China Tightening Control Over Tibet

[Ibby]

Even Amid Talks, Party Moves to Curb Influence of Dalai Lama
By Maureen Fan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, August 5, 2006; A16

BEIJING, Aug. 4 -- China's Communist Party has been tightening its
grip on Tibet in recent months, resorting to language and measures not
seen since the repression of the late 1990s, according to sources with
knowledge of the situation.

The pressure comes as the Dalai Lama's envoys continue to negotiate
with Beijing about his possible return to Tibet after more than 40
years in exile. The religious leader is regarded by the Chinese as
bent on independence for the region, and his followers are seen as
subversives.

"In the last few weeks, we have seen an increasingly repressive
political climate on Tibet as Beijing emphasizes its domination of the
region," said Kate Saunders, a spokeswoman for the Washington-based
International Campaign for Tibet. "It's difficult to discern the
intentions of the senior leadership on the ongoing dialogue between
the Dalai Lama's representatives and Beijing."

Nongovernmental organizations in Tibet say they have started to feel
the pressure. Some contracts to work in the region reportedly have not
been renewed. Last month, a study program between American
universities and Tibet University was closed in the city of Lhasa
after 20 students arrived and were turned away, sources said on
condition of anonymity. The official reason for the closure was that
the teachers were too busy.

Also last month, authorities shut down the blogs of a well-known
Tibetan writer who posted a photograph of the Dalai Lama and wished
him a happy birthday, his 71st.

Some Tibet observers say the timing of the tightening could be a sign
that various factions in the Communist Party are engaged in a power
struggle, with hard-liners opposed to any deal that would bring the
religious leader back from his exile in Dharamsala, India. But others
argue that Chinese leaders have several cards and are playing them
simultaneously, essentially negotiating on Tibet while still cracking
down on the Dalai Lama's followers, said Robbie Barnett, professor of
modern Tibetan studies at Columbia University.

"Perhaps this is to wear down the Dalai Lama and threaten his power
base," Barnett said.

A story run in two Chinese newspapers and carried by the official New
China News Agency asserted late last month that, while the Dalai Lama
has told the world he seeks autonomy or a "middle way" rather than
independence, he is not to be believed. "Given the fact that the Dalai
Lama gives out different signals at different times and even at the
same time, one can hardly agree his 'middle way' is different from
'Tibetan independence,' " the article said.

The Chinese government has moved to block any influence the Dalai Lama
has over Tibetans. Earlier this year, after the religious leader made
a plea to protect endangered species and his followers began
destroying their fur-lined traditional robes, the Chinese government
banned Tibetans from burning fur pelts. Then, after monks clashed in a
dispute over clay statues of an obscure deity at a monastery near
Lhasa, the city's mayor accused the Dalai Lama of stirring up trouble
and trying to "sabotage the unity of Tibet."

There have long been cycles of repression and relaxation in Chinese
policy toward Tibet. The previous two party secretaries in the region
were considered technocrats who were more focused on economic
development, observers said.

But the current secretary, Zhang Qingli, who once served in the
Communist Youth League with President Hu Jintao, has a strong record
of making ideological statements against separatism. A former
commander of the paramilitary Xinjiang Production and Construction
Corps, Zhang had been charged with border security and presiding over
the migration of millions of Han Chinese to Xinjiang.

An informed source in Lhasa who spoke on condition of anonymity said
thousands of government workers in Phenpo, a rural area just northeast
of Lhasa, had been asked to write criticisms of the Dalai Lama.
Similar campaigns have targeted monasteries in the past, but the
source said it was unusual to involve civil servants.

After being named to the post in May, Zhang had quickly declared a
stepping-up of the Communist Party's patriotic education campaign in
Tibet, beyond monasteries and nunneries to the wider population. He
said it was a "fight-to- the-death struggle" with the Dalai Lama, who
was "the biggest obstacle hindering Tibetan Buddhism from establishing
normal order," according to state media reports.

Said Saunders, of the International Campaign for Tibet: "It was almost
Cultural Revolution language."

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry did not return a call seeking comment.

(c) 2006 The Washington Post Company

Dammit, thats just what everyone needs, huh?

[footfootfoot]

A little ray of hope there, eh Ibram?

[bluecuracao]

"Perhaps this is to wear down the Dalai Lama and threaten his power
base,"

What a strange comment.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The Dalai Lama is like a whack-a-mole, if the Chinese government takes him out, another one will pop right up. Therefore, their best bet is to keep him alive, keep him weak, and discredit him.

Free Tibet

[Ibby]

I have a Free Tibet sticker on my stickerbass, and I would have put it on the car if my dad would've let me.

My biggest problem with the issue is the (totally predictable and unsuprising) way the Reds paint the Dalai Lama as a subversive militant revolutionary murderer on par with El Che, as opposed to one of the only religious leaders that actually preaches peace, love, and all that good stuff.

[DanaC]

Yep. They have done something very similar for the reputation of the Falun Gong practitioners in China. Painted them as an evil, dangerous sect, when in reality theyre a bunch of disparate individuals, usually with health problems who practice a series of meditative techniques in order to improve general health and well being. They dont have a 'membership' as such. In order to be a Falun Gong practitioner you just do the exercises and follow a buddhist-like set of principles.

For this great crime thousands have been arrested, discredited, financially ruined, incarcerated, tortured or had their organs harvested (often whilst still alive and, at least initally, conscious.)

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by Ibram

My biggest problem with the issue is the (totally predictable and unsuprising) way the Reds paint the Dalai Lama as a subversive militant revolutionary murderer on par with El Che, as opposed to one of the only religious leaders that actually preaches peace, love, and all that good stuff.

Since when is Buddhism a religion?:p

[9th Engineer]

often whilst still alive

Well that'll happen no matter what, you cannot harvest organs from a corpse. The most common senario is to declare the patient brain dead in order to begin the harvest while there is still blood circulation to the organs. In high trauma incidents the doctor can also harvest if he declares no possibility for recovery from injuries. I guess it depends on your definition of death, but you will have a pulse when they remove your organs.

[DanaC]

I think you missed the most horrific part of that which was "and, at least initially, conscious". There's a very disturbing confession by a Chinese doctor in Canada.

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I think you missed the most horrific part of that which was "and, at least initially, conscious". There's a very disturbing confession by a Chinese doctor in Canada.

Link? (I'm sufficiently numb at this point to read it...)

[DanaC]

I'll have to go find it. It was sent to me via email by a contingent of Falun Gong practitioners in the UK who are on an awareness raising tour. What I found most troubling were some of the reports and evidence gathered by Canadians (don't know why, they are at the forefront of this one) Amnesty and the Human Rights Watch.

I also met a couple of women who are over here in hiding. Their stories were difficult to listen to. You would think listening to someone say their story in chinese whilst an interpreter translates chunks at a time, would create a distance, make it easier to hear. It didn't. I sat there and looked into the eyes of this 65 year old Chinese lady and heard her tale.
Heard of the five years she spent in hiding, in appaling conditions, with no heating (think how cold a chinese winter can get) and no water supply, just sneaking out every so often to get the things she and her husband needed, risking arrest each time. I'll not go into the whole tale.

I'll dig out the info for you 3foot. But it'll be tomorrow, it's probably on the computer at the Town Hall.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Were the 65 year old lady and her husband being sought by the government for practicing Falun Gong?
What happens if they renounce the practice...just say, OK, we don't do that any more?
Would the government say;
a- OK, you can go, but we're watching you?
b- It doesn't matter, you did it, it was a crime, you have to pay the price?
c- OK, we won't kill you but you're going to deprogramming & reeducation?

[DanaC]

Thats a very good question Bruce.

The lady in question began Falun Gong, because she had very bad health problems. After practising for a year or so, her health was much improved. At the time when she began practising, the Chinese government were wholly supportive of the practice and actively encouraged people to take it up due to the profound health benefits which were being reported.

Unfortunately when it became clear that there were roughly twice as many people following this practice as there were in the Communist party, they began to see it as a potential threat.

They banned its practice and brought in draconian measures against it.

The people who had been practising it were bemused by this. When reports began to circulate about the 'evil' practices of this 'dangerous sect', They (rather naively)thought the government must have been given wrong information and a large contingent of them went to beijing to tell the government the truth, to show them that they weren't the evil people they'd been painted as. They were arrested. Many disappeared, \many were tortured. Then the over 60s were released, including this woman.

She stopped practising. Her health began to fail again, she took it up again secretly. Someone ( a neighbour she thinks) grassed on her and she was rearrested.

Her experiences radicalised her as they did many others. She lost many friends during the initial crackdown. Some are still in prison ( sentenced to three years, released then rearrested as they leave and sentenced again). The state media has conducted an onslaught , discrediting the practice and the people who follow it. Those who did not know much about it now think these people are wicked and traitorous and to be feared and hated. This lady and a few others conducted a secret leaflet campaign to try and get the truth out. She became dangerous and was treated as a threat. Incredibly brave woman. Doesn't look like much. Just a small woman with a very quiet demeanour and a lot of dead freinds.

[footfootfoot]

cf Reich's Orgone Accumulator.

Moral of the story? Keep your freak flag neatly folded in your sock drawer.