12. Oct 2009
China reports major gold discovery in Qinghai
(Commodity online; Xinhua) China's Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (BGMR) have announced the discovery of fresh gold findings in Qinghai province, in the traditional Tibetan area of Amdo and a portion of Kham. According to the report, BGMR have discovered 106 confirmed gold ore bodies in a gold mine in Dachang, which is located in Chumarleb (Chin: Qumarleb/ Qumalai) county, Yushu TAP. The Dachang mine, discovered in 1997, is still being evaluated for gold ore content, but is thought to contain over 300 tons of gold, according to the report. The mine is expected to become a major gold resources development base. The bureau plans to finish the prospecting work on the main gold area by the end of 2009 and to start development of the mine in 2010.
12. Oct 2009
Nepali PM calls for railway extension to Kathmandu
(Indianserver.com) The Prime Minister of Nepal, Madhav Kumar Nepal, has urged Beijing to extend the Golmud-Lhasa railway line to Kathmandu. "The economic ties between Nepal and China could be taken to a new height if the railway line that has reached up to Lhasa from mainland China could be extended up to Kathmandu, and economic infrastructure could be developed on the Himalayan transit points between Nepal and China", the Prime Minister Nepal said. He made the comments during the inauguration of a Chinese cultural festival in Kathmandu. He also reiterated his government's position on Tibetan exiles protesting against China. "I would like to assure our Chinese friends to become assured on behalf of Nepal that the Himalayan republic will not allow any anti-China activities on its soil", he said.
16. Oct 2009
Three Tibetans arrested in Sog county
(Tibet Post) The Tibet Post reports that police arrested three Tibetans in their early twenties in Sog (Chin: Suo) county, Nagchu (Chin: Naqu) prefecture, TAR, on 01 October 2009. Gyaltsen, Nyima Wangchuk, and Yeshe Namkha, residents of the same village, were taken to Nagchu county and have been held incommunicado since. The three youths are reportedly regular users of the internet, and the Tibet Post reports that police had been monitoring the men's online activities and QQ (messenger service) accounts, through which they shared photographs of and speeches by the Dalai Lama. They were also reportedly charged with maintaining contacts with the outside world via the internet.
16. Oct 2009
CECC releases annual report
(CECC) The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) released its 2009 Annual Report, which provides an account of human rights and rule-of-law developments in Tibet and throughout the People's Republic of China (PRC). The report is the second since the protests of March 2008 across Tibet. The report states: "As of September 2009, the Commission had not seen public reports suggesting that Chinese authorities had lessened repressive security measures in Tibetan communities". The section on Tibet documents Beijing's increasingly aggressive stance towards the Dalai Lama and the leaders and institutions of the international community who publicly met with him over the preceding year. Two major issues covered were the eighth round of dialogue between representatives of the Dalai Lama and senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials held in November 2008; and the release in May 2009 of a report by a group of Chinese scholars at the Open Constitution Initiative (OCI) (Chin: Gongmeng), which broadly contradicted official pronouncements about the causes of the protests across Tibet starting in March 2008.
19. Oct 2009
Eight Tibetans arrested in Kardze
(Tibet Post) The Tibet Post reports that eight Tibetans have been arrested by the People's Armed Police (PAP) in Dege county, Kardze TAP. The arrests were made in response to farmers from the county refusing to sow crops, as part of the farming boycott movement, a concerted protest against the Chinese government. The report said that police and soldiers interrogated farmers from Longmar village, in Khagang township, demanding to know the reasons behind their actions and instructing them to resume work. The farmers quarrelled with the police and soldiers and subsequently eight separate arrests were made on unknown charges. Farmers from other villages in the area were also interrogated.
19. Oct 2009
Three monks sentenced in Kardze
(Phayul; VOT) Three monks were sentenced to various prison terms in Chengdu, Sichuan province in April 2009, according to the Voice of Tibet (VOT) radio service, citing a monk from Sera monastery in Southern India. The report said that Tsewang Dakpa, Thupten Gyatso and Gyatso Nima were arrested on 06 June 2008 for protesting in Draggo (Chin: Luhuo) county, Kardze (Chin: Ganzi) TAP. The three monks had shouted anti-China slogans, demanded the release of the Panchen Lama, Gendun Choekyi Nima, and accused the Chinese government of subjecting the Tibetan people to fifty years of tyranny. They also demanded that the Chinese government allow the return of the Dalai Lama to the Potala Palace. According to VOT, Tsewang Dakpa received seven years of imprisonment, Thupten Gyatso was sentenced to three years and Gyatso Nima was sentenced to one year.
20. Oct 2009
UK urges China to meet with Dalai Lama
(APCG) A delegation of British parliamentarians who travelled to the TAR at the invitation of the PRC has concluded that Beijing must invite the Dali Lama to talks if there is to be any progress on Tibet, The All Party Parliamentary China Group (APCG), led by Lord Steel of Aikwood, said: "There is a real opportunity for dialogue between the PRC and the Dalai Lama. We believe that common ground exists between both parties and should be explored with a view to resolution". The delegation saw that an independent Tibet was not feasible, and praised the Dalai Lama for not pursuing this end, and denouncing all forms of violence. It also praised the PRC for an "openness to exploring all options for the future of Tibet with the exception of independence". However, the report's authors conceded there was very little reason to hope that the PRC would extend an invitation to the Dalai Lama in the near future. Furthermore their vision of that meeting was at odds with anything the PRC could envisage. The delegation said: "We note the strong merits of an independent intermediary assisting those talks. We recall the beneficial role of mediators in Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, and South Africa, amongst others".
20. Oct 2009
Seismic-monitoring facility in Dingri
(Times of India) China has set up an earthquake monitoring station 4,255 metres above sea level at Dingri county, Shigatse prefecture, close to the Nepalese border. This is the second seismic-monitoring facility, the first one having been built in Nagchu prefecture in December 2008. China and India originally contemplated jointly running the project, which started in June 2009 and reportedly cost $140,000. China's decision to go ahead with it on its own raised speculation among the Indian press, whether Beijing plans to use the facility to monitor possible future Indian nuclear tests.
21. Oct 2009
People's Daily: Tibetan radical exposes "democracy myth"
(People's Daily; Shadow Tibet) Taking up arguments from Tibetan exile writer Jamyang Norbu, the government-controlled People's Daily has exposed what it calls the Dalai Lama's "democracy myth". In the article "Waiting for Mangtso - a reality check of Tibetan exile politics" the first part of which was posted on his website "Shadow Tibet" on 09 September 2009, Mr Norbu compares the Kalon Tripa, or Prime Minister to a ""first minister of the crown" in a pre-democratic monarchy or theocracy", or a "grand eunuch in a decaying Oriental court". He argues that a "religious right" have a stranglehold on exile politics and that the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) itself is merely a tool for the Office of the Dalai Lama rather than a democratic government in any meaningful sense. People's Daily also takes up Mr Norbu's criticism of the representation of support for the Dalai Lama's policies expressed at the Special Meeting of the exiles in November 2008. Jamyang Norbu, who for decades has been a vocal proponent of Tibetan independence as opposed to the Dalai Lama's Middle Way policy, is characterised by People's Daily as a "radical Tibetan independence activist". He himself stated his aim as "to democratise our exile government and society".
22. Oct 2009
Four Tibetans executed in Lhasa over spring 2008 protests
(TCHRD) The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) reports that Lobsang Gyaltsen, Loyak, Penkyi and an unnamed Tibetan were executed under the supervision of the Lhasa Municipality Intermediate People's Court for their alleged involvement protests in Lhasa in 2008. No information about their execution was reported anywhere in Chinese state media. There is also no information available on whether the defendants appealed against their sentences to the Supreme People's Court after the Lhasa court sentenced Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak to death on 08 April 2009. Also on 08 April, the court sentenced two people to suspended death penalties (Tenzin Phuntsok and Kangtsuk) and another (Dawa Sangpo) to life imprisonment on charges of arson causing death. On 21 April 2009 the same court, sentenced three Tibetans to suspended death, life and ten years' imprisonment respectively for starting fires that allegedly killed six people in Lhasa last year.
22. Oct 2009
Obama will Raise Tibet Issue with President Hu
(Reuters) Defending President Obama's position on human rights advocacy, senior adviser Valerie Jarret said the US president would raise the issue of Tibet during his visit to China in November 2009. "There's no stronger advocate for human rights than President Obama", Jarrett told Reuters. She said President Obama had invited the Dalai Lama to a White House meeting "as early as December". "It's a very important relationship and we think that we can certainly have both", Jarrett said. "The President has a relationship with the Dalai Lama. He has a relationship with the Chinese". Jarrett led a delegation to Dharamsala in September 2009 to meet the Dalai Lama to convey President Obama's commitment to support the Tibetan people in protecting their distinct religious, linguistic, and cultural heritage and securing respect for their human rights and civil liberties.
22. Oct 2009
China ignoring tiger trade
(AFP) China is turning a blind eye to the thriving illegal trade in tiger parts, a campaign group said following an undercover investigation in western China and Tibet. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) showed photos taken by a hidden camera revealing the "rampant" sale of tiger and white leopard skins, bones and claws in retail stores. The majority of tiger parts sold in China are smuggled from India via Nepal and the lack of enforcement of a ban on the trade is hobbling efforts by New Delhi to save the animal, it said. "China has really run out of excuses ... if they can put a man into space, they can do more to save the wild tiger", Debbie Banks, from EIA, told a press conference. The EIA report, called "A Deadly Game of Cat and Mouse", comes just five days before a Global Tiger Workshop scheduled in Nepal where international experts and officials are to discuss the dwindling numbers of the animal worldwide.
