China yesterday accused “overseas secessionist groups” of trying to discredit the government after a deadly clash in a Tibetan-inhabited area saw injured locals taking refuge in a monastery.
According to the London-based Free Tibet advocacy group and local monks, police on Monday fired at Tibetans protesting against religious repression in Sichuan Province, killing at least one and injuring more than 30.
However, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday those accounts of the incident in Luhuo County were hyped, and that a mob stormed stores and a police station, prompting a clash in which one protester died and five officers were injured.
“Overseas forces of ‘Tibet independence’ have always fabricated rumors and distorted the truth to discredit the Chinese government with issues involving Tibet,” ministry spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) was cited as saying by Xinhua news agency.
The unrest comes at a sensitive time in Tibetan-inhabited areas, where at least 16 people have set fire to themselves in less than a year — including four this month alone — in what rights groups say are acts of desperation.
In a sign of widespread tensions in those areas, a separate protest also rocked Aba County — where many ethnic Tibetans live — in Sichuan on Monday, prompting police to fire tear gas at a crowd of demonstrators, Free Tibet said.
A monk reached by telephone yesterday at the Drakgo Monastery in Luhuo — about 1km from the scene of the protest — said he estimated about 1,000 to 2,000 armed police were now standing guard.
“We are treating 32 injured people inside the monastery and two of them are critical. One of them has a bullet in the head,” said the monk, who would not be named.
Another monk said they were too afraid to take the wounded to an outside hospital due to the strong security presence, adding that those protesting on Monday had now gone.
“More police are coming, we just want peace,” he said.
The government and police in Luhuo refused to comment when contacted by reporters.
Accounts of the death toll vary. The monks and the Chinese government say one person died, but a man at a local hotel said he heard three people had been killed.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a