Friday, April 18, 2014

Week Ending 18 April, 2014

International Tibet Network News Digest & Analysis: 18 April 2014

Self-Immolations, Protests, and Restrictions in Tibet
Abbot among five Tibetans arrested - Phayul
17 April | The abbot of Boeyak monastery in Menda town in Chamdo, Khenpo Khedup, was arrested on April 13 as he was about to leave for Lhasa to attend a meeting of the Tibet Autonomous Region’s Buddhist learning centre.

Tibetan Man Dies in Self-Immolation Protest in Kardze - RFA
15 April | Thinley Namgyal, 32, self-immolated in Khangsar township in Tawu county in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Tibetans who witnessed the burning protest immediately took Namgyal's body to a nearby monastery for prayers before Chinese police could arrive at the scene. The Gonthal monastery later handed over the body to the family of Namgyal, who left behind a mother and two older brothers.

Chinese Officials Order School for Tibetan Monks Shuttered - RFA
15 April | Chinese authorities in Qinghai province have closed a private school for young monks and implemented other “restrictive policies,” while moving to sack officials from a local monastery they have accused of “separatist activities”.

News
Nepal turns itself into a partner of China's anti-Tibetan policies - Economic Times
14 April | Tibetans in Nepal know that wherever they gather to socialize or worship, they are likely to be spied on by Nepalese security forces who make no secret of their close links with Chinese authorities. Nongovernmental organizations that seek to monitor the situation or are engaged in humanitarian work with Tibetans in Nepal are also under surveillance and have been accused of disloyalty.

China cancels human rights dialogue with Britain - The Guardian
14 April | Beijing accuses UK of using rights issues to interfere in its internal affairs and axes dialogue that resumed after diplomatic freeze over Dalai Lama.

Opinion and Analysis
Capitalism and the Dalai Lama - New York Times
17 April | Arthur Brooks writes, “For the Dalai Lama, the key question is whether “we utilize our favorable circumstances, such as our good health or wealth, in positive ways, in helping others.” Advocates of free enterprise must remember that the system’s moral core is neither profits nor efficiency. It is creating opportunity for individuals who need it the most.”

China’s Tibet conundrum - Gulf News
17 April | Stefan Halper and Lezlee Brown Halper write, “Western infatuation with the Tibetan myth has enabled Tibetans to exercise a unique ‘soft power’ that Beijing can neither control nor ameliorate.”

China on the Edge - Gatestone Institute
16 April | Gordon Chang writes about 3 mistakes and assumptions Americans have made diplomatically about China, that have misled our policy and predictions: “The country has entered an especially troubling phase, and we have to be concerned that Beijing—out of fundamental weakness and not out of strength—will lash out and shake the world.”


Week Ending 11 April, 2014

International Tibet Network News Digest & Analysis: 11 April 2014

Self-Immolations, Protests, and Restrictions in Tibet
Tibetan Youth Detained Following Solitary Protest - RFA
9 April | The April 8 protest in Manikengo town in Sichuan’s Dege county prompted cries of support from Tibetan onlookers, who echoed the young man’s calls for the long life of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

Chinese officials order Tibetan ‘prayer wheels’ destoryed - RFA
8 April | Chinese authorities in a Tibetan county in Qinghai province have ordered a local clinic to destroy “prayer wheels” dedicated to the healing of disease, at the same time threatening to seize a sacred mountain and open it to exploration by mining firms.

12 Years Too Many: Release Tenzin Delek Rinpoche on medical parole - TCHRD
7 April | TCHRD observes with deep concern the 12th anniversary of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s arbitrary arrest on 7 April 2002 which eventually led to life imprisonment. Tibet Groups are campaigning for his release on medical parole.

News
Lawyers Walk Out of Trial of Chinese Anti-Graft Activists in Protest - RFA
9 April | Lawyers representing two anti-corruption activists walked out of a Beijing district court on Wednesday in protest on the second day of their resumed trials, citing flagrant breaches of legal procedure and the rules of evidence. The trial of New Citizens' Movement activists Ding Jiaxi and Li Wei on charges of "gathering a crowd to disrupt public order" had resumed for a second day.

Illegal detentions of protestors in Belgium during the visit of Chinese president - ICT
7 April | Tibetans and Belgian supporters seeking to peacefully protest during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Bruges, Belgium on April 1 were detained for hours, in one case partially strip-searched, and had Tibetan flags confiscated. Permission to organise a peaceful protest had been granted earlier by the Mayor of Bruges.

Opinion and Analysis
PLA Joint Operations Developments and Military Reform - Jamestown Foundation
9 April | Kevin McCauley writes, “Now the log-jam impeding some of the more far reaching reforms appears to be breaking, as indicated in the recent push in the Third Plenary Session for significant military reform and the creation of a leading group to push forward some of the more bureaucratically painful command, force structure and organizational changes required to create a modern military force.”

“Remembering Exiled Tibetan Activist Chungdak Koren” by Woeser - High Peaks Pure Earth
7 April | Woeser outlines her and Chungdak Koren’s collaborations, such as working on the Tibetan translation of “Forbidden Memory” and ruminates on the larger exile condition. At the same time, the piece portrays a touching friendship between two Tibetan women.

China’s intimidation measure will not stop the human rights movement - ICT
1 April | Elena Gaita writes about her first-hand experience of harassment and intimidation by a member of a Chinese “NGO” in Geneva at the UPR session.
http://weblog.savetibet.org/2014/04/01/chinas-intimidation-measure-will-not-stop-the-human-rights-movement/