Friday, April 27, 2007

China Deports Americans Over Tibet Olympic Protest


By REUTERS | The New York Times
27 April 2007

China deported five American tourists after they demonstrated for a free Tibet and protested against the 2008 Beijing Olympics at the base of Mount Everest, and said it had urged Washington to prevent a recurrence.

China made ``solemn representation'' with the United States, demanding it ensure American tourists abide by Chinese laws and not engage in any illegal activities, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

``The U.S. side ... should prevent similar incidents from happening again,'' the ministry said in a faxed statement.

``Tibet is an inseparable part of China. The Chinese government and people will never tolerate any activities aimed at splitting China,'' the ministry said.

It did not identify the five or give details of what they did.

China has ruled Tibet with an iron fist since People's Liberation Army troops occupied the region in 1950 and has vowed to bring economic prosperity to the poor Himalayan region.

Students for a Free Tibet said four protesters, including a Tibetan-American, unfurled a banner reading ``One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008'' in English, and one in Tibetan and Chinese saying ``Free Tibet.''

The four were at a base camp on the Tibetan side of Mount Everest, which is being used by a Chinese team doing trial runs to take the Olympic torch up the mountain, the group said, adding the information had come via text message.

``One World, one Dream'' is the motto for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Beijing officials have said the Olympic torch will enter Tibet after ascending the southern slope of Mount Everest -- known in China by its Tibetan name, Qomalangma -- in Nepal.

The ministry did not give a reason for the discrepancy in the number of protestors.

FULL ARTICLE LINK

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok so this has been all over the news today. What is it really going to achieve other then piss of the Chinese, and get some media attention. You think the IOC really cares about Tibet...ya sure. It seems like something college students would do without thinking about the result. Don't get me wrong...as a Tibetan, I would love to have done something like this...but I though His Holiness and the government of Tibet were now fighting for a Independent state???
How is this protest going to help that cause?...How is it going to help the people in Tibet? Is it going to change the games? How long will it last in the media before it's a forgotten story? How is it going to effect others who want to travel to Tibet to help different causes? Why are we using the games to bring attention to a dream of a free Tibet? I guess in the end the one thing it def did do is get some Media attention. So is this what the cause of a free Tibet has become? A neglected stepchild that nobody cares about,who is just hungry for attention? So now that you have the attention of the world for another couple of days, what DO YOU HAVE TO SAY OTHER THAN
"FREE TIBET?"...sorry it just pisses me off when people make a circus to grab he attention of the media, and after a couple of days the media just moves on...and all we are left with is a circus.
-olakahahola

Tenzin Yangdon said...

Firstly, I am responding not to start an argument but to engage in a meaningful discussion.

I think the SFTers have done a superb job. They did not protest to stop the games or the torch, but rather to bring light to the ways China is trying to legitimize its occupation of Tibet in the eyes of the world media. China wants to use the media coverage of Olympics for their political agenda, however the SFTers have outsmarted Chinese authorities in playing the game that China started but in a way so that it favors the Tibetans.

I don't think IOC cares about Tibet or China, what they care about is to make money off the Olympics and continue the tradition of their games. So in turn IOC is using China and vice versa to benifit each other.

The games is an opportunity to show the brutality of the Chinese government and their rule of terror in Tibet. Media attention is a way to get the message out, what's more important is the timing. With the games time will be on our side if we know how to take proper actions.

BODH GYALO

Anonymous said...

The MEDIA itself is a circus, and it's one thing if the causes that are being paraded on the international media are bogus or just disengenuous, but it's completely another issue when people take advantage of situations to challenge the rhetoric going on with certain events. This is a discussion that needs to be had (especially in the context of China's Olympic agenda), and I think it is reasonable for anyone to speak up about things so that people will at least think about them intelligently, and make a decision.

All too often power goes unchallenged, ideas unchallenged, and people suffer more because of it.

IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT FREEING TIBET, it's about treating tibetans like HUMAN BEINGS who have a right to live freely, determine their government, thrive economically, maintain their culture freely, and not fear their lives. I don't see how this should continue to go unseen. We can't let China sweep Tibetans under the rug...

Apathy is an indirect form of supporting oppression, violence, and exploitation. No one deserves this arbitrarily begotten destiny...

Anonymous said...

When you talk Tibet ,PLEASE ,don't according to the New York Times ,or some other medias,they just told one point ,not the all.If you want to know the truth ,you must really know the history,you must know some real Tibetan who live in Tibet NOW.Let me tell you something about Tibet .Tibet was belong to China since Yuan Dynasty,about 700 years ago.Now ,it is a province of China ,but it is self-governed.The Tibetan is one of the minority in china.There are other 54 minorities ,such as Mongolia,Manchu,and Hui, who are also self-governed in a certain area.The Han nationality is the majority.They never play it low upon the minorities.Moreover,the Han endow schools ,hospitals and some other water and electrical infrastructure to help the Tibetan live a better life.If
Dalailama wants to separate Tibet form China ,he should ask the real Tibetan first,not some other national government.If Dalailama wants to own Tibet ,he should try for internal arbitration,not request to just some European government.In my opinion ,Dalaiama only want to be the King of Tibet .What the Tibetan really want is a peaceful life ,not the war between Dalailama and the Chinese government .So Dadailama let your ambition go,keep the peace of Tibet.

Anonymous said...

The authoritative message :), cognitively...