The Portrait of a Furiously Incoherent "Olympic Host" -- China assails
House resolution on Tibet

International Herald Tribune

China assails House resolution on Tibet

Reuters
Friday, April 11, 2008

BEIJING: China expressed indignation Friday over a U.S. congressional
resolution calling on Beijing to stop cracking down on Tibetan dissent
and to talk to the Dalai Lama.

State media, meanwhile, labeled a group linked to the Dalai Lama's
India-based government-in-exile a "terrorist organization" - building on
claims that recent anti-Chinese protests were part of a violent campaign
to overthrow Chinese rule and sabotage the Beijing Olympics in August.

The group, the Tibetan Youth Congress, said China's Communist leadership
had long sought to destroy its effectiveness by smearing its reputation.

The accusations are part of a stepped-up condemnation of Tibetan
protesters following massive demonstrations surrounding the passage of
the Olympic torch through San Francisco, London and Paris this past week
on its relay around the world.

A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, labeled the resolution passed
Wednesday by the House of Representatives as anti-Chinese, saying it
"twisted Tibet's history and modern reality" and "seriously hurting the
feelings of the Chinese people."

"The Chinese side expresses its strong indignation and resolute
opposition toward this," Jiang said in a statement posted on the
ministry's Web site.

The resolution sponsored by the speaker of the U.S. House of
Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, called on Beijing to "end its crackdown
on nonviolent Tibetan protesters," along with cultural, religious,
economic and linguistic "repression." While noting reports of deadly
rioting in Lhasa and other Tibetan areas, the resolution called China's
response "disproportionate and extreme." It said hundreds of Tibetans
had been killed and thousands detained, but did not say how it obtained
its information.

China says 22 people were killed in the riots, many in arson attacks,
and more than 1,000 detained. The Dalai Lama's India-based government in
exile says more than 140 people were killed.

The resolution also called on China to begin an unconditional
"results-based dialogue" with the 72-year-old Dalai Lama to address
Tibetan concerns and work toward a long-term solution to the dispute.

China has held six rounds of contacts with representatives of the Dalai
Lama with no apparent result, and has demanded he meet numerous
preconditions before it will talk to him directly.

China has accused supporters of the Dalai Lama of orchestrating the
violence within its borders.

On Friday, China's official Xinhua News Agency accused the Tibetan Youth
Congress of planning deadly rioting on March 14 in Tibet's capital,
Lhasa, saying this "exposed the terrorist nature" of the group.

The congress organized recent protests in India and elsewhere overseas
coinciding with demonstrations inside Tibet that began peacefully on
March 10 among Buddhist monks in Lhasa before spiraling into violence
four days later. Scholars say the Chinese accusations help the
government justify its crackdown and demonize the opposition, while
driving a wedge between the government-in-exile and groups like the
Tibetan Youth Congress that have challenged the Dalai Lama's policy of
nonviolence.

The group's vice president, Dhondup Dorji, said China had no evidence
for the claim. "The Chinese officials, after seeing that the Tibetan
Youth Congress is the most potential force today in the peaceful
movement in exile, have been trying to brand it as a terrorist
organization for many years without any basis," he said in New Delhi.
Protests begin in Argentina

Argentina barricaded streets and deployed thousands of police officers
for the Olympic torch's only Latin American stop Friday, a relay that
protesters threatened to disrupt with "entertaining surprises," The
Associated Press reported from Buenos Aires.

About 25 Falun Gong supporters lit their own "human rights torch,"
marching along the Olympic flame's route to protest China's ban on the
spiritual movement. Others held up "Free Tibet" banners, and pro-Tibet
activists promised unspecified actions. "There will be very entertaining
surprises all along the route," said Jorge Carcavallo, passing out "Free
Tibet" leaflets.

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