19. Dec 2009
China reports record 2009 tourism in TAR
(TibetanReview.net; Xinhua) Xinhua reports that 5.56 million Chinese and other foreign tourists will have visited Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) by the end of 2009, a 147 percent rise over the 2008 figure. The statistics released at a 'Tibet Economic Work Conference' suggest that income from tourism, at 5.2 billion Yuan (UK£470m; US $760m; EUR£530m), increased by 132 percent.
TAR Party Secretary, Zhang Qingli said more than one million tourists had visited the region in both July and August 2009.
Tourism figures had plummeted in 2008 due to the lockdown imposed by Beijing after the demonstrations across the Tibetan Plateau that began in March-April. This was followed by the 12 May catastrophic earthquake in neighbouring Sichuan province and the 6.6 magnitude earthquake in Damshung (Chin: Dangxiong) county, Lhasa, in October 2008.
21. Dec 2009
New mining corporation to expedite key projects in Tibet
(Xinhua) Xinhua reports the establishment of the Tibet Shengyuan Mining Group Corporation, a conglomeration of four companies with registered capital of 200 million Yuan (UK£18m; US$29m; EUR£20m). The corporation's largest shareholder, at 40 percent, is the Tibet Autonomous Regional Mining Development Company. The second largest stakeholder was Jiangnan Mining Co. Ltd. in Lhoka Prefecture with a 30 percent share, followed by the Tibet Autonomous Regional Investment Co. Ltd. with 20 percent, and the Tibet Autonomous Regional Geological and Mineral Development Bureau with 10 percent. The report claims the new company will accelerate the undertaking of key projects, such as the second phase of Tibet's Zabuye lithium mining project and the extension of the Tinggong copper mine project in Nyemo (Chin: Nimu) county, Lhasa.
23. Dec 2009
Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche sentenced to eight years, six months in jail
(TCHRD) The Kardze (Chin: Ganzi) Intermediate People's Court in Dartsedo (Chin: Kangding) on 23 December 2009 sentenced Tibetan lama Tulku Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche to eight years and six months in prison, according to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). The two Beijing based defence lawyers who earlier represented Phurbu Tsering were not in attendance during the sentencing but TCHRD sources confirmed that a new lawyer was present in court. Phurbu Tsering is currently believed to be detained at Dartsedo Public Security Bureau (PSB) Detention Centre. Tulku Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche, 52, is a highly regarded reincarnated lama from Tehor Kardze monastery in Kardze county, Kardze TAP, Sichuan province. He is also the chief spiritual preceptor and head of the Pangri and Yatseg nunneries in Kardze. There was no information on Tulku Phurbu Tsering from his arrest in 2008 until news of his trial emerged on 21 April 2009 when one of his Beijing-based lawyers, Li Fangping said in an interview with the Associated Press (AP) that Tulku had been charged with illegally occupying government land and possessing weapons.
25. Dec 2009
Karmapa calls for environment protection
(IANS) The 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, has called for the protection of environment across the globe. In an address during an eight-day prayer festival at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, the Karmapa, leader of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, said there was a need to improve the environment in Tibet and Himalayas. The Karmapa asked his followers to protect the Earth and live simply. He also revealed his vision of building environment management capacity for all Kagyu monasteries and centres. Thousands of Buddhists monks and devotees attended the festival. "Around 10,000 lamas, tulkus, monks and nuns from around 52 countries including US, China, Portugal, Nepal, Taiwan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar are participating in the prayer", said a spokesperson for the Karmapa.
28. Dec 2009
China bans annual religious event in Barkham County
(Phayul) The authorities in Barkham (Chin: Ma'erkang) county in Ngaba (Chin: Aba) TAP, Sichuan province have imposed a ban on an annual religious congregation of Tibetan monks and warned of arrests or closure of the host monastery if they went ahead with the event, according to a statement issued by the Emergency Coordination Committee of Kirti monastery in Dharamsala. The third annual winter session on 'Valid Cognition', (Sansk: Pramana; Tib: Tsema) was to be held at Gyalrong Kirti Tsodhun monastery in the eleventh month of the Tibetan lunar calendar. The month-long religious event usually draws monks from over fifty monasteries in the regions traditionally known to Tibetans as Amdo and Kham. The congregation was first held in 2007 at Tagtsang Lhamo Kirti monastery in the county. It was at that time decided that the four major Kirti Tsang monasteries in the county, namely Tagtsang Lhamo Kirti, Ngaba Kirti, Tsodhun Kirti and Hortsang Kirti, would take turns to host the event. When it was held in 2008 at Ngaba Kirti monastery, the authorities imposed severe restrictions, sealing the monastery and preventing monks and devotees from other areas joining in.
28. Dec 2009
Police Chief calls for "pre-emptive attacks"
(Reuters) Chinese Vice Minister for Public Security Yang Huanning has vowed to make "pre-emptive attacks" against threats to Communist Party control. In a speech on 18 December to security officials, published on 28 December, Yang singled out perceived threats from political foes of the ruling Communist Party, including 'separatist' sentiment in the border regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. "The schemes of Western anti-China forces seeking to Westernise and split us, friction and disputes between countries, and hostile forces stirring up chaos and sabotage (...) remain major factors affecting our national security and social stability".
30. Dec 2009
Nepali PM assures Wen Jiabao of no-anti China activities in Nepal
(AFP) Nepal's prime minister said his government would not tolerate any anti-China demonstrations in the Himalayan nation as he met with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing, Chinese state media reported. "The Nepalese government... believes that Taiwan and Tibet are inalienable parts of the Chinese territory", Madhav Kumar Nepal told Wen Jiabao in comments reported on China's state television CCTV. Nepal "will not allow any forces to use Nepalese territory to engage in anti-China activities". Nepal's official visit to China is his first since he took office in May 2009, and he is also due to meet with President Hu Jintao on a trip aimed at strengthening ties between the two countries. Officials from both countries signed agreements on trade and exchanges, the CCTV report said.
30. Dec 2009
China to increase 'Aid-Tibet' cadres
(eng.tibet.cn; TibetanReview.net) Chinese news agencies report that Beijing has increased the number of its 'Aid Tibet' cadres, chosen from its various ministries and departments for three-year assignments to the TAR, to 980, an increase of 130 from previous numbers. Beijing began deploying personnel for what it calls "counterpart support policy to aid Tibet" during the Third Tibet Work Forum in 1994.
A total of 3,747 cadres from across China have so far been dispatched to work in the TAR under the programme, the report said.
The 5th batch of 'Aid Tibet' cadres finish their three-year service in July 2010. The 6th batch, the report said, would consist of more cadres from the United Front, politics and law sectors, as well as more professional and technical personnel.
30. Dec 2009
Tibetan nomads from Qinghai "ecological migrants"
(People's Daily) The People's Daily reports that authorities have said 197 more Tibetan households have been removed from their homelands in a remote part of Qinghai province. In a separate report the People's Daily said of the 50,000 Tibetan herders who also "left" the Sanjiangyuan ('Three Rivers' Headwaters') area in Qinghai province, as part of China's largest ecological protection project, "most" were encountering problems following the move. They refer to the former nomads as "ecological migrants" and report that as most of them can neither speak Chinese nor possess any transferable skills, it is hard for them to find work. The Tibetans have been forced to settle in numerous new urban clusters, with one such cluster, the 'Kunlun Ethnic Culture Village', built near Golmud (Chin: Ge'ermu) in 2006, used to house 1,700 people.
One former herder is quoted as saying that when he was leading a nomadic life, he could earn 30,000 Yuan (UK£2,700; US$4,400; EUR£3,00) per year while his livestock met all his family's needs for meat, milk and heating. But now he claims: "We have to buy all the living items by ourselves. Since I haven't found a job, my family of six depend on the annual 6,000-Yuan (UK£542; US$878; EUR£611) subsidy granted by the local government and our savings, which are running out".
