Respected Tibetan Monk Burns Himself to Death in Gansu
2013-12-19
A respected Tibetan monk burned himself to death in Gansu province on Thursday in protest against “suppressive Chinese law,” saying in a suicide note that he wanted to “sacrifice” his life for the interest of the Tibetans, according to sources.
Tsultrim Gyatso, 43, self-immolated at a road junction in Sangchu (in Chinese, Xiahe) county in the Kanlho (Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture after penning his one-page suicide note at his monastery in which he also called for the return of the exiled Tibetan spirtual leader the Dalai Lama, the sources in the area said.
“Before his self-immolation at a cross-section in Sangchu, he went to his room after lunch break, lit a lamp, opened a book on the teachings of Buddha and wrote his one-page suicide note,” a Tibetan lecturer at the Dalai Lama Institute for Higher Education (DLIHE) in Bangalore, India, told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
“Tibetan treasures of gold and silver have been looted under suppressive Chinese law,” Gyatso said in his note, according to the lecturer, citing contacts in the region. “All citizens are driven to sufferings,” Gyatso said.
“Tears drop from my eyes when I dwell on this state of sufferings [of the Tibetans],” according to Gyatso’s note. “For the return of the Dalai Lama, and the release of the Panchen Lama, and the well being of six million Tibetans, I sacrifice my precious life in self-immolation.”
The Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, was just six years old when he was kidnapped by the Chinese authorities in 1995 after he was identified as the reincarnation of the second-highest monk in Tibetan Buddhism by the Dalai Lama, who is living in exile in India.
A Tibetan source in Sangchu told RFA that Gyatso, known locally for his accomplishments in the study of Buddhism and Tibetan culture, died on the spot and his body was taken to the Achok monastery where more than 400 monks conducted funeral prayers.
Prayers stopped by police
Chinese police ordered the monks to halt the prayers but the monks continued the prayers in a different section of the monastery, the Tibetan lecturer in Banglore said.
“Over 400 monks of Achok monastery were saying prayers for the late Tsultrim Gyatso but a group of 10 Sangchu police arrived at the monastery and interrupted the prayers. The monks [in a different section of the monastery] continued the prayers,” he said.
Gyatso’s burning protest was the 125th Tibetan self-immolation in China since the fiery campaign began in 2009 calling for Tibetan freedom and for the return to Tibet of the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in 1959 following a failed national uprising against Chinese rule.
Before Gyatso’s burning protest, a Tibetan herdsman had self-immolated on Dec. 4 in protest against Chinese rule at Ngaba county’s Meruma township center in Sichuan province.
He died on the way to the hospital and his remains were secretly cremated by the authorities.
Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing’s rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008.
Controls tightened
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.
The authorities have also attempted to pressure local Tibetans to sign an official order that forbids any kind of activities to support or sympathize with self-immolation protests, residents said.
In the latest crackdown, the authorities detained two monks and a government worker on suspicion they were supportive of 20-year-old Tibetan monk Tsering Gyal, who burned himself to death in Qinghai province last month in protest against Chinese rule, according to sources this week.
The two monks were dragged at night from their quarters, while the government worker was beaten and detained for possession of Gyal’s photo on her mobile phone, the sources said this week.
Reported by Yangdon Demo and Chakmo Tso for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.

 Tibet talks could take place in Iceland, Iceland MPs suggest China
Tuesday, 03 December 2013
The Cameron Hickert, Tibet Post International
Dharamshala: – Denouncing the atrocities perpetrated against Tibetans in Tibet, a group of MPs from all Icelandic political parties except Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson’s Progressive Party have submitted a parliamentary resolution encouraging the Chinese government to resume peace talks with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s representatives, ruv.is and Iceland Review Online report.
The resolution urges the Icelandic parliament to highlight concerns over growing violence against and oppression of Tibetans by the Chinese government.
It calls on parliament to condemn the crackdown on peaceful protests in Tibet and insist that the Chinese government not stand in way of the UN sending a delegation to investigate human rights abuses in Tibet.
Encouraging the Chinese government to initiate peace talks with the representatives of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the MPs suggest that talks could take place in Iceland.
A statement accompanying the resolution said that many parliaments around the world have passed resolutions regarding the critical situation in Tibet.
Twelve Nobel Peace winners have sent letters to the Chinese government encouraging peace talks with the Tibetan people.
The MPs believe that the Icelandic parliament should take a stance, particularly given that senior officials of the Chinese government have visited Iceland on a regular basis.
“We Icelanders have a moral obligation under our free trade agreement with China, which takes effect in early 2014, to highlight that we will not accept human rights violations of the kind outlined in the statement.”
Last week Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay, the democratically-elected leader and political successor to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, reiterated commitment to dialogue to find a solution for the issue of Tibet within the framework of the Chinese constitution.
“The situation in Tibet is tragic and unfortunate. Over 122 Tibetans have set themselves on fire to protest against the Chinese government’s policies of political repression, religious persecution, cultural assimilation, economic discrimination, and environmental destruction in Tibet,” the Tibetan political leader told reporters in Shimla.

Editorial
Desperation in Tibet
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Published: November 29, 2013
On Nov. 11, Tsering Gyal, a 20-year-old Tibetan Buddhist monk, set himself on fire in China’s Qinghai Province. Mr. Gyal’s death brings the number of Tibetans who have self-immolated since 2009 to 123. Letters some have left and eyewitness accounts of dying words leave no doubt about the cause of these horrible deaths: anguish over Chinese repression.
Today’s Editorials
Tibet has suffered spasms of violence at different points in its history since China took over in 1950 and the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, fled the region in 1959. But the current wave of self-immolations is a new and tragic trend. Many Tibetans feel forcibly estranged from their language, culture and religion by repressive Chinese policies that have intensified since a wave of protests engulfed the region in 2008.
These policies include replacing the Tibetan language with Chinese as the language of instruction in schools; sending some 21,000 Chinese party officials into Tibetan monasteries to keep an eye on monks; forcing monks to denounce the Dalai Lama; banning the display of the Dalai Lama’s photograph; having a heavy armed police presence in Tibetan towns, villages and around monasteries; closing monasteries; and clamping down on demonstrators with arrests and shootings by police officers.
China blames the Dalai Lama for the self-immolations. But the Dalai Lama has condemned them. In fact, many fear that unless preparations begin to ease Tibetans’ feelings of estrangement while the 78-year-old Dalai Lama is still alive, Tibetans may resort to more violent forms of protest when his tempering presence is gone.
After President Xi Jinping assumed power last year, there was hope that China might retreat from its hardened stance toward Tibet. The sweeping reforms pledged recently during the Communist Party’s plenum meeting show his willingness to tackle domestic challenges. He should move now to ease some of the most damaging policies on Tibet.
China also should resume negotiations with the Dalai Lama, which broke off in 2010. Without these steps, the Tibet Autonomous Region and the neighboring provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu, where many Tibetans live, will remain troubled territory, unable to participate fully in China’s economic development.
New York Times

Spanish criminal court orders arrest warrants against Chinese leaders following Hu Jintao indictment for Tibet policies
International Campaign for Tibet on November 18, 2013
Judges in the Spanish National Court today (November 18) ordered warrants of arrest to be issued against five Chinese leaders, including former President and Party Secretary Jiang Zemin, for their policies in Tibet. This ground-breaking development follows the news on October 9 of Hu Jintao’s indictment for genocide in Tibet. In a separate legal ruling also issued today in Madrid, the Spanish National Court also ordered that former leader Hu Jintao is informed of his indictment and sent questions about his policies in Tibet via the Chinese embassy.
The rulings today have positively surprised Spanish legal experts working on the Tibetan law suits upholding the principle of “universal jurisdiction” a part of international law that allows courts to reach beyond national borders in cases of torture, terror and other serious international crimes perpetrated by individuals, governments or military authorities. This new development was described to the International Campaign for Tibet by legal experts in Spain as being potentially as significant as the arrest of Pinochet in London in 1998 after a group of Spanish lawyers put together a lawsuit against the Chilean dictator, who presided over a 17-year reign of terror and ordered foreign assassinations.
The orders for arrest warrants are made against five senior Chinese leaders for their involvement in policies in Tibet as follows: Jiang Zemin, former President and Party Secretary; Li Peng, Prime Minister during the repression in Tibet in the late 1980s and early 1990s (and the crackdown in Tiananmen); Qiao Shi, former head of Chinese security and responsible for the People¹s Armed Police during the martial law period in Tibet in the late 1980s; Chen Kuiyuan, Party secretary in the Tibet Autonomous Region from 1992 to 2001 (who was known for his hardline position against Tibetan religion and culture), and Deng Delyun (also known as Peng Pelyun), minister of family planning in the 1990s.
The rulings, which go further than Spanish experts expected and send a strong signal to the Chinese leadership, mean that none of the leaders named, and others too, are likely to take the risk of travelling outside the PRC as they could be arrested for questioning on the crimes they are accused of. All the leaders face the possibility of bank accounts overseas being preventively frozen. In the earlier writ issued on October 9, the judges recognized that this indictment of Hu Jintao comes at the judicial moment “when his diplomatic immunity expires”. (ICT report, China’s former leader Hu Jintao indicted for policies in Tibet by Spanish court).
Today’s ruling was made by the appeals court (Section 4 of the Criminal Court of Spain¹s National Court, the Audiencia Nacional), which is the investigative national court for major crimes such as terrorism, drug trafficking, piracy, or money laundering. It specifically refers to the “political and criminal responsibility” of the named Chinese leaders for their policies on Tibet and addresses the evidence presented to the court over the past eight years. This includes testimony from former political prisoners, international experts, documentation of killings and torture, and reports by ICT and other organisations. A report by the International Campaign for Tibet, ratified to the judge in Madrid in December 2012, outlined details of the chain of command for specific policies in Tibet from the imposition of martial law leading to torture and a climate of terror, to systematic patriotic education, compelling Tibetans to denounce their exiled leader the Dalai Lama. ICT described how the functions of the Communist Party override those of the Chinese state at all levels.
In making the ruling, the judges were acknowledging that there was ample and specific evidence to issue the order for arrest warrants. Orders of international arrest are carried out by police through Interpol or European Arrest Warrants in the EU and not by governments. The Chinese authorities responded to earlier writs with complaints to the Spanish Courts and government; Beijing has sought to quash the cases through direct intervention with the Spanish government and judiciary.
The Spanish lawyers acting for Spanish NGO Comite de Apoyo al Tibet (CAT) were requested by Court Room No 2 where the genocide lawsuit was lodged to provide a set of questions to former Party leader Hu Jintao about his policies in Tibet. The writ issued last month followed an appeal on July 29 following the judge¹s earlier rejection of a request to extend the lawsuit to include former Party Secretary and President Hu Jintao. The appeals court now accepts the argument put forward by the Spanish NGO Comite de Apoyo al Tibet (CAT) for Hu Jintao¹s indictment. This includes the period he was Party Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region in which he presided over the imposition of martial law in 1989, and also his responsibility for policy on Tibet as President and Party Secretary of China after 2003 “due to being the highest ranking person in both the Party and the Government”.

Tibetan monk sets himself on fire in China
Updated Tue 12 Nov 2013, 7:38pm AEDT
A Tibetan monk has reportedly set himself on fire in an act of protest in China, as top Communist Party leaders hold a key gathering.
Tsering Gyal, 20, set himself alight on Monday in Guolou, a Tibetan area of Qinghai province in northwestern China, according to the US-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) and Radio Free Asia (RFA), which is funded by the US government.
Police extinguished the flames and took Gyal to hospital, they said, adding that his condition was unknown.
Another rights group, British-based Free Tibet, said he had survived.
An image posted online by ICT showed what appeared to be a man in flames in the middle of a road, with a group of more than a dozen people watching from several metres away.
Leaders of China’s ruling Communist Party are holding a four-day meeting in Beijing known as the Third Plenum, at which they are expected to chart the country’s economic course for the next decade.
The Guolou incident is the latest in a string of similar acts in Tibet and neighbouring provinces by about 120 people since 2009. Most of them have died.
Occasionally, tensions in the region have flared into cases of mass violence.
In early October Chinese police reportedly opened fire on a group of protesters in Tibet who had gathered to demand the release of a fellow Tibetan detained for refusing to fly the Chinese flag, injuring 60. Local police denied any incident to AFP.
Beijing condemns the self-immolations and blames them on the Dalai Lama, saying the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader uses them to further a separatist agenda.
But Tibetans and human rights groups say the protests are a response to Beijing’s tight controls on their exercise of religion.
The Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since 1959 after a failed uprising in Tibet, has described the protests as acts of desperation that he is powerless to stop.
“If I created this, then I have the right to say, ‘No, don’t do,'” the Nobel Peace laureate said when asked about the self-immolations in a recent interview with the Financial Times.
“This is their own creation: Tibetan people – inside Tibet,” he added.
“The causes of these things are created by hard-line officials. They have the responsibility. They have to find ways to stop this.”
AFP

Officials in Tibetan Protest Area Block Investigation by Beijing
2013-11-07
Journalists and researchers sent by China’s central government to investigate conditions in a Tibetan-populated mining area in Qinghai province have been blocked in their work by local officials, who sent them to the wrong sites and stopped them from speaking to local residents, sources say.
The group had been assigned to look into reports of environmental damage in the Yulshul (in Chinese, Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture’s Dzatoe (Zaduo) county, where local Tibetans clashed with security forces in August over Chinese mining operations, a Tibetan living in India told RFA’s Tibetan Service this week.
“Some groups of reporters tried to visit the mines, but they were not taken to places where Chinese miners are actually extracting minerals,” the source, Konchog Dondrub, said, citing contacts in the Dzatoe area.
“Instead, they were taken to other sites in an attempt to convince them that mining is not harming the local environment,” he said.
County officials also prevented the group from speaking freely to area residents, arranging instead for people of their own choosing to be interviewed, Dondrub said.
“Reporters never met the local Tibetans who had protested Chinese mining in their area,” he said.
Mining protests
On Aug. 15-16, hundreds of Tibetan villagers blocked work at three mining sites—Atoe, Dzachen, and Chidza—in Dzatoe county, sparking a crackdown by at least 500 armed police, according to area sources.
Mining operations in Tibetan regions have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms of polluting the environment and disrupting sites of spiritual significance.
Tibetan residents of Dzatoe have long regarded the mountains in their area targeted for mining as the abodes of protective deities, and documents appearing to give central government approval for the work were later found to be fakes, one source said.
“So this year, the Tibetans were determined to resist the mines,” he said.
Village leaders fired
Now, Tibetans selected by county officials to replace village leaders fired from their jobs last month are refusing to take up their new posts, Dondrub said.
The former village chiefs had “complained against the government” following the Chinese security crackdown in August, which left dozens injured and saw several detained.
“The replacements for the leadership positions of Atoe, Dzachen, and Chidza villages have also refused to work as village leaders,” Dondrub said, adding that one former village chief, Khetsa Soetob, has been ordered to surrender to authorities.
“He was told that if he fails to do so, he could be sentenced to death or to a life term in prison,” Dondrub 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 122 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.
Reported by Pema Ngodup for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.

22 October 2013
UN criticises China’s rights record at Geneva meeting
The UN human rights council has criticised China during an official review of its human rights record.
Many members of the council expressed concern at the arrest of dissidents, the continued use of the death penalty and the use of torture in prison.
But Chinese officials said major progress had been made in improving social and economic rights.
They said people had better access to healthcare and education, and incomes had risen across the country.
But Julie de Rivero, of Human Rights Watch, told the BBC that China’s focus on economic progress was a way of avoiding the real issues.
“The question is why does does China continue to torture people in prisons and why is it systematic? Why do they not allow human rights defenders to raise questions that party members are even raising, about corruption? When it comes from the mouth of a human rights defender it earns them a place in prison,” she said.
Students for a Free Tibet banner Activists from Students for a Free Tibet defied security to display a banner on scaffolding in front of the of the European headquarters of the United Nations
All UN member states undergo the review by the UN once every four years.
In 2009 it was recommended that China make improvements in reducing poverty and support the rights of ethnic minorities.
Human rights groups say China has failed to address these and other issues.
Ahead of proceedings on Tuesday, at least three Tibet activists scaled scaffolding at the UN headquarters in Geneva, with a banner saying: “China human rights – UN stand up on Tibet”.
A Chinese government white paper released on Tuesday said that Beijing had no intention of altering its “correct” policies in Tibet as they had brought “unprecedented achievements”.
Activists missing
Members of the UN panel also expressed concern about the treatment of a number of Chinese human rights activists in recent weeks.
A BBC correspondent says several have been arrested or banned from travelling in a bid to prevent them testifying in Geneva.
On Monday, a wealthy Chinese businessman, Wang Gongquan, was formally arrested on suspicion of “gathering crowds to disturb public order”.
Mr Wang is considered a key supporter of a group of activists pushing for more official transparency, New Citizens Movement, which has been targeted in a crackdown this year.
Human Rights Watch has also expressed concern about a well-known legal rights activist who recently disappeared after being questioned by Beijing airport police.
The group says Cao Shunli has not been seen since 14 September, when she was barred from boarding a flight to Switzerland to attend a UN human rights training course.
A number of bloggers and journalists have also been detained over alleged “rumour-mongering”, and high-profile micro-bloggers targeted.
The UN panel – with a rotating membership of 47 states that does not currently include China – has no binding powers.
The UN is expected to deliver a report on China later this week.

Statement by the Tibetan National Congress on Hu Jintao’s indictment
October 16th, 2013
In a rare moment of sunshine in these dark days, with Tibet deeply immersed in the heart-wrenching images of the self-immolations spurred on by the brutal Chinese occupation, and the exile Tibetans anguished in our inability to assist them, the Spanish National Court provided a great moment of triumph and indicted Hu Jintao for the crime of Genocide against the people and the country of Tibet.
There was tremendous pressure asserted on the small group of people working on this lawsuit, from both within the country of Spain and from international forces to either abandon this venture altogether or to throw the case out of court on technicalities. But they persisted against overwhelming odds and pulled off one of the biggest triumphs in recent international legal history. This victory in the Spanish National Court proves that there are some courts in the civilized world which refuse to be intimidated or stand aside while innocents are oppressed.
This victory did not come overnight. This has been a lonely fight for almost twenty years carried on by CAT (Comité de Apoyo al Tíbet). One staunch advocate for this lawsuit, Claude B. Levenson has even passed away, sadly unable to witness this tremendous legal victory. In the words of Professor José Elías Esteve Moltó of CAT, “We wish to dedicate this judicial success not only to the victims, but also to the thousands of ‘freedom fighters’ and to the memory of all those who self-immolated in and outside Tibet, and those who risk their lives and their freedom in the face of the passivity of the international community whose silence is an accomplice to the genocide. Their sense of justice and their determination for truth is enshrined in this judicial battle that believes in these values in a nonviolent manner.”
And this is more than a symbolic victory by CAT and co-plaintiffs Ven. Thubten Wangchen and Fundacion Casa del Tíbet Barcelona. The judicial ruling recognizes that this genocide is against the “country” of Tibet. Hu Jintao and others indicted by the Spanish National Court can now be arrested and made to answer for their crimes if they set foot in Spain or the multitude of countries with extradition treaties with Spain. Even without their physical presence, the Spanish court can now try to preventively freeze their international assets. China is looking for validation and acceptance into the civilized world; it is a crushing blow to their pride when, because of the Chinese occupation of Tibet, their top officials are indicted for the worst crimes a human being can commit. Moreover, most leaders, however delusional they might be in reality, do care about their legacy and this sets a precedent where future strong-men in China will have to reconsider their actions. This is also etched in history, in legal terms, that they are international criminals and as such history will remember them in just and equitable terms.
The most imperative thing that came out of this victory is that this small group of dedicated citizens of Spain has taught us a lesson in courage and resilience; one must stand up and raise your voice against tyranny and oppression no matter the obstacles or the outcome. The victory is the simple act of standing up, refusing to accept crimes against humanity, and speaking out against those who perpetuate such horrendous crimes. It is also the act of seeking justice no matter the duration of the crime and acknowledging the pain and suffering of an entire people and nation. In the words of Alan Cantos of CAT, this success “proves that, even in the worst conditions, the truth surfaces. And the truth surfaces though a very meticulous and slow process of hammering with rigorous information, rigorous experts, rigorous witnesses, and just keep on feeding that truth into the courtroom, not just into the media and shelves.”
Tibetan National Congress wishes to thank all the amazing people involved in this project for their hard work and unrelenting pursuit of justice against all odds, and in particular Professor Esteve and Alan Cantos of CAT. We support their legal endeavor without any reservations.
Therefore, Tibetan National Congress hereby passes a resolution endorsing:
1.    the legal action against Hu Jintao and his cohorts in the Spanish National Court;
2.    the private member’s resolution in the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile, Agenda to be Considered:
Document 37, sponsored by MP Dhardon Sharling and MP Atuk Tsetan on September 25th, 2013; and
3.    the call by DIIR Kalon Dicki Chhoyang on September 25th, 2013 for all Tibet Support Groups to pursue similar legal actions against the self-same international criminals in any and all national or international courts which abide by principles of universal jurisdiction.
On behalf of the people of Tibet, whose voices still remained trapped within walls of brick and iron, we thank the Spanish legal team for their labor of love for all of humanity. May the sun shine brightly once again in the Land of Snows, and may we all live to welcome His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama back to his land and his people, in an independent Tibet.
Bhod Gyalo!
Jigme Ugen
President

Spanish court indicts China’s ex-president Hu Jintao on genocide charges
Friday, 11 October, 2013 [Updated: 4:23PM]
Patrick Boehler patrick.boehler@scmp.com
Spain’s National Court has agreed to hear charges of genocide against former Chinese President Hu Jintao.
On Thursday, the court’s criminal division ruled in favour of an appeal by Tibetan exile groups allowing the indictment of Hu, a request which had been dismissed in June by the same court.
The court, which handles crimes against humanity and genocide, argued that the earlier decision had to be overturned because one of the plaintiffs, Thubten Wangchen, is a Spanish citizen and because China had not carried out its own investigation into the allegations.
“There’ll be some sort of diplomatic reaction,” said Nina Jorgensen, an associate professor at the Chinese Univeristy of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law. “China has been very much against these proceedings.”
“But in all likelihood, not a lot will happen,” she cautioned. “The case brings attention to the issue and gives the victims at least an opportunity to bring attention to their claims.”
Spanish courts can hear cases of crimes against humanity wherever they occur outside its national territory on the legal principle of universal competence. In 2009, the universality was limited to cases in which Spanish citizens are victims of such crimes.
The court’s decision follows lengthy proceedings which started in 2008, when Tibetan activist groups, one of them headed by Wangchen, asked the court to hold seven Chinese state leaders, including former President Jiang Zemin and former Premier Li Peng, responsible for crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the Chinese government in Tibet. China denounced the trial proceedings.
Hu Jintao served as Communist Party Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region between 1988 and 1992, overseeing a crackdown on anti-Chinese riots in 1989.
The court “recognises that this genocide is against the country of Tibet and against the Tibetan nation, and the judges recognise that this indictment of Hu Jintao comes at the precise judicial moment ‘when his diplomatic immunity expires’”, the Madrid-based Comité de Apoyo al Tíbet, a plaintiff in the case, said in a statement.
 
 

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
___________________________________________
Tibet Society Unit 9, 139 Fonthill Road, London N4 3HF, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7272 1414  Fax: +44 (0)20 7272 1410
www.tibetsociety.com | facebook | twitter | Join Tibet Society