Tibet Exile Leader Blames Self-Immolations On China Policy

[News_Editor]

Lobsang Sangay, prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, waits to testify before the Commons subcommittee on international human rights on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 26, 2013. (Photo: Reuters)

OTTAWA — Beijing’s attempts to stop Tibetans setting themselves on fire to protest against Chinese rule are counter-productive and are only provoking more self-immolations, the Tibetan prime minister in exile told Reuters on Tuesday.

Lobsang Sangay, who replaced the Dalai Lama as the political leader of exiled Tibetans in 2011, said Beijing first branded self-immolators as thieves and then as homeless. Later they blamed his government in exile.

“Then they started criminalizing it, prosecuting not just the self-immolators [but also] their family members quite strongly in the months of December and January. But now self-immolation has continued,†Sangay said.

“So that means that no matter how hardline their policies, no matter how much they crack down on Tibetans, it doesn’t seem to work. So in that sense, it’s high time they review their policies and acknowledge that it’s not working and then address the issue more realistically.â€

In early February, Chinese state media said the authorities had detained 70 “criminal suspects†in a crackdown on self-immolations.

Sangay, a Harvard-educated lawyer, said 107 Tibetans had set themselves on fire since 2009, including six or seven this year.

“The blame squarely lies with Beijing. Their hard-line policies are making Tibetans self-immolate,†he said, speaking in a room in the Canadian Parliament before testifying to a human rights subcommittee of the House of Commons.

“We discourage the actions, but support the aspirations,†Sangay said, referring to those who have chosen self-immolation. “How much more forceful can we be? We’ve said, ‘Don’t do it. Life is precious.’â€

In subsequent remarks to reporters, Sangay challenged the Canadian government to send Ambassador Andrew Bennett of its newly formed Office of Religious Freedom to Tibet to investigate the situation.

“The Chinese government does claim that Tibetans enjoy religious freedom and that the international community is welcome to visit Tibetan monasteries and nunneries to assess the situation for themselves,†he said.

“If that is the case, then a request from the Canadian government [to visit] should be fulfilled.â€

Sangay told Reuters he has not noticed any change in policy towards Tibet or minorities with the new leadership in China, noting, for instance, that the Politburo and Central Committee have fewer representatives of minorities than before.

However, looking ahead to the annual meeting of parliament next week when Communist Party chief Xi Jinping assumes the reins of state power from President Hu Jintao, he added: “We remain hopeful that they [will] change.â€

Sangay voiced appreciation for support to the Tibetan cause, including meetings between the Dalai Lama and US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Even so, more needed to be done and fear of losing trade must not stop governments from speaking out more consistently, he said.

“You cannot simply just give your money to China and then at the same time not stand up for morals as well. That’s a win-win proposition for China and a lose-lose proposition for Canada,†he said.

Source: Irrawaddy.org

[Publicus]

China always has been an empire builder, so Tibet as a former neighbor of China was high on the list of lands to seize by force, as Beijing did do in 1959. Owning Tibet is also useful to Beijing in its neverending territorial kleptomania as Beijing builds military forces at the India border to eventually reclaim by force northern areas of India that China insists it has ownership of (I guess some Chinaman spat there 2000 years ago). The response of the Indian government is to create two new mountain infantry divisions in the northern area of India that China attacked in 1962 during the brief China-India war initiated by Beijing. India in recent years has seen Beijing forcefully claiming all of the international waters of the South China Sea (properly the South East Asia Sea) and making belligerent assertions against Japan over islands, so India is preparing for the worst from Beijing against northern India from Tibet.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/165996/china-preparing-tibet-future-war.html

Then let's not forget the Uighur people of central Asia who were annexed forcably by Beijing into a new territory of westernmost China called Xinjiang. The conflicts of the Turkic speaking Muslim people who too have been swallowed by the Chinese dragon continue and Beijing continues time and again to send more and more ruthless armed security forces against the Uighurs.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2012/0302/In-China-reporting-on-Tibetan-and-Uighur-unrest-is-nearly-impossible

[maidu]

I admire Lobsang Sangay for his clear thinking and straightforward manner. I've always liked the Dalai Lama too, but felt he was too nice for the job of being political chief as well as head monk (he refers to himself as 'just a monk').

I would be surprised if there are not plans by Beijing politburo thugs to 'off' Lobsang Sangay. I trust he's wary at all times. Maybe he'll get a Nobel Peace Prize b4 2 long.

Kudos to Canadian Authorities for extending an invitation to Lobsang. Few countries in the world have the courage to stand up for what's right - in the face of threats from the gazillion pound Chinese paper mache dragon. Certainly meek little Thailand would faint at the slightest hint of annoying Beijing. During a meeting of Asian countries in Bkk, it immediately took down a Taiwanese flag in response to a mere scowl of a Chinaman walking by. Thailand also immediately withdrew an invitation to the Dalai Lama (to attend a religious conference in Bkk) when a Chinese man objected. Thai officialdom has no backbone.