsuit - Huffington Post
25 February | Rebecca Novick writes, “Although approved by a very narrow margin (16 out of 342) in Spain's lower house, the bill could see the shelving of as many as a dozen high profile Spanish-led international cases involving genocide, torture and war crimes, including investigations of the US military over allegations of torture at Guantanamo Bay.”


Week Ending Februrary 21, 2014

International Tibet Network News Digest & Analysis: 21 February 2014

Self-Immolations, Protests, and Restrictions in Tibet

Three Tibetan Monks Detained for Freeing Yaks Headed to Slaughter - RFA
14 February | Ringpu, 50, Yutruk 51, and Salshap, 47, all three respected senior monks from the Golog Gangshar monastery, "were taken away on Feb. 6 to the Pema county center and detained for saving about 300 yaks by purchasing them from the slaughterhouse,” a Tibetan from Golog told RFA's Tibetan Service.

China announces unprecedented harsh measures to deter self-immolations in Tibet’s Dzoege County - TCHRD
14 February | In a document recently smuggled out of Dzoege County dated 8 April 2013, the government announced that if there was a self-immolation it would punish the immolator’s village, monastery, and family.

Security intensified in Ngaba after former Kirti monk self-immolates - ICT
14 February | Lobsang Dorje (25 years old), from Chukle Gongma nomadic area in Cha Ruwa, Ngaba set fire to himself in the same street as Kirti monk Tapey, who was the first Tibetan in Tibet to self-immolate five years ago this month in February 2009. He later died from his injuries and was cremated secretly by police; his ashes handed over to family.
Related
在焚身火焰中双手合十的洛桑多杰(图) - Woeser Middle Way
17 February | [Warning: Graphic images] Still images from a video shared on social media of Lobsang Dorje’s self-immolation on “Heroes Street”. (Chinese and English)

News
Obama to host Dalai Lama at White House - BBC
21 February | Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said Mr Obama would meet the Dalai Lama "in his capacity as an internationally respected religious and cultural leader".

China urges Obama to cancel meeting with Dalai Lama - Reuters
21 February | The White House National Security Council said Obama would meet the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, at the White House on Friday in a show of concern about China's human rights practices.

Jailed Tibetan Student Leaders in 'Poor Health,' Relatives Say - RFA
20 February | Two Tibetan students jailed in northwestern China’s Qinghai province for leading protests calling for the use of the Tibetan language in their schools are in “poor health,” according to family members, sources said.

China says it will win West over to its view on Tibet, Xinjiang - Reuters
19 February | China has "time on its side" to win over Western opinion to its point of view on the restive regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, a senior official wrote on Wednesday, vowing with unusually strong language to ignore foreign pressure on human rights.

Opinion and Analysis
Tibet should be a no-go zone for Canadian mining investment - Embassy News Canada
12 February | Carole Samdup, Executive Director of Canada Tibet Committee writes, “Even if Canada were to adopt the world’s best CSR strategy, it would not have any effect in Tibet. It’s better to discourage deals there until a happier time in its history.”

The Securitization of Social Media in China - Jamestown
7 February | Xi Jinping’s administration is concerned that social media represents an innovative mechanism for petitioning and collective action that has proven at times capable of achieving concrete results in lieu of a tightly regulated environment for civil society mobilization.

Labrang monk Jayang Jinpa reflects on his daring 2008 protest - TCHRD
4 February | Jayang Jinpa, 26, was among the 15 Tibetan monks who staged a daring protest in front of a group of international and Chinese journalists at Labrang Tashikyil Monastery in Sangchu County.

Week Ending Februrary 14, 2014

International Tibet Network News Digest & Analysis: 14 February 2014

Self-Immolations, Protests, and Restrictions in Tibet
New rules to prevent Tibetan burning protests in Sichuan County - RFA
13 February | Family members of Tibetans who self-immolate to protest Chinese rule must be deprived of government aid and employment opportunities and cannot hold any senior village or township level positions, and they have to return all state financial aid; the villages where the self-immolation protests occur must be completely deprived of government assistance, according to a document containing the measures introduced in Dzoege county in the Ngaba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

Young Tibetans in Restive Prefecture Detained for Independence Call - RFA
12 February | Chinese police in a restive Tibetan prefecture have taken into custody four monks and seven other young Tibetans accused of making public calls for Tibetan independence from Chinese rule.

Hundreds of Tibetans gather in third peaceful protest for imprisoned Tibetan lama - ICT
10 February | A huge crowd of hundreds of Tibetans gathered peacefully at a prayer festival in eastern Tibet last week to call for the release of respected Tibetan lama Khenpo Kartse who was imprisoned in December and may face criminal charges.

Tibetan man 'tortured' to death in custody - Phayul
7 February | Kunchok Dhakpa in his 20’s from Chana town in Driru was detained last year for allegedly leading one of the year’s largest protests against Chinese mining activities at the sacred Naglha Dzamba Mountain in Driru County. He was subjected to torture and later succumbed to injuries sustained from torture in prison.

News
Tibetan Activist-Monk Says Spain Bowed to Chinese Pressure Over Rights Law - Time
12 February | Thubten Wangchen, one of the Tibetan monks who have been pushing the case through Spanish courts, said, “If the Spanish government changes the law at the request of China, then that means it is China which is in charge in Spain. If the law changes it would be shameful for the Chinese government.”

This woman is the voice of Tibet for China and the world - PRI
11 February | Listen & read: “When a 29 year-old Tibetan man set himself on fire earlier this month to protest Chinese rule there, he was among more than 100 who have chosen this form of protest. And the world might not have heard of them except for the writing of Tsering Woeser.”

Obama could do more to make religious freedom a key objective of US foreign policy - TCHRD
8 February | Max Baucus was confirmed as the new Ambassador to China from the United States, and TCHRD recommends President Obama to nominate a new ambassador at large for international religious freedom, and also ensure that the Office of Religious Freedom has the support it needs at the State Department to promote and protect religious freedom internationally.

Opinion and Analysis
Are ethnic tensions on the rise in China? - China File
13 February | Enze Han, James Palmer, Robert Barnett, Nicholas Bequelin, and James Milward analyze the tensions between China’s ethnic minorities and Xi Jinping’s leadership and cadre.

Spanish parliament ruling following arrest warrants for Chinese leaders ‘should be of concern to all European citizens’ - ICT
13 February | “The new and very alarming element is that now China, an authoritarian government, is able to directly request, and obtain, changes to the national legislation of a major European democracy such as Spain. The sooner democrats and citizens of the world realize and act to counter these developments, the better it would be for our future.” -Matteo Mecacci

Dharma Kings: Recalling the Tibetan Empire Era - TPR
8 February | TPR’s Editorial Board write, “Tibet was one of the great empires in Central Asia from the Seventh to Ninth Centuries, had diplomatic relations and signed treaties with several neighboring kingdoms and empires, and even briefly occupied the ancient Chinese capital of Xi’an. From this period Tibetans remember the three great Dharma Kings.” https://sites.google.com/site/tibetanpoliticalreview/editorials/dharmakings

Backstory to the 13th Dalai Lama’s declaration of independence - Phayul
7 February | Jamyang Norbu writes about “the events and personalities that contributed to the creation of an independent Tibet in 1912/13” in hopes that readers will “gain a dynamic new understanding of this revolutionary document and an appreciation of those memorable people who struggled for its realization”.