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BEIJING: China on Friday let the first foreign diplomats visit Tibet
following deadly riots there amid debate in Europe over whether the
Chinese crackdown should trigger a boycott of the Olympics’
opening ceremonies.
Two weeks after the protests in the Himalayan
region entered a lethal phase, diplomats from a number of countries,
including the United States, Britain, France and Japan, set off on
the government-organized tour.
“I suppose the objective of the Chinese
foreign ministry is to basically answer the international calls to
have diplomatic access to Tibet,” said Australian embassy
spokeswoman Janaline Oh.
Diplomats from about 15 countries were allowed
to go on the hastily arranged two-day visit, according to a Japanese
embassy official.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack welcomed the move, but said it was not enough.
“We see this as a step in the right direction,
but it’s not a substitute for the ability of our diplomats, as
well as others, to travel not only to Lhasa, but into the
surrounding area specifically,” he said.
China brought a foreign media delegation to
Lhasa on Wednesday for a three-day trip following international
pressure to allow independent reporting from the Tibetan capital,
after it was sealed off due to the unrest.
AFP and some other major news organizations were
not invited on the trip, which has been criticized for being
carefully choreographed to show only Beijing’s side of the story.
Nevertheless, the trip embarrassed China when
monks at the Jokhang temple in Lhasa spoke out in front of the
foreign reporters against Chinese rule.
“We want (Tibetan spiritual leader) the Dalai
Lama to return to Tibet, we want to be free,” the monks yelled.
-- AFP
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