Engnews March 2012

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RFA BREAKING NEWS : Call For An End To Self-Immolations in Tibet

by Parameswaran Ponnudurai

Call For An End To Self-Immolations in Tibet March 8, 2012— A well-known Tibetan writer is leading a call for an end to self-immolations by Tibetans, saying the burnings have already sent a clear message to Beijing that they are against Chinese rule. Woeser, who is effectively under house arrest in Beijing, said in an open letter to Tibetans posted on her blog http://woeser.middle-way.net/ that Tibetans should be "staying alive to struggle and push forward" their objective of winning greater freedom. "Expressed through these self-immolations is the will of Tibetans," the letter said, referring to the 26 self-immolations since February 2009 in protest against Beijing's rule in Tibetan-populated areas and calling for the return of Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. Woeser, who has written critically of the Chinese government’s policies in Tibet, said that the self-immolations by mostly young Tibetans "make one feel grief-stricken," and that ending the trend "deserves to be treated as a matter of utmost urgency." Chinese authorities last week prevented Woeser from receiving a Dutch cultural award and placed her under virtual house arrest for one month. "Twenty-six cases make it clear what Tibetans have wanted to articulate," said the joint letter by Woeser and a senior Tibetan religious figure, Arjia Rinpoche, now living in exile in the United States, and Tibet's Amdo-based poet Gade Tsering. "Yet, articulation of one’s will cannot be an ultimate goal. The will has to be put into practice, transforming into reality," they said in the letter titled "Appeal to Tibetans To Cease Self-Immolation: Cherish Your Life in a Time of Oppression." "Only by staying alive can the will become a reality. As long as self-immolation continues, every life would become another irredeemable loss." 'Cherish life' The trio stressed that Tibetans must cherish life and live with resilience. "Regardless of the magnitude of oppression, our life is important, and we have to cherish it … [The] chances to change our reality depend on us staying alive to struggle and push forward.” “Therefore, we plead for an immediate stop of self-immolation,” they said in the letter, which was also posted on Facebook and Twitter and various blogs on which sympathetic readers were invited to add their names in support. They said that self-immolation in itself cannot change Tibetan reality. "[The] chances to change our reality depend on us staying alive to struggle and to push forward; staying alive allows us to gather the strength as drops of water to form a great ocean. It depends on thousands and more living Tibetans to pass on our nation's spirit and blood!" The writers appealed to Tibet's monks, elderly, intellectuals, officials, and people "to protect your fellow devotees, believers, fellow villagers, and families." "Please do prevent the reoccurrence of self-immolation." Tightened security Following the self-immolations, Chinese authorities have tightened security in Tibetan-populated provinces as well as the Tibet Autonomous Region ahead of what Tibetans call "Uprising Day" on March 10, the sensitive anniversary of the Dalai Lama's flight into exile in 1959 and of deadly riots in 2008. Chinese authorities have labeled the self-immolators as terrorists, outcasts, criminals, and mentally ill people, and have blamed the Dalai Lama for encouraging the burnings which, they say, run contrary to Buddhist teachings. But the Buddhist leader has made clear he does not encourage the self-immolations, in turn blaming China's "ruthless and illogical" policy towards Tibet for the protests, which show little sign of subsiding. He called on the Chinese government to change its "repressive" policies in Tibet, citing the crackdown on monasteries and policies curtailing use of the Tibetan language. Reported by RFA's Tibetan service. Written in English by Richard Finney. View this story online at: <http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/burnings-03082012123141.html> http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/burnings-03082012123141.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-leave@rfanews.org> engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-join@rfanews.org> engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org.

13 years

RFA BREAKING NEWS : Third Tibetan Self-Immolation in Three Days

by Parameswaran Ponnudurai

Third Tibetan Self-Immolation in Three Days March 5, 2012— A Tibetan youth burned himself to death on Monday to protest Chinese rule in Tibetan areas—the third self immolation in three days, according to Tibetan sources. The young man, identified as Dorje, 18, set himself ablaze at around 6:30 p.m. local time in a nomadic area of Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) county in China’s western Sichuan province, said Kanyag Tsering, an India-based Tibetan monk, citing contacts in the region. “Prior to his self-immolation, he walked from a bridge near the Charuwa nomadic area in Ngaba to the local Chinese office center shouting slogans against Chinese policies in Tibet, and then set himself on fire,” Tsering said. He died on the spot, Tsering said. “Before [local] Tibetans could take possession of his body, Chinese police arrived and took his body to the Ngaba county center.” Dorje is the 26th Tibetan to have self-immolated since February 2009 in protests against Beijing's rule in Tibetan-populated areas and calling for the return of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. Dorje’s family is the Garkya Tsang of Charuwa in the Cha subdivision of Ngaba county, and his father’s name is Cha Cha, Tsering added. Desperate situation His death came after twin self-immolations at the weekend, highlighting what rights groups say is the "desperate" situation facing Tibetans as Chinese authorities pursue a crackdown on monasteries and policies curtailing Tibetan language and other cultural rights. “This third self-immolation in as many days underlines that Tibetans will not stop protesting until their calls for freedom are heeded. The international community must take immediate action,” London-based advocacy group Free Tibet Director Stephanie Brigden said. A 32-year-old Tibetan widow and mother of four named Rinchen died after burning herself on Sunday in Sichuan province while a middle-school girl, identified on Monday as Tsering Kyi, self-immolated on Saturday in Gansu province. Following the self-immolations, Chinese authorities have tightened security in the two areas and in the Tibet Autonomous Region ahead of what Tibetans call "Uprising Day" on March 10, the sensitive anniversaries of the Dalai Lama's flight into exile in 1959 and of deadly riots in 2008. The body of Tsering Kyi is in the custody of Chinese police and has not been returned to her family after she set herself on fire at a vegetable market in Machu county in Gansu province’s Kanlho (in Chinese, Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, sources said. “The Chinese vendors at the Machu vegetable market threw stones at her burning body,” one source had said, adding that the girl died at the scene. Several witnesses to the fiery protest were immediately detained, the source said. “The Machu Tibetan Nationality Middle School is surrounded by Chinese paramilitary forces, and officials are conducting ‘reeducation’ activities inside the school. Tibetan family houses in the Machu area are also being searched.” Language protest Tsering Kyi had earlier protested a Chinese decision to eliminate Tibetan as the language of instruction for text books in the middle school, a Tibetan source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Authorities had implemented the teaching of subjects like history, geography, chemistry, and math in Chinese,” the source said. “Tibetan teachers and students are facing great difficulty in adjusting to the transition,” he said. Meanwhile, a monk named Rigdzin Dorje, who set fire to himself in February, is now reported to have died. Another monk, Lobsang Konchog, who self-immolated in September 2011, “is in serious condition following [the] amputation of his legs and arms. He is being fed through a tube in his throat, ” the India-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) said in a statement. The staff at the hospital physically abuse him and have labeled him an “enemy of the state,” said the CTA, expressing condolences to the families of the self-immolators. Reported by RFA’s Tibetan service. Translations by Karma Dorjee and Rigdhen Dolma. Written in English by Richard Finney. View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/third-03052012140822.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-leave@rfanews.org> engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-join@rfanews.org> engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org.

13 years

RFA BREAKING NEWS : North Korean Guards Lure, Nab Potential Defectors

by Parameswaran Ponnudurai

North Korean Guards Lure, Nab Potential Defectors March 5, 2012—North Korean guards along the border with China are inducing citizens to defect and then catching them in a bid to secure attractive government rewards, according to sources. Border guards who apprehend potential defectors are offered educational benefits or employment opportunities upon discharge from duty, along with membership in the powerful ruling Workers' Party of Korea, the sources said. Several of the 40-odd North Koreans detained recently in northern Yanggang Province in their attempt to cross over to China had been lured into the "trap" set by the border guards, according to a North Korean woman defector, whose family was among those caught. The woman, identifying herself only as Kim and who defected to South Korea five years ago, told RFA that a border guard, who was a family friend, had offered to help her family get across the North Korea border with China. Little did she realize that the border guard, who was "like a son" to her family," would double-cross and detain them while they were attempting to cross the Yalu River, which borders China, she said. "The idea that someone could induce them to escape [and then inform the authorities] didn’t even cross my mind," Kim said. "[But] when I [checked with] some sources, I found out that the guards arrested them after luring them," she said. Rewards As North Korean authorities strengthened border security after dictator Kim Jong Il’s death in December, border guards who nabbed potential defectors were offered rewards by his successor son Kim Jong Un's regime, sources said. They were offered a choice of receiving college recommendations or being placed at a key fruit farm upon their discharge from duty, along with from being accepted as members of the Workers Party, a source from Yanggang Province told RFA. The farm lies along the large Taedong River, which runs through the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. Many North Korean defectors who successfully cross the border into China have been detained by Chinese security forces and deported back home by Beijing, which considers them economic migrants instead of refugees. Nearly 40 North Koreans were detained in February as they crossed the border into China in separate incidents, according to reports. Executions The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR and human rights watchdog Amnesty International have called on Beijing not to send the North Koreans back. Rights groups say they face harsh punishment, including torture or even death in their homeland. Seoul has repeatedly urged Beijing to treat fugitives from the North as refugees and not to repatriate them. China says they are economic migrants and not refugees deserving protection. More than 21,700 North Koreans have fled to the South since the 1950-1953 Korean war, most of them in recent years. They first escape to China, hide out, and then travel to a third country to seek resettlement in the South. Reported by Moon Sung Hwi for RFA's Korean service. Translated by Kang Min Kyung. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai. View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/defectors-03052012095110.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-leave@rfanews.org> engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-join@rfanews.org> engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org.

13 years

RFA BREAKING NEWS : Immigration Tensions Led to Attack by Uyghurs

by Parameswaran Ponnudurai

Immigration Tensions Led to Attack by Uyghurs February 29, 2012—Violence in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region which left some 20 people dead this week may have been fueled by a mass migration of Han Chinese to a largely Uyghur county, stoking ethnic tensions amongst the area’s unemployed youth, according to residents. Local officials, meanwhile, were striving to keep a lid on rumors swirling after the worst violence in seven months in the volatile region and have given strict orders to government employees not to speak to the media. But a senior official told RFA that he had witnessed the violence which left nearly 20 dead on a busy street in Kargilik (in Chinese, Yecheng) county in Kashgar prefecture on Tuesday night. “We saw the people were crying and fleeing and later all the streets in the town were blocked by police,” said Abdukeyim, chief of the county’s land management department, just 100 meters (330 feet) from a market where the violence occurred. He said based on a government report on the incident, a group of knife-wielding Uyghurs went on a stabbing spree on Han Chinese, leading to a police shootout. “This morning I attended a conference held by the county which all chiefs of county level departments were present at. Attendees were given a brief report on the incident,” Abdukeyim said. “According to the report, nine [Uyghurs] took part in the attack and eight of them were shot [dead] by police. Ten Han [Chinese] were killed and five were injured.” The government of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region said in a statement published on its official website www.tianshannet.com on Wednesday that a group of Uyghurs stabbed to death 13 people before police shot seven of the attackers dead. Second class citizens Several residents of Kargilik county interviewed by RFA Wednesday said the violence stemmed from a massive influx of Han Chinese, resulting in fewer economic opportunities for the Uyghur community and an upsurge in unemployment. One Uyghur resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said that Uyghurs were fed up with being treated like second class citizens in their traditional homeland. “Growing up in a village, I had never even seen a Han Chinese before I was 18 year old. Now you can see Han Chinese in all corners of Kargilik county,” he said. “Their population is exploding and they have now occupied almost all of the towns in the county.” “The flood of immigrants was a key reason behind the attack.” Xinjiang has been gripped for years by persistent ethnic tensions between the Muslim Uyghurs and the rapidly growing Han Chinese migrant population, leading to riots in the regional capital Urumqi on July 5, 2009 which left 200 dead and 1,700 injured, according to state media. Uyghurs, who form a distinct, Turkic-speaking minority in Xinjiang, say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness, even as Beijing pursued ambitious programs to develop its vast northwestern frontier. Ethnic policies A Han Chinese doctor from Bo-Ai Hospital in Kaghilik county expressed sympathy for the region’s Uyghurs, saying that Tuesday’s attack could have been an act of frustration with the government’s measures against the minority ethnic group. “I think the sense of dissatisfaction and resistance is a direct result of the government enforcing a high-pressure policy on Uyghur people,” said the doctor, who says he had good relations with Uyghur doctors at the hospital. “I have a very good relationship with my Uyghur colleagues at the hospital. I don’t want to see this kind thing happen, but I also don’t want to see excessive controls on the local Uygur people,” he said. “If the [harsh] policy continues, there will be more of this kind of thing in the future. In the end, the ordinary citizens will suffer.” A senior teacher in Kargilik county compared Han immigrants in the area to an invading army. “Yes, it’s true that civilians were targeted in the attack, but in the view of the Uyghurs—myself included—there is no difference between Han civilians and the army,” he said, citing the July 5, 2009 riots in which he claimed Han Chinese civilians attacked Uyghur civilians “with support of the armed police.” More than 1,000 Uyghurs have been jailed and several thousand “disappeared” in the aftermath of the most deadly episode of ethnic unrest in China’s recent history, according to Uyghur exile groups. “Han civilians are taking our bread, taking our jobs, and taking our houses. They are threatening our survival,” the teacher said. The teacher also complained that nearly all Han citizens in Xinjiang sided with the government on all ethnic issues. “They never ask the government to end religious pressure on the local people, to stop arrests and executions, or call for equal job opportunities,” the teacher said. He said Han citizens were likely targeted because the Uyghurs were not well armed enough to take on the security forces. “The difference in power of arms between the two sides is incomparable. You can’t do anything to the armed police with a knife,” he said. “I think this is the main reason they attacked Han civilians.” Reported by Shohret Hoshur and Mihray Abdilim for RFA’s Uyghur service. Translated by Shohret Hoshur and Mihray Abdilim. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/attack-02292012184547.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-leave@rfanews.org> engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-join@rfanews.org> engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org.

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Engnews March 2012