Tibet: April 2006 Archives

By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes | BBC News
April 27, 2006

The completion of the Tibet railway is being hailed in China as one of the world's great engineering marvels.

The longest high-altitude railway in the world, it will ease access to the remote region. Test runs are due to begin on 1 July.

Tibet's extraordinary isolation has kept it poor. Education levels and life expectancy fall well behind the rest of China. But that isolation has also helped to preserve Tibet's unique culture and way of life.

The arrival of the railway will bring tremendous change. China's communist rulers say it will open up Tibet, bringing greater prosperity for its entire people. Detractors say the opening of the railway is the death knell of an independent Tibetan culture.

"It doesn't feel like our home any more"
Sedeng - Tibetan shop owner

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By Tim Luard | BBC News
April 25, 2006

Many Tibetans believe that only the Dalai Lama can save Tibet from extinction.

But even a Dalai Lama is mortal. And they are deeply anxious about what will happen when the present one dies.

For Tibetans, he is not just a Buddhist monk, a god and a king - the latest in a centuries'-long line of spiritual and temporal rulers - but a larger-than-life symbol of their unique civilisation.
For the past 50 years, from his sanctuary on the other side of the Himalayas, the 14th Dalai Lama has kept alive their dreams of survival as a separate people.

"The Chinese definitely want to see the Dalai Lama die so they can have a Dalai Lama of their own"
Kalsang Phuntsog Godrokba, Tibetan Youth Congress

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By REUTERS | The New York Times
April 23, 2006

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Tibetan youth considered by rights groups to be the world's youngest political prisoner turns 17 on Tuesday, 11 years after disappearing from public view when he was named the Himalayan region's second-ranking religious figure.

The whereabouts of Gendun Choekyi Nyima -- who human rights watchdogs say has been living under house arrest since Tibet's exiled god-king, the Dalai Lama, appointed him the 11th Panchen Lama -- is one of China's most zealously guarded state secrets.

A senior Canadian official pressed for access to Nyima during a visit to Tibet this month, but it fell on deaf ears.

Chinese officials parroted their assertion that Nyima was ''safe and comfortable and wishes to maintain his privacy,'' said the Canadian, who requested anonymity.

The Chinese cabinet spokesman's office did not reply to a list of questions submitted by fax a week ago.

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BBC News
April 17, 2006

The Chinese authorities say they are putting up a huge statue of Chairman Mao Zedong in Tibet. The 35-ton memorial is being built to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the former leader's death.

It is being erected in Gonggar County, near the Tibetan capital Lhasa, China's state-run news agency Xinhua said.

The statue will rise 7m from a 5m pedestal strengthened to withstand earthquakes. Mao Zedong ordered the Chinese takeover of Tibet in 1950.

The statue will be the central landmark of Gonggar County's Shangcha square, which covers about 40,000 sq metres, and is scheduled for completion in July.

According to the Beijing authorities, the statue of Mao Zedong will be the largest of its kind in China and the first in Tibet.

Changsha, capital of Hunan province and Mao's hometown, has donated 6.5m yuan ($811,000; £461,000) towards the cost of the plaza and statue, Xinhua reported.

"Many Tibetan people suggested we should have a statue of Chairman Mao to show our gratitude," a local Communist Party official told Xinhua:

Mixed reaction

The BBC's Daniel Griffiths in China says the statue is likely to get a mixed reaction from many Tibetans.

From Beijing's perspective, the area has been part of China for centuries. But for many, the Chinese government is an occupying power which has shown scant regard for human rights or for Tibet's unique culture, our correspondent says.

Communist troops marched into Tibet in 1950. Nine years later, the region's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled into exile along with tens of thousands of his followers after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

Since then, China has exerted tight control over the region and this new statue of Mao Zedong is another reminder of Beijing's influence there, our correspondent adds.

Human Rights Watch Organization
March 30, 2006

Clarify Legal Status and Allow Immediate Access to Detainees

(New York, March 30, 2006) – The authorities in Sichuan province must allow independent medical professionals and human rights monitors into a prison where five Tibetans have been held in custody without trial for more than six months, Human Rights Watch said today.

The five, detained after the burning of a slaughterhouse in Sichuan province last August, have been held without any charges against them made public and reportedly without access to relatives or defense counsel. Human Rights Watch expressed concern about the physical condition of the men after a sixth detainee was released and found to have gone blind in custody as a result of alleged beatings and lack of access to medical care.

“It’s time for the Chinese government to give a full account of what has happened to these five men, including any charges against them,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Independent doctors and lawyers should be allowed to meet with them to ascertain their condition.”

On August 5, 2005, some 300 Tibetans reportedly burned down a privately-owned slaughterhouse in Manigango, near Kandze, a predominately Tibetan part of Sichuan province. The following day, police and army units detained several dozen people, many of whom had been identified from a videotape taken by slaughterhouse staff during the attack. Most were released later that day, but several were detained. According to eyewitness testimony, those held in custody were beaten and tortured. Additional police and military forces were brought to the area for the express purpose of conducting these beatings.

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