By GORDON FAIRCLOUGH and
MEI FONG
March
14, 2008; Reuters India
SHANGHAI -- Tensions over Tibet are
rising as Tibetan activists mount coordinated protests ahead of
the start of the Olympic torch relay later this month.
In response, China
is stepping up security in the province and restricting access
to Mount Everest as it seeks to prevent disruption of the highly
symbolic event and of the Beijing Olympic Games in August. The
relay, which is scheduled to travel through 20 countries before
reaching China in May, is expected to scale Mount Everest, but
China has kept details of that plan, including the timing,
secret.
Yesterday in
India, home to many Tibetan exiles, police arrested more than
100 protesters during a march opposing China's hosting of the
Games. Tibetan refugees were also detained Monday in neighboring
Nepal after thousands of them attempted to march to the Chinese
Embassy in Katmandu, Nepal's capital, with "Free Tibet"
placards.
Armed Chinese
police stood guard yesterday outside Jokhang monastery, the site
of one of two protests in and around the Tibetan capital of
Lhasa on Monday, the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising
against Chinese rule. Dozens of people were arrested Monday
after hundreds of monks tried to march to the city center.
The protests
coincided with an unusually blunt speech by the Dalai Lama, the
spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, and a demonstration in
San Francisco, the only U.S. city that will be visited by the
Beijing Games' international torch relay.
"Tibetans know that the
world's media is looking at China in the run-up to the Olympics.
That's why they are taking these very courageous actions," said
Matt Whitticase, a spokesman for the London-based Free Tibet
Campaign, an activist group.
The demonstrations pose challenges
for the Chinese government and for the Games' corporate
sponsors, who are caught between the risks of offending Beijing
and the dangers of alienating customers more sympathetic to
activists' causes, ranging from Tibet to China's close ties to
Sudan, which is battling rebels in Darfur.
The international
torch relay presents a high-profile target for activists.
Advocates for Tibet are seizing the opportunity, with plans to
stage protests along the route. Some groups are even mounting
their own torch relay.
Beijing's Olympics
organizing committee said Thursday, "Any behavior to politicize
the Olympics violates the tenets of the Olympics." The committee
also said, "Since ancient times, Tibet has been an indivisible
part of Chinese territory."
A spokesman for
the International Olympic Committee said in a statement, "We
respect the rights of organizations to stage peaceful
demonstrations" and called on protesters to also respect "the
experience of the torchbearers and spectators."
Chinese Communist
troops occupied Tibet in 1951. The Dalai Lama fled into exile
after the failed uprising in 1959, and China's government has
tried to stamp out political dissent. In recent years, Beijing
has begun to invest heavily in Tibet, on the theory that
economic development will help win over the local population.
But Tibet remains one of the poorest and least-developed parts
of China.
On Monday, the
Dalai Lama, speaking to supporters in Dharmsala, India, the seat
of his government in exile, said: "During the past few years,
Tibet has witnessed increased repression and brutality." He said
China has committed "unimaginable and gross violations of human
rights" and denies Tibetans their "religious freedom."
Tibetan monks and
lay people were involved in protests in Lhasa on Monday, the
Chinese government said. Tibetan exile groups said more
demonstrations took place on Tuesday, during which crowds were
tear-gassed while protesting the arrest of marchers the day
before. People in Lhasa reached by phone said they were unaware
of further demonstrations but said there was a heavy police
presence in the city.
A spokesman for
China's foreign ministry, Qin Gang, confirmed Monday's
incidents, saying: "Some ignorant monks in Lhasa abetted by a
small handful of people did some illegal things."
Beijing's torch
relay has caused controversy since the planning stages.
Organizers wanted it to pass through Taiwan, which China regards
as part of its territory. Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council
attacked the move as "a brazen attempt to downgrade Taiwan to a
part of China." The torch relay route now excludes Taiwan.
In a letter to
mountaineering expedition companies this week, the China Tibet
Mountaineering Association, which issues permits for people
hoping to climb Everest, said that all ascents of the north side
of that Himalayan peak and another mountain must be postponed.
