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.

By the NYT Editorial Board
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/opinion/sunday/doing-chinas-bidding-in-nep
al.html
The New York Times
April 12, 2014
Doing China’s Bidding in Nepal
A Human Rights Watch report released this month shows how far Nepal has gone in capitulating to Chinese pressure in cracking down on Tibetan residents
and refugees. It details a long list of shameful actions against Tibetans in Nepal, including restrictions on their activities and movements, surveillance and intimidation, arbitrary detention and forcible return to China.
In effect, Nepal has turned itself into a partner of China’s anti-Tibetan policies.
Nepal has long been a way station for Tibetans fleeing China. Many continue on to India, where the Dalai Lama lives and where they can obtain refugee
status. Still, some 20,000 Tibetans live in Nepal. Most were born there, yet the government of Nepal refuses, according to Human Rights Watch, to issue
at least half of them official identification.
Even those Tibetans who arrived before a 1989 rapprochement with China have no right to own property, or to gain official employment or access to higher
education.
Tibetans in Nepal know that wherever they gather to socialize or worship,they are likely to be spied on by Nepalese security forces who make no secret of their close links with Chinese authorities. Nongovernmental organizations that seek to monitor the situation or are engaged in humanitarian work with Tibetans in Nepal are also under surveillance and have been accused of disloyalty.
In February, Nepal’s Parliament elected the longtime democracy activist Sushil Koirala prime minister. Nepal’s Constituent Assembly is tasked with drafting a new constitution before February 2015. Nepal now has a fresh opportunity to reform its unjust policies toward Tibetan residents and refugees. But this will not be easy.
Aware of Nepal’s urgent economic needs, China has invited Mr. Koirala to attend the China-South Asia Exposition in Kunming, China, in June and pledged to increase tourism to Nepal, a poor country heavily dependent on Chinese help and investment. The Nepalese press reports that China has also offered lawmakers financial assistance in drafting the new constitution.
The government of Nepal has every right to seek positive trade and diplomatic relations with China. But it must stop allowing China to dictate policy regarding Tibetans in Nepal.
Mr. Koirala and Nepal’s Constituent Assembly should move quickly to guarantee resident Tibetans legal status that respects their basic rights,
and to treat Tibetan refugees in accordance with Nepalese and international law. Without these steps, Nepal’s struggle to achieve lasting democratic
governance will remain woefully incomplete.

 UN Banned Chinese NGO Representative’s Tibet Connection
http://www.voatibetanenglish..com/content/un-banned-chinese-ngo-representatives-tibet-connection/1884914.html
02.04.2014
When UN officials in Geneva stripped a Chinese man of his NGO pass for secretly taking photographs during a United Nations Human Rights Council session on March 19, they probably didn’t realize that they were dealing with an important communist party official usually associated more with political repression than human rights.
While neither Beijing nor the United Nations has confirmed his identity, several Chinese language media have identified the man as Zhu Xiaoming, one of the most important figures shaping China’s Tibet policies in past few decades.  Many Tibetans blame those policies for causing mass protests across Tibet in 2008 and more than 130 self-immolations in the last three years.
Zhu’s personal involvement with Tibet goes back to the 1980s when he was the deputy party propaganda chief in Tibet.  His wife Lu Xiaofei’s Tibet connection goes back even further.   Her father, Xia Chuan, was in the PLA’s 18th army that invaded Tibet in 1951. During the next 10 years, the Chinese army fought countless battles, eventually overwhelming the Tibetan army and militia resistance forces, and causing hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties and irreparable damage to Tibet’s historical and cultural institutions.
Ji Yuchuan, a PLA officer engaged in the siege of Lhasa in 1959 wrote in his memoirs that the number of Tibetans killed, captured or wounded reached 93,000 in the Lhasa area alone. The numbers were far higher in the Tibetan areas of today’s Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan and Sichuan where fighting had been going on for three years before the fall of Lhasa.
Zhu Xiaoming witnessed the easing of controls and restrictions in Tibet in the 1980s following Party Secretary Hu Yaobang’s inspection tour of Tibet, after which Hu concluded that policies since 1959 had been an abject failure and that Tibetans should have a higher degree of freedom.  Hu Yaobang later fell out of favor in Beijing and his reforms in Tibet were reversed.   Zhu Xiaoming rose with the new hardline tide to become the United Front Work Department’s Tibet Bureau Chief in Beijing. The UFW is the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee’s department in charge of developing and implementing policies on Tibet and the stalled talks with the Dalai Lama.
So why was Zhu Xiaoming whose ties to the inner circle of Chinese leaders go back to Jiang Zemin’s presidency, attending a UNHRC hearing?  Why was a senior Chinese official using the cover of an NGO representative and taking photos with a hidden camera inside his coat? A closer look at Zhu’s past reveals a man who relishes taking unnecessary risks by going out to conduct quasi covert actions.
In 1999, after almost a decade of pushing for hardline rule in Tibet and a policy of attacking and denigrating Tibet’s spiritual leader, Zhu sensed a change in policy when President Jiang Zemin tilted towards reengaging the Dalai Lama. Jiang possibly wanted a gesture to ease China’s entry to the World Trade Organization.   After an inexplicable trip to the US, ostensibly to attend a conference in Boston, Zhu is believed to have personally renewed contact with exile Tibetan officials, as a prelude to reviving the dialog process with the Dalai Lama’s representatives.  Contact with the exile Tibet side could have been made by any number of officials at Chinese embassies and consulates in India or the US, but Zhu felt compelled to do it himself. This incidence perhaps provides a clue to his cloak and dagger behavior last week in Geneva which United Nations’ officials have deemed “intimidation and harassment.”
Following the protests in Tibet’s capital in 1987 and the rollback of more moderate policies in Tibet, Zhu was one of the key officials responsible for pushing hardline thinking on Tibet. This trend culminated in the 3rd Tibet Work Forum in 1993 which he oversaw. Throughout the 1990s, Zhu was not only instrumental in halting any productive dialog with the Dalai Lama for a way forward on Tibet, he was also behind the strategy for Tibet termed “Post Dalai Lama” which calculated that the Tibet issue will go away with the death of the 14th Dalai Lama, and the subsequent Chinese Communist Party recognition of the Dalai Lama’s successor reincarnate. This thinking has remained the primary rationale behind Beijing’s policy on Tibet despite the fact that the current Panchen Lama, Tibet’s second highest lama in the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism, has received little  acceptance from monasteries and the Tibetan people since 1996 when he was anointed by Beijing.   The Dalai Lama chose another Panchen Lama, a six-year old boy who along with his family disappeared in China, unseen to date.
When talks between Beijing and the Dalai Lama’s representatives were finally to start in 2002, Zhu was replaced at the United Front by Zhu Weiqun, an official with far less baggage on Tibet.  Some Tibetan’s saw Zhu’s replacement as the removal of an obstacle to progress and as a hopeful sign. These hopes were short lived as meeting after meeting between the Chinese and Tibetans, from 2002 to 2010, ended without a single instance of real dialog.
Once again Zhu Xiaoming’s ideas on Tibet and suspicions towards the Dalai Lama provided the intellectual ground for why the Chinese side would not, and perhaps more accurately, could not move forward in the negotiations with the Dalai Lama’s envoys.
After being transferred from the United Front, Zhu went to work at the Socialist University.   Before long he was back to work on Tibet and he became Party Secretary at the Tibetology Center in Beijing, a think tank on Tibet policy and lead organization for shaping academic as well as propaganda on Tibet in the international arena. The Tibetology Center has been a strong proponent of the “Post Dalai Lama” scenario as a final solution to Tibet, and has accused the Dalai Lama’s “Middle Way Proposal” of being a threat to China’s territorial integrity.
The Dalai Lama has proposed greater religious, cultural and environmental autonomy for all Tibetan cultural regions while remaining a part of China.   Zhu Xiaoming has continuously claimed the Dalai Lama’s proposal should be viewed as disingenuous, labeling it a call for “independence in disguise.” These accusations against the Dalai Lama’s call for genuine autonomy for a Tibet that is within the PRC are still made to this by officials in the Tibet Autonomous region, almost verbatim.
The breakdown of talks between Beijing and the Dalai Lama appeared to have dashed the hopes of many Tibetans for change in Tibet.  This combined with constant attacks on the Tibetan spiritual leader in forced reeducation sessions in monasteries across Tibet  sparked the uprisings, and protests that swept almost all Tibetan areas in 2008, according to many Tibetan observers. The ensuing crackdowns and militarization of Tibetan towns and monasteries led to more than 110 self-immolation deaths in Tibet since 2009.
Many self-immolators had called out, often while engulfed in flames, for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet and for freedom in Tibet.  Some written and on-camera testaments left behind by self-immolators also protested the suppression of Tibetan religion and language in monasteries and schools.
The NGO that Zhu Xiaoming went to represent at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva last week is ironically called China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture. The NGO’s website claims a long list of advisors and board members who include Du Qinglin, a member of the CCP’s Central Committee and the former head of the United Front Work Department.  Also listed are Zhang Yijiong, a Central Committee member and former deputy party secretary of Tibet Autonomous Region, and Zhu Weiqun, former deputy head of the UFW who has vice-ministerial rank.   There is also a long list of Tibetan members, most of whom are party members and leaders who rose to power during the Cultural Revolution which saw the unprecedented wholesale destruction of  Tibetan lives, institutions and culture.
Following Zhu’s banning from the United Nations, U.N. Watch appealed to the president of the Human Rights Council for the removal of the Chinese association’s credentials as a nongovernmental organization. Hillel Neuer, the Executive Director of U.N. Watch wrote that, “The Chinese N.G.O. in question is known for making statements at the U.N. identical to those of the Chinese government,” and concluding that, “We consider this incident to be an act of deliberate intimidation in reprisal against our delegate for her cooperation with the United Nations’ human rights mechanisms.”
While a senior Chinese official engaging in deception, ‘intimidation’ and ‘reprisals’ at the United Nations may seem hard to believe at first glance, it becomes more credible when that person is China’s leading Tibet hand for almost a quarter century.

Eighteen-year sentence for Tibetan monk accused of “separatism”
Thardhod Gyaltsen is senior monk from county targeted by China after protests
Thardhod Gyaltsen was detained in December 2013 during a crackdown in Driru County, central Tibet. In January 2014 he was sentenced to eighteen years’ imprisonment. According to local sources, he was convicted of separatism on the basis of being in possession of banned pictures and recordings of the Dalai Lama (1).
Thardhod Gyaltsen was the chant leader and part of the monastic management of Drongna monastery in Driru county, Nagchu prefecture of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (2).
The monastery was forcibly closed by authorities in December 2013. Tharghod Gyaltsen’s father, Jungney, was killed by Chinese polices during the mass protest in Driru in 1969.
Driru County has been a recent focus of Chinese attention following an anti-mining protest in the area last May (3).
In October, security forces fired upon a peaceful demonstration in the county (see below), following demonstrations and clashes after thousands of officials had flooded the area to impose a “political re-education” campaign in September. On 28 September, after being instructed to fly Chinese flags over their houses, Tibetans in Mowa township threw the flags into the river.
Authorities responded by sending paramilitary and police forces into the area in large numbers. In subsequent clashes around 40 Tibetans were arrested and many were severely beaten and injured. A protest to secure the release of a local man on 6 October was fired upon by security forces who also broke up the demonstration with beatings. An estimated 60 Tibetans were injured (4).
In the period since the shooting, Driru has seen further protests and a continued crackdown. Large numbers of arbitrary detentions have taken place and individuals have been given sentences of up to 13 years for their involvement in the original mining protests (5). In December 2014, the authorities forcibly closed Drongna monastery and two others – Tarmoe and Rabten – in the county.
Driru residents have also been monitored when travelling to other parts of Tibet (6) and hotels in Lhasa have been required to report any guests from the area (amongst other selected Tibetan areas) to the police and seek permission to register them (7). Neighbouring Sog county has also seen an increased security presence and arrests in an attempt to contain protests (8).
Driru is situated in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Nagchu prefecture borders the prefecture of Lhasa, Tibet’s capital. The situation in the county remains extremely tense. Monks are forbidden from carrying out prayer sessions and daily monastic activities are severely restricted due to the conditions imposed by authorities. All communication lines are restricted.
Free Tibet director Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren said:
“The punitive sentence imposed on this respected religious figure is just the most recent example of China’s knee-jerk response to Tibetan protest. The sequence of events in Driru is emblematic of China’s failed strategy in Tibet: a legitimate environmental protest was followed up with an attempt to impose political re-education, leading to forceful but peaceful Tibetan resistance and a violent and sustained crackdown.
“Driru has been the focal point of Tibetan resistance to Chinese rule for months and has paid a heavy price. China is especially sensitive to protests in the Tibet Autonomous Region because resistance spread from the area to the rest of the country in 2008. In other parts of Tibet they say ‘fire in Lhasa, smoke here’ but China’s determination to stamp down on Driru instead of addressing the grievances of those who live there is as counter-productive as it is vindictive.”
Information provided by Tibet Watch.

Condolence Message from His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Passing Away of Baba Phuntsog Wangyal
March 30th 2014
I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing away of Baba Phuntsog Wangyal in Beijing. He was a true Communist, genuinely motivated to fulfill the interests of the Tibetan people. In his death we have lost a trusted friend.
I first met Phunwang, as he was popularly known, in 1951, when he accompanied Chinese officials to Lhasa. Later, during my visit to Beijing and other cities in 1954-55 he assisted and interpreted for me in the course of which we became good friends. During the series of meetings I had with Chairman Mao in particular, he was of crucial help as my interpreter. He was well-versed in Marxist thought and much of what I know of that I learned from him. He was one of those Tibetans aware of the drawbacks of the prevailing social and political system in Tibet, who was inspired by Communism to bring about change.
Through his own example Phunwang showed that you could be a true Communist while at the same time proud of your Tibetan heritage. He caught me by surprise, when, at our first meeting, in the company of the Chinese delegation, he chose to make prostrations before me. At the same time, while the Chinese officials were all dressed uniformly in their regulation Mao suits, he wore a traditional Tibetan chuba. When I asked him about this he told me it would be a mistake to think that the Communist Revolution was primarily concerned with how to dress. He said it was more about a revolution of ideas, indicating to me that he did not think that being a Communist meant a Tibetan needed to dismiss Tibetan traditions.
Despite his firm upholding of Communist ideals, the Chinese authorities regarded Phuntsog Wangyal’s dedication to his Tibetan identity in a negative light, as a result of which he spent 18 years in prison. He remained undaunted and even after his retirement continued to be concerned about the rights and welfare of the Tibetan people, something he raised with the Chinese leadership whenever he had the opportunity.
A sincere, honest man, I enjoyed his company whenever we met. I had hoped we might yet meet again, but that was not to be.
I pray that Phuntsog Wangyal may have a good rebirth and offer my condolences to his wife and children.
Dharamsala, India
March 30, 2014
dalailama.com

 Michelle Obama Generates Internet Comment After Tibetan Lunch
http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-michelle-obama-generates-internet-comment-after-tibetan-lunch/1879396.html
March 26, 2014
CHENGDU — U.S. first lady Michelle Obama lunched at a Tibetan restaurant in China’s Sichuan province on Wednesday, prompting murmurs about “political overtones” on the country’s active Internet social networks.
Obama, her two daughters and mother visited the city of Chengdu as part of a week-long trip to China, where she has sought to promote education and boost cultural ties.
China has criticized the White House for its support for exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, denounced by Beijing as a separatist “wolf in sheep’s clothing”.
A senior administration official who accompanied Obama said the first lady simply wanted to meet Tibetans in Chengdu.
“Tibetans are an important minority group, and there is a sizeable Tibetan community in Sichuan,” the official said last weekend.
The restaurant was chosen because of the first lady’s interest in the rights of minorities in China, a member of Obama’s staff said, according to a pool report.
President Barack Obama met the Dalai Lama in February, a meeting denounced by Beijing as interference in its internal affairs.
Obama said he did not support Tibetan independence from China and the Dalai Lama has always denied seeking it, the White House said in a statement at the time.
Internet users saw the lunch as a thinly veiled message.
“This carries strong political overtones, meant to communicate that the U.S. is paying close attention to politics in Tibet,” one user wrote. “When it’s plain that the aim is to dictate to China, can you still say that the U.S. first lady’s trip is just innocent travel?”
Another user said the political implications were impossible to miss. “This was done for Chinese people to see, and also for the U.S. Congress to see,” he wrote.
Protests against what Tibetans say are heavy-handed government policies putting pressure on their culture and Buddhist faith have periodically boiled over into self-immolations by activists.
Nearly half the self-immolations have occurred in Sichuan, lying east of Tibet.
China denies maltreatment of Tibetans, saying it has lifted the province out of poverty and extended considerable autonomy.
Michelle Obama spun a row of prayer wheels as she walked the entry bridge to the restaurant, according to the pool report. A group of Tibetan students gave the family ceremonial white scarves – symbolizing purty in Tibetan culture.
The Obamas were served traditional foods, including yak meat pie, boiled yak ribs, bread made with barley and yak butter tea.
Earlier on Wednesday, Obama and her family visited a reserve for about 80 giant pandas. China has often sent pandas to other countries as a means to strengthen diplomatic relations.

Open Letter to Mr. José Antonio Griñán, Chairman of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party
In the matter of the proposed reform of Article 23.4 of the Organic Law of the Judicial Branch, the basis of Universal Jurisdiction in Spain
The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (‘BHRC’), Garden Court International, Garden Court Chambers (‘GCI’), Red Lion Chambers (‘RLC’) and Doughty Street Chambers International Criminal Law Team (DSC) write concerning the reform of Article 23.4 of the ‘Ley Orgánica del Poder Judicial’, or ‘Organic Law of the Judicial Branch’, which forms the basis of Universal Jurisdiction in Spain.
The BHRC, GCI, RLC and DSC wish to express their deepest concern over the reform, which will drastically limit the jurisdiction of Spanish courts in respect of international crimes. The effect of restricting the cases capable of being tried in the Spanish courts to those involving defendants who are Spanish nationals and or habitually resident in Spain, will be that international crimes will go unpunished, impunity will prevail, and victims will be left without effective remedy or reparation.
The BHRC, GCI, RLC and DSC welcome and support the decision of the Socialist Workers’ Party (‘PSOE’) to appeal the reform to the Constitutional Court. The BHRC, GCI, RLC and DSC remain keenly interested in its progress, and will continue to focus international attention upon the presentation of the appeal by the PSOE, as well as upon the resultant decision. In particular, we hope that the appeal by the PSOE reflects a long-term commitment to the fight to maintain Spanish Universal Jurisdiction.
The principle of ‘prosecute or extradite’ (aut dedere aut judicare) is not only a rule of customary international law but also a jus cogens principle. It reflects the commitment of the international community to ensure the prosecution of international crimes such as war crimes, crimes against humanity, enforced disappearances and genocide.
Myriad international conventions – among them all four 1949 Geneva Conventions, and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment 1984 – underline the point. The International Court of Justice noted in the 2012 case of Belgium v. Senegal,“prosecution is an international obligation under the [Torture] Convention, the violation of which is a wrongful act engaging the responsibility of the State.”
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court makes clear that domestic jurisdictions must take the lead in the fight against impunity, and states that “it is the duty of every State to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over those responsible for international crimes.”
In this context, the reform would be a retrograde step which risks putting Spain in breach of its international legal obligations. By removing impunity for the most serious crimes, Spanish Universal Jurisdiction has, in our view, contributed towards a world which is safer and more just.
Formal legal obligations aside, the prospect of impunity for those responsible for atrocious crimes both destabilises future peace and security, and undermines victims’ past efforts to obtain justice.
The very existence of Article 23.4 has helped victims to come forward, who would never have otherwise done so. The BHRC, GCI, RLC and DSC are also profoundly concerned by the further restriction, within the reform, which will prevent the initiation of investigation of international crimes by actio popularis. The actio popularis process has empowered victims, and has enabled Spain to shine a spotlight on grave breaches of international law. The reform would close the doors of Spanish courts to the victims of human rights violations, who are unlikely otherwise to be able to obtain justice.
The BHRC, GCI, RLC and DSC further note with concern that the universal jurisdiction reform applies not only to future investigations but also to current investigations, meaning that all current cases on the basis of universal jurisdiction will be terminated until they are proven to comply with the new requirements. This may go beyond the legislative authority of Parliament by summarily closing all the investigations, and could exert broader constitutional ramifications by interfering with the independence of the judicial system.
Moreover, the reform is at odds with the Rule of Law itself. By closing down even those cases which have already been opened but which may not meet the new criteria, the reform would exert its effect retroactively. The impact upon victims of the crimes concerned would be arbitrary and devastating. We are aware that the reform was not subjected to examination by consultation bodies, such as the General Judicial Council (el Consejo General del Poder Judicial) or the Council of the State (el Consejo del Estado). All of this further emphasises the importance of the appeal, launched by the PSOE, before the constitutional court.
We urge the PSOE to maintain the strongest possible resistance to the universal jurisdiction reform, and pledge our unqualified support for their appeal before the Constitutional Court.
Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC)
Garden Court International, Garden Court Chambers (GCI)
Red Lion Chambers (RLC)
Doughty Street Chambers International Criminal Law Team (DSC)
London, 21 March 2014
https://barhumanrights.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/news/open_letter_to_mr._jose_antonio_grinan_english.pdf

Freedom of speech is ‘universal’ right, Michelle Obama tells China
Amid a growing crackdown on Chinese dissidents, the US First Lady tells an audience in Beijing that the “questioning and criticism” of political leaders is crucial
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10716306/Freedom-of-spe
By Tom Phillips, Shanghai
2:58PM GMT 22 Mar 2014Comments
Freedom of information, expression and belief should be considered “universal rights”, Michelle Obama, the US first lady, told students in China on Saturday.
Speaking at Peking University on the second full day of a weeklong, bridge-building family tour of the country, Mrs Obama said: “It is so important for information and ideas to flow freely over the internet and through the media.” “When it comes to expressing yourself freely, and worshipping as you choose, and having open access to information – we believe those are universal rights that are the birthright of every person on this planet,” Mrs Obama told an audience of around 200 students.
“My husband and I are on the receiving end of plenty of questioning and criticism from our media and our fellow citizens, and it’s not always easy.
“But I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”
Mrs Obama, who arrived in China on Thursday evening, avoided directly criticising Beijing’s draconian control of the internet, media and religion.
Social media sites including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are blocked in China and Xi Jinping, the president, has been waging a fierce war on dissent
since coming to power in November 2012.
Xu Zhiyong, a lawyer and activist behind a peaceful campaigning group called the New Citizens’ Movement, was jailed for four years in January for
“disrupting public order.” Earlier this month, Cao Shunli, a 52-year-old activist, died after falling into a coma while in police custody. Ms Cao, who died of apparent organ
failure, had been taken into custody last September as she tried to fly out of Beijing to a human rights workshop in Geneva.
Campaigners also criticise China’s handling of religion, with non-official “underground” churches banned and restrictions placed on freedom of worship,
particularly in regions such as Xinjiang, which is home to a large Muslim community.
China’s heavily controlled state media made no mention of Mrs Obama’s comments. The US First Lady’s speech “focused on the importance of education and
cultural exchanges,” state broadcaster CCTV reported. “She said China is currently the fifth most popular destination for American students abroad.”
Students had given Mrs Obama “a warm welcome,” CCTV added. Mrs Obama arrived in China on Thursday night and on Friday toured its capital with Peng Liyuan, the first lady, and met Xi Jinping at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. Mrs Obama is scheduled to visit the Great Wall of China on Sunday before travelling to the cities of Chengdu and Xi’an.

Statement of Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay on the 55th Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day
Fifty-five years ago, thousands of Tibetans spontaneously gathered on this day in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet, to protect His Holiness the Dalai Lama and protest against Chinese occupation. Seven days later, His Holiness the Dalai Lama left Lhasa and fled to India. 80,000 Tibetans followed him into exile.
I visited Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh this January and was profoundly moved to see the path His Holiness the Dalai Lama took to enter India. I also visited Bomdila and Tuting, where thousands of Tibetans sought refuge. There is no escape from the painful reality that many of the elders who were forced to make the journey into exile in 1959 have died without fulfilling their dreams of returning to their homeland. Similarly, innumerable Tibetans in Tibet have died without reuniting with family members or realizing their freedom. I take great solace, however, that their hopes and dreams live and grow in their children.
Demonstrations of resilience and resolve by Tibetans inside Tibet from the uprisings and resistance in Kham and Amdo in the 1950s, to the protests in Lhasa in the 1980s, to the nation-wide uprising in 2008 and the recent self-immolations reveal that the struggle for Tibet will not abate. The Tibetan struggle today is led by a new generation of Tibetans inside Tibet and in exile. It is the younger generation of Tibetans in Tibet who clearly and loudly demand their identity, freedom and unity. The new generation of Tibetans in exile participates in similar endeavors.
School children in Chabcha have demanded Tibetan language instructions in their schools, Tibetans in Driru have refused to hoist Chinese flags on their rooftops, and outcries over the human loss and environmental destruction of Gyama mine in Meldro Gungkar reach our ears. These protests unambiguously refute the Chinese propaganda that, “except for a few, Tibetans are happy in Tibet.”
Since 2009, there have been 126 self-immolations all across Tibet. Despite repeated appeals not to engage in such drastic actions, the self-immolations have continued. Tsultrim Gyatso, a monk, who self immolated on December 19, 2013, wrote in his last testament: “Can you hear me? Can you see it? Can you hear it? I am compelled to burn my precious body for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, for the release of the imprisoned Panchen Lama and for the welfare of the six million Tibetans.”
The Kashag expresses its deepest respect to all the brave men and women in Tibet. The Kashag is listening to the calls for the end of repression and suffering of Tibetans inside Tibet. It is for this reason that its primary and immediate objective is to peacefully resolve the issue of Tibet through dialogue as soon as possible. At the same time, the Kashag needs a long-term strategy to strengthen and sustain our struggle, if necessary. One complements the other, and so the Kashag will make efforts to both resolve the issue of Tibet through dialogue and successfully sustain the Tibetan struggle.
My fellow Tibetans, we must bear in mind that the year 2020 will mark 70 years since the invasion of Tibet by the People’s Republic of China. By then, the generation of Tibetans with memories of a free Tibet will have greatly dwindled. His Holiness the Dalai Lama will turn 85 and by that year he will have led the Tibetan people for 70 uninterrupted years. The next generation of Tibetan leadership inside and outside Tibet has to cope with a crucial and challenging reality. Tibetans inside Tibet will have no personal memories of traditional Tibet, while Tibetans outside of Tibet will know only a life lived in exile. Exile Tibetans constitute only 2.5 percent of six million Tibetans but it is likely there will be equal number of Tibetans in the West and in India, Nepal and Bhutan.
Exile is a precarious phase of uncertainty and contingency, and occupation can be a dangerous transition to permanent subjugation. The challenge we face will be in reconciling the distance and gap between life in exile and life under Chinese occupation. We will have to learn to carry forward the freedom struggle under these very different Tibetan realities and experiences, none of which are rooted in personal memories of a free Tibet. How do we achieve this?
As a long-term strategy, we need to build self-reliance in the Tibetan world, in thought and action. Our more than 50-year-old movement cannot depend solely on others to help us achieve our goals. It is time to assume individual responsibility and collective leadership and stand on our own feet. We need to build our individual and collective strengths. We need to reflect deeply.
I believe that education is our most potent and realistic investment and tool. The more skillfully we educate our entire population, the more successfully we will develop strong foundations of self-reliant economic, technological, and governmental systems. Our global supporters know our cause is just and they value our Buddhist heritage. Tibetans embrace the values of humility, integrity, and resilience as the bedrock foundation of the Tibetan struggle. To that we must add modern education to achieve our goals. It is the combination of traditional values and contemporary education that will keep our struggle vigorous, dynamic, and formidable.
It is crucial that younger Tibetans study the language and history of the nation. It is equally important that they record the stories and narratives of individual families and ancestral land. Continue to enjoy momos in Tibetan restaurants and wear chubas in celebration of the Tibetan culture, but for identity to take strong roots we must educate ourselves, engage deeply with Tibetans from Tibet, and reflect individually on the challenges that lie ahead. 2014 is a year to engage, educate, and empower ourselves and the movement.
To maintain unity and achieve effectiveness in the exile community, a central core is critical and for Tibetans, the Central Tibetan Administration serves as this irreplaceable core. The Kashag invites dedicated youth to take leadership positions in the Central Tibetan Administration and in other Tibet-related organizations.
In conclusion, I welcome the recent meeting between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and President Barack Obama. I appreciate President Obama’s strong endorsement of the Middle Way Approach. A genuine autonomy for Tibet through the Middle Way Approach aspires to replace political repression with basic freedom, economic marginalization with economic empowerment, social discrimination with social equality, cultural assimilation with cultural promotion and environmental destruction with environmental protection. We are committed to the Middle Way as the most effective approach to end the suffering in Tibet. It is our hope that the new Chinese leadership led by President Xi Jinping will pay heed and adopt this pragmatic and moderate stand.
The Kashag would like to thank the great nation of India and its kind people. After assuming political responsibilities in Dharamsala, I came to realize more than ever how much India has supported and continues to support
Tibet and the Tibetan people. The Kashag also extends deep appreciation to governments, parliamentarians, Tibet Support Groups and individuals around the world and urges them to continue the journey with us.
I am happy to announce that the Central Tibetan Administration will observe 2014 as the year of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, to pay tribute to his visionary leadership and contribution to Tibet and the world. I am also happy to remind Tibetans and our friends across the globe that 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of His Holiness the Dalai Lama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. On April 25th, we will also commemorate the 25th birthday of the 11th Panchen Gedun Choekyi Nyima.
The Tibetan people have risen time after time to overcome great adversities in the long history of our civilization. Today, our sense of identity, solidarity, and dignity is deeper than ever. If we remain united, and bring the rich traditions of the elders to interplay with the innovation and dynamism of the younger generation, I firmly believe that the Chinese government will have no choice but to address our aspirations.
Dear Tibetan brothers and sisters inside Tibet, our journey may be long and the challenges may appear daunting, but we will succeed. In Tawang, I saw the path His Holiness the Dalai Lama, our parents, and grandparents took from Tibet to India. From a distance, I could see the great mountains and rivers of Tibet. I took it as a good omen to begin 2014, that like you, I saw a path back to Tibet.
Finally, I pray for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the immediate resolution of the issue of Tibet.
10th March, 2014
Dharamsala