The Chinese government has detained several hundred Tibetans returning from India after attending teaching sessions overseen by the Dalai Lama and is forcing them to undergo political re-education, a human rights group said.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said it believed it was the first time since the late 1970s that the authorities had detained Tibetan laypeople in such large numbers and it comes as China frets about unrest in Tibetan parts of the country.
China allowed about 7,000 Tibetans to attend the sessions with exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in Bihar, India, between Dec. 31 and Jan. 10, in what the rights group said seemed to be a sign of a more relaxed policy toward Tibetans.
“However, that changed against a backdrop of unrest in eastern Tibetan areas and apparent fears it might spread to Lhasa,” it said in an e-mailed statement received yesterday.
At least 15 Tibetans are believed to have died after setting themselves on fire since March last year in protests against Chinese rule, mostly in heavily Tibetan parts of China’s Sichuan and Gansu provinces rather than in Tibet itself.
Tibetan advocacy groups say as many as seven Tibetans were shot dead and dozens wounded during protests in Sichuan last month. Chinese state media reported that police fired in self-defense on “mobs” that stormed police stations.
Activists say China violently stamps out Tibetan religious freedom and culture in Tibet, a vast, remote and largely mountainous region of western China in the Himalayas that has been under Chinese control since 1950.
China denies trampling on religious freedom and says its rule has bought much-needed development.
Human Rights Watch said the detained Tibetans had traveled in and out of China on valid Chinese passports.
“There is no known regulation banning Tibetans from attending the teachings and the returnees undergoing re-education have not been accused of any crime, such as carrying illicit documents or -crossing the Chinese border without permission,” it said.
“There are no reports so far that any of the about 700 ethnic Chinese who attended the Dalai Lama’s teachings in Bihar have been detained on their return to China, suggesting that the detainees are being selected because of their ethnicity,” the group added.
Calls to the Tibet government seeking comment were not answered.
Rights groups say that Tibetan parts of China have been put under even tighter security than normal ahead of the Tibetan New Year, which falls on Wednesday.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,