His Holiness the Dalai Lama Congratulates Narendra Modi
May 18, 2014 8:39 am
Dharamsala, HP, India, 17 May 2014 – His Holiness the Dalai Lama congratulated Narendra Modi in his party’s decisive victory in the national elections.
In a letter to the Prime Minister-elect, His Holiness stated that India was the world’s largest democratic nation and the most stable in South Asia with a deep tradition of Ahimsa.
He said that he took pride in citing India as a living example of unity in diversity, an ancient country in which all the major world’s religious traditions flourish and from which other countries could learn from.
His Holiness expressed that just as he had brought development and prosperity to Gujarat, he prayed that under his leadership India would continue to flourish and prosper.
His Holiness wished him every success in meeting the many challenges that lay ahead and in fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of the people of this great nation.

Dalai Lama Urges Outside Inquiry Into Spate of Self-Immolations Among Tibetans
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/05/10/world/asia/dalai-lama-urges-outside-inquiry-into-spate-of-self-immolations-among-tibetans.html
By RICK GLADSTONE and HENRIK PRYSER LIBELL
May 9, 2014
The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader in exile, on Friday called for an outside inquiry into the self-immolations of more than 130 Tibetans in anti-China demonstrations over the past five years, and he suggested that in some cases, such acts of protest were understandable and not entirely wrong.
If compassion is the reason driving those who immolate themselves, the Dalai Lama said, they should be viewed differently from those motivated by anger. The religious issues surrounding the self-immolations, he said, “are very, very complicated.”
The remarks by the Dalai Lama, 78, a soft-spoken Buddhist theologian, were ambiguous compared with his previous criticisms of self-immolations, carried out mainly by ordinary Tibetans frustrated with what they view as China’s repressive policies toward Tibet’s culture and religion.
The Dalai Lama made the remarks on the final day of a three-day visit to Norway, where he received the Nobel Peace Prize 25 years ago for his nonviolent philosophy in opposing China’s domination of his Himalayan homeland, which he fled in 1959.
China, which considers the Dalai Lama a subversive separatist, has accused him and his loyalists in exile of fomenting the self-immolations, which have embarrassed the Chinese authorities despite government attempts to thwart them. The International Campaign for Tibet, an advocacy group, has chronicled at least 131 self-immolations since February 2009, mostly in Tibetan-populated areas of western China adjoining Tibet.
Norwegian lawmakers in Oslo, who were among the Dalai Lama’s hosts, met with him in Parliament, where he appeared at a forum on Friday and answered questions that included whether he had urged a halt to the self-immolations.
“This is a very sensitive issue,” the Dalai Lama said, speaking in English. He said the self-immolations were “very sad” and that such “drastic action” probably had little effect on the underlying issue of Chinese policy on Tibet.
The Dalai Lama also said outsiders, like his hosts in Parliament, should conduct their own fact-finding visit to determine the causes. “I think sometimes Chinese leaders also need these things, too,” he said, because they are not given accurate information by their subordinates.
There was no immediate reaction from Chinese officials, who have described the self-immolations as a form of terrorism.
Whether self-immolations are religiously wrong, the Dalai Lama said, “entirely depends on motivation.”
“If such a drastic action takes place with full anger, then negative,” he said. “But more compassionate, more calm mind, then sometimes maybe less negative.”
The Dalai Lama’s visit to Norway has drawn particular attention because senior Norwegian government leaders decided against meeting with him in deference to China.
The Norwegian prime minister, Erna Solberg, justified the decision on the grounds that Norway has been trying to improve relations with China, which has been angry at Norway ever since the Nobel Peace Prize committee gave the award to the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in 2010. Ms. Solberg elaborated on the decision on Friday, telling the national broadcaster NRK that it was a “necessary sacrifice” to improve relations with China.
Surveys suggested that many Norwegians were critical of the official snub, viewing it as a cowardly capitulation that sacrificed human rights in favor of economics. Thousands of well-wishers turned out to greet the Dalai Lama when he arrived in Oslo on Wednesday.
China’s state-run news media have not reported on the Dalai Lama’s trip, but the Chinese Foreign Ministry acknowledged the Norwegian government’s decision to snub him. “China pays attention to the announcement by the Norwegian side,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, said on April 28.
Rick Gladstone reported from New York, and Henrik Pryser Libell from Oslo.
Correction: May 15, 2014
An earlier version of this article referred inaccurately to the Tibetans who have carried out self-immolations.They are mainly ordinary Tibetans, not mainly Buddhist monks.

Opinion Europe
Oslo Snubs the Dalai Lama
Under pressure from China, Norway’s prime minister does not plan to meet the Tibetan religious leader this week.
ByMatteo Mecacci and Ellen Bork
May 6, 2014 3:13 p.m. ET
Under pressure from China, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and other key officials have declined to meet the Dalai Lama when the Tibetan spiritual leader visits Norway this week.
Oslo’s decision signals the success of Beijing’s escalating campaign to deny the Dalai Lama and Tibet’s democratic government-in-exile the standing they need to find a just solution to the Tibetan issue. The setback in Norway marks a worrying trend that should spur consultations among European countries and the United States on steps to resist Beijing’s pressure.
“We haven’t been able to work with China on international issues for four years,” Ms. Solberg told a press conference Monday, referring to the “difficult situation” that Norway has faced since 2010, when Beijing broke off high-level ties with Oslo after the Norwegian-based Nobel Committee awarded its Peace Prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
Norway has heretofore been a staunch supporter of Tibet and has constantly promoted efforts to bring about a negotiated solution. But when the Nobel Committee awarded Mr. Liu the prize in 2010—for his prominent work on Charter 08, a manifesto for democracy, constitutionalism and human-rights reforms in communist China—Beijing reacted ferociously. The Chinese government called on foreign countries to boycott the award ceremony, where Mr. Liu’s own absence (due to his imprisonment on “subversion” charges) was poignantly represented by an empty chair. Although the Nobel Committee acts independently of the Norwegian government, Norway was immediately made the target of diplomatic and commercial retaliation.
Norway’s experience is not unique. Lithuania and Estonia, whose leaders have defied Beijing by receiving the Dalai Lama, have also experienced political retaliation. Britain appears to have come under marked pressure as well; citing unnamed sources, the British press reported that Prime Minister David Cameron’s trip to China late last year had been preceded by a commitment that he would not raise the issue of Tibet.
To reverse this decline in international support for Tibet, Europe, the U.S., India, Japan and other democracies would have to develop a united stand that protects against China’s divide-and-conquer strategy, and band together to show respect for the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan exile government. But why should they? After all, one might argue, Tibet’s fate is sealed and 60 years of occupation will not be undone by giving a respectful welcome to the Tibetan religious leader.
Beijing’s policies in Tibet are closely linked to its behavior in the rest of the region and the world. Beijing takes an expansive view of the “core interests” it claims in Tibet, for example by meddling in Nepal to thwart Tibetan refugees’ escape to safety. Further afield, Beijing sees its position in Tibet—which China invaded in the 1950s—as a reason to obstruct international action on other matters, lest intervention elsewhere create a precedent to intervene to stop China’s repression inside Tibet.
Coordination among the world’s democracies is also vitally important in light of Beijing’s plans to exert control over the selection of the next Dalai Lama. It is equally and similarly crucial with regard to the current Dalai Lama’s own plans for the future of his spiritual office, and to the work of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in northern India. Without a unified position on these matters, the void left behind by the Dalai Lama will be swiftly exploited by Beijing.
Aside from acting to stop Beijing’s repression in Tibet, the survival of Tibetan Buddhism and democracy-in-exile has profound implications for the future political development of China. Prominent Chinese dissidents, such as human-rights lawyer Teng Biao, argue that high-level meetings between world leaders and the Dalai Lama have a direct effect on China’s human-rights performance. Declining to meet with the Dalai Lama and failing to pursue Tibetan human rights thus undermines these dissidents, who speak out at great personal risk.
While defying Beijing is not easy, world leaders would likely find their citizens in strong support of a new, principled position that recognizes the moral and strategic importance of Tibet. Despite China’s sustained pressure on governments, support for Tibet remains surprisingly strong among European publics. In a recent Ifop poll conducted in France and Germany, more than 80% of respondents said they want their leaders to meet with the Dalai Lama, and equal or higher numbers said they want their leaders to raise the issue of Tibet when they meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Meanwhile, a whopping 90% of French respondents and 92% of German respondents said they favor a meeting between Mr. Xi and the Dalai Lama to pursue a negotiated solution.
Prime Minister Solberg’s decision has drawn protest within Norway. But she still has time to find a way to welcome the Dalai Lama. Better still, she could take steps to pave the way out of the predicament that so many democracies find themselves in, by entering into consultations with European countries and the United States over new, coordinated policies on Tibet. Only that will arrest the current dynamic of constant concessions, which not only mean terrible consequences for Tibetans, but also lost honor and legitimacy for our democracies.
Mr. Mecacci is president of the International Campaign for Tibet and a former member of the Italian parliament. Ms. Bork is director of democracy and human rights at the Foreign Policy Initiative and board member of the International Campaign for Tibet.

Tibetan Language Promotion Event Blocked by China
2014-04-22
Chinese authorities have at the last minute blocked a move to hold a traditional Tibetan language competition in a Tibetan-populated county in Sichuan province, citing concerns over the “political implications” of the event, sources said.
The competition calling for participants to speak “pure” Tibetan unmixed with Chinese was scheduled for Feb. 21 in conjunction with International Mother Language Day, and was to have been held in Muge Norwa town in Zungchu (in Chinese, Songpan) county, an area resident told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
“The event was announced, and preparations had been made,” the resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“However, the relevant Chinese department in the area called [event organizers] Drime and Lodroe Gyaltsen and ordered them to cancel the competition, saying the event had ‘political implications.’”
“They also said that the Tibetan language contains words that can be used to express opposition to Chinese rule,” he said.
“So they were ordered to cancel the event and were warned they would face serious consequences if they didn’t comply.”
National, cultural identity
International Mother Language Day, established by UNESCO in 1999, has been observed worldwide each year since February 2000 to celebrate linguistic and cultural diversity.
“Though others around the world have the right to mark this day, we in Tibet have no right to do so,” another Tibetan resident of Zungchu told RFA, calling the cultural restrictions faced by Tibetans “extremely sad.”
In an apparent attempt to tighten controls in Muge Norwa town, a work team of Chinese government officials assigned in 2008 to monitor the local Muge Tashi Khorlo monastery has now been established as “a permanent station,” a third area resident said.
“They are closely watching Tibetan activities in the area,” he said.
Language rights have become a particular focus for Tibetan efforts to reassert national identity in recent years, with Chinese authorities frequently closing language classes taught outside the state-controlled education system and Tibetan students protesting against the use of textbooks written in Chinese.
Last year, flyers posted in advance of International Mother Language Day in the Kanlho (Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of China’s Gansu province urged readers to “defend their mother tongue and give up impure mixed speech forever.”
Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing’s rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008, with 131 Tibetans setting themselves ablaze in self-immolation protests calling for Tibetan freedom since February 2009.
Reported by Lumbum Tashi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.

China approves of Norwegian leaders not meeting Dalai Lama

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/28/us-china-norway-idUSBREA3R0L320140428

(Reuters) – China’s foreign ministry said on Monday that it approved of a decision by Norway’s prime minister and foreign minister not to meet exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama when he visits next month.
The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Norway from May 7 to May 9 at the invitation of civil groups in Oslo, in part to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his Nobel Peace Prize.
While the prime minister and foreign minister have not accepted invitations to meet him, the Dalai Lama is scheduled to be in parliament and meet some members, including those on a “Tibet Committee”.
“If you say that the Norwegian government previously viewed the Dalai Lama as a good friend, then I can tell you that this policy was wrong. We have noted the Norwegian government’s recent new position,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a daily news briefing.
Norway, he said, “ought to conscientiously deal with China’s core concerns and take real steps to correct their mistakes to create beneficial conditions to improving and developing relations.
“If you say that they made a mistake in the past, and can now change it, that is worth encouragement and approval.”
China has at least twice condemned the visit, saying it was opposed to any country giving a platform to the Dalai Lama’s views.
China calls the Dalai Lama a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” who seeks to use violent methods to establish an independent Tibet.
The Dalai Lama, who fled to India after a failed uprising in 1959, maintains he only wants genuine autonomy for Tibet and denies advocating violence.
Norway’s diplomatic relations with China have been frozen since 2010, when the Nobel Committee awarded the peace prize to Liu Xiaobo, a veteran of 1989 pro-democracy protests in Beijing which the government crushed.
China canceled meetings with Norwegian officials and denied visas to visiting dignitaries, even though Norway’s government says it has no influence over the Nobel Committee.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ron Popeski)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/28/us-china-norway-idUSBREA3R0L320140428
(Reuters) – China’s foreign ministry said on Monday that it approved of a decision by Norway’s prime minister and foreign minister not to meet exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama when he visits next month.
The Dalai Lama is scheduled to visit Norway from May 7 to May 9 at the invitation of civil groups in Oslo, in part to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his Nobel Peace Prize.
While the prime minister and foreign minister have not accepted invitations to meet him, the Dalai Lama is scheduled to be in parliament and meet some members, including those on a “Tibet Committee”.
“If you say that the Norwegian government previously viewed the Dalai Lama as a good friend, then I can tell you that this policy was wrong. We have noted the Norwegian government’s recent new position,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a daily news briefing.
Norway, he said, “ought to conscientiously deal with China’s core concerns and take real steps to correct their mistakes to create beneficial conditions to improving and developing relations.
“If you say that they made a mistake in the past, and can now change it, that is worth encouragement and approval.”
China has at least twice condemned the visit, saying it was opposed to any country giving a platform to the Dalai Lama’s views.
China calls the Dalai Lama a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” who seeks to use violent methods to establish an independent Tibet.
The Dalai Lama, who fled to India after a failed uprising in 1959, maintains he only wants genuine autonomy for Tibet and denies advocating violence.
Norway’s diplomatic relations with China have been frozen since 2010, when the Nobel Committee awarded the peace prize to Liu Xiaobo, a veteran of 1989 pro-democracy protests in Beijing which the government crushed.
China canceled meetings with Norwegian officials and denied visas to visiting dignitaries, even though Norway’s government says it has no influence over the Nobel Committee.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ron Popeski)

 Tibetan Man Dies in Self-Immolation Protest in Kardze
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/burning-04152014113941.html
A Tibetan man burned himself to death Tuesday in Sichuan province’s restive Kardze prefecture to protest Chinese rule, triggering a security alert and a clampdown on information flow, according to sources.
Thinley Namgyal, 32, self-immolated at noon in Khangsar township in Tawu (in Chinese, Daofu) county in Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, the sources said.
“Since the fire was so intense, it didn’t take very long for his death,” a local resident told RFA’s Tibetan Service, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“He self-immolated in protest against Chinese policy and rule [in Tibetan populated areas],” another Tibetan resident said, also speaking anonymously.
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 resident said.
The Gonthal monastery later handed over the body to the family of Namgyal, who left behind a mother and two older brothers.
Communication links cut off
Chinese authorities immediately stepped up security in the area and cut off mobile phone and other communication links, local residents said.
“Now it is very difficult to reach anyone in the Tawu area,” another resident said.
In Tawu county in July last year, Chinese forces opened fire on Tibetans and used tear gas to disperse about 1,000 monks and nuns who had gathered to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s birthday, injuring at least eight.
Namgyal’s burning was the 131st Tibetan self-immolation in China since the fiery protests began in 2009 challenging Chinese rule in Tibetan areas and calling for the return from exile of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
On March 29, a 31-year-old Tibetan nun set herself on fire near the Ba Choede monastery in Bathang (Batang) county, also in Kardze prefecture.
Following her protest, Chinese police rushed to Ba Choede and imposed “various restrictions” in the area, disrupting communication links and detaining several nuns who were close to her, sources had said.
“Tibetans continue to set themselves alight in Tibet because China continues to use force to deny them their basic human rights and their fundamental right to determine their own future as a nation,” London-based advocacy group Free Tibet’s director Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren said in a statement.
‘Unaccountable’
Noting that China has this week postponed a much-trumpeted human rights dialogue with Britain, she said “China may try to hold itself unaccountable for human rights abuses but those abuses lie behind every self-immolation.”
“The protests and deaths of Thinley Namgyal and the other Tibetans who have taken this step are a reminder to the global community that China must be held accountable.”
Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing’s rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008.
Chinese authorities have tightened controls in a bid to check self-immolation protests, arresting and jailing Tibetans whom they accuse of being linked to the burnings. Some have been jailed for up to 15 years.

How Europe Sacrificed the Right to Peaceful Protest for Good Relations With China
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-rhodes/how-europe-sacrificed-the_b_5132809.html?utm_hp_ref=tw
Posted: 04/11/2014 9:41 pm EDT Updated: 04/11/2014 9:59 pm EDT
By Jacob Mchangama and Aaron Rhodes
Is the right to peaceful protest a fundamental human right? In Europe the answer seems to depend on whom you protest against. Several European democracies have accepted the idea that the price for doing business with China is censoring peaceful protest, when they should insist that the price for doing business in Europe is accepting the manifestation of public opinion.
On March 25, 2014, French police banned members of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement persecuted by the Chinese communist party, from demonstrating outside the Chinese embassy during the visit of Chinese president Xi Jinping. Without any plausible explanation, French police also stopped vehicles carrying photoshopped posters of Xi Jinping giving the “finger” that were commissioned by Reporters Without Borders as part of a campaign to highlight the dire state of press freedom in China. A French court quickly decided that the ban against a peaceful protest violated the rights to freedom of expression and association.
In doing so, the court ensured that French authorities follow rules at home consistent with positions taken on human rights abroad. On March 28 France and some 20 other EU states co-sponsored a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council affirming the right to peaceful protest. The text urged states to “promote a safe and enabling environment for individuals and groups to exercise their rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, of expression and of association,” and to “facilitate peaceful protests by providing protestors with access to public space and protecting them, without discrimination.” China voted against the resolution.
France is not the only European country that stands up for the right to peaceful protest in non-binding resolutions in the Human Rights Council while compromising those very rights at home. The French incident is part of a larger and deeply disturbing pattern surrounding Chinese state visits to European democracies. In at least four other states — Belgium, Denmark, Ireland and Hungary — police have cracked down on lawful protests, including messages perceived as offensive or humiliating by the Chinese guests.
When Xi Jinping continued his European tour from France to Belgium, the regime of censorship followed suit. As revealed by the EU Observer, Belgian police asked a Chinese dance company to remove or cover posters advertising their performances because they included a reference to Falun Gong, which could pose “problems for diplomacy.” Ultimately the dance company chose not to comply, and the police took no further action. However, according to the International Federation or Human Rights (FIDH), pro-Tibetan protestors in Bruges were not let off as easily, with several being detained by the Belgian police and having their Tibetan flags confiscated.
The detention and removal of pro-Tibetan protestors and the confiscation of Tibetan flags was also part of the modus operandi of the Danish police when former president Hu Jintao visited Copenhagen in June 2012. While peacefully waving Tibetan flags, protestors were ordered to leave Parliament Square, and videos show Danish police officers confiscating Tibetan flags. Another incident saw an individual detained by three police officers in a public park close to a castle that was to be visited by Hu Jintao. Danish courts found that the sole reason for the detention was that the protester had been in possession of a Tibetan flag. During the trial, Danish police denied this claim but admitted that intelligence services had stressed the importance of the Chinese “not losing face,” and that Chinese security staff had repeatedly asked Danish police officers to confiscate “illegal flags.” During the same visit, Danish police drove vans in front of Falun Gong protesters, shielding them from view of Hu Jintao’s motorcade.
The rights of pro-Tibetan protestors were targeted again when Xi Jinping (then vice-president) visited Ireland in February 2012. According to three protestors, their banners and Tibetan flags were confiscated, and they were denied access to a park visited by Xi Jinping. Another protestor claims that Irish police used excessive force when removing her from another site Jinping was to visit.
Even more alarming was the conduct of Hungarian authorities during the visit of China’s then- Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s in February 2011. As mentioned in the U.S. State Department’s 2011 human rights report on Hungary, local police targeted protestors against China’s policies on Tibet, and Tibetans in Hungary were ordered to report to the immigration authorities on the very day of the state visit. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Civil Rights, Dr. Máté Szabó, concluded, “Measures taken against flag-waving pro-Tibetan demonstrators during the visit of the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in Budapest, violated the rights of free expression and human dignity.” In addition, the “prohibition of discrimination” had also been violated when immigration authorities summoned Tibetan residents.
The Chinese insistence on censoring protest has even led members of Xi Jinping’s security detail to police these red lines themselves despite being on foreign soil. During a state visit in New Zealand, they forcibly confiscated a Tibetan flag brandished by MP Russell Norman.
These incidents are obviously not isolated, disconnected or random examples of police misconduct. They form a pattern of capitulation to demands that Chinese authorities be as free from confrontation about their human rights abuses when they travel abroad as they are at home — capitulation that is apparently driven by fears of losing opportunities to close lucrative financial deals.
European police forces, bound by constitutional principles and both national and international law, have, at the direction of higher authorities, acquiesced to enforcing Chinese red lines. Deference to Chinese demands can have disastrous consequences for civil society, as witnessed by Nepal’s treatment of Tibetan refugees. A recent reportby Human Rights Watch details how China has pressured Nepalese authorities to suppress the right of Tibetans to engage in peaceful protests and display national or cultural symbols, which is perceived to amount to “anti-Chinese activities.” European democracies should be condemning such practices in weak states, which are much more vulnerable to Chinese pressure due to geopolitical circumstances, rather than mimicking them at home.
The willingness of liberal democracies to deprive their own citizens of the exercise of fundamental freedoms, such as the right to peaceful protest, does not bode well for the ability of democracies to push for freedom for the downtrodden abroad. Indeed, it signals that democracies will insist on upholding fundamental freedoms only until emerging powers with economic clout push back. Led by China, repressive regimes have now called their bluff and are determined to take the upper hand while European democracies contribute to their own humiliation in this high-stakes game of international-relations strip poker.
Jacob Mchangama is a lawyer and a co-founder of the Freedom Rights Project. He has commented and published on human-rights issues in international media, including BBC World News, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Economist, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, The Times of London, The Wall Street Journal Europe, and France 24.
Aaron Rhodes is also a co-founder of the Freedom Rights Project and President of the Forum for Religious Freedom Europe. He was Executive Director of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights from 1993 to 2007.