The Tibet Post International Online Newspaper

Deadly year for media Page1 We've forgotten the past. China hasn't Page 2 Lantos' Tarnished Legacy Page 3 Dr Singh is not Richard Gere Page 4 A 'new' view of the Valley in 2008 Page 5 A little bit of transparency Page6 The TYC along with four other leading T i b e t a n organisations announced the "Tibetan People's Urising movement", calling exiled Tibetans to join protests during the 2008 Biejing Olympics and support a return march to Tibet.

The Tibet P st I

Vol. 02, Issue 07, 12 January, 2008 TPI Special

Exhibition as part of Children day

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Deadly year for world media The Tibet Post International [Thursday, January 03, 2008] Agence France-Presse 01/02/2008 PARIS — At least 86 journalists were killed around the world in 2007, the highest number since 1994, with Iraq, Somalia and Pakistan topping the list of most dangerous places, according to a report released Wednesday by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

More than half of the victims — 48 — were journalists from the Middle East and Africa, while 17 came from Asia, 12 from Africa, seven from the Americas and two from Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Twenty media assistants were also killed in connection with their work, compared to 32 last year, according to the press watchdog which says 90 percent of all such killings habitually go unpunished.

The death toll among journalists has well over doubled since 2002, reaching its highest level since the record violence of 1994, when 103 journalists were killed, nearly half of them in the Rwandan genocide.

Iraq remained the world’s deadliest country for media workers, with 47 killed last year and at least 207 since the US-led invasion in March 2003.

“No country has ever seen more journalists killed than Iraq... more than in the Vietnam War, the fighting in ex-Yugoslavia, the massacres in Algeria or the Rwanda genocide,” RSF said.

RSF said the “the Iraqi and US authorities — themselves guilty of serious violence against journalists — must take firm steps to end these attacks.”

Somalia was the second deadliest country for the press, with eight journalists killed as fighting pitted Islamist militants against Somalia’s transitional government and its ally Ethiopia.

Six journalists were killed in Pakistan, where RSF said suicide attacks and heavy fighting between the army and Islamist militants partly accounted for the deaths.

Sixty-seven journalists were kidnapped, and 14 are currently held hostage, all of then in Iraq, RSF said.

At least two journalists were arrested each day in 2007, with 135 journalists currently imprisoned worldwide, according to RSF which called for their “immediate release”.

The highest number of overall arrests were in Pakistan (195), Cuba (55) and Iran (54).

Internet dissidents faced a tough year of repression, with 65 people currently detained over online reporting — 50 of them in China — and at least 2,676 websites and chat rooms either shut down or suspended.

RSF said the “fiercest censorship” occurred during the run-up to China’s Communist Party congress when about 2,500 websites, blogs and forums were closed in the space of a few weeks.

Syria and Myanmar were also singled out for their attempts to limit the free flow of information on the Internet: Damascus for blocking access to more than 100 popular web services, and the Myanmar junta for cutting off Internet access during the October 2007 demonstrations by Buddhist monks.

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How Edmund Hillary conquered Everest

Muslim children try a machine gun mounted on a huey helicopter during an exhibition as part of Children day at a military base in Narathiwat province, 12 January 2008.

The insurgency in southern Thailand is not about Islamic jihad or the global "war on terror" but is rooted in the desire of southern Muslims to control their land, a top expert on the region says. More than 2,800 people have By Robert Uhlig been killed since the rebellion began in January 2004, with Last Updated: 3:17am GMT 12/01/2008 Robert Uhlig recounts the last gruelling effort by Edmund killings growing more frequent and brutal.

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President of theTibetan Youth Congress (TYC) Tsewang Rigzin addresses a press conference in New Delhi, 04 January 2008.

Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing to be the first men to reach the summit of Everest At 6.30am on May 29 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary crawled out of his tent into the bitterly cold snow and gusting winds of Mount Everest to begin the final stage of one of the most audacious adventures of the 20th century. Rising more than 1,100ft above the Auckland beekeeper and his Nepalese climbing partner, the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, the mountain's summit awaited its first visitors.

Behind them, a single tiny tent - Camp IX, the highest in history - perched on a double ledge 27,900ft above sea level as testimony to years of painstaking preparation. # 'He showed us the way' What happened over the next five hours became part of climbing legend and world history. But the story of Hillary and Tenzing's capture of mountaineering's ultimate prize goes back more than 11 weeks to March 10, when the 1953 British Everest Expedition, led by John Hunt, an Army colonel, set off on foot from Kathmandu.

Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953: How Edmund Hillary conquered Everest Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953 With the eyes of the world on them, they knew they were in a race to the summit. This would probably be their last chance to be first: the north route up Everest, through Chinese-controlled Tibet, was closed, and Nepal allowed only one expedition from the south each year. France had booked Everest for 1954 and the Swiss for 1955. The ninth British Everest expedi-

tion had to succeed.

Even before they reached the mountain, Hillary, a phlegmatic but fiercely ambitious 33-year-old, and the easygoing Tenzing, 39, were already earmarked as potential summiteers by Hunt, a shrewd tactician and master logician. Tenzing was on his seventh trip, and had reached 28,000ft with the Swiss in 1952. Hillary had, in September 1951, climbed to 20,000ft on nearby Pumori. Transfixed, he had gazed at the route to the top, via the Khumbu Icefall, the Western Cwm and the Southwest Face. A month later, he climbed to the top of the Icefall, Everest's deadliest trap. This glaciated cascade, which claims more lives than any other part of the mountain, had to be ascended at speed, he and his partner discovered, before the sun melted its wild labyrinth of shifting ice walls, chasms and towers.

For the 1953 attempt, the British team had brought 362 porters, 20 Sherpas and 10,000lb of luggage from Kathmandu. Their first task was to establish a route through the Khumbu Icefall, to ferry men and equipment up for the assault. This took several days, but on May 21, Wilfred Noyce, a Charterhouse schoolmaster, and Sherpa Annullu reached the South Col, the advance base camp. Five days later, the first assault party of Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans set off for the peak.

Using closed-circuit oxygen, they reached the South Summit - but with only 328ft to go, when they were higher than man had been before, their oxygen started to fail. With a blizzard coming in, they retreated to the advance base camp.

Buffeted by a gale in the tiny, overcrowded camp of three tents, Evans and Bourdillon spent the night describing the route to the top to the rest of the party, including the second assault team of Hillary and Tenzing, before Hunt collapsed and had to be helped down the mountain.

The winds continued the next day, but eased on May 28, when at 8.45am an advance party of three climbers, each carrying 40lb of equipment, set off for Camp IX, midway between advance base camp and the summit.

They were followed by Hillary and Tenzing, who collected equipment and oxygen left at dumps along the way. By early afternoon Hillary was carrying 63lb and Tenzing 50lb. Exhausted, they found the uneven double ledge at 2.30pm, dropped their loads with relief and pitched Camp IX while the advance party hurried back down the mountain.

Edmund Hillary, left, Colonel John Hunt, and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay Edmund Hillary, left, Colonel John Hunt, and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay take a last look at Mount Everest be-

“Now is the time” for Tibet

fore leaving Katmandu in 1953 While Tenzing made soup, Hillary checked the oxygen.

They were short on supply, and would have to survive with only three litres a minute instead of the planned four. With fierce gusts of wind whistling around the mountainside, the two men ate sardines on biscuits, tinned apricots, dates, jam and honey, and drank copious amounts of hot water with lemon to combat the acute effects of dehydration at altitude. With only their weight holding the tent down, they managed four hours' sleep.

Then, at about 4.30am, the wind eased and Hillary stuck his head out of the tent.

"There were clouds around, but it was a good deal clearer," he later said. "I realised that we had a good chance to put in a push towards the summit. We knew that the conditions were good enough, so we just made our preparations and pushed on."

At 6.30am they were ready. They took another dose of liquid and a last tin of sardines and biscuits, then they crawled out into sunshine and -17F cold in down suits, windproofs and three pairs of gloves. Hoisting two 20lb cylinders of oxygen on to their backs - one of which was only two thirds full - they took a few deep breaths and began their assault, Hillary constantly performing mental arithmetic to gauge their remaining time and supplies. He led most of the way, chopping steps with his long-handled axe.

HIMACHAL

Tibetan Parliament greets New Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh

Tibetans living in exile hold the Tibetan national flag during a protest in New Delhi on August 8, 2007. Thousands of Tibetans marched through New Delhi shouting slogans and waving flags in protest against China’s occupation of Tibet at the start of the one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympics. Photo: TPI

Phayul.com, New Delhi, January 6: “Now is the time, to show the true colours of China to the world,” Ms Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of the Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), told some 60 enthusiastic members of South Delhi Tibetan Association (SDTA) gathered to hear her talk at Japan Temple, East of Kailash, New Delhi.

Ms Lhadon was in the city to attend a joint press conference, held on January 4, by five leading organizations where they called on exiled Tibetan to embark on a major protest march to Tibet ahead of the 2008 Beijing Games to denounce China’s illegal occupation of Tibet.

While focusing her talk mainly on Tibetan freedom campaigns in run up to the Beijing Games, she also spoke of her days growing up in Canada far away from the Tibetan exile community in India.

In her eloquently insisting talk, she called on Tibetans and Tibetan support groups to put forward a consis-

tent campaign on a united platform ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to build up a renewed historical movement for Tibet.

Miss Lhadon concluded her talk by urging everyone present to initiate or participate in whatever action they can when the Olympics Torch Relay arrives in Mumbai on 17th April 2008 and also during the twoweek (August 8-24) 2008 Games in Beijing.

The Tibetan gathering also held discussions on the drawbacks of the past Tibetan campaigns and raised several interesting questions on the Tibetan freedom struggle.

The four months old STDA comprises of a bulk of young Tibetan professionals and college students living in South Delhi. The association was initially set up for the social welfare of the Tibetans living in the area under the expert guidance and initiative of Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok, member of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile.

The newly elected chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal The Tibet Post International [Thursday, January 03, 2008] Wednesday, 2 January 2008, 2:08 p.m. Tibet NetDharamshala: The Tibetan Parliament in Exile has congratulated the new chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal on his party's victory in the 2007 state assembly election.

In a letter dated 31 December, Parliamentary Secretary Mr Ngawang Tsultrim expressed his hope that Himachal Pradesh under the leadership of Prof Dhumal, "The existing good and cordial relationship between the people of Himachal Pradesh and Tibetan people will further strengthened".

The State Governor V S Kokje administered the oath of office to Mr Dhumal at the historic Ridge in the state capital on 30 December. Chief Minister Dhumal's party, the BJP won the assembly election with a thumping majority, winning 41 out of the 68 seats.

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THE EDIT PAGE

The Tibet Post

We've forgotten the past. China hasn't

By B Raman

The Crying Voices of a Snowland “Tibet” Bringing or Taking?

Many claim that if nothing else, Chinese involvement in Tibet has brought with it greater economic development and modernization.

Chinese spokespeople always note that the government is pouring money into Tibet. It is true that roads and factories are constructed and that almost ninety percent of the TAR Government budget is subsidized by the central government in Beijing. However, the bulk of the subsidies are spent on two fronts: Urbanization? Developing cities to encourage Chinese migrants from inner China to settle in Tibet, a phenomenon discussed later, and Bureaucracy? Funding the burgeoning administrative and institutional structure to control the volatile situation in Tibet. “From 1952 to 1984, the cost of direct administration was more than 15 percent of the total subsidies expended” and is still increasing. The agriculture and animal husbandry sector, which constitutes 90% of the Tibetan population, receives a meager 15% of the total subsidies. Therefore, most Tibetans living in rural and nomadic areas have not progressed much for the last forty years.

In 1994 at its “Third Work Forum” on Tibet, Chinese leaders announced 62 development projects targeting industrial growth in the TAR. Certainly, this level of investment seems impressive, and in fact, the accounting can be confusing. The government usually fails to make clear how Tibetan natural resources are exploited as part of this infusion of money. 126 different minerals, such as chromium, lead, sulfur, copper, borax, iron, petrol, gold and uranium to name a few, are found in Tibet. These are not included in the gross product and, consequently, are also not listed as a source of income. Also, “because of high altitude and location, Tibet acts as a principal watershed for Asia.” Major rivers like the Yangtze, Brahmaputra, and others originate in Tibet. Net hydrological flows in Tibet comprise roughly 6% of Asia’s runoff and about 28% of China´s (excluding Tibet), and 34% of India’s total river water resources. Tibet´s Rivers have enormous potential for hydroelectric generation. As a result, despite the huge reserves of natural resources it contributes, Tibet remains on the accounting ledgers as the poorest region in China, a paradox best described by two Chinese economists in the aptly titled book, The Poverty of Plenty.

Economic Advances or Right Restrictions?

A Lhasa woman recently told me that although ten years ago Katmandu in Nepal felt like a big city, it now looks like a small village compared to modern Lhasa. In this sense, Tibet has developed economically, and urbanization has taken off in several parts of the Tibet. Although some Tibetans seem to have benefited from the growth (a few Tibetans own fleets of Land Cruisers and luxurious houses), in fact the major benefits of these alleged improved economic conditions in the cities seem not be reaching most Tibetans.

Economic development in urban Tibet is real, but again I have to pose the question: for whose sake has this development taken place and under whose terms? According to a census, outside of the traditional Tibetan “Bharkor” market, there are more than 3,500 to 4,000 shops and restaurants in Lhasa, but Tibetans own only 400-450 of them, leaving the remaining 85% under non-Tibetan (usually Han Chinese) ownership. One reason for the Chinese-dominated commerce is that Chinese migrants entering Tibet use their clan and local village networks to support their own ethnic group; another factor is the use of guanxi (connections) among Chinese officials to exploit economic opportunities. In the process, Tibetans have been economically marginalized and deprived of their own fair share. When asked why this has happened, Chinese react that they are more skilled and hence they dominate the market. However, even age-old businesses, which require traditional Tibetan skills like woodcarving, sewing aprons and traditional dress, and selling Khatas (silk scarves) in front of Jokhang temple, have been taken over by Chinese migrants. This takeover is justified by saying that the Chinese are harder working than Tibetans are.

Another area where hard work is not necessarily the baseline criteria, but where economic and cultural encroachment has offended Tibetans, is the growth of prostitution in Lhasa. Recent figures indicate that there are approximately 8,890 prostitutes in Lhasa? 9% of the female population? double the number in London, where the population nears eight million. Although prostitution is outlawed in China, it is quite common to find brothels in front of army barracks and government offices in Lhasa, where officials look the other way. Since Lhasa is a holy city for Tibetans, this type of immoral encroachment by the Chinese is particularly resented.

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Advicer Advicer Adviser Editor Sub Editor Reporter Reporter Circular Publisher

Press of Tibet, Room # 306, Nechung Hostel, Gamru Village P.O. Dharamsala - 176215 Distt. Kangra, H.P., INDIA

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Mr. Vincent Brossel Geshe Thupten Phelgye Mr. Shalinder Kumar Mr. Yeshe Choesang Mrs. Rigzin Wangmo Mr. Palden Gyatso Miss. Dolma Lhamo Mr. Tenzin Sangpo Mr. Tenzin Kunga

Tele: 0091-1892-224641 E-mail: editor@thetibetpost.com www.thetibetpost.com

The most remarkable development in Sino-Indian relations in recent months has been the almost total disappearance of rhetoric and negative observations in the pronouncements of the leaders of the two countries.

Focusing on the positive and playing down the negative have been the defining characteristic of the bilateral relations.

Only last year, while addressing a gathering at Mumbai, then Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee (who has since become minister for external affairs) had stressed the importance of our not forgetting in our policy-making that India had once been invaded by China. The Chinese consul-general in Mumbai, who was present at that meeting, strongly objected to the remarks of the defence minister.

And yet, within a few months of that, Mukherjee himself seems to have forgotten what he had told the Indian public not to forget. His totally positive projection of China in every manner during his recent visit to China has come as a pleasant surprise to some and disquieting to others.

Those who have welcomed his observations, see in them signs of a greater maturity and a better balance in our attitude to China, with the focus on the future than on the past. Those who have been critical, see in them disturbing signs of our continuing inability to learn lessons from the past.

In China, the Defence Minister was Beijing's guest. As such, he had to be pleasant to his hosts. One could not have expected him to say anything negative about China. But, when he reiterated his observations on his return to New Delhi, one realised that his earlier observations in China came out of conviction and not out of a sense of politesse to his hosts.

It is worthwhile quoting from The Hindu of June 14, 2006, about what he told the media after his return: * 'The possibility of an armed conflict with China has receded thanks to several confidence-building measures (CBMs) being implemented by both countries to improve defence relations and eliminate tension on the border. The latest CBM agreed to by both sides during his recent visit was an institutional arrangement to deepen defence cooperation.' * 'India is aware that China is a source of arms supply to Pakistan. It also recognised that China is interested in building good relations with India. Neither do we consider them a threat to us nor do they consider us a threat to them. There is enough space for both to grow in their own areas. The basic objective of the CBMs is that both sides want a tension-free border. The CBMs will enable both countries to utilise their energy for the overall development of people. If that fact is recognised, then I don't think they are or we are trying to outmaneuver each other.' * 'The strategic space is not limited. It is also not correct to say that the entire space is occupied by China.

I agree that China's economic growth and economic strength are more compared with India's, but the impression that they have outpaced us in the region or on the world stage is not correct. They are playing their role and we are playing ours.'

The increasing comfort level in the bilateral relations, as evident from Mukherjee's remarks, is the outcome of a number of significant developments. Among these, one could mention the Chinese initiative in giving up its oft-reiterated claims to Sikkim, the decision to restore trans-border trade across Nathu La in the Sikkim area, which is being implemented next month, the galloping

bilateral trade, which has increased nine-fold during the last 10 years to touch US $ 18 billion both ways last year, the increasing interest of the business world of the two countries in each other and in investment and business possibilities and the growing multi-dimensional contacts, governmental and non-governmental.

While these developments have been rightly highlighted, the proverbial Chinese firmness in sticking to what they consider to be in their vital national interest, as seen from the slow progress in the talks on the border dispute, has not received the attention it deserves. Neither government has been communicative as to why the border talks are moving slowly, with no solution yet in sight, despite the spin put out periodically by the two sides.

According to some reports, the very slow movement in the border talks is due to the fact that the Chinese are adamant in insisting that the Tawang area in India's North-East should be transferred to them in any border settlement. India is stated to be opposed to this demand.

India is reportedly not prepared for any border adjustment in populated areas.

No satisfactory explanation has been forthcoming for the Chinese insistence on the transfer of Tawang. One reason, advanced by some, which seems credible, is that the Chinese suspect that it was from Tawang that the covert operation of the United States' Central Intelligence Agency to help the Khampa revolt of the 1950s against the Chinese occupation of Tibet was mounted.

The failure of this operation led to the exodus of the Dalai Lama and his followers from Tibet into India.

In our keenness for better relations with China, we seem prepared to forget what happened to us in the past. The Chinese are not. They still remember the externallymounted attempts to undermine their control of Tibet in the 1950s and are determined not to let this happen again. For them, control of Tawang is necessary for the definitive control of Tibet. If they give up their demand for Tawang, that could be an indication that they are no longer worried about their control of Tibet.

Despite the undisputed economic and social progress in Tibet, it remains Dalai Lama land. Reports from many reliable sources say that even 50 years after the flight of the Dalai Lama from Tibet, the Chinese have not been able to stamp out his memory from the minds of large sections of the Tibetan people. The Chinese are determined that the next Dalai Lama would be a man of their choice. They would not accept any incarnation as determined according to the Buddhist tradition by the Tibetans in Tibet and abroad.

If and when they try to impose their own Dalai Lama on the Tibetans, what would be the reaction in Tibet?

Would there be violence? What would be the reaction of the large Tibetan refugee community in India? Would they help the revolting people of Tibet? What would be the attitude of the US? Would it try to create trouble for China in Tibet? If so, where from would its operations be mounted? These are the kinds of questions and scenarios worrying their mind.

The furious pace at which the Chinese have been strengthening their strategic infrastructure in Tibet -roads, railways, airports etc -- is not meant only to make life more comfortable for the Tibetans. It is also meant to protect themselves from any future threat to stability in Tibet. In their calculation, if there is such a threat it would most probably arise from India, with the Tibetan Diaspora in India and elsewhere playing an active role, with the covert blessings of the US and its supporters

in India.

To be able to meet such a threat, should it matetrialise, they would need not only military strength, but a pressure point on India. A pending border dispute gives them such a pressure point.

The Chinese may not talk about it in public, but they are concerned over the emerging close relations between India and the US -- not because of the military potential of an India-US axis, but because of its moral potential.

They fear the likely infectious effect of our democracy in their border areas more than our nuclear weapons.

They fear the US ability to use the people's power as it did in East Europe, Ukraine and Georgia more than USA's military strength. In reality, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is not meant to protect the member-countries from external military threats. It is essentially meant to protect them from sections of their own people in the form of what they project as extremism and separatism.

They may outwardly project themselves as unconcerned over the implications of the India-US relationship for their stability, national security and regional pre-eminence, but they are. In our understandable keenness to see only the positive in China, we should not overlook certain constants in their policy.

One of these constants is to give Pakistan a psychological feeling of parity with India militarily and economically and to buttress the self-confidence of Bangladesh vis-a-vis India. China is not a South Asian power, but look at the way they have built for themselves a growing South Asian presence.

They did not create the difficulties which we have been facing in our relations with our neighbours, but they have been skillfully exploiting them for strengthening their influence in the countries around us. China does not pose a threat to us today, but it has the potential to pose a threat to us tomorrow should relations sour for any unforeseen reason.

We have to constantly assess that potential and be prepared to face such a contingency should it arise. Before 1963, we had to worry only about the Chinese to the north of us, but today we have to worry about the Chinese to the West and East of us. See how successful has been their Look South policy as compared to our Look East policy.

The Chinese leadership of today wishes well of India. It wants India to progress and take its due place in Asia and the world, but in its view, the due place of India is one rung below China's. Hence, their reluctance to support our permanent membership of the UN Security Council and their likely opposition in the Nuclear Suppliers' Group to the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

The Chinese are far-sighted in their strategic thinking and planning as seen from the way they have been protecting their energy security, for example, and built up a network of political and economic relationships with the oil producing countries of the world. Compare the attention which they have been paying to the Islamic world and Africa with the attention which we have been paying to these regions, which are equally important for India if it has to reach its full potential as a major power on par with China.

One has reasons to be gratified by the way our relations with China have been improving, but that doesn't mean we close our eyes and ears to what China is or may be up to.

Our over-fondness for China and over-faith in its protestations of goodwill in the 1950s landed us in 1962.

We should not repeat that mistake.

The religious leaders Religious quotes of the year

By Joanna Sugden

By Joanna Sugden Faith Central The Times Online http://timesonline.typepad.com/faith/2007/12/thepresidents.html December 28, 2007 "You know that identities are destroyed. As an Anglican, this is what I wear to identify myself that I am a clergyman. Do you know what Mugabe has done? He has taken people's identity and literally if you don't mind - cut it to pieces." Archbishop John Sentamu while cutting up his Dog collar on national television.

"It is one thing to take over a territory and then pour energy and resources into administering it and normalising it. Rightly or wrongly, that's what the British Empire did - in India, for example. It is another thing to go in on the assumption that a quick burst of violent action will somehow clear the decks and that you can move on and other people will put it back together - Iraq, for example." The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, told Emel, a Muslim Lifestyle Magazine.

"Yes, a referendum [on the next Dalai Lama] is possible. When my physical [condition] becomes weak and serious preparation for death [has started], then that should happen. According to my regular medical check-up it seems another few decades, I think, are there, so no hurry." The Dalai Lama told The Times in November.

"The reincarnation of the living Buddha is a unique way of succession of Tibetan Buddhism and follows relatively complete religious rituals and historical conventions. The Dalai Lama's statement is in blatant violation of religious practice and historical procedure." Chinese Foreign Ministry.

It is "difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to them [Orthodox and Protestant churches]" - Vatican document backed by the Pope.

"Canon law says the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving Communion, which is receiving the body of Christ . . . It expresses our belief that human individuality, the human personality, is present from the first moment of life." The Pope during his first visit to Brazil, the world's

most populous Roman Catholic country.

"We are killing - in our country - the equivalent of a classroom of kids every single day, can you imagine that? Two Dunblane massacres a day going on and on". Cardinal Keith O'Brien leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland.

"I feel just that terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not really existing." Mother Teresa in letters published this year.

"The Monks, while respecting the Appeal Court's decision, have assured me that they will pray for the bull's soul as they will for the Welsh Assembly's." Anil Bhanot, the General Secretary of the Hindu Council UK, after the slaughter of Shambo the sacred bull.

"As Muslims, we say to Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against them - so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes." Muslim letter of Peace signed by 138 Muslim scholars in October.

The Presidents "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country." - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking at Columbia University in New York.

"But if in our view, "government" would be a responsibility before God for ?establishing justice and a duty to ensure the rights of common people, serving the ?servants of God and helping the oppressed- then the most important issue will be the ?people's concerns. If this is the case, governors would not view themselves as better than ?other people and they wouldn't put themselves in any other position except serving the ?people." President Ahmadinejad's blog "We believe in an Almighty, we believe in the freedom for people to worship that Almighty. They don't." President George Bush, Martinsburg, West Virginia.

The Atheists "Religious faith is, precisely because we are still-evolving creatures, ineradicable. It will never die out, or at least not until we get over our fear of death, and of the dark, and of the unknown, and of

each other." Atheist Christopher Hitchens author of God is Not Great "You'd be rightly written off as uncultivated if you knew nothing of the Bible. You need the Bible to understand literary allusions." Professor Richard Dawkins in an interview with Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent of The Times.

"Yes, I like singing carols along with everyone else". Richard Dawkins.

The politicians "I'm not sure I would have gotten through it without my faith." Hillary Clinton on her turbulent marriage to Bill.

"I sin every single day." John Edwards, Presidential Candidate "Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the saviour of mankind...Religious tolerance would be a shallow principle indeed if it were reserved only for faiths with which we agree." Mitt Romney in a speech in December.

"Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office."

Mike Huckabee when asked if Jesus would authorise the Death Penalty.

Blair "It's difficult to talk about religious faith in our political system. If you are in the American political system or others then you can talk about religious faith and people say 'Yes, that's fair enough' and it is something they respond to quite naturally.

You talk about it in our system and, frankly, people do think you're a nutter. They sort of [think] you maybe go off and sit in the corner and commune with the man upstairs and then come back and say, 'Right, I've been told the answer and that's it'."

Tony Blair after leaving office as Prime Minister this year.

The Sportsman "I am not unhappy about the fact that there might not be a God," he says. "I don't feel that my life has a big, gaping hole in it. In some ways I feel more human than I ever have. There is more reality in my existence than when I was full-on as a believer. It is a completely different world to the one I inhabited for 37 years, so there are feelings of unfamiliarity." Olympic Gold Medalist and former committed Christian Jonathan Edwards on his loss of faith. END

The Tibet Post

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Central Tibetan Administration presents Lantos' Tarnished Legacy auspicious offering to His Holiness The Tibet Post International {January 04 2008} Tibet.net, Friday, 4 January 2008, Dharamshala: Thousands of Tibetans and Buddhist devotees from across the world carrying Khatags (ceremonial scraves) and incense gave a rousing welcome to His Holiness the Dalai

His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrives at the Drepung monastery at Mundgod, Karnataka, amidst ceremonial welcome on 2 January 2008/ Photo: Jigme Tsering, tibetTVonline

Lama on his arrival in Doeguling Tibetan settlement in North Kannara in South India on Wednesday. he top officials of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), including, justice commissioner, speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche - ecclesiastical heads, chief representative of south India, abbots of the monasteries of Gaden, Sera and Drepung, Doeguling settlement officer and members of the local Indo-Tibetan Friendship Society were present at the Hubli airport to receive His Holiness. Deputy Commissioner of North Kannada district Munish Mudgil and Superintendent of Police, N Shivaprasad welcomed is Holiness on behalf of the district administration.

While addressing media persons at the airport, His Holiness expressed his gratitude to the state government and the local people for extending support to the Tibetan people since the Tibetan settled in the region in 1960's.

His Holiness further said: "Owing to the sup-

port provided by the Indian government during the last 45 years, we have been able to establish an agriculture based settlement and many centres of learning for the preservation of Tibetan Buddhism and culture." Next day at 8 o'clock in the morning, members of the Kashag had an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Later, His Holiness conferred teachings on Jamphel Tsencho at the Drepung monastery at the request of the Central Tibetan Administration.

While addressing media persons at the airport, His Holiness expressed his gratitude to the state government and the local people for extending support to the Tibetan people since the Tibetan settled in the region in 1960's.

His Holiness further said: "Owing to the support provided by the Indian government during the last 45 years, we have been able to

Auspicious offering being offered to His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Drepung monastery establish an agriculture based settlement and many centres of learning for the preservation of Tibetan Buddhism and culture." Next day at 8 o'clock in the morning, members of the Kashag had an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Later, His Holiness conferred teachings on Jamphel Tsencho at the Drepung monastery at the request of the Central Tibetan

Members of Kashag (from left) DIIR Kalon Kesang Y Takla, Health Kalon Paljor Tsering, Kalon Tempa Tsering representative of His Holiness in Bureau Office, New Delhi waits to present offerings to His Holiness.

Administration.

Prior to the teaching, officials of CTA including justice commissioner, speaker of the Tibetan Parliament, Kalon Tripa, members of the Kashag, members of Parliament, former Kalons, offered auspicious offerings to express their gratitude to the great service, His Holiness has rendered to the Tibetan people in particular and world in general.

While in Dharamshala, more than 300 Tibetans gathered at Tsuglagkhang yesterday morning to offer long life prayers and offerings to His Holiness. The officials of the Central Tibetan Administration attended the prayer ceremony.

Later in the afternoon, Kalon Kesang Y Takla, Kalon for the Department of Information and International Relations launched the official website of the office of Tibet based in Australiawww.officeoftibet.com.au On 7 January, His Holiness will inaugurate a new assembly hall at the Drepung Loseling monastery. In the subsequent days from 8-13 January, His Holiness will give teachings at the Drepung Loseling monastery.

On the morning of 14 January, His Holiness will confer a long life empowerment and later, a long life offering ceremony for His Holiness will be held.

China Strengthens Tibetan Religious Repression

Nuns bow to a master at the Serthar Wuming Buddhist Study Institute in late 2007, Serthar County of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China.

(China Photos/Getty Images)

By Tashi Zeweng Tianwang News Jan 01, 2008 Sources revealed on December 24 that the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in China's southwest Sichuan province continues to strengthen its control over the local temples.

Officials have ordered Tibetans under the age of 18 not to serve as lamas. As a result, many young lamas have been expelled from the temples. Meanwhile, the government is investigating lamas associated with India. The National Security Agency is also interrogating foreign lamas who are learning Tibetan Buddism in Ganzi.

Dawa Tsering, a lama in Baiyu County of Ganzi said, "The government [has] recently ordered the expulsion of about 13 lamas under age of 18 from our temple. It has been a Tibetan tradition for the education to take place in the temple. Now the government requires that one has to be older than 18 years of age to be educated in the temple, and the young lamas have all been sent back home. We have no idea when the

government will dismiss such [a] policy."

It has been learned that the Baiyu County government has recently forced local eminent figures such as the Tulku and Je Khenpo (titles of high-ranking Tibetan monks) to disseminate through radio an anti-Dalai Lama statement prepared by the local government entitled, "Accuse the Dalai Lama of Separatist Activities."

Dawa Tsering said, "The County official has visited our temple several times this year. Each time, we were asked to sign an anti-Dalai Lama's 'separatist activities' campaign statement. We have been reluctant, but there's nothing else we can do. The County government prepared the speech and made the Tulku read it on the radio."

He continues, "This speech propagandizes devotion to the government, devotion to the officially recognized religion, accuses the Dalai Lama of splitting China, states that the Dalai Lama is no good, and that all lamas must make a clean break with the Dalai Lama. This is an act of alienation."

In addition to the expulsion of the young

lamas, and the forcing of the local Khenpo to instill the ideology of "The Dalai Lama is a separatist," the Ganze local government has also intensified the monitoring of foreign lamas.

A lama from Taiwan said, "Recently, local governments have prosecuted lamas with an association with India. This year, four lamas from our monastery walked to Nepal. It is said that some recent incident in Tong has caused tighter control by the government."

This lama said, "Half a month ago, the local police and a national security agent from Ganzi visited me. The national security agent is a Tibetan. He asked where I come from and what I do inside the temple. They have asked our Khenpo earlier about me. I told them everything."

He continues, "Later, they asked me to show them my identification and requested a photocopy of my Taiwan ID card. I told them the ID will only be valid in Taiwan; it is useless to copy it. Finally, they did not make a copy of my ID, but joked that they have confiscated my ID. Even though they returned my ID, the atmosphere was not right. I did not expect the Chinese Communists to further strengthen the control of religion right before the Olympics."

This lama from Taiwan hopes the Chinese Government relieves the restrictions on speech and religion, "I had thought that Taiwan has been the tumultuous place. I am going to tell my friends in Taiwan, once I return, that Taiwan is a paradise where you see unsatisfied people criticize the government and criticize the president, Chen Shui-bian."

He said, "The mainland is said to be open, but they even control us who come from Taiwan to study Tibetan Buddhism. Didn't the Communist Party say Taiwan is a province of China? This will not do. Leniency and tolerance are the best way to live together. The Communist Party should now relieve the restrictions on speech and religion to benefit a long-term governing of the country."

by Stephen Zunes Pundits responded to news of the retirement of Representative Tom Lantos (D-CA) at the end of his current term with platitudes and praise. They have focused primarily on his heroic role as a Holocaust survivor and member of the anti-Nazi resistance in his native Hungary as well as his leadership on human rights issues in Congress, serving as the founder and longtime co-chair of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

There's no question that his personal history is both courageous and noble. Nor is there any debate that he stood up in support for the International Criminal Court, the people of the occupied nations of Tibet and East Timor, and the victims of oppression in Iran, Burma, Zimbabwe, Vietnam and other countries.

At the same time, most peace and justice activists have found Lantos – who has chaired the House Committee on Foreign Affairs since the Democrats regained their Congressional majority – as a very inconsistent advocate for human rights.

Indeed, the Congressman has openly challenged the United Nations as well as reputable independent human rights organizations when they have raised concerns about human rights abuses by certain key U.S. allies, even to the point of directly contradicting their findings. In addition, his leadership in support of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, and his resulting culpability in the human rights tragedies that followed, will no doubt be the most significant negative mark on his legacy.

Iraq Deceptions Lantos' desire to have the United States take over Iraq was so strong that he was apparently willing to grossly exaggerate that oil-rich country's military capabilities to frighten the American public into giving up on diplomatic efforts and launch a war. In 2001, Lantos claimed Iraq was developing long-range missiles "that will threaten the United States and our allies" even though – as arms control experts correctly noted at the time – this was not actually the case. Similarly, though the International Atomic Energy Agency had confirmed that Iraq no longer had a nuclear weapons program and strict international sanctions prevented that country from restarting it, Lantos claimed that such peaceful and diplomatic means to eliminate Iraq's nuclear program had actually failed and that military means were necessary to prevent Iraq from developing its nuclear capability.

As the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs committee, his willingness to co-sponsor the resolution granting President George W. Bush unprecedented power to invade a foreign country at the time and circumstances of his own choosing was critical in making the disastrous Iraq War possible.

The resolution co-sponsored by Lantos contained accusations that were known or widely assumed to be false, such as claims of Iraqi support for al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States despite the fact that a definitive report by the Department of Defense noted that not only did no such link exist, but that no such link could have even been reasonably suggested based upon the evidence available at that time.

The resolution also falsely claimed that Iraq was "actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability." In reality, Iraq had eliminated its nuclear program long before, a fact that was confirmed in a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1998, four years prior to the resolution. It also falsely claimed that Iraq at that time continued "to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons capability" when, in reality, as the U.S. government now admits, Iraq had rid itself of its chemical and biological weapons nearly a decade earlier and no longer had any active chemical and biological weapons programs.

Though Saddam Hussein's regime was notorious for its human rights abuses, this was not apparently what motivated Lantos to support the invasion. The September 30, 2002 issue of the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz quoted Lantos telling an Israeli Knesset member, in reference to Saddam Hussein, "We'll be rid of the bastard soon enough. And in his place we'll install a pro-Western dictator."

Indeed, his support for a number of U.S.-backed dictatorships in the Middle East has raised serious questions regarding his actual commitment for human rights.

Denying Israeli Atrocities Lantos has also been an outspoken defender of the U.S.-backed Israeli government in its frequent application of military force, even when the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have engaged in serious violations of international humanitarian law.

For example, during the 2006 war between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights documented that both Hezbollah and Israelis forces were engaged in war crimes by attacking civilian areas, which resulted in the deaths of 43 Israeli civilians and more then 800 Lebanese civilians. In response, Lantos joined leading House Republicans in co-sponsoring a resolution praising Israel for its "longstanding commitment to minimize civilian loss" and even welcomed "Israel's continued efforts to prevent civilian casualties." The resolution also claimed, in the face of a broad consensus of those familiar with international humanitarian law to the contrary, that Israel's actions were "in accordance with international law."

Similarly, in April of 2002, Amnesty International published a detailed and well-documented report regarding the Israeli military offensive in the occupied West Bank, noting how "the IDF acted as though the main aim was to punish all Palestinians. Actions were taken by the IDF which had no clear or obvious military necessity." The report went on to document

unlawful killings, destruction of civilian property, arbitrary detention, torture, assaults on medical personnel and journalists, as well as random shooting at people in the streets and houses.

In response, Lantos introduced a resolution challenging Amnesty's findings, claiming that "Israel's military operations ... are aimed only at dismantling the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas." In an apparent retort to growing demands by peace and human rights groups to suspend military aid to Israel in response to these violations of international humanitarian law, the Lantos resolution called for an increase in military aid, which many of these activists felt was, in effect, rewarding Israel for its repression and attacking the credibility of Amnesty International, winner of the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize. (See my article Congress Ignores Human Rights Groups In Pro-Israel Resolution.)

Contempt for International Law Lantos has also been an outspoken critic of the International Court of Justice in its ruling on the applicability of international humanitarian law, such as the 2004 decision against Israel's construction of a separation barrier deep inside occupied Palestinian territory.

Lantos condemned the near-unanimous decision as a "perversion of justice" and praised Bush for "his leadership in marshalling opposition" to the UN's judicial arm.

Lantos also sponsored a resolution last year defending Israel's annexation of greater East Jerusalem, despite a series of UN Security Council resolutions citing the inadmissibility of any country expanding its territory by force and declaring the annexation illegal. His resolution also claimed that Israel had "respected the rights of all religious groups" during its 40-year occupation of that city and environs. However, a number of UN bodies – along with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other reputable human rights organizations – have frequently cited Israel for its ongoing violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention in East Jerusalem and surrounding areas, including the confiscation and destruction of homes and other property belonging to longstanding Muslim and Christian residents. (See my article Jerusalem: Endorsing the Right of Conquest.)

On a number of occasions, Lantos placed himself to the right of the Bush administration regarding Israeli violations of international humanitarian law. For example, when Bush expressed concerns that the Israeli government's policy of assassinating Palestinian opponents was leading to the deaths of innocent bystanders, hurting moderate Palestinian forces and proving counter-productive in enhancing Israeli security, Lantos expressed that he was "deeply dismayed" by the president's comments and insisted that such Israeli actions constituted legitimate self-defense and deserved "the full support of the United States."

Morocco's Occupation Israel is not the only occupier power whose human rights abuses have been denied and defended by the Congressman. Lantos has been a strong supporter of Morocco's efforts to annex the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony invaded by Morocco in 1975, in defiance of a series of UN Security Council resolutions and a landmark decision by the International Court of Justice. He has declared Morocco's proposal for limited autonomy of that illegally occupied country as "a breakthrough opportunity" and a "realistic framework for a political solution." Given the widespread opposition in the international community to legitimizing Morocco's act of aggression, the letter concludes by urging Bush to "embrace this promising Moroccan initiative so that it receives the consideration necessary to achieve international acceptance." (See my article The Future of Western Sahara.)

Despite well-documented reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other reputable human rights groups monitoring the situation in the occupied territory that public expressions in support for selfdetermination are routinely suppressed, Lantos has also expressed his confidence that "Morocco will do nothing to stifle debate among the people of Western Sahara."

Blaming Victims Lantos also has a history of exaggerating human rights abuses by governments and movements he opposes.

For example, despite consistent reports by United Nations monitors that the Western Sahara nationalist Polisario Front has scrupulously honored its 1991 ceasefire agreement with Morocco – despite the Moroccans' refusal to honor their reciprocal commitment to allow for a UN-sponsored referendum on independence – Lantos has insisted that "peace has been summarily rejected by the rebel Polisario Front in favor of guerrilla ambushes." He has also falsely accused the Polisario Front of forcing most of the Western Saharan population to live in arid refugee camps in neighboring Algeria, ignoring that fact that the refugees were forced to flee to these camps as a direct result of Moroccan repression in their occupied homeland.

In addition, Lantos cosponsored a resolution accusing Hezbollah of "cynically exploiting civilian populations as shields" during the fighting with Israel in 2006 despite the fact that Amnesty International found no conclusive evidence of such practices and Human Rights Watch, in a well-documented study, had found "no cases in which Hezbollah deliberately used civilians as shields to protect them from retaliatory IDF attack."

Tarnished Legacy As these and other examples illustrate, Lantos' advocacy for human rights has been far from consistent.

For human rights advocacy to be credible, it must be based on empirical evidence rather than ideological biases. It must hinge on universal principles of international humanitarian law rather than a given country's relations with the United States.

The failure of Representative Lantos to recognize this fundamental reality will scar an otherwise noble legacy.

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The Tibet Post

Tibetan film nominee for Norwegian Peace Film Award at the 18th Tromsø International Film Festival The Tibet Post International {08 January 2008}Oslo. Monday 07 january 2008-01-07 Chungdak Koren-Norwegian Tibet Committee : Tibetan documentary film “What Remains of us “ has been selected for 18 th Tromsø International Film Festival (TIFF) and also nominated for Norwegian Film Peace Award.TIFF is biggest film festival held in Northern Norway It is a popular film festival, and at the same time an important meeting point for Norwegian and international film industry. TIFF 2008 will be Tromsø’s 18th international film festival. They screens challenging quality films for a local, national and international audience.Tromsø is the largest Norwegian town north of the Arctic circle, the gateway to the Arctic and boasts the world’s northernmost university. The city enjoys midnight sun from May 18 to July 26. “When we go to a clandestine screening of a film that the Chinese authorities wish didn’t exist because it documents the painful longing of Tibetan people for their leader and their independence.” says Martha Otte,Festival Director.

What Remains of Us documentary film is one of 11 nominees for the Norwegian Peace Film Award .This award is given to a film spotlighting direct, structural or cultural violence, and which in a creative way contributes to the prevention or reduction of violence and war.

Tromsø International Film Festival, together with Centre for Peace Studies (CPS) at the University of Tromsø, and the Student Network for Peace (SNF), has established this prize because of the power in film and storytelling. “We believe that films focusing on oppression and abuse of power can make a difference.” Says on the website of the Norwegian Peace Film Award committee. Casting and narrator Mrs Kalsang Dolma is invited for the festival. “The Norwegian Tibet Committee will use this opportunity to highlight Tibetan issue as well as our ongoing 2008 Beijing Olympic campaign during the festival” say Mr Tord Eriksen board member of Norwegian Tibet Committee from Tromsø. Contact: Norwegian Tibet Committee. 0047 95024443

Amity with Tibetan monk sets woman on path to India

By ANNYSA JOHNSON anjohnson@journalsentinel.com Posted: Dec. 28, 2007 For 14 years, KT Rusch has sent a modest stipend to support the spiritual education of a Tibetan Buddhist monk at the Drepung Loseling Monastery in southern India.

And for 14 years, Kunchok Chophel's letters of thanks have given her a glimpse of his ascetic life in a world she could only imagine.

Until now.

Rusch will meet Chophel for the first time next week when she travels to Karnataka state for the dedication of the monastery's new prayer hall. The ceremony, which will be presided over by the Dalai Lama, is expected to draw thousands of faithful and visitors from around the world.

The prospect is humbling for Rusch, herself a Catholic, who draws inspiration from the Buddhist tenets of non-violence and compassion in her work as an artist and musician.

"I'm not a Buddhist scholar by any means," said the Mequon mother of three who plays bass in the local Universal Love Band and teaches art and music to at-risk youths through the nonprofit Express Yourself Milwaukee.

"But that connection comes through to me," she said. "It's what I'm trying to do with my art, and my service. To me, the example of universal love is right there."

Rusch was among hundreds of Americans invited to the ceremony because of their contributions to the monastery, the largest Tibetan monastic institution in exile and the spiritual home of the Dalai Lama, who fled from Tibet for India after the Chinese invaded his Himalayan homeland in 1959.

"There are about 50 who have officially registered to attend," said Tsepak Rigzin, assistant director for cultural preservation at the Atlanta-based Drepung Loseling Monastery Inc., the North American seat of the Dalai Lama.

Rusch said she's long had an interest in Asian religions, having studied them at Dominican High School and later in college. She began contributing to the education fund after seeing the monastery's touring "Sacred Music Sacred Dance" performance at the Pabst Theater in 1993.

Rusch's gift wasn't that much, she said, just $20 a month. Still, it was tough some years.

"But we really wanted to come up with the money, to figure out a way to do it," she

said.

When she received the invitation - in English and Sanskrit - this summer, she knew she wanted to go but wasn't sure how her family could swing it. The airline ticket alone was $1,500.

But the next day, she received an order for 600 CDs of her band's music, a sign, she thought, that it was meant to be.

Rusch will leave Jan. 3 for what is expected to be an arduous trip, with six days spent traveling to and from the monastery.

She'll fly from New York through Mumbai and into Hubli, India, near the coast of the Arabian Sea, then ride - she's not sure in what or with whom - about 30 kilometers to the monastery. Along with a visa and passport, she required a "restricted area permit" to visit the Tibetan settlement there, with 14,000 people, the largest community of Tibetans outside their homeland.

"It's a bit of a leap of faith," said Rusch, who as recently as Thursday wasn't sure where she would stay once she gets there.

While at the monastery, Rusch will have an opportunity to sit in on teachings by the Dalai Lama, described by Rigzin as "empowerments" and "very precious, very rare."

In addition to clothes, food and other gifts for the monks and refugees, she is bringing a prayer scroll - it features the names and intentions of people in Wisconsin - which she plans to read in the prayer hall.

And she's taking an art project begun by a group of Milwaukee children, hoping to finish it with their Tibetan counterparts in India.

"When we were painting it, we were contemplating peace in our lives and reading poetry," Rusch said of the project begun with teenagers from the Milwaukee County Detention Center.

"And I'm hoping to do the same thing with children over there."

Just as important, she said, will be to spend time with Chophel, learning more about his life, his escape from Tibet across the Himalayas and the spiritual growth that has taken him from student to teacher.

"I can't wait to hear his story," said Rusch, who keeps a photograph of the monk on her refrigerator and treasures the letters he's sent over the years.

"He wrote a beautiful letter a few years ago, saying he couldn't believe he'd known us for 12 years. He said he had all of the pictures of our family on his altar."

12 January, 2008 Dharamsala

Dr Singh is not Richard Gere M K Bhadrakumar January 11, 2008 The present is the best time in a long while for New Delhi to come to terms with China's phenomenal rise, a paradigm that bothers the entire world community. Two of India's ablest 'China hands' are crafting New Delhi's diplomacy towards Beijing [Images] -- Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and Ambassador Nirupama Rao. The political leadership should not fail our diplomats.

But the discourses in the Indian media regarding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's [Images] visit to China have turned out to be disappointing. Whether they reflect the official policy, one dare not think. They have more to say about the Dalai Lama [Images] or China's infrastructure development activities in its relatively backward Tibet Autonomous Region than how India must come to terms with its northern neighbour, which is more than half a superpower already.

For any serious regional power, high level visits are occasions for constructive diplomacy. They are approached with adequate preparation. The urgency with which Dr Singh scheduled his China visit at the final lap of the UPA government's rule amidst the growing turbulence in Indian politics, gives one hope.

Dr Singh will have a sense of mission and a prospective plan for India-China relations through the coming decade or two.

Indeed, simply because Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Sonia Gandhi [Images] visited Beijing, it is not necessary that Dr Singh also should.

Second, it is never a good idea to be bogged down in peripherals. Tibet or the Dalai Lama simply does not become the sum total of India-China relations. Dr Singh is not Richard Gere [Images].

Third, it will be a historic blunder if we insist on getting bogged down when the world community is striving to build verve and content into their ties with China.

In diplomacy, it is inadvisable to be a straggler, as you may end up crawling back on a pitiless greasy pole.

Asian security paradigm Yet, our discourses over China show a huge shortfall in our understanding of the emergent Asian security paradigm. Our middle class consumerism of the globalisation era and the overall intellectual decline in the country alone cannot explain it away. There must be deeper reasons.

Look at the obsessive thought processes of our pundits regarding a quadripartite alliance involving the United States, Japan [Images] and Australia and India. They were of epic proportions, predicated on assumptions regarding Sino-Japanese antipathies, or the socalled 'containment' of China, or about a concert of Asian democracies led by Washington.

How relevant are these sub-themes? They already look vacuous. Given the great fluidity of Asian security, it was audacious to have rushed in 'where angels fear to tread.'

'Non-alignment' not a dirty word Since 'non-alignment' has become a dirty word in our idiom -- especially after US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice began disparaging the concept -- one must be apologetic. But the inescapable reality is India needs to transmute the ideology of non-alignment. Our lack of intellectual creativity doesn't mean the ideology has become useless baggage.

India's haphazard transition in the tumultuous early 1990s under P V Narasimha Rao's leadership precluded profound thinking. Rao's panache for tactics in preference to longterm strategy is, of course, legion. Second, the sheer pressure of domestic politics took its toll on Rao's time and wisdom. Third, there was no pressure of public opinion to intellectualise foreign policy once almost all parties began eschewing 'internationalism' in favour of mofussil politics.

The net result is while to some it might have seemed Rao was crossing the Rubicon, New Delhi was in actuality marking time -- or best, cruising without traction. In the 'deideologised' world of the early 1990s, it became fashionable to say foreign policy must be pragmatic. But we overlooked that a foreign policy can be pragmatic only if it is based on rock-like principles.

That is to say, no matter what Rice might think of us, we should not overlook that the quintessence of non-alignment lies in distilling national interests in a difficult world. China realises this.

Russia [Images] challenges US geo-strategy Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which spearheaded Washington's crusade against the So-

viet Union, featured a year ender on Russia. It said: 'This was the year Vladimir Putin [Images] implicitly compared the US to the Third Reich... And it was the year that -- despite the occasional diplomatic language to the contrary -- the last remnants of the vaunted strategic partnership between Russia and the West appeared headed for the dustbin of history...

2007 marked a new low in Russia's post-Soviet relations with the West... Cold War or not, Russia has certainly been attempting to lay the foundations for an alternative security architecture to compete with the West.'

To be sure, Russia's resurgence is disrupting US global strategies.

We need to factor that New Delhi's equations with Moscow [Images] will always remain a matter of concern to Washington. Second, we cannot miss out on the geopolitical reality that Washington's number 1 adversary is still Russia -- and not China.

China adapts to non-alignment For a generation to come, Russia will remain the only power that possesses strategic deterrence against the US. That is why Washington is paying such close attention to US-China relations so as to calibrate the triangular equations involving the US, China and Russia.

China grasps the potentials of this tango. It no longer bonds with the US as in the Soviet period. But China is not being furtive. It is openly exploring the frontiers of non-alignment in the era of globalisation. What else is the Chinese concept of a 'harmonious world' about?

The People's Daily says, 'Confucius (551 BC to 479 BC) expounded the philosophical concept of harmony without uniformity, meaning the world is full of differences and contradictions, but the righteous man should balance them and achieve harmony.'

China-US cooperation on upswing On the one hand, as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told the Russian media on the eve of his visit to Moscow in November, Sino-Russian relations are now 'both at their best in history and at a most important historical stage', and China looked ahead at the coming decade as 'an important historical period for both the evolution of the international situation and the development of China-Russia strategic cooperative partnership.'

At the same time, in 2007, as the People's Daily noted, China-US relations saw enhanced mutual understanding 'on the basis of reaching continuous consensus and the boosting of cooperation of both parties on vital global subjects.'

The commentary underscored that Beijing won 'positive appraisal' from Washington for bilateral cooperation on global issues like the North Korea problem, Sudan, war on terror, energy security, climate warming, etc.

Rice gave a New Year gift to Beijing with her statement at her year-end press conference in Washington on December 22 that the US opposed Taiwan's bid to join the United Nations. Apart from high-level political exchanges and surging trade relations, two rounds of China-US strategic economic dialogue were held last year.

China-US military cooperation took big leaps, with the visit by the US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates to China in late October; a prospective view on military exchanges; and the establishment -- first time ever for China with a foreign country -- of a direct military hotline between the ministry of national defence in Beijing and the Pentagon in Washington.

Washington pursues a China policy that aims at making the latter a stakeholder in the US's global strategies. But Beijing knows it needs two to tango.

China-Japan ties warming up Similarly, the Indian strategic community and corporate media completely overlook the dramatic shift of templates in China-Japan relations. Chinese accounts say Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's four-day visit to China on New Year's Eve was a 'rip-roaring success.'

Despite the huge backlog of history and a plethora of contemporary issues that seriously complicate China-Japan relations, the trend is that China and Japan have sized up the volatile regional and international situation and decided that they must keep up with the times by searching for a 'win-win magnanimity' and tenaciously expand the converging point of their mutual interests.

The unfolding Asian drama shouldn't have caught our pundits by surprise. But, as Ronald Reagan would say, 'You ain't seen nothing yet.'

M K Bhadrakumar is a former Indian ambassador

Transition to womanhood The Tibet Post International {07 January 2008}The Star Online, 7 January 2008. IN AN isolated region in the Northern Himalayas, the lives of two young girls will be changed forever as they follow the paths before them. Follow their uneasy journey on Discovery Channel’s (Astro Channel 551) Becoming A Woman In Zanskar this month.

Follow the journey of Tenzin and Palkit (right) on Discovery Channel’s Becoming A Woman In Zanskar.

This show recounts the moving story of a friendship shattered by destiny, when two best friends have to part and leave their families forever.

Tenzin will be married to a man she hasn’t chosen, while Palkit will become a nun.

This critically acclaimed show premieres on Jan 13 (9pm) and encores on Jan 14 (12midnight, 8am & 2pm) and Jan 19 (2pm) and Jan 20 (8am).

Becoming A Woman In Zanskar has won several awards including the Special Jury Award at the Banff Mountain Film Festival, Golden Anchor at the Toulon International Film Festival, Best Film at the Columbus Film Festival and Best Film for the Alpine and Foreign Cultures category at the International Mountain & Adventures Filmfestival Graz.

At 22, Tenzin learns that her father has found her a husband whom she has never met. Unhappy, she will nevertheless accept her fate.

Her family will help her in preparation for the wedding ceremony. After a final farewell to her loved ones, she will be taken away on horse-back to her new life.

Tenzin’s friend Palkit, 25, has decided that in order to avoid this same fate, her only alternative is to become a nun. She will leave her family to enter a monastery in Dharam Sala where the Dalai Lama resides.

Her father, however, is deeply opposed to her decision and would prefer that she stays to help with the chores. Palkit will have to stand up to her father and embark on a perilous 120 km hike on foot - including

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12 January, 2008 Dharamsala

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NZ Stands Up for Rights Can China ban in China Before Olympics The Tibet Post International {07 January 2008}

By Sarah Matheson and Charlotte Cuthbertson Epoch Times New Zealand staff City Councillors, MPs, monks, ethnic groups and ordinary kiwis came out in droves over the Christmas holiday to support a global push for basic human rights in China before the Beijing Olympics this year.

The Human Rights Torch was taken

The Human Rights Torch was taken up Aoraki/Mt Cook as part of a documentary-making mission to capture the historic event globally, 25 December, 2007 (The Epoch Times)

up Aoraki/Mt Cook as part of a documentary-making mission to capture the historic event globally, 25 December, 2007 (The Epoch Times) The Global Human Rights Torch Relay travelled from Auckland to Invercargill during December before leaving for Africa via Los Angeles on January 1. The torch carries the message that, “Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot coexist in China.” Auckland City Councillor and CIPFG (Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China) member Dr Cathy Casey was New Zealand’s first torch bearer at the Auckland ceremony.

Dr Casey said the torch is a symbol of solidarity for the plight of the Chinese people, and particularly Falun Gong practitioners.

“The symbolic torch relay shines for all victims of the Chinese Communist Party,” she said.

Dr Casey became involved in CIPFG after the Hon. David Kilgour — coauthor of Bloody Harvest, an investigation report of statesanctioned organ harvesting of living Falun Gong practitioners — visited New Zealand 18 months ago.

Dr Casey had a kidney removed two years ago and said she could understand why people travel to China for a transplant.

“What China will not tell you is that [the organ] may have come from a Fa l u n D a f a p r a c t i t i o n e r,” D r Casey said.

She said China needs to allow into the country independent investigators to research the organ harvesting allegations, including Amnesty International, who is barred from China.

Green Party MPs Keith Locke and Nandor Tanczos supported the torch in Auckland and Hamilton respectively.

Politicians Support in Wellington Green Party co-leader Russel Norman welcomed the torch in a ceremony at Parliament in

Children day at a military base

Muslim children try a machine gun mounted on truck during an exhibition as part of Children day at a military base in Narathiwat province, 12 January 2008. The insurgency in southern Thailand is not about Islamic jihad or the global "war on terror" but is rooted in the desire of southern Muslims to control their land, a top expert on the region says. More than 2,800 people have been killed since the rebellion began in January 2004, with killings growing more frequent and brutal.

Wellington.

He said China’s significant influence in global economic relations means it is so important they embrace democracy and basic human rights.

“And it’s going to be putting pressure from outside China with events like this as well as putting pressure inside China, that will put pressure on the government to open up to have more democracy and more free speech, to give people an opportunity to exercise their democracy and their human rights.”

Dr Cathy Casey, A uckland City Councillor and NZ CIPFG (Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong) member proudly holds the Human Rights Torch in Auckland on Sunday 16 December. (The Epoch Times) Wellington City Councillors Celia Wade-Brown and Andy Foster raced out between meetings to ensure their support for the torch relay.

Cr Wade-Brown said meeting the Hon. David Kilgour had made her very concerned about the organ harvesting allegations against the Chinese Communist Party.

“We were convinced there was a case to answer,” she said.Cr Foster said, “We think it is very important that we are seen to support human rights and free speech,” he said.He was deeply concerned at the political issues surrounding Tibet and Taiwan, and hoped the Olympics would be an opportunity to push for change in China.

Olympics Used as Political Tool Former professor at Shanghai International Studies University and CIPFG member Li Dong supported the torch in Palmerston North, Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt and Wellington.

He said the actions of the Chinese Communist Party have nothing in common with the “lofty principles” of the Olympic Games.

“The Beijing Olympic Games is being used as a mammoth PR exercise to paint a false picture of China,” he said.

Dr Cathy Casey, Auckland City Councillor and NZ CIPFG (Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong) member proudly holds the Human Rights Torch in Auckland on Sunday 16 December. (The Epoch Times)

Four wakas from Nelson’s Maitahi and the Motueka outrigger canoe clubs paddled the Greek Goddess of Justice carrying the Human Rights Torch into Tahunanui Beach, Nelson on 27 December, 2007.

(Don Chen/The Epoch Times) He said China’s police have named 11 categories and 40 sub categories of people as ‘enemies of the Olympic Games’.

“The Beijing Olympics will be the most political games since Hitler’s 1936 Olympic Games,” he said.

Auckland’s Marie Leadbetter, from the Indonesia Human Rights Commission, said China’s slogan for the Olympics ‘One China – One Dream’ was inappropriate as the human rights abuses continue in the lead-up to the Games.

Radio India broadcaster Amrit Singh Masuta said in Christchurch that the Torch Relay signified solidarity with China’s Christians, Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners, and the 1.5 million people who had been evicted from their homes to make way for Olympic stadiums.

Free trade questioned Helen Tiller, from Amnesty International, supported the Human Rights Torch Relay in Christchurch.

She questioned the New Zealand Government’s involvement with the Chinese regime when so many groups of people were being persecuted.

“Human rights in China are just appalling,” she said. She said over 10,000 people are executed every year in China.

“There are mobile execution buses, journalists are detained and there is no freedom of the press.”

Ms Tiller was concerned about the speed that the New Zealand Government was trying to push through a free trade agreement with China.

“New Zealand is in the final stages of a free trade agreement with China and they are not even taking these human rights violations into account,” she said.Christian communicator Peter Laing, who works as a liaison between different denominations in Palmerston North said he supports a boycott of the Beijing Olympics.

Mr Laing called for the public to avoid buying cheap Chinese products - to use their power as consumers to speak out against the severe human rights abuses and labour standards.

“I am against the hypocrisy that our country and other western countries propagate,” he said.

First ozone observatory in Tibet starts operation

The Tibet Post International {07 January 2008} China.org.cn, 07 January 2008.

The first ozone measurement observatory in Tibet Autonomous Region has became operational on the world’s highest plateau, according to localm eteorological administration.

With an investment of 1.52 million yuan (US$208,000), installment on the observatory began last December at an elevation of 3,648.9 meters in Lhasa, the regional capital. It is equipped the cutting-edge Brewer Ozone Spectrophotometer which alone costs 1.40 million yuan (US$192,000).

“Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a hot-spot area for international climate change observation,” said Zhang Yong, a senior engineer with Lhasa Meteorological Bureau,”The comparison of ozone observation data in Tibet with those in the baseline observatory in Qinghai Province will accurately reflect the changes in the ozone layer

over the plateau.” He said the observatory will provide precise information on the total ozone amount and the Ultraviolet-B (UVB) radiation.

“The sophisticated instrument will regularly send data to Chinese meteorological departments for analysis, and will be further forwarded to the World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Center (WOUDC) based in Canada to avail scientist from all over the world,” said Zhang.

Lhasa is located in the low-level ozone layer region on western China’s Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Chinese scientists have found the ozone layer was thinner on the plateau during summer, compared with other regions of the same latitude on the earth.

Ozone is one of the gases forming the Earth’s atmosphere and is the major shield against UVB radiation, absorbing approximately 90 percent of solar UVB. Excessive exposure to UVB can cause skin cancer in humans and is a major contributor to glacial melting.

The Tibet Post International {08 January 2008} The Color Orange?

Take part in checkmating the Chinese regime and making a global manifestation for human rights.

We hereby encourage you to join the initiative TheColorOrange.net with the aim of showing China - during the Olympics in August 2008 - that we are many people who are keeping an eye on China’s human rights violations.

The idea is both sophisticated and simple.

By using something with the color orange during the Olympics - both inside and outside of China - you are sending a signal to the world that something is wrong in China. It can be anything, like an orange hat, camera bag, tie, pen, paper, dress, suit, bag etc. Even pealing an orange will be considered a pronounced statement.

No political or religious movement can claim to have a monopoly of the initiative. By participating in the project you show that you support the fight for human rights in China.

The Chinese Government wants to present the Olympics as perfect and streamlined to billions of television viewers around the globe with the aim of promoting China as a modern and efficient society.

They will do anything it takes to avoid getting criticized on television. However, by using the Color Orange we are exactly capable of breaking with the harsh censorship and embitter the joy of the regime. At the same time, millions of oppressed Chinese people will have a voice during the Olympics 2008.

The Olympic Charter stipulates as fundamental Olympic principles: “the respect for universal fundamental ethical principles” and the promotion of “a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity”. Nobody can fairly claim that the Chinese regime is living up to these standards. On the contrary, the usage of the orange color will be an ethical and non-political statement that is indeed in deep harmony with the fundamental principles of the Olympic movement.

The initiative can only succeed if a lot of people are aware of the significance of the Color Orange. This would normally require a publicity budget of million of dollars. This, however, we don’t have. But in stead we (might) have you :-) If you, and millions of others, help pass on this

idea together we can create a butterfly effect blowing an orange wind over China.

Pass on this e-mail to everybody on your mailing list. Go to the website www.TheColorOrange.net and sign up to the mailing list in order for you to get continuous updates about the initiative.

Report to the website with those activities or ideas in which you have used the Color Orange so that we can spread out the happy message as an inspiration to others.

Make creative use of the Color Orange in relation to Olympic events. If you practice any kind of sport or are a member of an association that supports human rights you can encourage them to use orange in their material and to publicly support the campaign.

The Dutch national Olympic team is because of their orange colors natural born members of the initiative. What about your country’s Olympic heroes? Are the only heroes when it comes to sport? Imagine if the first gold winner in China wipes off the sweat with an orange handkerchief...

The Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot is the one behind the manifestation ‘the Color Orange’. The artist is independent from political and religious interests and has often made global art events in favor of humanism, among others in collaboration with the democratic movement in China.

The Color Orange is inspired by what the painter Kandinsky said when he stated that the color orange is in fact red that has been made more human by the color yellow.

The Chinese color is exactly red so maybe we can support the humanistic forces in the country by introducing the Color Orange. The selection of the Color Orange is however also inspired by the color of the prison uniforms in Guantanamo, the monks in Tibet and Burma and so on.

We hope that many individuals and organizations will support this initiative and use the Color Orange.

Jens Galschiot, sculptor, Banevaenget 22, DK-5270 Odense N Tel.: +45 6618 4058, Fax: +45 6618 4158 E-mail: contact@TheColorOrange.net This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it www.TheColorOrange.net

A 'new' view of the Valley in 2008

By Brian Callaway | Of The Morning Call It's impossible to anticipate most big news stories.

Still, the Lehigh Valley region in 2008 is expected to see political changeovers that will garner headlines, massive construction projects that will change the landscape, and the start of play for some bat-swinging Pigs that will usher in a new era.

Here are some of the expected developments that should have people talking next year. Play ball!

What with having a stadium built, unveiling their uniforms and inadvertently choosing an old, obscure racial slur as their mascot's original (and quickly discarded) name, the IronPigs have already garnered plenty of attention.

The Lehigh Valley's new minor league baseball team won't actually christen Coca-Cola Park until March 30, though, when they are scheduled to face the Philadelphia Phillies in an exhibition game.

Politicos have been touting the team for months, hoping it will help pump up the local economy. The fact that the Valley will have the first professional baseball team of its own since 1960 is what most local residents will notice.

Keystone campaigning Pennsylvania voters probably won't have much say in who Democrats and Republicans nominate for president in 2008. Most of the major caucuses and primaries happen before the state's April 22 primary.

Things should change as the campaign continues, however.

Pennsylvania is still considered a swing state in presidential politics, and the candidates should follow the examples set by George W. Bush and John Kerry in 2004, stumping steadily here as November approaches.

Dalai Lama Eager-to-please candidates won't be the only big names visiting the area.

The Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, will visit Bethlehem July 10-15, teaching for several days and giving a public lecture July 13 at Stabler Arena.

The sale date for lecture tickets will be announced Wednesday on the Web site http://www.lehigh.edu/ dalailama .

Construction junction A set of large-scale construction or renovation projects slated to begin or be completed in 2008 promises to change the way many of our communities look.

Lehigh Valley Hospital's new patient tower is set to open early in the year at its sprawling Cedar Crest Boulevard campus. It's the largest component of one of the costliest capital expansion projects in the region.

On Easton's South Side, about 250 apartments at the Delaware Terrace public housing neighborhood will be demolished to make way for 144 new senior cottages, townhouses, twins and single-family homes. The Easton Housing Authority is using a $20 million federal grant to pay for the makeover.

Construction is slated to begin in the spring on Pennsylvania's first ethanol plant -- a $340 million project being built in Schuylkill County. Work is expected to continue into 2009.

The America on Wheels Museum is scheduled to open on N. Front Street in Allentown in April. The 43,000-square-foot museum will focus on ''over-the-road'' transportation.

This and that Other things to look for: Lower Macungie will have a brand-new form of government, including five new commissioners appointed by a Lehigh County judge. Voters used a referendum to dump the old government, in large part because of anger over an embezzlement scandal that saw a former supervisor, who was also a township employee, charged with stealing $2.5 million in sewer fees.

Easton also is poised for big changes as its new governmental charter takes effect Tuesday. Sal Panto Jr. will become, at least on paper, the most powerful mayor in Pennsylvania -- the only one who is both chief executive and president of the governing body.

Penn State football player Austin Scott, considered one of the greatest high school football players in Lehigh Valley history, could stand trial on charges he raped a woman in his campus apartment. He was suspended from the Nittany Lions, but maintains his innocence.

A detailed plan for a proposed Lehigh Valley Health Department is expected to be developed. While both Northampton and Lehigh counties have approved the agency, there are still hurdles to overcome. brian.callaway@mcall.com 610-820-6168

Printed at Imperial Printing Press, Gurudwara Road, Kotwali Bazar, Dharamshala-176215 (H.P.) Tel: - 222390/224453

6

12 January, 2008 Dharamsala

TPI VARIETY

The Tibet Post

Stand up to China

Canada threatens China with WTO action over tourism ban

Canada’s Trade Minister David Emerson

OTTAWA (AFP) — Canada’s Trade Minister David Emerson said Tuesday he is ready to go to the World Trade Organization to try to force China to allow its citizens to visit his country, if the issue is not resolved soon.

In a teleconference from Beijing, he accused Chinese officials of unfair discrimination in refusing to designate

Canada an approved tourism destination, while granting more than 130 other countries the special status.

After three years of fruitless negotiations, he said, “we really have got to the point where we have to move it along in a meaningful way in a relatively short time frame or we will have no choice but to explore the WTO option.”

A little bit of transparency China correspondent Rowan Callick | January 12, 2008 AS the clock counts down to the Olympic Games in Beijing in August, China's Government is claiming that it is becoming ever more transparent and responsive to the media, especially to the foreign media.

At the same time, however, it is continuing to clamp down on the domestic media. This week it announced that all video-sharing websites must be licensed - with licences only granted to state-controlled companies.

Cai Wu, the minister heading the State Council's Information Office said recently that the easing of restrictions on foreign reporters' travel inside China may become permanent. This began a year ago and was scheduled to end on October 17 after the Olympics.

He said: "If practices show that it will help the international community know better about China, it is a good policy in accordance with the country's reform and opening up.

Why is it necessary for us to change it?"

Questioned about the headaches confronting all reporters - foreign and domestic - in obtaining answers, especially timely answers, to specific questions from officials, Cai said: "Currently, most of the spokespeople are parttime, and don't have experience of news reporting, or knowledge about how to deal with the media."

He said that improving this situation required help from the media too: "Some foreign re-

porters file one-sided stories about China, which may cause the spokespeople to be unhappy."

The central Government had issued 55 white papers about key issues in the past 15 years as part of the process of opening up, and government agencies in Beijing and the provinces had held about 1400 press conferences during 2007, he said.

"These enable journalists to make fair and objective coverage of China."

He said it would still take time for such a new process to be bedded down. Lists of spokespeople and their phone numbers were now widely circulated, and the State Council was now "taking stock, and reviewing past performances", the minister said. "We will monitor the situation more closely from now on." Cai said the State Council was organising training courses and workshops for spokespeople in Beijing and the provinces.

"Rest assured, we are committed to improving our work. Our aim is that through such training programs, the spokespeople and other officials will fully appreciate the necessity of staying open to the outside world, at this historical stage of China's economic progress and opening up." He said the courses insist "people don't want more rhetoric and empty words, they want to be given facts. At the same time, while to fully appreciate modern China we need to look at the problems, we should also see what the Government and people have done to address them."

Following Cai's own press conference last

The status quo “could do economic damage to Canada,” he added, explaining that most foreign trips to the United States, which has been christened a favorable vacation spot by Beijing, include a stopover in Canada.

Emerson refused to “speculate” on the reasons behind the stalemate, but observers have suggested Ottawa’s fierce human rights criticisms of China may have hit a nerve. ”Sure, we’re hearing people express concern that there may be some atmospheric frictions out there that they’re a little bit concerned about, but (Chinese officials) are wanting to move on,” commented Emerson.

In October, Beijing protested a meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Dalai Lama in October, claiming the Nobel laureate is a dangerous figure agitating for Tibetan independence.

The same month, Canada announced it would veto foreign takeovers of Canadian firms over national security concerns, if warranted.

As well, it set out terms and conditions under which foreign state-owned companies — sometimes guided by political motives — would be allowed to acquire assets in Canada.

Although most believed the new rules aimed to curb Chinese investment in Canada, particularly by the stateowned China Investment Corporation, Emerson dismissed their suspicions. ”Canada is anxious to have Chinese investments,” he insisted.

The buyout guidelines “are designed not to discourage acquisitions by stateowned enterprises, but to ensure that when those companies acquire Canadian companies that they have governance systems and transparency arrangements in place and that they are operating as an economic, commercial corporation not as a political arm,” he said. week, Xinhua, the state-owned newsagency, was given rare access to mock press conferences in which 30 senior officials were divided into six groups to face a quizzing from a group of specially invited Chinese journalists.

The issues covered ranged from a hugely unpopular chemical plant project in the southern city of Xiamen, to corruption, health service reform, food safety and soaring prices of consumer goods.

But the Foreign Correspondents Club of China announced on January 2 that a survey of its members revealed 180 cases of journalists being obstructed in their work during the year since the new, more liberal rules came into force. The club's president, Melinda Liu of Newsweek, said: "While the new regulations have improved overall reporting conditions for foreign journalists, we are particularly troubled by repeated violations in several areas, including in Beijing and Hebei (the province surrounding the capital) where plainclothes thugs have intimidated or physically assaulted foreign journalists.

"Police should investigate the attacks, and assailants should be prosecuted."

For instance, in September, Australian Chris Buckley, a Reuters correspondent and one of the most respected members of the press corps in Beijing, was tackled to the ground, kicked in the back, and punched by more than a dozen hired thugs.

Buckley had been investigating a claim about an illicit detention centre in Beijing where people coming from Nanyang city in Henan province to present petitions about grievances to the central Government are held

By P.Stobdan Times Of India[Tuesday, January 08, 2008] —It’s difficult to assess whether border talks between India and China are moving in the right direction or whether they have been held hostage to some hard bargaining

by China. Repeated Chinese incursions — as reported by the ITBP recently — indicate the complexities involved in the issue despite an official citation of “incremental progress” made on the niggling boundary issue. The 2005 agreement between India and China inspired optimism but belligerent public posturing by Chinese officials — starting with ambassador Sun Yuxi’s statement, the denial of travel visa to an IAS officer and Beijing’s submission that “mere presence” of populated areas would not affect its claim — has dented the 10-point political road map for a lasting and mutually agreeable boundary settlement. What prompted Beijing to backtrack from the 2005 guidelines for a “package settlement” remains puzzling. The issue however needs to be placed in context. Firstly, it came as a fallout of New Delhi’s 2003 acceptance that “Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) is part of China” without being mindful of the official inclusion of Arunachal

by China as part of Z’ngnan (South Tibet) and Tawang as a part of TAR’s Sona County. Former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee’s stand on Sikkim and his willingness to forgo Chang-chenmo or Aksai Chin may have sufficiently prompted Beijing to bargain harder.

Beijing, it seems, is using Article IV-VI of the 2005 Guiding Principles to interpret what it understood of them. Cultural imperatives are especially important to any Chinese claims. Already, Tawang’s importance as the birthplace of the Sixth Dalai Lama, hence affecting Tibetan senti-ment is being aired repeatedly. Article V is particularly intricate and could complicate the Indian position. In a similar vein, China could also claim entire Ladakh as the Staktsang Lama, chief priest and the legal owner of Ladakh’s revenue land, is a Chinese national and lives in China.

Beijing has been edgy over India’s rising global profile and its growing comand forcibly sent home.

His bag with notes, a mobile phone and a camera were taken, and he was threatened with death. Eventually, after he was able to call the Foreign Ministry, he was released and his belongings returned.

He made a formal complaint, but has heard nothing about it since.

Several organisations reported to the correspondents club that they, and in some cases their headquarters overseas, were warned in advance to cancel interviews scheduled with Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian or the Dalai Lama, or face "the consequences".

It was not known, the club said, how the Chinese authorities learned of these planned interviews.

But "despite the problems foreign correspondents continue to face in the field", the club said in a statement, "the new regulations have been a positive step that have brought China closer to meeting international standards."

More than 20,000 foreign journalists, it said, are expected to visit Beijing and report on the Olympic Games.

Meanwhile the organisation Reporters Without Borders has complained about the new regulations issued by the Ministry of Information Industry and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, controlling YouTube-type websites: "Under the pretext of developing China's media industry, the authorities are stepping up their control of online content, especially in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.

fort level with Washington. The Japanese inspired “axis of democracy” — a four-way dialogue between India, Japan, US and Australia — may have enraged it further. There is no sign of the Chinese media wrapping up its anti-India rhetoric either. Beijing’s reassertion is also the result of a keen understanding of ground realities in Arunachal and Ladakh. Let us face it. Our border regions are politically neglected and underdeveloped. The delay in border settlement will make the cross-border disparity starker. With the railway coming in, Tibetan economy seems to be booming with a 13.2 per cent growth rate as compared to the subsidy-based rationed economy on this side of the divide. More interestingly, the Himalayan people no longer seem to have antipathy for China. New Delhi’s accelerated development plan along the LAC i.e., linking Shyok, Murgo, Daulat Beg Oldi and Spanggur with roads will make little sense unless the vast tracts of land are settled with people. In contrast, the Chinese have since long initiated a stabilising programme while building a transport network and infrastructure in areas they occupied in 1962. In the last two years, the Chinese have moved closer to the LAC, stepping up activities along the entire Khakjung area across Charding-nala (Demchok), Shingon-nala (Fugtse), Dumtsele, Chushul, Spanggur, Phobrang and Hot Springs. This indicates that the Chinese are applying the “settlement principle” to consolidate their position. The immediate impact is the shrinking of grazing areas for Indian Changpas, something the Indian government is simply not interested in. The Chinese thrive on taking advantage of India’s weaknesses and having killed the nuclear deal, they would now want to further corner India. Which is why the forthcoming visit by the Indian prime minister to China is of crucial significance. We have a history of appeasing China and those Indian leaders who visit Beijing usually return as ardent fans of China. It’s time India stood its ground and refused to get bullied by China. The writer is a senior fellow, IDSA "Preventing people from sharing video and audio files denies them the ability to show and describe their lives. Any censorship could now be portrayed as a legal measure. According to the new regulations, video and audio files 'attacking national sovereignty' will not be tolerated."

The government statement announcing the new rules said: "Those who provide internet audio and video services must serve socialist ideals and the Chinese people."

It has been difficult for the media to criticise this move because it so clearly carries the weight of the central Government, which ultimately owns all of them.

But a more vigorous media response has been generated this month to the attempts of Zhang Zhiguo, the communist party chief of Xifeng county in north-eastern Liaoning province, to arrest and haul off to his county a Beijing journalist he claims libelled him.

Zhang, accused by a businesswoman in Xifeng of corruption, was outraged when Zhu Wenna, a reporter with Faren magazine, part of the government-controlled Legal Daily group, followed up her complaints and detailed his heavy-handed measures and illegal dealings.

So he sent police 900km to apprehend Zhu at her office. She refused to accompany them, and her magazine backed her up. Then, once the account of the police foray was published, the tide turned, and China's websites have since been full of attacks on Zhang. Among four pages of critical commentaries on the website of People's Daily, the national party mouthpiece, Zhang was called a "local emperor".