Special Report: Serfs Emancipation Day
BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese central
government official has criticized the Dalai Lama and his followers on Thursday
for being "stubborn in talks" and "failing to honor their promises".
Zhu Weiqun, vice minister of the United Front Work
Department (UFWD) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee,
expounded on his stance in an interview carried Thursday in the overseas edition
of the People's Daily, the CPC's flagship newspaper.
Zhu has been dealing with Tibet-related issues since
1998 and has been personally involved in all the contacts and talks with the
Dalai Lama side since 2003.
When asked to describe the attitude of the Dalai Lama
and his supporters in the talks, Zhu said they were "very difficult to talk with
and very stubborn."
Nine rounds of talks have been held between Chinese
central government officials and the Dalai Lama's private envoys since 2002,
three of which were in last year.
"The last round of talks was actually stuck in a very
difficult position. Many asked me if that meant a breakdown," he said, referring
to a discussion Oct. 31 to Nov. 5, when the Dalai Lama's private
representatives, Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, were in China.
"I didn't worry about it too much, for it has been
like that in each and every of the last nine talks," he said.
The Shenzhen talks on May 4 last year were the first
between the two sides after the March 14 Lhasa riot. During the talks, Zhu told
the Dalai Lama envoys to stop divisive activities, stop violence and stop
sabotaging the Beijing Olympic Games. The Dalai Lama's envoys, on the other
hand, denied their part in the Lhasa riot.
In the July discussions, the Dalai Lama's
representatives said they had no problems following the "four not-to-supports"
put forward by the central authorities.
The four promises included: not supporting activities
that would disturb the Beijing Olympic Games; not supporting plots inciting
violent criminal activities; not supporting and concretely curbing violent
terrorist activities of the pro-secession "Tibetan Youth Congress"; not
supporting any argument and activity seeking "Tibetan independence" and
splitting the region from the country.
"But what did they do then? They absolutely forgot to
carry out their promise and did not stop boycotting and destroying the Beijing
Olympics," Zhu said. "Instead, they intensified sabotaging activities and
continued to attack the central government."
"They supported the 'Tibetan Youth Congress' and
other organizations to publicly advocate 'Tibetan independence' and fanned or
organized violent criminal activities," Zhu said. "They also continued to set up
a claim to internationalize the Tibet issue, trying to make use of foreigners to
press the central government."
"They continued to collude with such dregs as
overseas democracy activists, 'Falungong elements' and 'Eastern Turkistan
terrorists,' trying to form so-called 'united front work' to oppose the central
government and split the motherland," he said. "All of these have caused the
Chinese people strong aversion to their actions."
As early as the 1980s, high ranking officials from
the central authorities had told a delegation to the Dalai Lama it was
impossible to change Tibet into a country, to carry out a "high degree of
autonomy" or to create a larger Tibet autonomous region.
"However, more than two decades have passed, they
still use this trick to talk in a roundabout way with central authorities," Zhu
said. "That showed they lacked sincerity."
"For the contacts and talks' failing to make
progress, they should bear full responsibility," he said.
The Dalai Lama has been assuming an image of
non-violence on many international occasions. With the placard of "non-violence"
in hand, he on the other hand turned a blind eye to violent activities, the
official said.
"Many people died in the March 14 Lhasa riot, and he
called it a peaceful protest and said he wouldn't ask Tibetans to stop. Was it
the so-called non-violence and wasn't he inciting violence? " Zhu questioned.
The official said the central government had shown
tolerance and patience toward the Dalai Lama over the years of contacts and
talks.
In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled abroad after a failed
armed rebellion, and then declared he would seek Tibet independence. At the
beginning of the 1960s, he and his followers, with foreign support and armed
with foreign weapons, harassed the Chinese border for 10 years. He then said he
wanted to stop "Tibet independence" at the beginning of the 1980s, and the
central government immediately contacted with him and invited those close to him
back to China for talks and visits for 20 times, Zhu said.
However, he wrongly assessed the situation at the
beginning of the 1990s and declared he wouldn't talk with "a regime that would
soon collapse," and stopped contact with the central government in 1993. Their
expectations failed to deliver and they then proposed for contacts again. So
starting 2002, the central government began to talk with them again, Zhu said.
"The process shows
that the central government has been lenient and expected the Dalai Lama
to choose the right path," Zhu said, "our door remains open as always."
Tibetologist: Dalai Lama's rhetoric
hardly peaceful
BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese tibetologist
You Xiangfei published an article on China Daily Wednesday, revealing the truth
behind the Dalai Lama's "peaceful" rhetoric.
Crowned with the Nobel Peace prize, Dainzin Gyaco,
the 14th Dalai Lama, has long proclaimed to be a "person of non-violence",
propagating his "persistent adherence to the principle of non-violence" and
saying this has been his "unwavering commitment” to the outside world, said You,
a researcher at the Sichuan Institute of Tibetology Research.
Dalai Lama "chief representative" of
Tibetan serfdom
BEIJING, March 25
(Xinhua) -- Raidi, a former Tibetan serf and vice chairman of the National
People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, has called the Dalai Lama and his
political backers the "chief representatives" of the theocratic, feudal serfdom
of the old Tibet.
"They have confronted the fundamental interests of the
mass of working people who make up the majority of the Tibetan population and
they have irreconcilable contradictions with the requirements of social
development and progress and the development trends of human society," said
Raidi in an article.
Article sees "indissoluble bond between Dalai Lama, feudal
serfdom"
BEIJING, March 24
(Xinhua) -- An article to be published Wednesday in the People's Daily, the
Guangming Daily and other Chinese newspapers under the byline of Yi Duo provides
insight into the intricate relations between the Dalai Lama and feudal serfdom.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the emancipation
of millions of serfs and slaves in old Tibet, and the Tibetan regional
legislature has endorsed a bill making March 28 the annual Serfs Emancipation
Day in the region.
Chinese scholar: Dalai Lama's "genuine
autonomy" means "Tibet independence"
BEIJING, March 23 (Xinhua) -- The "genuine autonomy
for the Tibetan people" advocated by the Dalai Lama is another term for "Tibet
independence," said a signed commentary published in Monday's Global Times, a
major Chinese newspaper.
The commentary, published under the byline Lin Feng,
said the "genuine autonomy" in the "Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the
Tibetan People" published in November 2008 ran counter to the Chinese
Constitution and related laws.
Dalai Lama is not qualified for
talking about human rights
BEIJING, March 6 (Xinhua) -- As the most unstable element
for Tibet and representative of serf owners, the Dalai Lama is not qualified for
talking about human rights, said a senior official here Friday afternoon.
"There is no historical evidence or present ground for the
so called 'Greater Tibet' and 'high degree of autonomy', which are also against
the will of the Tibetan people," Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet
Autonomous Region, told a press conference on sideline with the annual session
of the National People's Congress (NPC).
Dalai Lama group's sabotage biggest
obstacle to Tibet's development
BEIJING, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Sabotage from the Dalai Lama
group remains the biggest obstacle in the way of Tibet's development, Lhasa
Mayor Doje Cezhug said Friday.
Doje made the remarks at a panel discussion of lawmakers
from Tibet.
