Dozens of Tibetans, including monks, held up a portrait of the Dalai Lama in a community in southwestern China in an act of defiance days after other Tibetans set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule.
Police in Seda County said yesterday that officers dealt with the gathering, but declined to say whether any of the Tibetans were arrested in the incident on Monday.
China is sensitive to protests by Tibetans, because they threaten its control over its western region and may inspire protests in other parts of China by people with possible grievances against the government.
Photo: AFP
At least 16 Buddhist monks, nuns and other Tibetans are believed to have set themselves on fire in the past year — four this month — mostly in traditionally Tibetan areas of Sichuan Province. Most have chanted for Tibetan freedom and the return of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
China has vilified the Dalai Lama for more than a decade, accusing him of a campaign to split the Himalayan region from the rest of China, and has tried to get monks to denounce him in political education programs held in religious institutions in Tibetan areas. The Dalai Lama says he is only seeking increased autonomy for Tibet.
On Monday, fewer than 100 Tibetans gathered and held a portrait of the Dalai Lama, the official, who gave only his surname, Wang, said at Seda County public security bureau in Sichuan Province.
“The New Year festival is coming up, so they want to draw attention by creating an incident,” he said, referring to the Lunar New Year holiday next week.
Wang said police dealt with the incident, but declined to give any further details.
An official from the Seda County Government said there was no protest on Monday.
Fears of protests by Tibetans were why Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) kept a trip to Nepal at the weekend secret, according to the Nepalese prime minister. Wen arrived on Saturday in the tiny Himalayan nation that is home to thousands of Tibetan refugees.
“The visit was not announced, as the Tibetan activities have intensified recently,” Nepalese Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai was quoted as saying in Monday’s English--language Republica newspaper.
Tibetans in Nepal regularly protest against Chinese restrictions on Tibetan religion and culture. In November, a man wearing the robes of a Tibetan Buddhist monk set himself on fire in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, emulating the self-immolations in China.
Meanwhile, Indian and Chinese officials on Monday began fresh talks on sensitive border issues after discussions last year were canceled over a speech in India by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Shiv Shankar Menon, India’s national security adviser, and Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo (戴秉國) led the two delegations at the meeting in New Delhi, the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement.
The 2,000km border between India and China has been the subject of talks since the 1980s after the two nations fought a brief but brutal war in 1962.
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