Obituary: Robert Ford
http://www.tibetsociety.com/content/view/426
[27 September 2013] Robert Ford, Vice President of Tibet Society and former Council Member, died at the age of 90 on 20 September 2013. Robert’s connection with Tibet was unique – he happened to be in a remote spot in Tibet at a time of dramatic events – and no one can experience again what Robert experienced.
Known affectionately by Tibetans as Phodo Kusho (Honourable Gentleman Ford), Robert was the only British citizen to serve as an employee of the independent Tibetan government in the 1940s. He worked as a radio operator and was assigned the task of setting up Tibet’s first broadcasting station. When appointed he knew very little about Tibet except that it promised “adventure”. He certainly got more adventure than he bargained for!
In October 1950, the Chinese invaded Tibet and within days Robert was captured in Chamdo, near the border with China. The People’s Liberation Army was rabidly triumphalist, having recently defeated the Nationalist forces under Chiang Kai-Shek who withdrew to Formosa/Taiwan. Robert was everything the Chinese communists wanted – a westerner, an “imperialist” (so they thought), a spy – everything they needed to justify their invasion of Tibet which was ostensibly to rid Tibet of American and British imperialism.
Robert was paraded in public, subjected to intense interrogation, isolation and brain-washing – one of the earliest examples of this technique which was only just becoming familiar to the West. To terrify him more they accused him of having murdered Geda Lama – a “Living Buddha” who was actually a Chinese spy and stooge. He was the only European to suffer capture and imprisonment by the Chinese for his unswerving loyalty to Tibet. A loyalty and affection that was recognised and appreciated by Tibetans throughout his life.
When released from gaol in Chungking in 1955, he joined the British Diplomatic Service and in 1957 wrote about his extraordinary experience in Wind Between the Worlds. This was re-published in 1990 as Captured in Tibet. However, as a servant of HMG he was unable to comment on sensitive political matters such as the situation in Tibet, but when he retired from the diplomatic service in 1983 he openly and proudly supported the Tibetan cause. He became a Council Member of Tibet Society, the world’s first Tibet support group, where he brought great experience and wisdom to the meetings.
Earlier this year, he was presented with the Light of Truth Award by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Switzerland. In his acceptance speech on receiving the award, Robert said, “I am a member of a rather exclusive club of Westerners who have the privilege and good fortune to see, know and witness a free Tibet before 1950. I spent some of the happiest days of my life in Tibet. The Tibet that I found when I first went there in 1945 was vastly different to the Tibet of today. It was an independent country with its own government, its own language, culture, customs and way of life… To me as an outsider, the most remarkable feature of Tibetans was their devotion to their religion and their unswerving support for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Another striking feature was their remarkable self-reliance both in the material and the spiritual sense. Tibet valued its self-imposed isolation and independence. Its simple wish was to be left alone to run its own affairs in the way that it thought best.”
In honour of his loyalty to Tibet, in March 2013, the Tibetan Community in the UK put on a special celebration for his 90th birthday at Tibet House in London. The Dalai Lama’s Representative, Thubten Samdup, presented Robert with the last of his Tibetan salary (which because he was captured he never received) – a 100 srang note of Tibetan currency. Robert was deeply touched and moved by this occasion.
Born in Staffordshire in 1923, he married his childhood friend, Monica Tebbett and had two sons, Giles and Martin. He was awarded a CBE for his diplomatic service in 1982 and continued to travel widely, giving lectures on many aspects of Tibetan and Chinese affairs to audiences in Europe, the United States and Australia. He remained physically active throughout his life. He enjoyed walking, skiing and dancing (even teaching the Tibetans in Lhasa how to do the samba!).
In his 90th year he said, “One of the advantages of living a long life like me is that you witness some extraordinary changes, some of which earlier in your life you would never imagine could have happened. This gives me great hope and I wish with all my heart that we will once again see a return to a free Tibet.”
Robert Ford (Phodo Kushu) was indeed an honourable gentleman, blessed with a fine intellect, a deep knowledge and love of Tibet, a sparkling dry wit and was a wonderful inspiration to many. He will be much missed and our thoughts at this time go out to his sons, Giles and Martin and their families.
Paul Golding
Campaigns Coordinator
paul@tibetsociety.com
020 7272 1414
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Tibet Society Unit 9, 139 Fonthill Road, London N4 3HF, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7272 1414  Fax: +44 (0)20 7272 1410
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Lithuanian President meeting with Dalai Lama highlights importance of EU solidarity
http://www.euractiv.com/global-europe/lithuanian-president-meeting-dal-analysis-530417
Many leaders in the world have met the Dalai Lama in recent years but it is only the second time that the exiled Tibetan religious leader has met the head of the country holding the EU Presidency, writes Vincent Metten.
Vincent Metten is EU Policy Director at the International Campaign for Tibet.
On September 11, 2013 President Dalia Grybauskaite welcomed the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, to Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius. In a moving video, President Grybauskaite told the Dalai Lama she was ‘honored’ to receive him. The Lithuanian leader’s actions were all the more significant as they followed a deep freeze in China’s relations with the UK after UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s meeting with the Dalai Lama in London last year. The meeting was also an important signal as Lithuania currently holds the six-monthly rotating Presidency of the European Council.
Two years ago, President Grybauskaite’s Estonian counterpart, President Toomas Ilves, also met with the Dalai Lama. Many other leaders in the world have met the Dalai Lama in recent years such as US Presidents Bush and Obama, German Chancellor Merkel, the President of the European Commission Barroso, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofsadt, the late Czech President Vaclav Havel, and others. But it is only the second time that the exiled Tibetan religious leader has met the head of the country holding the EU Presidency.
In 2008, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who at that time was also heading the EU Presidency, met the Dalai Lama in Gdansk, Poland. It was an encounter with particular political resonance, as it occurred on the margins of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Peace Nobel Prize awarded to Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity movement, which played a crucial role in the fight against Communist rule. The Chinese authorities’ reaction was to cancel the EU-China Summit (as well as a Business summit) planned on December 1, 2008 in Lyon.
How will Beijing react this time? Will China once again decide to cancel the next EU-China Summit scheduled for the end of the year in China? Or will China decide to impose political, diplomatic and commercial retaliation measures « only » towards Lithuania, choosing to ignore its status as current head of the EU?
Over the past few years, Beijing has adopted a more aggressive diplomatic position, stepping up its pressure on EU Member states to block meetings between heads of government, ministers and members of Parliament with the Dalai Lama. No opportunity for leverage is too small, or too high-profile. Unfortunately, some European leaders have succumbed to the pressure. This undermines European values of dialogue and conciliation, and ultimately weakens EU leverage rather than contributing to the development of strong EU-¬‐China relations that encourage China to become a better global citizen.
Under Lithuania’s Presidency, it would be appropriate for the EU to issue a statement of solidarity in common response to the bullying of the Beijing leadership of European leaders like President Grybauskaite who show the moral integrity and courage in meeting with the Dalai Lama.
ICT submitted key recommendations to the EU during the Lithuanian Presidency, including the need to ensure the alignment of national positions, stating in an EU common position that it is the right of all EU Member States leaders to welcome and meet with the Dalai Lama and legitimate representatives of the Tibetan movement in whatever manner they deem appropriate and without interference or threats from the Chinese government.
Such a common position would demonstrate the solidarity that binds the 28 Member States on this issue and it would also provide a sort of political umbrella to protect individual Member States from Chinese pressure. It will also send a message that it is not up to the Beijing leadership to dictate a political agenda to democratic European countries.
At the same time, the EU also needs to define a more robust stand in promoting the resumption of the Sino-Tibetan dialogue and reinforcing international cooperation on Tibet with like-minded countries, in particular by using the upcoming Universal Periodic Review on China, in October this year at the UN Human Rights Council, to press the Chinese Government on the situation in Tibet.
The people of the Baltic States, once under Soviet rule, know what it is to face political persecution under an occupying power. In Lithuania self-immolations were also carried out as political protests against Communist rule. In Tibet, more than 120 Tibetans have self-immolated since 2009, asking for more freedoms, the respect of their identity and culture and the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet. The Chinese government has responded to the self-‐immolations and unrest in Tibet by intensifying the military buildup and strengthening the very policies and approaches that are the root cause of the acts. The Chinese Communist Party’s erosion of authority and criminalization of self-¬‐immolation also leads to retributive actions against families, relatives, or monasteries associated with those who have self-¬‐immolated, which creates a vicious spiral in which more people are prepared to self-¬‐immolate because of the oppressive conditions.
The need for the Dalai Lama’s involvement in Tibet’s future has never been more urgent. It would be an appropriate moment, under a Lithuanian Presidency, for the EU to facilitate genuine engagement between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese leadership on Tibet’s future. Like the Dalai Lama, the EU is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. This gives the EU even greater authority in its reconciliation and peace-building work and now is the time for this to be applied to the crisis in Tibet.

Tibetan Prisoner Released Early in ‘Poor Health’
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/released-09102013164154.html
Authorities in western China’s Sichuan province have released a Tibetan prisoner in poor health after he had served all but seven months of a three-year term for staging a protest against Chinese rule, according to Tibetan sources.
Sonam Choegyal, about 20 years old and a resident of Kaka village in the Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, was released last week, a Tibetan monk living in India told RFA’s Tibetan Service on Tuesday, citing sources in the region.
“He was released on Sept. 7,” the monk said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“His health is reported to be poor, but he suffered no major injuries during his time in jail,” he said, adding, “I have no idea why he was released early.”
Though Chinese authorities did not allow local Tibetans to arrange a convoy of vehicles to welcome Sonam Choegyal home, “relatives and community members received him warmly with [ceremonial] scarves when he returned home at around 5:00 p.m. on Sept. 9.”
“Sonam Choegyal is the son of Tamdrin Wangyal, his father, and Lhaga, his mother. Both are residents of Kaka village in Kardze,” he said.
Sonam Choegyal and a friend, Tenzin Nyima, had staged a protest in Kardze town in 2011 challenging Chinese rule, for which he was detained and sentenced to a three-year term by the Kardze prefectural court, RFA’s source said.
He was then confined in Miyang prison near Sichuan’s provincial capital Chengdu.
“His friend Tenzin Nyima was released about two months earlier, after serving a little over two years in jail for the same protest.”
Nun also released
In August, authorities in Sichuan released a Tibetan nun, also in poor health, after she had served a one-year jail sentence for protesting China’s rule in Tibetan areas.
Shedrub Lhamo, a 40-year-old nun of the Ganden Choeling nunnery in Kardze had been beaten and tortured in custody, a Tibetan living in Europe told RFA, citing contacts in the region.
During her solitary protest on Aug. 25, 2012, Shedrub Lhamo had called for the return of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and for freedom for Tibet, the source said.
“She also threw leaflets in the air, though witnesses could not see what was written on them,” he said.
Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing’s rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008.
A total of 121 Tibetans in China have also set themselves ablaze in self-immolation protests calling for Tibetan freedom, with another six setting fire to themselves in India and Nepal.