After rare trip, US envoy urges China on Tibet
By Shaun Tandon (AFP) – 3 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The US ambassador to China urged Beijing to re-examine policies toward Tibetans as he acknowledged that he had quietly visited monasteries during a spate of self-immolation protests. Ambassador Gary Locke, speaking from Beijing to an online forum in the United States, said he stopped at monasteries last month in the flashpoint Aba prefecture to “get an appreciation of Tibetan culture and the way of life.” Aba, an ethnically Tibetan area of Sichuan province, has been a hotbed of protests against Beijing’s rule. Some 60 ethnic Tibetans, many of them monks and nuns, have set themselves alight since February 2009 in Sichuan and Tibet.
“We implore the Chinese to really meet with the representatives of the Tibetan people to address and re-examine some of the policies that have led to some of the restrictions and the violence and the self-immolations,” Locke said. “We have very serious concerns about the violence, of the self-immolations, that have occurred over the last several years,” he said, calling the incidents “very deplorable.” “Nobody wants that type of action, or of people having to resort to that type of action. Too many deaths,” he said. Locke called for China to show respect for Tibetans’ religion, culture and language.
The United States has repeatedly urged China to address Tibetan grievances but it is very rare for foreign officials or media to visit Tibetan areas on unsupervised trips. In previous statements, Washington has urged China’s leaders to resume dialogue with Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India in 1959 and enjoys strong public support in the United States. The details of Locke’s visit emerged as President Barack Obama’s administration looks for new ways to promote human rights in China, which regularly lashes out at US condemnation of its record. Obama has faced election-year criticism on China from Republican rivals, who have urged him to be more outspoken on Beijing’s human rights record and its trade and currency practices.
But US officials cite as a success the quiet diplomacy in May that led China to allow dissident Chen Guangcheng to move to New York.
Locke, who was responding to a question as part of a “China Town Hall” with citizens in 60 cities across the United States, said he visited Aba prefecture after a trip to the major cities in Sichuan, where he promoted US businesses. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland earlier acknowledged Locke’s trip after a reporter for The New York Times posted a picture that showed the ambassador, clad in a suit, reaching down to greet an elderly robed monk. The newspaper said that Locke visited two monasteries in Songpan, not in the town of Aba — known as Ngaba by Tibetans — where the self-immolation by a monk in 2009 at Kirti monastery set off the wave of protests. Seven self-immolation protests were reported last week alone among Tibetans, many of whom accuse China of suppressing their culture. Few of the Tibetans who have set themselves alight are believed to have survived. The State Department’s annual human rights reports say that China has denied the political and religious rights of Tibetans. China rejects the charges and says it has brought investment and modernization to Tibet. Locke, the first Chinese American to serve as US ambassador in Beijing, has often fascinated the Chinese public through his humble demeanor. When he headed to Beijing, a picture went viral that showed the former governor at Seattle’s airport paying for his own coffee at Starbucks. Locke said he found the Chinese to be “so welcoming and engaging” toward him since he took his position.
Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved
Chinese Predicament at Continuing Tibetan Self-Immolation
Bhuchung K. Tsering
October 23, 2012
Even as the Chinese leadership is engrossed with preparations relating tothe upcoming 18th Party Congress, the continuing Tibetan self-immolations
are posing a particular predicament to them. As I write this on October 23, 2012, there is the latest report of another Tibetan, Dorjee Rinchen, from
the Labrang area in Amdo committing self-immolation.
Thus, the Chinese authorities’ hope of the issue fading away — as a result of a combination of threats suppression and increased control — before the
Party Congress is not happening. There are indications that the Chinese leadership are now beginning to fear the negative impact of their lack of
courage to deal with the developments in Tibet.
Jia Qinglin, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and a key figure involved in Tibet, is quoted by the
official Chinese media on October 23 as saying, “the country is in a key period of fighting against the Dalai Lama group.”
Similarly, Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party, on October 19, told a
“seminar on safeguarding security and stability during the upcoming national congress” that the “risk of major social problems should be evaluated to
prevent and reduce conflicts in areas such as Tibet and Xinjiang.”
As an indication of lack of confidence in some of their officials in the Tibetan areas, the Tibet Autonomous Region Party Secretary Chen Quanguo is
reported by the People’s Daily as using a conference on October 16 to say “that local military officials should cooperate with police and be on
standby around the clock, adding that officials would be dismissed on the spot if their areas of responsibility did not remain stable.”
The Chinese authorities want stability and fear destabilization on account of the situation in Tibet. However, the continued tragic self-immolations by
Tibetans is a clear indication of the depth of feelings among the Tibetan people at their current state of affairs. The only lasting solution is for
the Chinese authorities to address the genuine grievances of the Tibetan people.
To start with, the Chinese leaders should really look at some of their own statements and apply them positively to their Tibetan policy. China’s
Global Times quotes Jia Qinglin as saying that “Tibet-related issues were of paramount importance.” Is suppression the right way to deal with an issue
that is really important? Similarly, it quotes Zhou Yongkang as telling the above-mentioned seminar that “people’s reasonable appeals as well as
petitions should be better dealt with.” If he really wants to act on this, then why are the Chinese leaders letting so many Tibetan lives be lost
without doing anything to redress their grievances. How many more Tibetans have to lose their lives before the Chinese authorities can consider them
“reasonable appeals”?
It was a pity that during the final American presidential debate on October 22, 2012 that was devoted to foreign policy, hardly any time was spent on
the fundamental American values of democracy and freedom. The United States and other countries have a responsibility to see that the peaceful struggle
in Tibet succeed if they are for a more peaceful world. There is reason that people are beginning to ask why the world is not paying adequate attention
to the developments in Tibet. Prof. Jeffrey Hopkins of the University of Virginia in fact said it well when he mentioned at a public event with the
Dalai Lama on October 11, 2012 in Charlottesville that in Vietnam it took two such deaths and the world was aroused while in Tibet there have been
more than 50 self-immolations and the world is not yet aroused.
In an interview with Ann Curry of NBC news (broadcast on October 11, 2012), the Dalai Lama said it was difficult to judge whether the method (used by
the self-immolators) is right or wrong, but they are a non-violent expression of feelings regarding Chinese policies. He said that the Tibetans
in Tibet are passing through really desperate situation.
Commenting about the nature of the Tibetan struggle and the Chinese attitude, the Dalai Lama told Ann Curry, “The struggle is between the power
of truth and power of gun. For short term, power of gun may seem much stronger. But in the long run, power of truth is much stronger.” When asked
what is the one thing that he would ask world leaders to support the Tibetans, he responded, “Just one word, freedom.”
We are now approaching the end of the term of President Hu Jintao and it is now clear that he is leaving behind a legacy of suppression of Tibetans,
lack of foresight to deal with the issue and disregard of avenues that will really lead to stability of the People’s Republic of China and the
establishment of a harmonious society. Hu Jintao has failed on Tibet. We will now have to see how the new leadership that will emerge out of the 18th
Party Congress will fare.
The inextinguishable Tibetan fire in China’s darkness
“Since China is uninterested in the well being of the Tibetan people, we are sharpening our nonviolent movement.e are declaring the reality of Tibet by burning our own bodies to call for freedom of Tibet… .We will win the battle through truth, by shooting the arrows of our lives, by using the bow of our mind.’
– Gudrup
Though the hungry wolves in witching pandas’ skin
Devour our people and leave our land a wasteland
Though we fall into the esurient embrace of a predatory enemy
There will be no white flags upon our doors.
– ‘No White Flags’, Shakapba
These defiant and moving words of Gudrup (a Tibetan poet and writer who self-immolated this month) and Tibetan scholar and historian, Shakabpa, express the pain and courageous resistance of those who seek justice and freedom in Tibet. These are not the words of desperate, suicide victims but of human beings pushed to the limit in their battle for truth combined with a defiant refusal to surrender to violence, oppression and injustice. As Costica Bradatan writes in ‘The Political Psychology of Self-Immolations’: Self-immolation has little to do with suicide … self-immolation is a deliberate, determined and painfully expressive form of individual protest.’ To try and fathom the Tibetan self-immolations is to mentally enter into inhospitable and dangerous terrain: the Chinese darkness covering Tibet. Conceptually doing justice to the mental experience of nausea, terror, reverence and fascination when imagining the circumstances that create such radical yet brave acts of resistance is difficult; one is rendered speechless.
Five Tibetan men burn themselves alive in the space of three weeks
Fifty-six Tibetans have burned themselves alive in Tibet since February 2009, out which 47 have died. All those who self-immolated have shouted slogans demanding freedom for Tibetans and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet. In less than three weeks alone, there have been four such deadly protests. Over the past two years, these acts of non-violent resistance in Tibet have grown not only in numbers, but also in the breadth of participants and places, widening the demographic make up of the self-immolators in all major Tibetan regions. The Tibetan self-immolators have a range of social backgrounds and ages, contrary to the mainstream media’s assertions that the protesters are predominantly monks and nuns or are young and thus more politicised (with a certain dismissiveness implied by that).
A father of two
According to media reports, on 20 October, Lhamo Kyab, 27, a father of two young daughters, set himself on fire near Bora Monastery in Sangchu (Chinese: Xiahe) county, Kanlho (Gannan) Prefecture, Gansu province. Eyewitness reports state that he succumbed to his burn injuries at the site of his protest.
Phayul.com reported an eyewitness as stating that: “Engulfed in flames, Lhamo Kyab raised slogans calling for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet and then fell to the ground after walking a few steps,” and that ‘Following the self-immolation, a minor scuffle broke out at the site of the protest between Chinese security personnel and local Tibetans, who succeeded in carrying Lhamo Kyab’s charred body inside the Monastery’s main prayer hall.’
A Grandfather of a high Tibetan lama
On 13 October, these protests reached a new level as the grandfather of a prominent reincarnate spiritual leader in Tibet burned himself to death to defy the Chinese government. Tamdin Dorjee, a Tibetan from the Tsoe region in Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, was around 50 years old, father of three and grandfather of the 10-year-old boy recognised as the 7th Gungthang Rinpoche. Not only a respected elder relative of a high lama, he would also be considered part of the Tibetan elite. He reportedly sacrificed himself near the Manithogang stupa at the Tsoe Gaden Choeling Monastery calling for ‘freedom in Tibet’, ‘the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his return to Tibet’. Dolkar Tso, 26, a mother of two, sacrificed her life at the very same spot on 7 August 2012. Monks and lay people in the area were reported to have offered their respect and prayers to his family. Tsoe Gaden Choeling Monastery is currently under heavy lockdown by armed Chinese forces. Sources say Tibetans gathered in large numbers to pray for Dorjee despite a heavy military buildup in the area following his self-immolation.
A Father of Two
On 6 October, Sangay Gyatso, another 27-year-old father of two, burned himself alive as a protest against Chinese rule in Tsoe (Chinese: Hezuo) city, Gansu Province. According to sources, this act of resistance was carried out near a Buddhist stupa at Dokar Monastery, demonstrating yet again the non-violent, sacred motivations behind these Tibetan ‘body-offerings’. Gyatso burned to death. Chinese security forces were then reportedly rushed to the area and Dokar Monastery to suppress any further protest.
A Writer
On 4 October, Tibetan writer named Gudrup, 43, staged a self-immolation protest against Chinese rule in Nagchu (Chinese: Naqu) County town in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Witnesses say that he shouted slogans calling for Tibetan freedom before setting himself on fire at a local marketplace, Radio Free Asia reported. According to Voice of America, witnesses said Gudrup was badly burned when he was brought to a hospital. A doctor later told them Gudrup had died, but the authorities so far have refused to release his body to his family. Gudrup is a native of Diru (Chinese: Biru) in Nagchu Prefecture, TAR, and was a writer who read extensively on Tibet’s history. He studied at Sherab Gatsel Lobling School in Dharamsala in India before returning to his homeland in 2005 upon completion of his studies. He has been described as a prolific writer who goes by the pen name ‘Youth of Snow Realm’. According to an article by Woeser, a prominent Beijing-based Tibetan writer and activist, Gudrup wrote poetry and articles on his blog about the Tibetan protests and struggle, reportedly leaving this powerful message on 14 March 2012:
“Sound of National Drum Beaten by Lives
The people of the Land of Snow share a common goal of bringing His Holiness the Dalai Lama back to an independent Tibet. But when His Holiness opted for autonomy for Tibet through nonviolent struggle, the six million Tibetans accepted his wishes. However, the Chinese government has not supported his proposal. Moreover, Tibetans who are concerned about the welfare of the people are subjected to arbitrary arrests and beatings. Tibetans who refuse to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama or accept China’s rule on Tibet are secretly killed or made to disappear. Since China is uninterested in the well being of the Tibetan people, we are sharpening our nonviolent movement. We are declaring the reality of Tibet by burning our own bodies to call for freedom of Tibet. Higher beings, Please see Tibet. Mother earth, Extend compassion to Tibet. Just world, Uphold the truth. The pure land of snow is now tainted with red blood, where military crackdowns are ceaseless. We as sons and daughters of the Land of Snow will win the battle. We will win the battle through truth, by shooting the arrows of our lives, by using the bow of our mind. Dear brothers and sisters of the Land of Snow, please unite together and prioritize the well being of all Tibetans by putting aside personal issues. We can only enjoy equality and freedom then.”
Despite censorship, Chinese social media is difficult to control. On Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, where censorship is a regular fact of life, netizens reverted to speaking in code. A post by the head of a Buddhist charity organization in Tibet featuring wording very similar to Gudrup’s final post quickly went viral. Some of the 5,000 netizens who chose to comment praised the wisdom of the post, while other Weibo users connected the words to those associated with Gudrup’s death.
A Bachelor
On 29 September, Yungdrung, 27, a layman, set himself on fire in Zatoe (Chinese: Zaduo) in Jyekundo (Chinese: Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. According to sources, Yungdrung was dressed in traditional Tibetan clothes and immolated in front of a row of shops in the town, calling for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Gyalwang Karmapa to Tibet, and describing Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay as the political leader of Tibet. He also raised slogans asking the Chinese government to stop the exploitation of Tibet’s mineral resources and called for Tibetan freedom. Chinese security personnel immediately took him away to an unknown location. He has reportedly died but the Chinese authorities have not released his body to his family. Yungdrung is a native of Karma Yultso village in Karma Township, Chamdo (Chinese: Changdu), TAR, and had been staying at Zatoe town.
Such a sustained level of self-immolation protests against a regime’s injustice is historically unprecedented. Not only demonstrating the courageous spirit of Tibetan resistance but also the extent to which the Chinese military lockdown of Tibet has pushed the Tibetan people into taking such drastic actions. This month, the Dalai Lama also spoke of the ‘courage and strength of the Tibetan people’ in a talk to local Tibetans in Virginia, USA:
“I can perhaps say that there has not been a more urgent and a worst period for us since the early history of the Tibetan people. Today, the existence of the Tibetan people and its culture is not without a danger. But if we take a look back over the past 60 years, it is clear that there is an unwavering courage and strength in the Tibetan people. Such has not withered despite living under a great hardship. Although there is a continuous attempt to diminish it through force and other means, the courage of the Tibetan people has not been lost. That is because we have truth on our side.”
Media reporting: a distorted, dehumanising effect
These unimaginable acts of sacrifice and bravery do not demonstrate, as many would have us believe, that Tibetans are ‘helpless’, ‘desperate’, ‘non-Buddhist’, or ‘suicide victims’. Even the oft-used phrase ‘self-immolation’ has to some extent de-humanised the protests giving them a clinical, technical tone, instead of the more realistic phrase ‘burning oneself alive’. Reporting these stories simply in terms of cold ‘objective facts’ and ‘statistics’ only further sanitises and diminishes the human struggle and injustice behind such actions.
Headlines such as ‘Tibetans in Turmoil’ reveal how the Chinese government and media propaganda efforts have been relatively successful in ensuring that the actions of the Tibetans themselves (the oppressed) have been put under the international media’s magnifying glass, as opposed to focusing on the root of the problem: China’s inhumane and repressive policies in Tibet and the insane and unbending oppression of the Tibetan people and the wanton destruction of their culture, language, religion and physical environment.
Debates as to whether the Tibetan protests are Buddhist or non-violent are a distraction from the real issue and feed the Chinese propaganda. In direct contradiction to the Chinese propaganda that the immolations are ‘terrorist acts’ and ‘barbaric’ organised by a ‘Dalai Lama splittist clique’, Amnesty International recently reported that there have been 41 cases of Chinese self-immolation against forced evictions in China from 2009 to 2011. These are different from Tibetan cases but it is striking that the form of protest is the same.
It is noteworthy that these recent burning sacrifices took place despite the fact that, on 28 September, a special meeting in Dharamsala, India, of more than 400 exile Tibetans from 26 countries, issued a fervent appeal urging Tibetans not to undertake such protests.
Chinese ‘lunacy’, paranoia and its brutal policy of prevention
Almost all Tibetan regions under Chinese rule have been the site of protests and self-immolations since 2008, when an uprising spread across Tibet from Lhasa. Local and central Chinese authorities have responded to each incidence with further security clampdowns and detentions, and accused the protesters with a wide range of charges: terrorists, separatists, womanizers, mentally ill, and people with domestic problems. However, such draconian and brutal measures have failed to stop these and other protests in Tibet. It is not the Tibetan protesters who are displaying symptoms of being mentally ill but those who dictate, influence and carry out China’s catastrophic policy of annihilating a people and a culture.
Such mental instability on the part of the Chinese authorities can be seen in February 2012, in an open letter to the Chinese leadership, by Luo Feng, a Tibetan cadre who writes about the two ‘lunatics’ (Tibetan: སྨྱོ་ཧམ་དང་ཧོལ་རྒྱུགས་ཆེ་པའི་དཔོན་རིགས smyo ham dang hol rgyugs che pai dpon rigs) in charge of stability in Ngaba County. The letter was written in the wake of a major promotion of hardliner Shi Jun from regional Party Secretary to the Director-General of Public Security for Sichuan province. The letter appeared on website forums and blogs and was circulated widely and re-posted on Woeser’s blog. It also appeared in Tibetan on Tibetan blogs but was swiftly taken offline:
”His way of appointing officials has made people of all walks of life in Ngaba feel unimaginably strange and is impervious to reason. The comments among the people go as follows: the work of maintaining stability in Ngaba County was in charge by two “lunatics,” and the more they are taking control, the crazier the situation is becoming. One is the deputy governor of Ngaba Prefecture Yan Chunfeng, who was recruited as a city-planning specialist by Ngaba Prefecture after May 12, but he does not know anything about the ethnic minority regions, has no knowledge about the policies for religion or religious problems, has no emotional attachment toward people in Tibetan areas, and is even more ignorant about Tibetan language. Thus, having him in charge of maintaining stability is simply a complete mistake, and he has made an ass of himself. The more he talks, the sillier he sounds, and the more work he does, the more chaotic the situation is. The other “lunatic” is Luo Feng, who is the head of the Administration Department of Kirti Monastery. Like Chunfeng, he is also like a blank paper and knows nothing. He only knows how to scheme, but does not know how to pacify.”
China’s inability to find a solution to the self-immolations was also described in the 2012 US Congressional Executive Committee on China’s annual report. It states: ”The Party and government have not indicated any willingness to consider Tibetan grievances in a constructive manner and to hold themselves accountable for Tibetan rejection of Chinese policies, and handled the crisis as a threat to state security and social stability instead of as a policy failure.”
Murder, harassment and imprisonment are some of the weapons used in China’s current arsenal of prevention. Only last week, the Chinese courts sentenced four Tibetans to prison, for allegedly aiding a self-immolation protest and leaking news of protests to outside contacts.
Although TCHRD is unable to confirm, on 23 August, media sources reported that Chinese police murdered Dorjee Rabten, 57, after first harassing him and his brother and placing him under severe restrictions. Rabten had allegedly decided to self-immolate against China’s practice of denouncing the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, the lack of freedom in Tibet, and the Chinese government’s policies of restricting academic opportunities to Tibetan youths.
The Chinese authorities have also recently prosecuted scores of Tibetans on charges of fomenting opposition against the Chinese government. In August, a 17-year-old girl was given a three-year sentence for distributing leaflets calling for religious freedom and for the return of the Dalai Lama. In June, a prominent monk, Yonten Gyatso, was sentenced to seven years for sending out photographs and information about the self-immolation of a Buddhist nun.
Chinese citizens themselves are also kept in the dark with the Chinese media not reporting the crackdowns on Tibetans and their burning sacrifices.
Tibetan protests are not a failure for Tibetans
TCHRD rejects the predominant Chinese, mainstream and academic narratives, which perpetuate speculative untruths that Tibetan self-immolations are suicidal, violent and non-Buddhist. We also reject the contention that such protests are a failure and without impact. The failure fundamentally lies with Chinese hardline policies in Tibet and that is where the emphasis should focus in any discussion. Gyaltsen, the cousin of self-immolator Lobsang Jamyang, recently wrote about his frustration at such biased messages:
‘It seems that our protests and specially the news of self-immolations fell on deaf ears but it is not true that Tibetan protests have gone unheard or unnoticed … right after the self-immolation of my cousin, people of all ages came to my village and helped the victim in such a manner that everyone seemed of belonging to our ‘family’. All the conflicts, which once divided the people blurred away. Even if there was hatred and separation among the Tibetans earlier, everyone acted and felt like brothers and sisters, living and working together … this story took place in an impoverished village but when we earth out every such story together, it is crystal clear that all those protests specially the self-immolations triggered a new spark of unity, patriotism and nationalism among Tibetans and woke up many Tibetans from their deep slumbers. ‘
Gyaltsen’s account of Tibetan unity and solidarity is also supported by a defiant video message of resistance smuggled out of occupied Tibet and received by the Voice of Tibet on 11 October. The message (in Tibetan) talks about posters that were distributed by Tibetans in Chentsa (Chinese: Jiancha) County in Malho (Chinese: Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, urging Tibetans not to take part in the local archery festival despite Chinese officials paying some local Tibetans to do so. The speaker quotes a Tibetan proverb for those who are undecided: ‘An excellent horse has its own way of running. A man should search his own independent state of mind.’
This Tibetan defiance and refusal to be silenced, despite the intense pressure placed upon them not to do so by the Chinese authorities, is the reason why Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay is correct when he recently stated that the Tibetan spirit is stronger than the Chinese authorities. As Bradatan eloquently concludes:
In the long-run Tibetans’ despair may be China’s worst nightmare. What a routinisation of self-immolation as political protest can lead to the Chinese authorities may not be even able to comprehend. And, yet, they should not be surprised; maybe it is time they start re-reading the little red book: “Where there is oppression, there is resistance.” In his grave, Mao Zedong is dreaming in Tibetan. We would go further than that. If Mao were sincere in his political statements, he would not just be dreaming in his grave, he would be turning in his grave. So, rather than quoting Mao, we think it more suitable to quote the great Indian freedom fighter Gandhi who said: “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” These protests clearly display the indomitable will of Tibetans. This inner strength combined with the intractability of the Chinese authorities will inevitably lead to something more explosive. For the sake of all, we hope the Chinese government regain control of their sanity and give the Tibetan people the freedom and self-determination they are entitled to.
Tsering Tsomo (Ms.)
Official email: director@tchrd.org
Twitter: @arogaga
Skype: tsetsomohor
Cell: (91) 98168-75856
Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh
India
Grandfather of Tibetan reincarnate lama dies after self-immolation today
13th October 2012
The grandfather of a prominent young Tibetan reincarnate lama died today after setting fire to himself near a monastery in Kanlho (Chinese: Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture) in Gansu Province (the Tibetan area of Amdo). Tibetans gathered to pray for him despite an intense military buildup in the area following the self-immolation. It is the 55th self-immolation in Tibet since February, 2009.
Tamdin Dorje, who was in his early fifties, was from Drong che village in Khasag township in Kanlho. He was a father of three and the grandfather of the 10 year old boy who is recognised as one of the most important lamas in historic Labrang Tashikyil (Chinese: Xiahe) monastery, Gungthang Rinpoche.
Images received by Tibetans in exile from Tibet depict troops converging on the area, and Tibetans taking Tamdin Dorje’s body for cremation. Tamdin Dorje set fire to himself in the same place as mother of two Dolkar Tso, who self-immolated on August 7, near a white stupa beside Tsoe Gaden Choeling monastery in Kanlho (see ICT report, 7 August 2012).
A young Tibetan man, 27-year old Sangay Gyatso, set fire to himself and died next to a different monastery in Tsoe (Chinese: Hezuo) on October 6, the third self-immolation in that week (see Voice of America report, 6 October 2012 and ICT report, 5 October 2012), marking a continued increase in frequency of self-immolations in Tibet.
The self-immolation today is likely to be noted with concern by the authorities due to the connection to the young lama recognised as the 7th Gungthang Rinpoche, Lobsang Geleg Tenpe Khenchen, who was born in 2002 in the village of Dzoege, east of Tsoe city, the seat of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the southern part of Gansu Province. Tamdin Dorje was the father of the young lama’s mother.
The boy lama’s predecessor, the 6th Gungthang Rinpoche Jigme Tenpe Wangchug (1926-2000) was a highly influential lama known as a great and popular scholar in Amdo. He was imprisoned in 1958 during the period of ‘Democratic Reform’ by the Communist authorities and following his release in 1979, was very active as a leader of the religious revival in eastern Tibet, and the reconstruction of his home monastery, Labrang. His teachings of the Kalachakra religious empowerment in the 1990s drew tens of thousands of Tibetans.
Four years after the Gungthang Rinpoche’s death in 2000, his reincarnation was announced by the Chinese news agency Xinhua following the involvement of respected Tibetan lama, the 6th Jamyang Zhepa. The Chinese Communist Party, which promotes atheism, has imposed regulations on controlling the selection, installation and education of reincarnate lamas, and is clearly seeking to control and co-opt the 7th Gungthang Rinpoche.
Following the self-immolation of the boy’s grandfather Tamdin Dorje today, Tibetans from all over the area began to gather at the monastery in Tsoe to pray after his passing.
Monks Punished Over Protests
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/punished-10192012154126.html
More than 70 monks have been disrobed and others beaten at a Tibetan monastery and have had their religious classes and study groups canceled as punishment for actions challenging Chinese rule, according to Tibetan sources.
The crackdown at the Boeyag monastery in the Tibet Autonomous Region’s Menda township, Chamdo county, has been under way since two monks were detained in March for leading prayers for Tibetans who have burned themselves to death in protests, a resident of the area told RFA’s Tibetan service.
The whereabouts of Jamyang Yeshe—the monastery’s chant leader—and a monk named Drubgyu are still not known almost eight months after they were taken into custody, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The two monks were accused of organizing prayers for self-immolators and for holding long-life prayers for the Dalai Lama,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“They were also accused of ‘illegally’ teaching Buddhism to laypeople outside the monastery and of promoting the intensive study of the Tibetan language, which has become increasingly popular in the area,” the source said.
Harsh restrictions
Sources told RFA that Chinese authorities placed harsh restrictions on the Boeyag monastery beginning March 10, when monks were accused of “behaving badly” at a flag-raising conducted at the monastery by Chinese officials.
“The monks suffered severe beatings,” the source said.
More than 70 monks from the monastery have now been forcibly returned to lay status and forbidden to wear their robes, the source said, adding that religious classes and study groups have also been closed.
“Now, the abbots and other monks are not allowed outside the monastery grounds for more than three days at a time, which has caused great hardships for them,” he said.
In one case, Thoega Rinpoche, 64, a senior teacher at the monastery, was denied permission to leave to seek medical treatment after falling ill, and he died on Aug. 16, he added.
“Both the monastery and Tibetan households in the area are forced to display posters showing the Chinese flag and portraits of several generations of Chinese Communist leaders,” he said.
“Not having these in one’s possession is considered a violation of the law.”
Tibetan flag raised
Fifty-five Tibetans have burned themselves to death since February 2009 in protests challenging Chinese rule and calling for the return of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, as Tibetans increasingly question Chinese policies which they say are discriminatory and have robbed them of their rights.
Most of the burnings have occurred in Tibetan-populated areas of the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai, and Gansu, but five have been reported in the Tibetan Autonomous Region in spite of Chinese efforts to keep the protests from spreading.
Meanwhile, Chinese police in the Wonpo region of Dzachukha in Sichuan province’s Kardze prefecture on Monday detained five Tibetans suspected of raising the banned Tibetan national flag during a Sept. 7 protest at a local school, according to Tibetan reports.
A Chinese flag had first been pulled down, and leaflets calling for Tibetan freedom were scattered on the school’s grounds.
No arrests were made at the time, but officials vowed to investigate the incident, sources said.
The names of those picked up in the late-night raid and information on where they are being held are still unknown.
Reported by RFA’s Tibetan service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Exiles Urge End to Burnings
2012-09-28
Tibetan exiles call for an end to self-immolations and blame China for the crisis.
The second Tibetan Special General Meeting opens in Dharamsala, India on Sept. 25, 2012.
Hundreds of Tibetan exiles meeting in India called on Friday for an end to self-immolation protests by Tibetans challenging Chinese rule and warned Beijing that it will have to bear “full responsibility” for any further deterioration of Tibetan rights, according to the Tibetan government in exile.
In a series of recommendations issued at the conclusion of a Special General Meeting held in the hill-town of Dharamsala, seat of the exile government and home to exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, more than 400 delegates from 26 countries called the fiery protests by Tibetans “the highest form of non-violent action,” the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) said in a statement.
Nevertheless, the meeting expressed “grave concern” over the burnings and urged Tibetans inside Tibet not to take “drastic actions,” the CTA said at the end of the four-day meeting convened to discuss the “crisis” in Tibet following the self-immolations.
“Tibet is a thinly populated country, and in the present situation losing even one life is a great loss for the Tibetan people,” delegates to the meeting declared in the seventh of a list of 31 recommendations and resolutions.
“Please preserve your lives in the future,” they said.
Similar expressions of concern from exile figures and from the Dalai Lama himself over the burnings have gone largely unheeded in the past, with 51 Tibetans having set fire to themselves to date to challenge Chinese rule in Tibetan areas and call for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet.
Wider support sought
The meeting held at the Tibetan Children’s Village school was the largest gathering of exile Tibetans since the Special General Meeting called in 2008 following widespread protests across Tibetan areas of China that resulted in a brutal crackdown by security forces.
Delegates to this week’s meeting—including members of Tibetan organizations based in India, the United States, Europe, and other countries—formed committees to discuss proposals for ending the crisis and for gaining wider international support for Tibetan rights.
Discussions were restricted, though, to proposals put forward within the framework of the Dalai Lama’s Middle Way policy, which calls only for greater autonomy for Tibetans living in Tibetan-populated areas of China, and not for a return to independence.
“The meeting resolved to pursue the Middle Way policy to find a meaningful solution through dialogue with the Chinese government,” the CTA said in its statement.
It also called on the cabinet of the exile government to raise awareness of the Middle Way policy and its proposals among the Chinese people themselves, the CTA said, adding that consistent appeals for support should also be made to the United Nations, the European Union, and other world bodies.
Hard-line policies
International calls for China to address Tibetan concerns are routinely brushed aside by Chinese diplomats, who assert China’s right to rule the Himalayan region it invaded more than 50 years ago.
Noting that Tibetan religion, culture, and language “are being annihilated in Tibet under the Chinese government’s repressive policies,” delegates to the meeting urged Tibetans living in exile to protect and preserve their traditions.
Placing final responsibility on China for an end to the crisis in Tibet, though, delegates to the meeting strongly urged Chinese leaders to end their “hardline policies” in the region, the CTA said in its statement.
“China should take full responsibility for the further deterioration of the situation if they fail to reform its wrong policies,” the CTA said.
Reported by Richard Finney.
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