China is marking 20 years since the death of the second-most senior figure in Tibetan Buddhism by lauding him as an enemy of separatism in the restive region as it enters a year laden with tense anniversaries.
The death on Jan. 28, 1989, of the 10th Panchen Lama, revered by Tibetans for championing their rights, deprived Chinese authorities of a buffer against discontent in the mountain region and helped stir demonstrations and riots in the regional capital Lhasa weeks later.
But Chinese officials now champion the late Panchen Lama as a model patriot, set against the exiled Dalai Lama, who they condemn as a separatist traitor.
In the official People’s Daily on Tuesday, a senior Chinese Communist Party official again lauded him as an example for Tibet.
But the 10th Panchen Lama’s political legacy is much more disputed than such propaganda presents.
China lost a chance to win greater acceptance from Tibetans when it put under secretive house arrest the five-year-old boy chosen by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama in 1995. Beijing installed its own successor, who is spurned by most Tibetans.
China is seeking to prevent unrest in Tibet as it marks the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s flight into exile in March. Most Tibetans still honor him as their supreme religious leader.
A security lockdown has been imposed in most Tibetan areas. And authorities in Lhasa launched a “strike hard” campaign to stifle potential trouble there, overseas groups advocating Tibetan independence said, citing media reports.
The Lhasa Evening News reported on Friday that police hunting criminals carried out “comprehensive checks” on 5,766 residents, the International Campaign for Tibet said in an e-mail.
“This latest strike hard campaign appears to be intended to intimidate Tibetans” ahead of their traditional new year in late February and the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s flight, said Kate Saunders of the International Campaign.
At least 81 people have been detained for suspected criminal activity amid the security sweep, including two who are being held for having “reactionary music” on their cellphones, state media reported. Others were detained on suspicion of theft, burglary and prostitution.
SECURITY: The New Zealand and Australian navies also sailed military vessels through the Strait yesterday to assert the right of freedom of navigation The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on Wednesday made its first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait in response to the intrusion by a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft into Japan’s sovereign airspace last month, Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. The Japanese news platform reported that the destroyer JS Sazanamisailed down through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, citing sources in the Japanese government with knowledge of the matter. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on the reports at a regular briefing because they concern military operations. Military vessels from New Zealand and Australia also sailed through the Strait on the same day, Wellington’s defense ministry
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
SOVEREIGNTY EMPHASIZED: President William Lai said that Taiwan ‘absolutely will not sign’ an agreement with Beijing implying that the nation is part of China Taiwan hopes to join like-minded nations under the democratic umbrella and jointly counter authoritarian aggression, President William Lai (賴清德) said in a prerecorded speech during the annual Concordia Summit in New York on Tuesday. Lai addressed the summit via video at Concordia’s invitation, using the opportunity to speak on the issue of Chinese aggression toward Taiwan and Beijing’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758. Lai’s comments came on the heels of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, which opened on Tuesday. China has “distorted” UN Resolution 2758 “in support of its ‘one China’ principle,” he said. Through its misinterpretation
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’