China braced against further protests yesterday as it prepared for the arrival of the Olympic torch today amid reports of fresh disturbances in Lhasa.
Beijing tightened security in Tiananmen Square, where the Olympic torch will be officially welcomed to the country today before beginning a worldwide relay expected to be dogged by protests over the unrest in Tibet.
Tension in the Himalayan region continued to simmer, the Tibetan government-in-exile and activist groups said.
On Saturday, a disturbance occurred when hundreds of people in Lhasa panicked as police moved in to check residents' identity papers there, the International Campaign for Tibet and the Free Tibet Campaign said.
The incident prompted police to surround key Buddhist temples in the area and close many shops.
No violence was reported.
At Tiananmen Square, authorities announced new spot checks on visitors to "strengthen public security" ahead of the ceremony to welcome the torch, a government Web site said.
Fears of global embarrassment for China along the torch's route have grown since protesters disrupted the lighting ceremony in Ancient Olympia last Monday.
Exiled Tibetans in India yesterday lit an "independence torch" that will also be taken around the world.
Meanwhile, police in Nepal's capital Kathmandu baton-charged protesters -- most of them Tibetans -- during a demonstration outside a Chinese embassy office, detaining more than 100 people, police and witnesses said.
China continued its crackdown on the Tibetan unrest, with Xinhua reporting late on Saturday that police had arrested 26 people and seized guns and other weapons from a monastery.
Beijing also fired Tibet's top official for minority and religious affairs, Chinese state media said yesterday.
Danzeng Langjie, director of Tibet's Ethnic Minority and Religious Affairs Commission, has been "removed" from his post, a statement posted on the Web site of the Tibet Daily newspaper said.
It gave no further details on Danzeng's background or reasons for his removal.
It said he had been replaced by Luosang Jiumei, another ethnic Tibetan who has been vice secretary of the Chinese Communist Party committee of Lhasa since 2004.
The change was believed to be the first by Beijing since the demonstrations began.
In Slovenia, the EU foreign ministers expressed "strong concern" on Saturday about violence in Tibet, but skated around the issue of China's role in the unrest.
Germany said it would not send any ministerial-level participants to the Olympics opening ceremony. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President Horst Koehler and Chancellor Angela Merkel said they did not plan to go to Beijing.
Before the two-day EU meeting, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner ruled out an EU boycott of the Beijing Olympic Games in August, but saw a need for a "European response" to the crackdown.
The response was mild and brief.
In a statement, the EU ministers did not mention the Aug. 8 to Aug. 24 Olympic Games or link China directly to the crackdown.
The ministers reiterated their "strong concern over the events in the autonomous Chinese region of Tibet, [called] for an end to the violence and [asked] that arrested persons be treated in conformity with international standards."
Diplomats said the EU was content to appeal for a peaceful resolution and leave it at that.
On Tuesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy was the first European leader to suggest that a boycott of the opening ceremony was a possibility to protest China's handling of the unrest in Tibet.
Also see: Chinese students rally behind PRC
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS