Recently in Tibet Category

By Edward Wong | The New York Times
February 20, 2010

When President Obama met with the Dalai Lama in the White House on Thursday, he was following a tradition that all recent American presidents had dutifully honored.

Yet, to some Chinese Mr. Obama's support of the Dalai Lama represents something more troubling and disrespectful. The meeting, while low-profile, and the routine announcement last month of American arms sales to Taiwan, were taken as the latest signs that despite China's rapid ascent, the American government still refused to compromise on issues that China considered sacrosanct: matters of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

On Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called in Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the American ambassador here, to lecture him on the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of the Tibetans, whom China considers a separatist.

"At this time, China and the U.S. cannot find any agreement on strategic issues," said Yan Xuetong, director of the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University.

Few American officials would disagree. The rift in United States-China relations has arisen in part because the two countries have completely different items at the top of their foreign policy agendas and are talking past each other, American officials say.

They say that China emphasizes sovereignty issues while refusing to give any weight to the Obama administration's two top priorities in the relationship: containing Iran's nuclear ambitions and rebalancing currencies and trade. The Americans have also highlighted issues of Internet censorship and security.

"There's not a lot of overlap in the Venn diagram," an American official involved in China policy said on the condition of anonymity, following diplomatic protocol. "What's really the most worrisome is the degree to which we have that disconnect."

Those tensions are likely to worsen in coming months as domestic pressures in each country push the governments to assert their agendas more boldly, and as China's confidence in its economic system continues to grow.

On the American side, a struggling economy is forcing the Obama administration to make currency valuation and market liberalization top priorities. With an unemployment rate of nearly 10 percent and midterm elections coming up, American officials are aware that pushing China to raise the value of its currency, the renminbi, and allowing American companies greater access to some Chinese markets could be important political victories for Mr. Obama and his party.

"We've got to look at the risk of a more populist American public and the U.S. Congress deciding that China is the reason our economy isn't growing enough," the American official said.

Economists say the renminbi is undervalued by 25 to 40 percent, a wider gap than at any other time since 2005, when, under pressure from the Bush administration, China decided to allow the renminbi to float in a narrow band against the dollar and other currencies. The renminbi appreciated 21 percent, but has not moved at all since July 2008. This month, Ma Zhaoxu, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, rejected an unusually public call by Mr. Obama for China to revalue its currency, saying that "the value of the renminbi is getting to a reasonable and balanced level."

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By REUTERS | The New York Times
February 18, 2010

President Barack Obama will host the Dalai Lama at the White House on Thursday despite China's warning that the meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader could further damage strained ties.

Obama's first presidential meeting with the Dalai Lama is sure to draw angry complaints from Beijing, which is increasingly at odds with Washington over trade, currencies, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and Internet censorship.

With the two giant economies so deeply intertwined, tensions are considered unlikely to escalate into outright confrontation. The White House expects only limited fallout.

But the Dalai Lama's visit could complicate Obama's efforts to secure China's help on key issues such as imposing tougher sanctions on Iran, resolving the North Korean nuclear standoff and forging a new global accord on climate change.

By going ahead with the meeting over Chinese objections, Obama may be trying to show his resolve against an increasingly assertive Beijing after facing criticism at home for being too soft with China's leaders on his trip there in November.

"Chinese officials have known about this and their reaction is their reaction," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said dismissively on the eve of the Dalai Lama's visit.

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By Radio Free Asia
January 06, 2010

The documentary 'Leaving Fear Behind' gets its producer a six-year prison term.

Authorities in the northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai have handed a six-year jail sentence to a Tibetan filmmaker who returned from exile to make a documentary about his homeland, Tibetan sources say.

The Xining Intermediate People's Court handed the sentence to Dhondup Wangchen, the producer of the documentary "Leaving Fear Behind," in a secret trial that found him guilty of "splitting the motherland," the sources said.

"Dhondup Wangchen, the producer of 'Leaving Fear Behind,' was sentenced six years to prison," a Tibetan from the Amdo region identified as Thardrub said.

"We were checking around about it...later, we were able to confirm that he was sentenced secretly by Xining Intermediate People's Court in Qinghai on Dec. 28, 2009."

Dhondup Wangchen's relatives were given no information about his trial or sentencing, he added.

"They were not informed about the sentencing," Thardrub said. "The relatives argue that he is innocent and he did not commit any crime...They are planning to appeal his sentence in the higher courts."

Jamyang Tsultrim, a relative of Dhondup Wangchen now living in Switzerland, said the sentencing of Dhondup Wangchen was a clear indication of how Tibetans were deprived of freedom of expression in China.

"His relatives made arrangements for a lawyer to represent him, but the lawyers were not allowed to represent him," Jamyang Tsultrim said.

"He was also suffering from liver problems and was denied any kind of medical treatment," he added.

Short documentary

Jamyang Tsultrim also said Dhondup Wangchen's relatives weren't informed about his detention, his health problems, or his sentencing.

The Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ran a petition campaign following Dhondup Wangchen's detention on March 23, 2008, calling him "a courageous man who took the risk of returning to his country to interview other Tibetans."

Dhondup Wangchen's film, "Leaving Fear Behind" (www.leavingfearbehind.com), is a 25-minute documentary including interviews with Tibetans in the Amdo region expressing their views on Tibet's exiled leader the Dalai Lama, the Beijing Olympics, and Chinese laws.

The authorities also detained Jigme Gyatso, a monk from the Kham region, at the same time, but released him on Oct. 15. He later said he was tortured in detention.

"Leaving Fear Behind" was produced outside China after Dhondup Wangchen managed to send footage out of Tibet before the authorities caught up with him.

It was shown to foreign journalists in Beijing during the Olympic Games.

Protest turned violent in 2008

Many Tibetans have chafed for years under Chinese rule.

Rioting rocked the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, in March 2008 and spread to Tibetan-populated regions of western China, causing official embarrassment ahead of the August 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Chinese officials say 21 people--including three Tibetan protesters--died in the violence.

The India-based Tibetan government-in-exile estimates that 220 Tibetans were killed and 7,000 were detained in a subsequent region-wide crackdown.

Original reporting by Dorjee Tso for RFA's Tibetan service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

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By Radio Free Asia
November 30, 2009

A  pastor at an unofficial Protestant church banned from holding indoor meetings by authorities in Shanghai said she would seek compensation for mistreatment by police, as hundreds of the church's followers held an open-air service in one of the city's parks.

Just one week after Shanghai police detained six pastors and organizers of the city's popular but unregistered Wanbang church for several hours, several hundred worshipers gathered Sunday in the city's Minhang Sports Park for an open-air meeting.

"Today we held an open-air service in Minhang Sports Park," the group's leader, Pastor Ren, said.

"It wasn't only prayers. We also held a meeting with preaching. Around 700-800 people were there."

"The police were standing around the edges. There were about 200-300 of them today, the ones wearing uniform. They were uniformed security guards."

Alleged mistreatment

Meanwhile, Wanbang deputy pastor Liu Quanqin said she was mistreated during her detention by officers from Shanghai's Zhuanqiao police station, and had written to demand compensation and an official apology.

"I was praying alone at the hotel at 6:10 p.m., and reading from scripture, and I heard sounds nearby --they were checking all the rooms," she said.

"They knocked on my door and then they used tried to use a key to open the door. It was double-locked, so they just forced it open."

She said police hadn't shown any identification during the detention, then locked her in a room and not allowed her to use the toilet.

"They left me in there for 15 hours," Liu said.

"I asked to go to the bathroom but they wouldn't let me. I asked for some water but they wouldn't give it to me. I was hungry and I asked them for food but they wouldn't let me eat."

Liu said she wrote a complaint letter after she saw a list of rules on the wall of the police station stipulating that police must give food and water to detainees.

She said she was taken to a courtroom but there was no hearing.

Instead, she was pushed, pinched, sworn at, and had her skirt lifted up for "inspection."

She said she had photographic evidence of blood-blisters where she had been pinched.

"The government wants me to stop my activities with the Wanbang church," Liu said. "They say it's an illegal organization."

"I have written an official complaint letter," she said. "I will win redress for this."

Wanbang deputy pastor Cui said it was unclear whether the church would be allowed to move back into its old premises after being expelled by the authorities earlier this month.

"We will have to talk to them about that," he said. "I don't know [if we can go back]. We haven't tried it."

"On the whole, the authorities have been fairly approving of us. They know we are all good people, and pretty trustworthy. The only problem is that we aren't legal [officially approved as a church]. That is where the flashpoint for conflict lies."

Henan intervention

Meanwhile, in the southern province of Henan, the leader of China's Association of House Churches, Pastor Zhang Mingxuan, said police had broken up a prayer meeting he tried to hold on Sunday, attended by around 30 people.

"House" churches, which operate without official registration documents and without the involvement of the local religious affairs bureaus, come in for surveillance and repeated raids, especially in more rural areas of the country, according to overseas rights groups.

Officially an atheist country, China nonetheless has an army of officials whose job is to watch over faith-based activities, which have spread rapidly in the wake of massive social change and economic uncertainty since economic reforms began 30 years ago.

Party officials are put in charge of Catholics, Buddhists, Taoists, Muslims, and Protestants.

Judaism isn't recognized, and worship in unapproved temples, churches, or mosques is against the law.

In its most recent report on human rights in China, the U.S. State Department said freedom of religion is permitted to varying degrees around China.

Original reporting in Mandarin by Qiao Long. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Translated and written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

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By Radio Free Asia
November 18, 2009

Chinese rights lawyers and petitioners were closely watched and prevented from meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama during his visit to Beijing.

Rights lawyers and activists in Beijing during U.S. President Barack Obama's visit were restricted from meeting with him to voice their concerns, they say.

Well-known Beijing rights lawyer Mo Shaoping said that Beijing police had been alerted when the U.S. embassy inquired about his willingness to meet with President Obama when he arrived in the capital.

"The American side contacted me about 20 days ago asking if I wanted to meet with him, and I agreed. But the meeting time was not finalized," Mo said.

"However, last Saturday the Beijing police asked me whether I wanted to meet [with Obama], and I said that the American side had spoken with me but this had not been finalized. I then asked the police: 'Do you want to block the meeting?' They answered 'No,'" he said.

And while other eminent rights lawyers were not directly contacted by American diplomats, many found themselves under tight police surveillance during Obama's visit.

One of the lawyers, Li Heping, said he had been followed for days ahead of Obama's arrival.

"Police have been following me for two or three days, and they stayed in front of my residence during the night. They explicitly told me that this was to prevent any possible meeting with Obama," Li said.

Another rights lawyer in Beijing, Li Fangping, met with the same problem.

"Police have been monitoring me since last Saturday, and now if I go out I have to ride in their car. They bar me from going to the places where President Obama might appear," he said.

Petitioners taken away

As Obama arrived in China, a group of overseas Chinese from the United States, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong came to Beijing to petition the central government over business losses related to China-based investment scams.

But Chinese police immediately restricted the groups upon their arrival in the capital.

A businessman from Hong Kong, who asked to remain anonymous, said "Police restricted our movement after we arrived. Friends from the United States and Canada suffered the same."

He added that Chinese officials from the Supreme Court on Tuesday promised to investigate the problems the group raised with local officials.

Chinese petitioners in Beijing were treated less humanely, despite Obama's presence in Beijing.

Petitioner Chen Qiyong said a group of petitioners that went to greet Obama were confronted by police.

"On Monday night, more than 90 of us went to the Diaoyutai State Guest House to welcome President Obama, but the police requested us to leave," Chen said.

"After our refusal, they took 42 of us away and sent us to the relief and rescue center near the railway station in southern Beijing."

Joint conference

Obama held a private meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in the Great Hall of the People on Tuesday in Beijing, which yielded a joint statement promising the two nations would work toward building bilateral strategic trust, and promising to work together to tackle ongoing global challenges.

Following the meeting, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency posted online the full text of the speech President Obama made to college students in Shanghai as well as his speech at a press conference in Beijing.

Earlier reports said that the live feed and text of Obama's allusions to human rights had been omitted from coverage of the Shanghai event.

Following the private meeting, the two presidents met jointly with the press.

Hu spoke first at the press conference, emphasizing that "China and the United States share extensive common interests and a broad prospect for cooperation on a series of major issues important to mankind's peace, stability and development."

President Obama again described the protection of human rights as a universal value following a similar talk he gave during a town hall meeting with students in Shanghai a day earlier.

"I spoke to President Hu about America's bedrock beliefs that all men and women possess certain fundamental human rights. We do not believe these principles are unique to America, but rather they are universal rights and that they should be available to all peoples, to all ethnic and religious minorities," the U.S. president said.

Obama added that the United States and China "agreed to continue to move this discussion forward in a human rights dialogue that is scheduled for early next year."

He then called on Beijing to restart talks on Tibetan autonomy with envoys of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

"While we recognize that Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China, the United States supports the early resumption of dialogue between the Chinese government and representatives of the Dalai Lama to resolve any concerns and differences that the two sides may have."

Obama also "applauded the steps that the People's Republic of China and Taiwan have already taken to relax tensions and build ties across the Taiwan Strait."

Obama and Hu did not take questions from the audience and left immediately after the press conference.

Original reporting by Shenhua, Xin Yu, Qiao Long, Fang Yuan and Ding Xiao for RFA's Mandarin service. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Translated by Ping Chen. Written for the Web in English by Joshua Lipes. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

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