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BEIJING: Tibet remained largely cut off from the outside world
Tuesday after a crackdown by China, which said violence there was
backed by the Dalai Lama and aimed at undermining the Olympic Games
in Beijing.
With the remote region under virtual lockdown by
Chinese security forces, it was not known what had happened after an
overnight deadline for protesters in Tibet to turn themselves in to
authorities or face serious consequences.
China blamed Tibetan “mobs” for the deaths
of 13 people in violent anti-Chinese rioting on Friday, while
Tibetan exile groups have said around 100 people or more were killed
as China quashed the protests.
Foreign tourists and journalists have been
blocked from entering the region, and even activist groups with
long-standing connections in Tibet indicated they were having
difficulty finding out what was happening there.
“It is a very, very tense and terrifying
situation,” Kate Saunders, from the activist group International
Campaign for Tibet, told Agence France-Presse. “It has become much
more difficult to get information out.”
Premier Wen Jiabao, asked about Tibet in his
annual news conference Tuesday, blamed the region’s exiled
spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and said protesters were
attempting to spoil China’s Olympic showpiece in August.
“They want to undermine the Beijing Olympic
Games,” Wen said. “We should respect the principles of the
Olympics and the Olympic Charter. We should not politicize the
Games.”
He said China would “consider the
possibility” of organizing access to Tibet for foreign journalists
but did not say when that might happen.
Wen said the situation in Lhasa was returning to
normal, and a Chinese resident of the city contacted by AFP reported
that some businesses were reopening.
The unrest and the virtual sealing off of the
region has renewed international attention on China’s human rights
record amid scattered calls from Tibetan activists and campaigners
to boycott the Games.
But while many nations have called on China to
use restraint in dealing with the protesters, none have said they
would boycott the Olympics.
Asked Tuesday whether his country would consider
skipping the Games, Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura
replied: “No.” He said events in Tibet were “a domestic
issue.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon on Monday
called on the Chinese authorities to “avoid further confrontation
and violence” in his first public comments since the crackdown.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called
on Beijing to open talks with the Dalai Lama—who has lashed out at
Chinese “cultural genocide” in Tibet but has also stopped short
of calling for an Olympics boycott.
But Wen said Beijing would only hold talks with
the Dalai Lama if he gives up independence ambitions for his
Himalayan homeland—a vast region more than twice the size of
France that makes up about one-eighth of China.
Tibet has been a flashpoint issue for China’s
communist leadership ever since it came to power in 1949. Communist
forces were sent into Tibet in 1950 to “liberate” the region,
with its official rule beginning a year later. The Dalai Lama fled
to exile in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
Last week’s riots targeted Chinese-owned banks
and shops, hundreds of which were reportedly set ablaze.
-- AFP
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