With less than six months to go until the Beijing games, the international spotlight turned on Tibet. On March 10, Tibetan monks launched a series of peaceful demonstrations to advocate for greater autonomy from Beijing. Details remain sketchy, but clashes erupted between demonstrators and security forces in Lhasa, and these spread to other cities in Tibet and surrounding provinces. The Chinese government responded with an ongoing crackdown that included shooting, beating, and arresting suspected dissidents. According to China’s state-run news sources, just over twenty people have died in the fighting, but Tibet’s government-in-exile says the death toll is over two hundred.
Human rights groups and governments around the world condemned China’s actions, calling them a flagrant violation of human rights. The United States, which submits a report to Congress each year on the status of talks between China and the exiled Dalai Lama, urged Beijing to refrain from violence and to respect Tibet’s cultural heritage. The U.S. Congress formed a new “Tibet Caucus” and began debating a number of measures aimed at holding China accountable for the conduct of its security forces in Tibet.
Some human rights groups have called on the United States and the European Union to react more forcefully and boycott the Beijing Olympics. Some prominent leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, have said they will not be attending the games’ opening ceremony. In April, U.S. President George W. Bush said his plans to attend the games “haven’t changed” (Newsweek.com).
While the crackdown in Tibet is ongoing, it was overshadowed in May by an earthquake (WashPost) in China’s Sichuan Province. Experts say that despite Olympics-related pressure, China is unlikely to reverse its position on Tibet, given its increasing entrenchment in the region and investment in an expensive train to carry tourists there that opened in 2006. The Indian city of Dharamsala is planning to host an Olympics for Tibetans in exile.
Source: http://www.cfr.org/publication/13270/chinas_torch_song.html?breadcrumb=%2F#4
Tags: Tibet, Tibetan
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