The Dalai Lama warned Tibetan exile leaders yesterday to be prudent in their plans or risk failure after they said at a key conference they might push for independence for their homeland if China refuses to grant it autonomy soon.
The delegates ended their weeklong conference on Saturday saying they had decided against pushing independence for now and that they would maintain the Dalai Lama’s “middle way” — his push for autonomy through measured compromise that falls short of calling for independence.
But they also said they would push for independence if China failed to respond positively to their initiatives.
PHOTO: AFP
“The next 20 years, if we are not careful, if we are not prudent in our plans, there is a great danger,” the Dalai Lama said in an address to the exiled Tibetans yesterday. “It could lead to the danger of failure.”
While the Buddhist spiritual leader did not specify what he meant, he appeared to be speaking about the larger Tibetan cause, which many exile leaders believe is at a crossroads.
The Dalai Lama was speaking to the more than 500 delegates from all over the world who had gathered to discuss the way forward for the Tibetan movement.
Dolma Gyari, deputy speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, told reporters after the meeting on Saturday that delegates reaffirmed support for the Dalai Lama’s approach — but also said it was time to end talks with Beijing.
“Looking at the doings of China in recent times, we will not send the envoys for further contact,” Dolma Gyari, deputy speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, told reporters after the meeting.
She said that “there was a majority for the middle way” and called for the exile government to press on with that approach.
But the leaders also vowed that if moderation did not produce results soon, they would call for independence — a dramatic break with a decades-long conciliatory approach to Beijing.
“If China does not respond positively to our initiative, there is no other options left for us than to go for independence,” Gyari said.
She did not mention a specific timeframe and took no questions.
The decisions by the 581 exile leaders who came to last week’s meeting are only recommendations for the Tibetan parliament, which is to meet in March.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique