Korean Job Discussion Forums

[billybrobby]

Clearly none of the political issues have anything to do with archery and gymnastics. But the Olympics is a good opportunity to push China on certain issues. Aside from Tibet and Taiwan, what about the everyday repression, censorship and lack of democracy that the rest of China has to endure? If the Chinese government wasn't so repressive, Tibet and Taiwan might not loathe it so much. You can't even look at wikipedia in China. And this is the country that is to be the powerhouse of the 21st century? Frightening.

And, as I understand it, China has used its position on the security council to consistently block intervention in other countries, even when horrifying human rights abuses are taking place. I guess they just want to avoid being called hypcrites.

[pugwall]

[Ilsanman]

Yeah, just like Dokdo is part of Korea and Israel wasn't stolen land.

[Cedar]

Violence, Protests Spread From Tibet to Western China
2008.03.16

Map of the protest areas. Graphic: RFA
>>> View larger image
KATHMANDU�Violence spread from Tibet through neighboring parts of China on Sunday as anti-Chinese protesters took to the streets in Sichuan, Gansu, and Qinghai provinces, with large crowds of Tibetans marching on government buildings.

In the Ngaba [in Chinese, Aba] prefecture of Gansu province, witnesses reported clashes near Kirti monastery and deaths from gunfire. �Just now eight bodies have arrived in Kirti monastery,� an eyewitness inside the monastery said in an interview.

Another Tibetan who joined the Ngaba protests reported seeing Tibetans killed by gunfire from inside a police post after the Tibetans attacked police buildings.

"Four Tibetans were killed by gunfire while they were marching near Kirti monastery� Then a little later, another three were killed. They were shot from a distance. Before they were shot, the protesters had smashed the windows at two police posts,� the protester said. �There looked like 5,000 to 6,000 protesters....The names of the three people killed later are Tsezin, Norbu, and Lobsang Tashi.�

Many remote areas of the Sichuan, Gansu, and Qinghai plateau are home to large Tibetan populations, many of whom are nomads.


Protesters calling for a "Free Tibet" outside the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. Photo: RFA
Tibetans in Ngaba confirmed the reports of clashes to RFA�s Mandarin service: �The reports you have heard are all true. This is all happening. Some things that have happened I can�t talk about because it is not convenient.�

Another Tibetan living nearby also confirmed reports of protests in Ngaba, saying they were still going on late Sunday.

Repeated calls to the Ngaba prefecture police headquarters and local government offices met busy signals. An employee at the county hospital declined to comment on the reports of casualties. �We don�t know. We don�t know right now,� the employee said.

In Gansu, Tibetan students at Lanzhou�s Northwest National University staged a peaceful demonstration on the university grounds.

"Hundreds of Tibetan students took part, and Tibetan students from other departments tried to join in but were blocked. They declared that their protest was peaceful, and they urged the Chinese authorities to stop their crackdown on Tibetans in Lhasa and other Tibetan areas,� a witness said.

"They also expressed solidarity with those Tibetans who protested in Lhasa, Labrang, and others outside Tibet. They had a banner that read, �We stand together with Tibetans, for glorious democracy and life.��

In Machu county, Gannan, also in Gansu province, hundreds of Tibetans, mostly lay people, marched to county government buildings shouting �Long live the Dalai Lama!� and carrying a portrait of the Dalai Lama.

In Sichuan, �the situation is very tense,� said one Tibetan resident.

"On March 15, there were protests in Kham Tawo [in Chinese, Daofu] in Ganzi prefecture. Suddenly 10 armed police trucks arrived�Kham Sershul monastery was surrounded. They are patrolling streets and randomly checking identification,� the source said.

Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), meanwhile remained under lockdown, with a heavy presence of security forces, police, and armored vehicles. Witnesses who declined to be identified told RFA�s Tibetan service of scattered protests around the city.

"I haven�t been back to my house for two days now. There are troops all over, and we are completely locked inside. I have no information about what is happening outside," one Tibetan resident of Lhasa said in an interview.

From inside the Tsangkhug nunnery in Lhasa, a witness said five wounded people had died but the cause of death was unclear.

"Two Tibetans who were at the hospital were injured, and they complained that their legs were broken. The body of a young boy is still lying here unclaimed. Several other dead bodies were brought, and many of them were claimed by relatives,� the source said.

Another witness in Lhasa said authorities in the city were conducting house to house searches for banned photos of the Tibetan exiled leader, the Dalai Lama, and for fugitive protesters.

"Official warnings were issued to all Tibetan residents of Lhasa that all Tibetan houses will be searched for photos of the Dalai Lama and for Tibetans who were involved in the riots. They were warned that no one should attempt to stop the searches and arrests, and people are not allowed to gather in groups when arrests are made,� the source said.

The same person said TAR officials had recalled all Tibetan government workers now in different parts of China, telling them �to report back to Lhasa within three days�they are needed to secure TAR railway lines. Failure to report in will result in �consequences.��

Tibetans in Lhasa said the armed police had blocked all intersections around the central, older part of the city, and many people were stuck indoors relying on state-run television news.

A Tibetan resident from the outskirts of the regional capital said it was impossible to get into the city center. �The military has blocked every intersection, so we can�t go anywhere. So I basically have no idea what is going on in town.�

A Han Chinese resident of Lhasa surnamed Wang said: �The television news report yesterday said those people were burning, killing and looting. But we don�t know. The compound has been sealed off, and they won�t let us out.�

Tibetan exiles and witnesses report rising death tolls in clashes between security forces and protesters, but precise casualty figures remain impossible to gather.

Violence erupted March 14 after five days of protests, with demonstrators torching Chinese-owned shops and cars in the worst violence in the region in two decades.

Thubten Samphel, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama�s exile government, said multiple witnesses inside Tibet had reported at least 80 people had been killed since Friday, although how many were protesters was unclear.

China�s official Xinhua news agency has said at least 10 civilians were burned to death on Friday.

Original reporting in the Uke, Amdo, and Kham Tibetan dialects by RFA Tibetan staff. Additional reporting by RFA�s Mandarin service. Translations by Karma Dorjee, Palden Gyal, and Luisetta Mudie. Tibetan service director: Jigme Ngapo. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Written and produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

[mistermasan]

olympics are funny things. cities bribe to get them. people get evicted. poor are movedout for ballfields.all kinds of lofty ideas are espoused. virtually nothing changes for the better and many times after olympic festivals social unrest boils over in the light of unhatched ideals.

the list of olympic cities getting in deep doo-doo shortly there after isn't short. st.louis had race riots, berlin had nazis, sarejavo is sarejavo, atlanta had it's bomber, mexico city returned to being mexico city, LA had her riots and on and on. the USSR went outof business.

why? nationalism is not good thing. neither is jingoism or any of that "we are betterthan you, buy a flag" kinda stuff. olympics have become a cultural equivalent tothat MTV showwhere spoiled rich girlsgethuge 16th birthday parties from daddy. huge wastes ofmoney for nogood reason.

[igotthisguitar]

Pro-Tibet Vigil Held In *gasp* Beijing
Mon Mar 17, 4:18 PM
By Ian Ransom and Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - Ethnic Tibetan students staged a candle-lit vigil in Beijing on Monday, saying it was to pray for the dead, after authorities warned anti-Chinese rioters in the Tibetan capital to surrender.



VIDEO:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7290000/newsid_7299200/7299209.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1

Police kept reporters well away from the peaceful protest by dozens of apparently ethnic Tibetan students gathered inside the Central University for Nationalities.

It was a small, rare show of defiance in the host city of this year's Olympic Games, where Communist Party authorities are especially eager to prevent public shows of dissent.

"It was only to pray for the souls of the dead," said an ethnic Tibetan student from northwest China's Gansu province, who was kept away from the sit-in by "security" guards.

The vigil was broken up by authorities hours before a deadline in Tibet's regional capital, Lhasa, for protesters who rioted through the city on Friday to hand themselves in to police by Monday night or face harsher treatment afterward.

Exiled representatives of Tibet in Dharamsala in India on Sunday put the death toll in Friday's protests against Chinese rule at 80.

Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet regional government, said only 13 "innocent civilians" had been killed and dozens of security personnel injured.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "increasingly concerned" about reports of violence and loss of life in Tibet and urged restraint from authorities there.

"I'm increasingly concerned about the tension and reports of violence and loss of life in Tibet and elsewhere," Ban told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.

"At this time I urge restraint on the part of the authorities and call on all concerned to avoid further confrontation and violence."

A Tibetan shopkeeper near Lhasa's marketplace, badly hit by the violence, said he had not heard of anyone surrendering to the police or informing on suspected rioters.

"We are just waiting for the time to pass," he said.

As the deadline approached, a Chinese spokesman told reporters his government "would not compromise" with Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, or reexamine its policies in Tibet.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said the often bloody unrest had been organized by the Dalai Lama's followers at home and abroad.

"It's not an ethnic issue, not a religious issue or a cultural one," he said. "At the root, it's the fundamental problem of the Dalai clique seeking to ... separate Tibet from China."

The Dalai Lama says he wants autonomy for Tibet within China but not outright independence, and he has strongly rejected the allegation that he launched the protests.

RESTRAINT AND TROOP CONVOYS
China said it had shown "great restraint" in the face of violent protests by Tibetans and Lhasa was "returning to order".

Troops poured into areas neighboring Tibet which are largely inhabited by ethnic Tibetans but ethnic Tibetan people there said angry anti-Chinese demonstrations were still sporadically erupting.

An ethnic Tibetan in remote, mountainous Aba prefecture in Sichuan province said fresh protests flared near two Tibetan schools on Monday, with hundreds of students facing police and troops.

About 40 students from a high school for Tibetans in Maertang county, Aba, were beaten and arrested for protesting, the Dharamsala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy later said.

Repeated calls to the school went unanswered.

The resident, who asked not to be identified, said 18 people, including Buddhist monks and students, had been killed when troops opened fire on Sunday. Earlier a policeman was burned to death, he said. His account could not be immediately verified.

The violence of the past week is likely to weigh uncomfortably on the Chinese state, which is anxious to "polish" its image in the build-up to the Games.

"If the Tibetans in Lhasa take to the streets again in large numbers and really challenge the Chinese authorities, I think we'll see a very harsh crackdown," said Kenneth Lieberthal, a political scientist at the University of Michigan.

INTERNATIONAL REACTION

MORE ...

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/080317/world/international_china_tibet_dc

[bovinerebel]

Count me out. I'm getting in early and kissing up to and embracing our future overlords. Give me a uniform and a whip China .

[igotthisguitar]

[igotthisguitar]

China Willing To Hold Conditional "Talks" With Dalai Lama: U.K

LONDON (AFP) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday that he is ready to meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, after pressing Chinese premier Wen Jiabao to end violence in Tibet.

Brown said he had spoken to Wen by telephone in the morning, and the Chinese premier had assured him he was willing to hold talks with the Dalai Lama ...
under two conditions.

"I made it absolutely clear that there had to be an end to violence in Tibet ... I called for an end to the violence by dialogue between the different parties," he told lawmakers in his weekly question session in parliament.

"The premier told me that, subject to two things that the Dalai Lama has already said -- that he does not support the total independence of Tibet, and that he renounces violence -- that he would be prepared to enter into dialogue with the Dalai Lama."

"I will meet the Dalai Lama when he is in London," he added.

A Downing Street spokesman could not say when the Dalai Lama might be coming to London.

Brown added: "The most important thing at the moment is to bring about an end to the violence, reconciliation, and to see legitimate talks taking place beetwen those peoples in China."

An aide of the Dalai Lama said Wednesday that he wants talks between his government-in-exile and China to resume and is committed to a non-violent settlement of the Tibet issue.

Wen said Tuesday that Beijing was willing to hold talks, but only after the Dalai Lama gave up what is viewed in China as
a campaign for the remote region to be granted independence.

Tibet has seen deadly protests and rioting over the past week, and the Himalayan region has been subjected to a tough security clampdown.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/china_unrest_tibet_rights_britain

[uberscheisse]

[Kuros]

Yes, the Chinese gov't has oppressed Tibet.

But what does that have to do with the Olympic Games?

Boycotting the Olympics would be unoriginal and quixotic. You don't have to go, though. I'll be there. It should be fun.

[igotthisguitar]

ESL teachers please click this link ...

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=117165

[igotthisguitar]

Headed for Olympics? Beware of Big Brother
Olympic Attendees Will Be Bugged and Searched, U.S. State Department Says

If you're planning on attending this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing, expect your hotel room to be bugged and searched while you're not there.


(AP Photo/ PhotoDisc ) By KIRIT RADIA
March 20, 2008

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That's one of the warnings in a new fact sheet on the 2008 Olympics issued today by the U.S. State Department to Americans who intend to go to the games that are being hosted by the Chinese government.

"All visitors should be aware that they have no reasonable expectation of privacy in public or private locations," the fact sheet says. "All hotel rooms and offices are considered to be subject to on-site or remote technical monitoring at all times. Hotel rooms, residences and offices may be accessed at any time without the occupant's consent or knowledge."

This is similar to advice that U.S. officials visiting China follow. The U.S. military has been increasingly worried about Chinese electronic surveillance capabilities.

ABC News was granted exclusive access to the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Timothy Keating, as he met with top Chinese military leaders in January. Keating told ABC News' Jonathan Karl that even his staff members leave their electronic devices behind for fear that the Chinese could hack into them.

"It's our assessment that the Chinese have the capability to penetrate our electronic systems. We would rather they not do that," Keating said.

The State Department's fact sheet also warns that Americans may not be able to access certain portions of the U.S. Embassy's Web site while within China, a sign of China's growing ability to restrict Internet access to sites it sees as challenges to its rule.

Americans traveling in China are encouraged to register first with the U.S. embassy through its Web site. However, according to the fact sheet, "Since this registration system site is not always available from within China, registering before you leave home is highly recommended."

The State Department says that the terror threat for the Games is low but cites recent violence in Tibet and a purported attempt to blow up a passenger plane in China earlier this month as "good examples of how potentially dangerous events can occur in the run-up to the Olympics."

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=4492008&page=1

[igotthisguitar]

'Beijing Orchestrating Tibet Riots'
Canada Free Press
Friday, March 21, 2008 10:20
Brit spies confirm Dalai Lama's report of staged violence

By Gordon Thomas

London, March 20 - Britain�s GCHQ, the government communications agency that electronically monitors half the world from space, has confirmed the claim by the Dalai Lama that agents of the Chinese People�s Liberation Army, the PLA, posing as monks, triggered the riots that have left hundreds of Tibetans dead or injured.

GCHQ analysts believe the decision was deliberately calculated by the Beijing leadership to provide an excuse to stamp out the simmering unrest in the region, which is already attracting unwelcome world attention in the run-up to the Olympic Games this summer.

For weeks there has been growing resentment in Lhasa, Tibet�s capital, against minor actions taken by the Chinese authorities.

Increasingly, monks have led acts of civil disobedience, demanding the right to perform traditional incense burning rituals. With their demands go cries for the return of the Dalai Lama, the 14th to hold the high spiritual office.

Committed to teaching the tenets of his moral authority�peace and compassion�the Dalai Lama was 14 when the PLA invaded Tibet in 1950 and he was forced to flee to India from where he has run a relentless campaign against the harshness of Chinese rule.

He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, the year of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

But critics have objected to his attraction to film stars. Newspaper magnate Rupert Murdoch has called him: �A very political monk in Gucci shoes.�

Discovering that his supporters inside Tibet and China would become even more active in the months approaching the Olympic Games this summer,
British intelligence officers in Beijing learned the ruling regime would seek an excuse to move and crush the present unrest.

That fear was publicly expressed by the Dalai Lama. GCHQ�s satellites, geo-positioned in space, were tasked to closely monitor the situation.

The doughnut-shaped complex, near Cheltenham racecourse, is set in the pleasant Cotswolds in the west of England. Seven thousand employees include the best electronic experts and analysts in the world. Between them they speak more than 150 languages. At their disposal are 10,000 computers, many of which have been specially built for their work.

The images they downloaded from the satellites provided confirmation the Chinese used agent provocateurs to start riots, which gave the PLA the excuse to move on Lhasa to kill and wound over the past week

What the Beijing regime had not expected was how the riots would spread, not only across Tibet, but also to Sichuan, Quighai and Gansu provinces, turning a large area of western China into a battle zone.

The Dalai Lama has called it �cultural genocide� and has offered to resign as head of the protests against Chinese rule in order to bring peace. The current unrest began on March 10, marking the anniversary of the 1959 Uprising against Chinese rule.

However, his followers are not listening to his �message of compassion.� Many of them are young, unemployed and dispossessed and reject his philosophy of non-violence, believing the only hope for change is the radical action they are now carrying out.

For Beijing, the urgent need to find a solution to the uprising is one of growing embarrassment.

In two weeks time, the national celebrations for the Olympic Games start with the traditional torch relay. The torch bearers are scheduled to pass through Tibet. But the torch could find itself being carried by runners past burning buildings and temples

A sign of this urgency is that the Chinese prime minister has now said he is prepared to hold talks with the Dalai Lama. Just before this announcement, Britain�s Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared he would meet the Dalai Lama, who is to visit London next month. This is the first time either leader has proposed to meet the Dalai Lama.

Gordon Thomas is the author of the newly published Secrets & Lies: A History of CIA Mind Control and Germ Warfare
(Octavo Editions, USA) and the forthcoming Inside British Intelligence (JR Books, UK).

This story has been read 1520 times.

http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=19922&article='Beijing+orchestrating+Tibet+riots'&t=1&c=1

[madowlspeaks]

YES is my vote.

I now boycott Chinese everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueBWi8BL0PQ