The Evil Karma of the Chinese "Olympic Host" -- Arrests in Tibet Mayhem
Swell into the Hundreds
The New York Times
March 27, 2008
Arrests in Tibet Mayhem Swell into the Hundreds
By DAVID BARBOZA
SHANGHAI ¡ª China said Wednesday that 660 people implicated in Tibetan
protests and riots in western China over the past two weeks had
surrendered to authorities.
The announcement was part of the government¡¯s effort to quell continuing
unrest in the area, which includes Tibet and adjoining provinces
populated by ethnic Tibetans, the worst outbreak of anti-Chinese
violence in 20 years.
It was unclear from the announcement how many of the 660 had surrendered
voluntarily and how many would be formally charged with criminal
offenses. Nor was it clear whether all were ethnic Tibetans.
The unrest, which began with a March 14 riot in Lhasa, the capital of
Tibet, has already cast a pall over preparations for the Olympic games
in Beijing this summer and energized human rights activists and others
who believe China¡¯s rule over the area has been harsh and that Tibet
should be an independent state.But Beijing has reacted furiously to the
riots and to international criticism of its handling of Tibet, saying
the violent uprising was instigated by the Dalai Lama, Tibet¡¯s spiritual
leader-in-exile, and Tibetan separatists. The government says 19 people
were killed and over 600 people were injured in the violence.
¡°This riot was deliberately manipulated by the Dalai Lama clique and our
government has taken legal actions to return Lhasa and other places to
normality,¡± Qin Gang, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said
Wednesday, according to a statement released by the government. ¡°The
Dalai Lama is not purely a religious person. For a long time, he wore a
religious coat and held the banner of peace while trying to separate
China and destroy social stability and national unity.¡±
The Tibetan government in exile based in neighboring India, has disputed
Beijing¡¯s casualty figures, saying at least 140 people had died in
demonstrations in the region.
Tibet and neighboring provinces, which have large Tibetan populations,
are now under tight military control, with roadblocks and house-to-house
searches for suspects under way, but there have been daily re****ts of
protests and s****adic violence in some regions, according to people in
the area.
This week, the Chinese government issued a ¡°most wanted¡± list with the
names of 53 people whom it says took part in anti-government protests or
riots, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Some world leaders are now pressing China to use restraint in Tibetan
areas and to negotiate with the Dalai Lama, who in 1959 fled Tibet and
settled in bordering India. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has
urged China to negotiate with the Dalai Lama.
And on Tuesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy held out the
possibility that France could boycott the opening ceremonies of the
Olympics in Beijing over China¡¯s handling of the unrest in Tibet. But
aides to the president said France would not boycott the Olympic games.
Beijing has reacted angrily to any attempt to link unrest in Tibet to
the Olympics and has stepped up an aggressive campaign aimed at painting
the Dalai Lama as a separatist.
Beijing says it has evidence that the riots were instigated by what it
calls the ¡°Dalai clique,¡± and the government has used the
state-controlled media to demonize the Dalai Lama and encouraged world
leaders to see his ¡°true face.¡±
The Dalai Lama has insisted in recent weeks that he had no role in the
violent protests and that he does not favor independence for Tibet. He
has also said opposes an Olympics boycott and he recently offered to
resign if Tibetans in western China continue to engage in violence.
Inside China, the state-owned media is also publi****ng and broadcasting
chilling images of Tibetans burning and looting Chinese shops in Tibet,
and attacking ethnic Han Chinese. The images and stories have helped
inflame anger at Tibetans among people in China and fed heated exchanges
on Chinese web sites.
To sway international opinion, Beijing allowed a group of about 26
hand-picked foreign journalists to travel to Lhasa on Wednesday to
witness the damage in the city and interview victims of the riots,
according to the state-controlled media.
Very few journalists have been able to re****t from inside Tibet. Shortly
after the March 14 riots, the government began forcing foreign
journalists out of Lhasa. Government blockades have also prevented
foreign journalists from reaching Tibetan areas in neighboring provinces.
The foreign journalists invited to Lhasa Wednesday, which includes
representatives of some American news organizations but not The New York
Times, are on a three-day government supervised trip.Whether those
journalists will be able to re****t unfettered is unclear.
For more than a week, however, about 20 journalists from China¡¯s
state-controlled media have been allowed into Tibet and areas with large
Tibetan populations to re****t on the unrest and the efforts to restore
order.
The Chinese media has been driving home Beijing¡¯s message: that Tibetan
separatists acted as terrorists, while the government responded with
restraint in quelling the riots, and that innocent Chinese were the
victims of looting, burning and assault.
The government wants people to hear stories like that of 23-year-old Liu
Yan, who last August wed a soldier based in Lhasa and moved there to
work as a clothing shop assistant, according to her family.
She was a nice girl, who didn¡¯t talk much but worked diligently, her
mother said in a telephone interview Wednesday. On March 14, however,
she sent a message to her mother-in-law, who lived with her in Lhasa,
saying: ¡°Mom, don¡¯t go outside. Be careful, some are killing people.¡±
That was the last the family heard of her and she died in a fire, the
family says. Her husband, the soldier, has not even been given time off
to grieve, the family says.
Liu Yan¡¯s mother, Deng Zhixiu, said she arrived in Lhasa on March 20
and¡°rushed to the store where my daughter was killed.I shed tears at the
first sight when I got there. It was burnt in ruins. I can feel how Liu
Yan suffered to death.¡±
Chen Yang contributed research from Shanghai.
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