This was the question left hanging in the air by Kesang Takla, right, Tibet’s Minister for International Relations, in her press conference at the Human Rights House in Oslo today. Takla further emphasized that the official Tibetan position is not that the Olympics should not have been held in the People´s Republic of China, or that the rest of the world ought to boycott the forthcoming Summer Games, but that each participating individual and nation should listen to their conscience and act accordingly. (16-APR-08)
This article has been written by HRH F / Niels Jacob Harbitz.
-China´s suppression, discrimination and marginalisation of Tibet and against all Tibetans are total. Our civil, legal and political freedoms, our social, economic, cultural and environmental rights are all violated. In addition, due to China´s long-term policy to make majority Han Chinese move to Tibet, the Tibetan people is slowly, but surely reduced to a minority within their own territory. Numerous strategies are pursued to achieve this, among them privileged access to the most attractive jobs, financial benefits like higher salaries and lower tax, permission to have more than one child etc.
-Tibet is not asking for independence, continued Takla. -All we ask is a greater degree of autonomy, and of course an end to the discriminative policies that are being pursued against us. With the recent increase of international pressure against the People´s Republic of China, Tibet has been at the receiving end of China´s response. The situation now is critical, with quite a lot of people taking to the streets to express their despair. For Tibetans, peaceful Buddhists, the demonstrations that have been going on since the end of March is a rather desperate act. His Holiness Dalai Lama has urged both Tibetans and the People´s Republic of China to relate to each other nonviolently, but the People´s Republic of China has used violent means to break up the demonstrations. -China does nnot allow tourists or journalists to travel into Tibet, said Takla, -but what we need now are fact-finding missions to verify China´s claim that everything is OK. If that is the case, then the People´s Republic of China should have nothing to hide.
-We don´t know what will happen when the Olympic torch is taken through Tibet or during the actual Games, but we expect that ordinary Chinese people will be mobilised to counteract possible protests. What is certain is that the Games have already been politicized, and that this cannot be undone. The whole issue about Tibet is not a question of the size of the nation, as the People´s Republic of China sometimes has tried to reduce it to. It is true that there aren´t many Tibetans, only six million, as compared to majority Chinese, but these six million are also human beings, with the right to enjoy all the same liberties. This is a question of principles, of whether or not China´s democratic conscience should reach out and encompass all parts of the People´s Republic of China. As of today, it does not. And China´s attempts to hide its own acts suggest that they know that what they do is wrong. Journalists who have covered the protests are already receiving threats.
On 9 April, Reporters Without Borders reported on its website as follows:
Death threats against foreign journalists
Reporters Without Borders deplores the threatening email and phone messages which foreign news media based in the People´s Republic of China have been getting for the past two weeks. The reporters of the US television news network CNN are among those who have targeted most in what appears to be a wave of Chinese nationalism sparked by the events in Tibet.
The press freedom organisation also condemns the fact that the personal contact details of some journalists, including those working for leading US media such as the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, have been posted on Chinese websites, above all a site specialising in military matters.
Dozens of journalists have received message like these ones : “The Chinese people don’t welcome you, American running dog. Your reports twist the facts and will suffer the curse of heaven” or ”One of these days, I’m going to kill you.” The interior ministry refused to comment on the threats, while foreign ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said the government was not in a position to control the messages.
The Foreign Correspondents Club responded to the crisis by sending a security circular to all its members on 7 April. It advised them to contact their embassies, not give out their personal contact details, inform colleagues about their movements and to make a note of the most significant threats.
