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China Exiles the Dalai Lama - Again!
A few weeks back we reported on China closing Tibet to travelers in preparation for potential unrest in the country as the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama fleeing into exile grew near. Today marks that anniversary, and and in a attempted display of nationalism, Chinese President Hu has called for a "Great Wall against separatism" that would protect the unity of the "motherland" and ensure that Tibet stayed part of China. He also banished the Dalai Lama to the other side of that wall, despite the fact that he's been in exile for 50 years. In the past few days, leading up to this anniversary, there have been rumors of unrest in Tibet, but with no information flowing in and out of the country, it is impossible to confirm the reports. Foreign journalists were expelled from the Himalayan country and all travel visas have been denied for at least the month of March. Yesterday, the mobile telephone system was shut down, under the guise of system maintenance that will last for three weeks, and a variety of websites were being filtered for content as well.
The latest shutdown of the borders of Tibet comes just a few weeks before what is considered it's traditional tourist season. The spring usually brings backpackers and mountain climbers focused on Everest or other major Himalayan peaks, but for the second year in a row, Tibet is closed off from the outside, and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.
Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Asia, China, India
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
richardfusilier@mac.com Mar 11th 2009 2:53PM
This Tibetan affair shows that efforts through the barrell of a gun or violence gets attention and results. A similar phenomena is occurring in the USA as in Tibet. Traditionalist culture is being smothered, and the aspirations of many are ignored or buried under Political Bull or fictionalized propaganda. Then there is "Political Correctness". Life is just a big movie now and who are the script writers rewriting history? Where is OUR messiah?
Kt D Mar 11th 2009 6:27PM
It is hard to fathom that this has been the reality in Tibet for 50 years--a free speech and religion-suppressed country still existing under the manipulative Chinese government. China never fails to amaze me with its extensively-planned efforts at hiding and reconstructing the sad truths going on within its country (and within nations like Tibet). Although the determined and well-planned efforts of activists, students and reporters has continued unfailingly for the past few decades, it is hard to imagine that anything significant can actually be accomplished between these two countries unless there is outside pressure. I watched an interesting video on all of this at newsy.com earlier today. The video highlights the main opinions on this issue and is certainly worth watching. Take a look:
http://www.newsy.com/videos/china_and_the_dalai_lama/