Tibetan refugees living in India are planning to stage protests against Chinese rule of their homeland during a three-day visit by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao (
Tenzin Tsundue, general secretary of Friends of Tibet, an organization comprising 4,000 Indian and Tibetan members, said protests would be held in the southern city of Bangalore and New Delhi where Chinese Premier Wen is slated to visit.
Wen was to arrive in the technology hub of Bangalore yesterday where he will kick off his Indian visit.
"We will follow him everywhere he goes," Tsundue told reporters in Bangalore amid a backdrop of posters which read: "Wen Jiabao what about peace in occupied Tibet? We need human rights in Tibet."
India has played host to Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, 69, and officials of the Tibetan government-in-exile since the monk fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
He has since recognized Chinese control and encouraged renewed ties in 2002 between representatives of both sides who have met three times to discuss a possible return of Tibetan exiles.
Tibet's exiled prime minister Samdhong Rinpoche attempted Friday to distance the Tibetan government-in-exile from the planned protests.
"I hope the Chinese premier's visit to India turns out to be a success," he said in a statement.
He also appealed to the Tibetan community "to refrain from indulging in aggressive demonstrations" in a bid to create a "conducive atmosphere" for China and the exiled government to hold talks.
But Samdhong's appeal for restraint is unlikely to stop many Tibetans from continuing to call for an end to Chinese rule in Tibet.
Tsundue said the Tibetan refugees living in India wanted to convey the message to Wen that they were not happy with Chinese occupation of Tibet.
"Since they occupied Tibet the Chinese have carted away its mineral resources, cut down trees, drained the nation and flooded the region with their people. This we will not tolerate," Tsundue said.
Three Tibetan organizations said in a joint statement that they had failed to get permission from Indian authorities to stage a protest.
Bangalore Deputy Commissioner of Police G.B. Chebbi said the Tibetan refugees were given the option of holding a protest after Wen left the city.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS