Chinese embassies stormed
- Source: Global Times
- [02:55 March 11 2010]
- Comments
By Kang Juan
Hundreds of "pro-Tibet independence" and anti-China activists have tried to storm Chinese diplomatic organs in Nepal and India over the last two days, marking the 51st anniversary of "Tibetan Uprising Day."
The Dalai Lama led a failed armed rebellion on March 10, 1959, for Tibet independence. Nepal and India border China's Tibet Autonomous Region.
China is becoming more adept at curbing such attempts to create chaos on the anniversary, following deadly riots two years ago in Tibet's regional capital of Lhasa, which left 19 dead, including one policeman, and 400 injured. In all, seven schools, five hospitals and 120 homes were destroyed by fire.
Nepalese police Wednesday arrested around half a dozen protesters from a main Buddhist monastery, located in the capital Kathmandu, when around 300 people demonstrated alongside Buddhist monks and some Westerners, shouting "Free Tibet" and waving the old Tibetan flag, Nepalnews.com reported.
In a separate incident yesterday, police detained about a dozen young protestors when they tried to make a dash toward a Chinese consulate office in Kathmandu where visas are issued, Reuters said.
Nepal is home to around 20,000 proindependence Tibetans, and the capital has been the scene of several antiChina protests since the unrest in 2008. A large presence of riot police could be seen in many parts of the country Wednesday.
In a preemptive move, Thinley Gyatso, the representative of the Dalai Lama in Nepal, was arrested by police Sunday and warned not to incite antiChina sentiment in the country, according to Nepalnews.com.
Security was also beefed up along the border that Nepal shares with Tibet, while Chinese authorities have grounded flights from Kathmandu to Lhasa and virtually closed the bridge connecting northern Nepal with Tibet, while ordering tour operators to suspend Tibet tours until March 28, Indo Asian News Service reported.
In neighboring India, heavy security was deployed Wednesday to prevent unrest in New Delhi a day after Tibetan separatists tried to storm the Chinese embassy, which led to the arrest of around 30 Tibetan activists.
"Indian police have taken stringent measures to protect the Chinese embassy and guard the safety of personnel.Any illegal entry of the Tibetan separatists to India is banned by the government," the Indian embassy in Beijing told the Global Times.
Wang Lei, a People's Daily correspondent in India, said the younger generation of Tibetan separatists comprises extremists who often resort to violence.
Hu Shisheng, a researcher of South Asian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said similar violent protests have become a routine "political show" on and around some sensitive anniversaries regarding Tibet.
"The protests have been largely ceremonial and aimed at catching global attention in order to get support and money. Many of the socalled protesters were hired and paid by the separatists," Hu said, adding that they were protesting for the sake of protesting.
Following the 1959 uprising, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet, forming a "Tibetan government in exile" in Dharamshala. China has considered Tibet an inalienable part of China since the 13th century.
In an address marking the 51year anniversary of his fleeing Tibet, the Dalai Lama yesterday accused Beijing of restricting Tibetan people's free practice of culture and religion, which he described as trying to "annihilate Buddhism" in Tibet, AFP reported.
He also publicly displayed his support for Xinjiang separatists by referring to Xinjiang as "East Turkestan," the name given to the province by proindependence exiles, according to the AP.
Chinese authorities have repeatedly said the Dalai Lama means to instigate independence, though he has denied such claims.
"If you do not support Tibet independence, why did you propose a 'Greater Tibet' and keep the 'government-in-exile' with a so-called constitution?" said Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for the annual session of the National People's Congress, last week.
Dealing with separatists
Li Wei, an antiterrorism expert at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the month of March is a sensitive period for Tibet, but the central government now has more measures to quell Tibetan separatists.
A staff member identified as Pema at the Phuntsok Kasang International Youth Hostel, which is located in the center of Lhasa, told the Global Times that security has been tightened in the city, especially this month, with many policeman patrolling the streets.
The number of visitors, all domestic, at her hostel remains roughly the same as this time last year, but there were few foreign tourists, she said.
"Foreign visitors have to sign up with one of the Chinese travel agencies to obtain a permit to enter Tibet," Pema said. "But I don't expect to take any foreigners at this time of the year."
Local residents contacted by AFP said no government curfew or other security notices had been issued.
"If there were no antiChina forces or no Dalai to destroy and create chaos, Tibet would be better off than it is today," the region's Communist Party secretary, Zhang Qingli, said on a government website.
"Although antiChina forces and the Dalai clique are trying to ... destroy our harmony and stability, they can never shake our heartfelt belief that China cannot live without Tibet and Tibet cannot live without China," he said.
Over the last eight years, Tibet has witnessed a 12 percent economic growth annually as 180 billion yuan ($26 billion) have been poured into regional infrastructure, mostly by the central government.
Qiu Wei contributed to this story
