Tibet is stable and prospering under Chinese rule, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said yesterday in comments indicating China would maintain its tough stance toward Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama over the region’s future.
Wen told a press conference the key to future talks rested with the Dalai Lama abandoning “separatist activities,” a charge the he has long denied.
“The situation in Tibet is on the whole peaceful and stable,” Wen told reporters in Beijing at the end of China’s annual parliamentary session.
As the sensitive 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against China passed in the Himalayan region under tight security, Wen defended China’s policies in Tibet, saying they had kept stability and improved the lives of its people.
“Over the past few years, the government has increased its fiscal input in Tibet to accelerate the pace of economic development and worked to improve the living standards of the Tibetan farmers and herdsmen,” he said.
“It is a fact that Tibet’s peace and stability and continued progress have proven that the policies we have adopted are correct.”
Armed Chinese security forces have sealed off Tibet and neighboring areas with Tibetan populations to prevent unrest during the anniversary of the 1959 uprising, which forced the Dalai Lama into exile and cemented Chinese control.
The crackdown has drawn condemnation from rights and pressure groups as well as foreign governments such as the US, which called this week for China to reassess its “harmful” policies there and open talks with the Dalai Lama.
However, Wen went on the attack, accusing the Dalai Lama of lying and trying to deceive foreign leaders in a bid for international support.
He repeated China’s position that it will resume contacts with the Dalai Lama’s government in exile if he abandons separatist activities.
“As long as he abandons separatist activities, we are willing to carry out consultations with his representatives. This door is always open,” Wen said.
China has long accused the Dalai Lama of scheming to subvert Chinese control in a bid for Tibet independence but has offered no credible evidence.
The Dalai Lama has repeatedly denied the separatism charge, saying he only seeks more autonomy for Tibet’s people through negotiations, plus an end to Chinese repression.
In a speech from his exiled base in Dharamshala, India, on Tuesday to coincide with the uprising’s anniversary, the Dalai Lama said Chinese rule had made his homeland “hell on earth.”
However, Wen countered that China would push ahead with its controversial plan of pouring billions of dollars into the region to develop it.
“Tibet will remain committed firmly to the policy of opening up because this meets the needs of Tibet’s own development,” he said.
The Dalai Lama and other critics of China’s rule in Tibet say so-called development has brought in a massive influx of Han Chinese people, eroded Tibetan culture and damaged the region’s environment.
A string of rape and assault allegations against the son of Norway’s future queen have plunged the royal family into its “biggest scandal” ever, wrapping up an annus horribilis for the monarchy. The legal troubles surrounding Marius Borg Hoiby, the 27-year-old son born of a relationship before Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, have dominated the Scandinavian country’s headlines since August. The tall strapping blond with a “bad boy” look — often photographed in tuxedos, slicked back hair, earrings and tattoos — was arrested in Oslo on Aug. 4 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the previous night. A photograph
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
IVY LEAGUE GRADUATE: Suspect Luigi Nicholas Mangione, whose grandfather was a self-made real-estate developer and philanthropist, had a life of privilege The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare made it clear he was not going to make things easy on authorities, shouting unintelligibly and writhing in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court and then objecting to being brought to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance on Tuesday were not expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, the leader of the US’ largest medical insurance company. Little new information has come out about motivation,
‘MONSTROUS CRIME’: The killings were overseen by a powerful gang leader who was convinced his son’s illness was caused by voodoo practitioners, a civil organization said Nearly 200 people in Haiti were killed in brutal weekend violence reportedly orchestrated against voodoo practitioners, with the government on Monday condemning a massacre of “unbearable cruelty.” The killings in the capital, Port-au-Prince, were overseen by a powerful gang leader convinced that his son’s illness was caused by followers of the religion, the civil organization the Committee for Peace and Development (CPD) said. It was the latest act of extreme violence by powerful gangs that control most of the capital in the impoverished Caribbean country mired for decades in political instability, natural disasters and other woes. “He decided to cruelly punish all
RSS