China: Dalai Lama caused riots to damage Olympics

China: Dalai Lama caused riots to damage Olympics

www.usatoday.com

China accused the Dalai Lama on Sunday of orchestrating the recent anti-government riots in Tibet in a bid to mar the Beijing Olympics and overthrow the area's communist leaders.

The accusations came as Tibetan areas were swarming with troops and closed to scrutiny from the outside world. With foreign media banned, information barely trickled out of the Tibetan capital Lhasa and other far-flung communities.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Germany Warns China Olympics at Risk

Aww, so "Mr. Mean-old Dalai Lama" is raining on China's parade? Poor China, literally. What do you think sparked the riots, the Dalai Lama, or the oppressive Chinese government?

I really can't see the Dalai out there chucking rocks at
the security forces. China brought this upon themselves.

www.usatoday.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

LOL.... here is one anti-china media's report. the picture taken from a video of an india tv, but the original edition is CCTV. the caption goes like this. does everybody know what the Tibetan woman was saying in fact?? . she is saying that " i am upset when witnessing the seperarist's actions, they destroy our peaceful life and make the kids off school. we cant go to work normally, either.."

how ridiculous! courtesy CCTV. anyone can understand chinese knows what the woman was saying and finds your anti-china medias are all shameless liars... i will never buy anything you speak since all of you grow up under such a media situation.




[edit on 23-3-2008 by wwssii]

[edit on 23-3-2008 by wwssii]

There is no doubt that there has been a long-standing desire, expressed by various pro-Tibetan independence groups to disrupt the Beijing Olympics.

From 2004:

Activists are planning mass protests in Beijing before and during the 2008 Olympics. They count on the support of hundreds of foreign athletes who will be encouraged to raise the issue of Tibet in live television interviews and to display the Tibetan flag and images of the Dalai Lama, prohibited under Chinese law.

In the last month or so, there has been an upsurge in this activity. From February 24, talking about the then-upcoming march to Tibet from India, to take place in March:

Other activists of the group say they will not be seeking the approval of the Dalai Lama, as he has a more moderate position and is okay with Tibet getting partial autonomy rather than complete independence. Officials in the Dalai Lama's office say they are aware of the march but the government-in-exile neither plans to participate nor disrupt the initiative.

.....

The march is a part of the Tibetan People's Uprising Movement, a united effort by five groups: Tibetan Youth Congress, Tibetan Women's Association, Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet, National Democratic Party of Tibet and Students for a Free Tibet, India.

That`s an interesting list, because it does actually verify to an extent the accusations of international involvement that China has been claiming (imperialist forces, or however they put it). Students for a Free Tibet is an international group, after all.

The above article goes into a bit more detail about what people think of the Dalai Lama`s blessing on the march - some people seem to be under the impression that he was for it, some didn`t care either way, and the official stance is noted above.

It`s worth considering the timing of events in this situation: 5 groups came together for this protest. This doesn`t happen overnight. For this article to have appeared in February, you can bet that the preparation for the protest would have been underway at the very least last November - and it is known that the Dalai Lama knew about it (but chose to look the other way).

Based on these two articles - occurring as they do before the protests of Friday the 14th, and taken alongside the hundreds of other protests which have occurred since the first article was published in 2004, is it not hard to imagine that the Riots in Lhasa were orchestrated from outside the country?


Finally, from March 12:

The protesters, aiming to arrive at the Indian border with Tibet on the opening day of the Games to draw attention to Beijing's often harsh rule over their region, have succeeded again in using the Games to put Beijing on the defensive.

In the wake of Steven Spielberg's resignation as artistic adviser to the Games in protest against China's role in Darfur, the Tibetans have thrust themselves into a "galvanized international focus on the Olympics as an event that might not work out well for China," says Robbie Barnett, a Tibet expert at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute in New York.

"We wish to unveil the true face of China," says Lobsang Yeshi, a coordinator of the march. "This kind of tyranny [in Tibet] will become open for the world to see … and we see the media coming out to hear the other side of the story."

The last part of that quote is what really struck me - given the events that followed, it seems almost prophetic, doesn`t it?

I find it very hard to believe, on the evidence, that the Dalai Lama would have been completely unaware of the protest plans. I also find it very hard to believe that he did anything to stop them, before things started to get out of hand. At that point, he stepped in and apparently met with the Tibetan Youth Congress, and told them to cease and desist (that was the source of the resignation threat last week).

So where is the line?

Is Beijing wrong in their accusation that the Dalai Lama and his supporters are behind the protests? I can`t figure out how they couldn`t be. Are they correct in their accusation that the protests are designed to derail or damage the Olympics? Again, that`s been the stated objective of activists since 2004 - and the activist in this case are pro-Tibetan, who in turn take their cue from the Dalai Lama.

Looks an awful lot like Beijing is in the right on this - at least to me.

Further to the last post, a thought:

The Dalai Lama is seen as the chief negotiator on behalf of the Tibetan exile community, pro-Tibet groups internationally, and I assume within Tibet. He is certainly thought of in those terms by western governments.

If he is not capable of controlling the protests - violent or otherwise - being carried out in his name, then who is?

Furthermore, if he is no longer capable of fulfilling that function, does he represent the will of the people? If that is the circumstance, is he then qualified to negotiate on their behalf?

If he is not responsible (as in: "The Buck Stops Here", head-of-state kind of responsible), then would a negotiated settlement on his terms, with Beijing, make any difference?

Please add to current topics on this rather than starting a new topic.

Thread closed.