Police fired on hundreds of protesters in a Tibetan area of western China, killing eight people, several overseas activist groups said. State media reported one government official was seriously injured in what it called a “riot.”
Two monks also committed suicide late last month because of government oppression, another Tibetan activist group said yesterday.
In Dharamsala, the Tibetan government-in-exile said over the weekend that the Dalai Lama could attend the Beijing Olympics if China invites him but on the condition that it relaxes its suppression in Tibet.
Reports of the killings indicate that unrest is continuing in China’s Tibetan areas despite a massive security presence in place since violent anti-government demonstrations broke out in the middle of last month in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, and neighboring provinces.
Police fired on Buddhist monks and ordinary citizens who had marched on local government offices in Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province near Tibet on Thursday, the London-based Free Tibet Campaign and the International Campaign for Tibet said.
The protesters were demanding the release of two monks who were detained after paramilitary troops searched their monastery and found photographs of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled Buddhist leader, the groups said.
The US government-funded Radio Free Asia said it had unconfirmed reports that up to 15 people were killed and dozens injured in the violence.
Calls to local police and hospitals in the area were unanswered yesterday or were answered by officials who said they had no information.
Xinhua news agency had no information on deaths or injuries but confirmed that a riot broke out near government offices in Donggu Town in Garze.
An official was “attacked and seriously wounded,” and police were “forced to fire warning shots and put down the violence,” Xinhua said.
Thursday’s incident in Garze was sparked when the government attempted to enforce “patriotic education” at a monastery, activist groups said.
The chief monk had refused to let a government team enter, and the team returned on Thursday with about 3,000 paramilitary troops.
The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, based in India, said yesterday that two monks committed suicide last month in Sichuan’s Aba County following government oppression. Aba County has been the scene of large protests involving hundreds of monks and citizens.
One monk, identified as Lobsang Jinpa, from the Aba Kirti Monastery, killed himself on March 27, leaving a signed note saying “I do not want to live under Chinese oppression even for a minute,” the human-rights group said.
The second suicide occurred on March 30 at the Aba Gomang Monastery, when a 75-year-old monk named Legtsok took his life, telling his followers he “can’t beat the oppression anymore,” the group said.
It was impossible to verify the information since Chinese authorities have banned foreign reporters from traveling to the region.
Tibetan Prime Minister Samdhong Rinpoche said in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur in Dharamsala that the Dalai Lama could attend the Olympics if China relaxes its suppression in Tibet.”
“China must release all prisoners in Tibet and treat the injured. Otherwise, if the Dalai Lama goes to Beijing to watch the opening of the Beijing Olympics, how would Tibetans feel?” Rinpoche said.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS