The Dalai Lama took part in a panel of Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Geneva on Friday, addressing a full auditorium about Chinese repression in his native Tibet despite Beijing having urged people to shun the event.
China wrote this week to diplomats and UN officials calling on them not to attend the panel at Geneva’s Graduate Institute, saying it opposed the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader’s appearance at all venues due to his “separatist activities.”
“One part of the human brain usually develops common sense. Some of these [Chinese] hardliners, that part of brain is missing,” the crimson-robed Dalai Lama, 80, told the audience of students and diplomats.
Photo: AP
Earlier he told reporters: “Wherever my name is there they usually criticize and protest. That’s quite now routine, normal, nothing special.”
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in statement it had lodged a protest with the US, which along with Canada had sponsored the event, and that it had expressed its “strong dissatisfaction” with Washington.
The Dalai Lama is not a purely religious figure, but somebody who has engaged in “anti-China separatist activities” for a long period, the ministry said.
“He was the biggest serf owner in old Tibet, and has no qualifications at all to talk about human rights,” it added, referring to the period before what China calls its “peaceful liberation” of the remote Himalayan region in 1950.
The UN also needs to respect the principles of its own charter and respect and support efforts of member states to maintain their sovereignty and territorial integrity, it added.
The two-hour panel was moderated by UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore, along with laureates from Yemen and Iran.
The Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Communist rule.
Beijing blames him for unrest in Tibetan areas and self-immolations that have taken more than 140 lives since 2011, and says he seeks independence for his homeland.
The Dalai Lama denies the charges, and says he only wants genuine autonomy for Tibet.
He also told journalists he had not yet received an official invitation to visit Taiwan.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was