News and Views on Tibet

Tibet’s exiled PM warns of anti-China protests

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GAYA, India, January 21 – Tibetans will launch a fresh protest against China if Beijing does not make efforts for dialogue by June, Tibet’s prime minister-in-exile Samdhong Rinpoche said Tuesday.

“If China fails to reopen the dialogue process on the issue of Tibet autonomy, Tibetans will launch fresh agitation from June this year,” Rinpoche told a conference of pro-Tibetan activists in the eastern Indian town of Gaya.

But he stressed the “agitation” would be non-violent, adding Tibetans would begin “a satyagraha (force of truth movement) in the style of Mahatma Gandhi to protest against the Chinese government.”

Following a rare visit to Beijing by an envoy of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama last September, Rinpoche urged Tibetans and their supporters to refrain from taking part in anti-China protests.

He argued it would be China’s turn to show its readiness for dialogue and set the June 2003 deadline for Beijing to make a gesture.

China broken off a dialogue with the Dalai Lama in 1993.

Chinese leaders are regularly jeered on visits abroad by Tibetans and their supporters, who demand Beijing give more freedom to the territory it has ruled with an iron fist since 1951.

China has been accused of trying to wipe out its Buddhist-based culture through political and religious repression and a flood of ethnic Chinese immigration.

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