Chinese ambassador to Australia Zhang Junsai (章均賽) wrote to Labor backbencher Michael Danby urging against his attendance at a pro-Tibet rally, saying it was meant to “tarnish the image of the Chinese government and impair China-Australia relations,” an Australian official said.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith congratulated Danby for “politely” resisting the request.
“For myself, I think Mr Danby made the right decision and I support him fully,” Smith told reporters.
PHOTO: EPA
“A diplomat is not entitled to somehow seek to direct an elected official or an elected Member of Parliament in how he or she might conduct himself or herself,” he said. “They’re entitled to put a view, but they’re not entitled to try and seek to direct.”
Pro-Tibet protesters tried to break through a police line guarding the Chinese embassy yesterday as they gathered in Canberra to mark the 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against China.
A dozen activists tried to breach the line during the march in support of Tibetan independence and there was a heated exchange between demonstrators and an embassy official when he came out to photograph the group.
Police told reporters they made four arrests for breach of the peace, including one man who threw his shoes at the building. About 150 people converged on Parliament House ahead of the march for a peaceful rally in support of Tibetan independence from China. Bearing flags and banners, they were joined by representatives from Australia’s major political parties.
Greens leader Bob Brown called on Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to declare what he said was widespread Australian support for Tibetan autonomy.
“What we need is political leaders ... who have got the gumption to reflect that Australian call to the Chinese dictators to give Tibet back its freedom, its peace and its rights,” Brown told the rally.
“Today is a day to celebrate the strength of the Tibetan people and their perseverance, and to commit ourselves to continuing the struggle,” Tibetan community spokesman Tsewang Thupten said. “We are also commemorating the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Tibetans and millions who are still under the Chinese occupation.”
Rudd won praise in Australia during a visit to Beijing last April when he raised concerns about human rights in Tibet and urged the Chinese government to hold talks with exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
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