TIBET – JOURNEY FROM NATURAL FREEDOM TO LAOGAI PRISON SYSTEM

TIBET – JOURNEY FROM NATURAL FREEDOM TO LAOGAI PRISON SYSTEM

The uplift of Tibetan Plateau began about 45 million years ago. Natural Forces acting upon Tibet shaped Natural Tranquility of Tibetan Existence which defines Independent Lifestyles of Tibetans. Unfortunately, Red China’s Occupation shattered this Natural Balance, Natural Equilibrium, Natural Order, Natural Peace, and Natural Freedom of Tibetan Existence. The vastness, and empty spaces that characterize Tibetan Landscape transformed into Laogai Prison System used in Subjugation of Tibet.

Tibet’s Occupation needs description that includes use of words like, detention, arrest, imprisonment, beating, cruelty, brutality, torture, execution, labor reform, reeducation, Gulag, Concentration Camp, starvation, hunger, thirst, death, hardship, pain, suffering, misery, repression, suppression, oppression, tyranny, and Laogai.

 
 

 
 

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada

DOOM DOOMA DOOMSAYER

 
 

HOW THE WHOLE OF TIBET WAS TURNED INTO A HELLISH PRISON – CENTRAL TIBETAN ADMINISTRATION

 
 

 
 

 
 

Clipped from: http://tibet.net/2017/07/how-the-whole-of-tibet-was-turned-into-a-hellish-prison/

 
 

The DailyO, 10 July 2017

Thousands and thousands of people were driven into prisons like sheep, innocent people mown down like hay, rolled like paper, kneaded like hide, crammed into the dark recesses of dungeons; bound with steel wire when there were no handcuffs and leg irons left; their socks and belts confiscated; made to wear black hoods; subjected to wooden and iron clubs and mechanical and electrical punishment devices, a degree of torment possible only in the worst of hells. It was not a matter of just getting knocked about; with deliberate malice, they went for the genitals of those who father the next generation, the laymen, and for the vital organs of those who do not, the monks.

The henchmen of the lord of death made threats like spitting bile: “These guns of ours are made to kill you Tibetans. If you take a single step I will shoot you dead, and your corpse will be thrown on the rubbish heap” (the words of the Labrang monk Jigmé, as reported on the website of the Voice of America‘s Tibetan language service).

Destroying people’s dignity by hanging them upside down from the ceiling and stamping on their foreheads is something one might expect to see only in a film about Fascist or Nazi atrocities. Never mind that “Chinese prisoners are allowed to learn literacy, but Tibetans are not… Tibetan prisoners are only allowed to speak to each other in Chinese, not in Tibetan… not allowed to speak their own language or to express their own identity” (from Jamyang Kyi’s A Sequence of Tortures), even to describe being deprived of sleep during days and nights on end of interrogation to break the will, and the physical beating, hitting and lashing, these three, could barely match even a small fraction of the torment.

A ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the “Tibet Autonomous Region’ is held at the square of the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Photo: Reuters (2015)

As we read in Te’urang’s Written in Blood, “The hardest thing to endure is not the physical torture but the invasion of one’s thoughts”; and in Jamyang Kyi’s A Sequence of Tortures, “One day during interrogation, the thought suddenly came to me that, rather than go through this, I would prefer to be shot dead with a single bullet. My family and relatives might be upset, but for me at least it would be over and done with”, this is the kind of torment one would rather die than endure, and under this constant, unthinkable torture, many brave Tibetan souls with the limitless courage of the imperial spirit were broken and maimed, and came to the end of their lives.

The torture of deprivation of food and water, designed to turn them all into hungry ghosts, drove people to the edge of life and death, and for those not finished by hunger, the torment of thirst led “more than 60 among us to drink their own urine” (from Gartsé Jigmé’s The Courage of the Emperors, vol 1).

This inhumane brutality of torturing people through hunger and thirst is no different from the past. Not only did innumerable people die of hunger, for the living too:

with the flames of the suffering of hunger blazing bright, even things like Bacha [the cake residue of pressed oil seeds] and Pukma [the chaff of harvested grain] which used to be given to horses, donkeys and cattle became like nutritious food and hard to obtain. To maximize the amount of food and relieve hunger, those running communal kitchens used to quite openly pick not just edible grasses but inedible tree bark and leaves, grass roots and grains, and after processing them, mix them with a little food grain and make a kind of slop like pigswill, which they fed to people. Eventually, when even this became limited, there was not enough of it for people to eat to satisfaction. (70,000 Character Petition)

Thus when the torments of hunger passed beyond all limits, those in prison were said to have “grown a tail” (that is, become like herbivorous cattle, a term taken from Tsering Dondrup’s Raging Red Wind). Even worse things happened, for example:

During the 1958 famine, since he was a “hatted” reactionary, he was given the job of carrying out corpses. One day, one of his friends who was about to die of starvation asked him to bring back some human flesh when he went to dispose of the corpses. He tried once or twice, but could not find any flesh to bring back, because the dead were people who had also died of starvation, and their bodies were just skin and bone, with no flesh at all. One day, he found a body with a little flesh on it and brought some back. Next day, that person told him “That meat you brought yesterday, I cooked it up with a piece of willow bark and drank the soup, and last night I slept very well.” (The Courage of the Emperors, vol. 1)

Or again: “The prisoners were driven by hunger to eat flesh taken from human corpses” (My Homeland and the Peaceful Liberation). So isn’t this just like revisiting the years when we were driven by starvation even beyond the refusal to eat the flesh of human corpses? Throughout the history of the Tibetan people, far from having to drink their own urine and eat human flesh, one cannot even find records of people starving to death. The incidence of such total horrors in recent history is the accomplishment of those who claim always to be “serving the people”.

The punishment ground in hell

Up to now, famous, knowledgeable, capable, courageous, brave and farsighted Tibetans have been falsely accused by the dictators and punished with deprivation of freedom. For example, the 10th Panchen Lama expressed limitless praise and flattery for them, saying things like: “In the case of our own Tibet region, we are on the point of transforming from the old society to the new, from darkness to bright light, from suffering to happiness, from exploitation to equality, and from poverty to progress, and have started on a new and brilliant era in our history” (70,000 Character Petition), but even he was locked away for almost a decade.

Likewise, no end of able individuals were unfairly sentenced and imprisoned, and in this year’s peaceful revolution too, more than 200 people have been sentenced so far, as can be seen from unofficial reports published on the internet.20 Since this was simply for breaking laws passed by the dictators with the sole intention of preserving their hold on power, it is only the continuation of their practice of legal prosecution in violation of morality and principle. From time to time, autocratic régimes pass various legal edicts designed to consolidate their hold on power that violate universal values, and these edicts that they hold to be vital are precisely edicts from hell for those who favor freedom, equality and democracy.

A few years ago, the five-year-old 11th Panchen Lama was put under house arrest. Photo: AP

While subjecting those detained in the course of the peaceful revolution to brutal discipline and terrifying intimidation, they were interrogated about which organization they belonged to, what was their plan, who supported them, who were their collaborators; and when these investigations proved fruitless, innocent people were and continue to be charged under whichever provisions from the relevant edicts from hell, and prosecuted in secret. From start to finish, their crimes were given as nothing other than: “Seeking to split the country”, “Seeking to overthrow state authority”, “Leaking state secrets” and so on. They are ever sensitive to anything concerning “the state” and “state authority”, regarding it as vital, and whoever they decide has jeopardized “the state” or “state authority” is punished with anything from several years in prison to execution.

This is supposed to be like the saying “If the head is tied down, the body will tremble” (with fear). The dictators always and in all respects conflate the particular interests of their faction with those of “the state” and “state authority”, and constantly use these terms to enforce their power over the people.

For them, this year’s peaceful revolution was “not about nationality issues or religious issues or human rights issues, but about the issue of state authority”. Anyone they charge with opposing a basic principle of their rule, such as “state authority”, becomes what we would call a “political prisoner”. The given charge of “endangering the state and state authority” really means that the accused is suspected of posing a threat to the power of the dictators.

In a totalitarian state, there are many examples of crimes that would never be considered as such in the rest of the world, like the political offences for which five-year-old children and 81-year-old seniors have been imprisoned. A few years ago, the five-year-old 11th Panchen Lama was put under house arrest, and during this year’s peaceful revolution, the 81-year-old printer of religious books, Peljor Norbu, was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Never mind robbing the youth, who have just begun to experience life’s joys and sorrows, of their liberty, where else would one see a judicial process so barbaric as to insist on prosecuting an 81-year-old, in violation of all moral, natural and humane norms, but under a totalitarian régime? The youngest political prisoner in the world is to be found in Tibet, and the oldest. It is because the Tibetan people are human cattle that they have to bear the burden of such imprisonment, and it is because Tibetan heads are made of stone that they must be labelled with false accusations.

The terrifying battlefield

Since the peaceful revolution broke out, central hubs and junctions have all been turned into firing ranges, guns and artillery put in place, an atmosphere to make your hair bristle. Towns and monasteries are patrolled by police and filled with informers; there is fear and terror, snipers lie concealed on rooftops and on street corners, spies lie in wait, enough to make your flesh crawl and your bones shiver.

Anyone going to town or visiting a monastery is searched, questioned and registered at gunpoint, enough to make you shake and tremble. Monks are mostly forced back to the villages, villagers mostly confined in their homes, telephone lines and internet, tea shops and eating houses are all watched and listened to, whether near or far, all have been reduced to paralysis and desperation. By day they prowl like jackals and wolves, by night they move stealthily like thieves, staging sudden raids on monasteries and households, searching them from top to bottom and bottom to top for photos of the Dalai Lama, for hidden weapons, and for cash and valuables while they are at it, throwing Lama photos on the floor and treading on them.

The Division of Heaven and Earth: On Tibet’s Peaceful Revolution; Shokdung; Translated by Matthew Akester

They call Him a “beast with a human face”, and a “wolf in monk’s robes”. They show the signs of both intoxication and planetary affliction (for Red Army soldiers with heads but no brains, tanked up on the firewater of “Motherland” and “Great China”, this is hardly surprising). When they see the implements of the Dharmapala in the protector chapels and get hold of them, they say it is evidence of hidden weapons. They show all the signs of idiocy and stupidity, even persisting with far-fetched allegations they know to be wrong. They take valuables and non-valuables too, even taking half-cooked Momos from the saucepan and eating them like a gang of bandits and thieves working together.

So it is that no Tibetan any longer has the right to take a hotel room in Chinese cities, and at airports they are greeted with the order to remove their hats and shoes. They are not given tickets and their money is not taken. Under the influence of deceptive propaganda, Tibetans are seen with a mixture of fear and loathing, and everyone is in a state of cautious suspicion. In short, Tibetans as a whole are seen as terrorists, and under such pressure, this includes even children too young to understand.

In fact, this is by no means the first time that Tibet was turned into a terrifying battlefield, for ever since coming under the rule of the dictatorship, the beatings, struggles, arrests, detentions, punishments and executions that accompanied each successive political campaign made people incapable of movement, speech or thought, and out of constant fear, everyone became like walking corpses. This is what happened fifty years ago, through the most inhumane means, as can be seen from the following accounts, like scenes from a film:

More than ten days later, the whole valley was covered with the corpses of men and horses killed in the fighting at Kyépur Nakdzup, and the orphaned children and elderly unable to move elsewhere, and there were many fearsome sights to be seen, the writhing of the wounded among the dead, the babes still sucking at the breasts of their dead mothers. (from Jamdo Rinsang’s My Homeland and the Peaceful Liberation)

Those labelled “rebels” being driven to hellish prisons were treated worse than animals, as related by Tibetans incapable of making such things up: “next day we were tied suspended from the high beams across the back of the truck, so our feet did not touch the ground, and taken like that as far as Chabcha”; and “We were taken through Trika. On the way to Trika, three people in our truck died. When the truck was moving fast, the corpses were thrown to the ground off the back of the truck” (from Jamdo Rinsang’s Listening to my Homeland).

Of the imprisoned, those driven to their deaths by abuse, beatings and starvation were innumerable, and the way they were tortured and terrorized can be seen from the following: “There were many prisoners whose limbs became paralyzed, their legs folded at the hips and arms folded on their chests. They were told that they had to straighten their limbs, the soldiers tied ropes around their arms and legs to pull them apart, and many died from the pain” (from Jamdo Rinsang’s My Homeland and the Peaceful Liberation).

One old woman said: “Shot in the right thigh [considered a center of vitality] am I, get up and go on I cannot, but though they carry me away on a stretcher, fight I did!” and that fight goes on until the “stench of the fallen” of Tséring Dondrup’s Raging Red Wind. “Aku Kalden-tsang wanted to take back the bones of his dead mother and asked for them. The Peoples [Liberation] Army soldiers told him ‘If we put your mother’s bones in Aku Tsang’s mouth, will you want to eat them? What do you want to keep them for?’, and beat him up.”

They showed an utterly inhumane and appalling cruelty, difficult to hear about, much less witness, such that the sky itself can barely encompass. In prison: the Lamas were made to carry the corpses of dead prisoners, which they dumped in a ravine a little way off. The way they dumped those bodies was like the way they compress garbage in big cities today. Then that ravine became almost completely filled. They were stacked one on top of another. An average of four people

the Lamas were made to carry the corpses of dead prisoners, which they dumped in a ravine a little way off. The way they dumped those bodies was like the way they compress garbage in big cities today. Then that ravine became almost completely filled. They were stacked one on top of another. An average of four people were dying in each work team every day. There were 20 work teams. One day when the ravine was almost full, a kind of bulldozer came and dug some earth, and completely buried the piles of corpses. The cavity left by the digging was also a kind of ravine, and they dumped corpses in there too, but it filled up after two or three days. Then they dug another, on the near side. That filled up too. I know for sure that there were 15 or more of those ravines. There must have been at least 250 bodies in each of them.

Nothing could be worse than this, but take the question of weapons: the international community has managed to ban, on humanitarian grounds, the use of certain kinds of weapons in warfare by treaty agreements, such as the Dum-dum bullet and chemical weapons.

Yet the national army of the autocratic régime has used and tested such weapons in Tibet, which it turned into a terrifying battlefield, as we see from this: [speaking of bullets fired at civilians] during the so-called “uprising” [1958], “if you pressed on the wound left by those bullets, there was nothing more than a slight depression, as they tore clean through the body and came out the other side”.

“One time, whether because of starvation, or because of a cloud of chemical vapor I am not sure, the senses and perceptions of men and cattle became dulled. Some said it was poison gas used in warfare.”

If they even used internationally banned bullets and toxic weapons, who will deny that they turned, and continue to turn, Tibet into a terrifying battlefield?

From the above, we can see that there is no greater terrorist than the totalitarian régime.

What is terrorism other than forcing and suppressing people, deluding and stupefying them, inflicting pain, contempt and torment with cruel and merciless intent, all the while keeping them in fear of their lives?

Whatever is there in totalitarianism is also there in terrorism. In particular, the terrorism of sealing down the bodies of the common Tibetan people, sealing up the mouths of the eminent ones, and sealing off the minds of the unthinking population, and the methods of state terrorism are something they have been practicing for the last half century, so who can deny that it is their basic character? If the despicable hypocrisy of handing out a brick of tea, a sack of flour and a few red Yuan [cash notes] to the poor as “Aid” for public display did not buy off the Tibetans’ incipient sense of warrior-like courage and rock-hard solidarity in the past, how will it do so now?

In brief, there are two reasons for my feeling sad: the first is that up to now the Tibetans have not developed universal conviction with respect to the universal values of freedom, equality, democracy and so on; and without the acculturated view, way of thinking, consciousness and practical application which are the roots, the foundation and the condition for such values, they will have only the view of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, not the view of living in this world; they will have only the thought of all sentient beings, not of one’s own people and lineage; they will have only the consciousness of the cosmic realm, not of one’s own land and territory; they will have only the practice of seeking refuge and prostrating themselves before the enlightened ones, not of achieving freedom and equality; they will have only the sense of royal authority, not the sense of rights and their value; they will have only inclination towards the divine and spirit worlds, and not for the human, secular realm. Having all of these haves has meant not having all the not-haves, and as these haves and not-haves came to exclude each other, so we had to suffer such consequences as these.

Second, the Karmic outcome of this was that the totalitarians turned Tibet into the lord of death’s slaughterhouse, a hellish prison, a punishment ground in hell and a terrifying battlefield following the principle of one-party rule, the way of suppressing the individual and civil society, the policy of restricting public expression and deluding the masses, the particularity of holding power by force, the extreme of eliminating distinct peoples and so forth, not just now but for over half a century.

What do I have left? Not even the right to live a simple life in freedom… Watching out for who they want to kill, who they want to arrest/Doing whatever they want with us, we who are without freedom… There is no way our lives will be spared… We who are without the slightest freedom or equality/That is how the Tibetans languishing in jail are called.

These are the words of the young poet Yung Lhundrup: “I consider myself a singer who puts the Tibetan peoples’ feelings into song”, who passed away, leaving behind many “laments of inestimable value” like “Freedom, oh freedom that is sought/You are watching over us, come what may…”, taken from his Tibetans Languishing in Jail.

The whole of Tibet turned into a prison, the brutality of massacres to eliminate whole populations; the torment of imprisonment survived by less than 10 per cent (“Of about 1,000 children and 600 elders, apart from a few children with parents and elders taken [by relatives], there were now 50 odd children left in the three work teams, and over ten elders. The rest had all died within half a year, or to be precise, within two or three months.” From Naktsang Nulo’s Fortunes of a Naktsang Kid); the yoke of an unjust and immoral legal system; the agony of hungry ghosts reduced to eating human waste and human flesh; the continuation of such hellish horrors into the present, are all a cause for terrible sadness.

(Excerpted with permission from Speaking Tiger Books.)

NATURAL TIBET – VASTNESS AND EMPTY AREAS OF TIBET SICKENED BY OCCUPATION

NATURAL TIBET – VASTNESS AND EMPTY AREAS OF TIBET SICKENED BY OCCUPATION

 
 

World must know about Real or Natural Tibet where Natural Forces, Natural Factors, and Natural Conditions shape Tibetan Identity. The vastness, and empty areas of Tibet sickened by Occupation bear testimony to burden, hardship, pain, suffering, and misery endured by Tibetans. The Blessings of Natural Freedom, and Independent Lifestyles enjoyed by Tibetans over centuries got compromised or abridged by Occupation since 1950s.

 
 

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada

DOOM DOOMA DOOMSAYER

 
 

Buddhism now

 

Welcome to Buddhism Now an online Buddhist magazine, giving advice on how to practice Buddhism.

Photographs Taken During a Journey Around Tibet in 1997 by Linda Griffiths

on 14 July 2017 •

My old blue notebook is very rough, with scribbled notes of routes, ongoing costs and map marked up.  My daughter accompanied me.  We took a flight from Kathmandu into Lhasa on Saturday 5 April 1997.

We received a warm welcome from the many Tibetans we met — a life-changing experience for me, a homecoming — the landscape, buildings and the people merging, and overnight stays with Tibetan families wherever possible. Initially I had altitude sickness, tight headaches and vomiting.  So tiring at first being at Lhasa altitude so suddenly — only 3,590 meters. We adjusted after a few days and crisscrossed many passes way higher than Lhasa.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

We stayed in Lhasa for 5 days visiting the Jokhang Temple many times and the Potala Palace once. In the streets and markets, meeting people, arranging the many visas required for each step of our journey, hiring a 4-wheel drive vehicle, with a Tibetan driver and a Tibetan guide. They made our journey a wonderful experience and kept us safe across the vast snowy high plains totally devoid of markings of any sort, not even tracks of other vehicles, no signs. Only Mountain peaks. We had to take everything with us, medicine, water, snacks, gifts and prayer flags.

On Thursday 10 April, we left Lhasa for Tsetang visiting Gonkar Chode monastery on the way, not far from the airport. We also visited Tradruk Monastery. Stayed in Tsetang — not a wonderful experience.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

Friday 11 April, we took the Land rover on a ferry across the Brahmaputra — 90 terrifying minutes, then drove through desert to visit Samye Monastery for a day before returning to Tsetang for the night. Samye is amazing, wonderful.

On Saturday 12 April, we visited Chonge tombs and continued via the Luga La pass at 4,600 meters. Views of the nomadic grasslands and lakes. We stayed at Tanzik Gov. Guesthouse — best place so far. Many yaks, horses, great birds, sheep and rabbit like animals. Saw Mawochock monastery from afar hanging on a sheer cliff face.

Owing to us not being granted access to military areas we were forced to take several round about routes doubling our journey so we could visit important places. The many extra hours in the vehicle were hard but worth it.

On Monday 14 April, we arrived at Dowa Dzong capital of Lhodrak County. A drive up the winding pass of Gampa La at 4,794 meters. We looked down at the astoundingly turquoise Yamdrok Yutso Lake.  Finally, a tea stop in Nakartse.   High plains, vast and empty without sign of humanity, then small villages with very friendly people. Then the high pass, the Monda La at 5,266 meters. This is high altitude. Prayer flags on piles of carved rocks at the top.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

On Tuesday 15 April with visited Sekar Gutok, a military town.  We continued to the 9-storied tower constructed by Milarepa. A place most difficult to reach — 32 km along a very deep sided gorge with rushing waters. We felt trapped in the gorge, perhaps the rushing waters would submerge us, we felt so small. This area with the famous tower is close to the Bhutan border. It feels like the end of the world. Finally, a small village with lovely people and lots of children. At the tower, itself we were well received. We hung prayer flags outside all around the building. Very special. This was our ultimate destination of the trip. We felt a sense of fulfilment, we felt blessed.

On Wednesday 16 April, we travelled to Gyantse, a very large town where time has stood still for centuries after retracing our steps via the Monda La pass and along the side of Phuma lake, frozen over today. We turned off to Nakartse. We had a day around Gyantse visiting the great Kumbum stupa and the monastery. Next, we went to Zhigatse where we visited the large and impressive monastery with many monks. A lively place. Nice place to stay.

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

We decided to make a 3-day detour on our road back to Kathmandu to visit Base Camp Mt. Everest on the Tibetan side. We also visited the nearby monastery. Main memory is of vastness, empty areas, only the wind breathing.

Photographs Taken During a Journey Around Tibet in 1997 © Linda Griffiths

From a showing at the Golden Buddha Centre, Totnes.

Tags: Buddhist Photographs of Tibet, Gonkar Chode monastery, Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Milarepa

 
 

WholeDude

15 July 2017 • 2:46 am
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Untold Story:
The vastness, empty areas of Tibet suffer from unnatural event called Occupation which imposes burden, hardship, pain, suffering, and misery for it compromises or abridges Natural Freedom and Independent Lifestyles of Tibetan people.

 
 

Welcome to Buddhism Now

 
 

Buddhism Now is an online Buddhist magazine, giving advice on how to practice Buddhism.

 
 

 
 

WHOLE ANGEL – WHOLE …wholeangel.com

 
 

 
 

WholeDude@bhavanajagat

 
 

 
 

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NATURE PLAYS TIBET CARD TO GENERATE TIBETAN FLAVOR OF NATURAL FREEDOM

NATURE PLAYS TIBET CARD TO GENERATE TIBETAN FLAVOR OF NATURAL FREEDOM

 
 

Man is Born Free and hence Man Claims Freedom as Natural Right. Natural Forces, Natural Mechanisms, and Natural Events created Tibetan Plateau over thousands of years imparting Natural Tibetan Flavor to Natural Freedom enjoyed by denizens of Tibet.

 
 

 
 

Occupation is Unnatural Event for it compromises Natural Freedom. Hence, Tibetans naturally respond to Forces of Occupation with Resistance Enduring Pain, Suffering, Hardship, and Misery.

 
 

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada

DOOM DOOMA DOOMSAYER

 
 

 
 

 
 

Indian Defence News

India-China Standoff: Free-Tibet Movement In News Again, But Does New Generation Really Care?

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    Thursday, July 13, 2017

    By: Outlook India

     
     

     

     
     

    “If New Delhi is pulling the strings of the Tibetan exiles’ political act of flag-hoisting, it will only have burned itself,” China’s state-run Global Times reacted in an editorial on July 9 after the Narendra Modi government reportedly allowed the Tibetan government in exile — on the eve of the Dalai Lama’s 82nd birthday — to perform rituals on the shores of Ladakh’s Pang Gong Lake along the disputed boundary with China.

     
     

    China also warned India to refrain from playing the “Dalai Lama card”. This came amid the ongoing border row between the two nations in the Sikkim sector. Whether India plays the Dalai Lama card or not, the latest standoff has once again shifted a little focus on the struggle of the thousands of Tibetan refugees in India who have been demanding free-Tibet for more than six decades now.

     
     

    Since 1959, when the Dalai Lama fled occupied Tibet to escape the Chinese regime, Tibetan refugees have been pouring into India. More than 100,000 Tibetans live in 39 formal settlements and dozens of informal communities across India. While the numbers have waxed and waned over the years the tide has never stemmed. The Indian government has funded schools to provide free education for Tibetans, and reserved seats in medical and engineering colleges.

     
     

    A majority of the Tibetans living in India have been born and brought up within the country.

     
     

    In a ruling last year, the Delhi High Court said nationality of Tibetans, born in India between 1950 and 1987, cannot be questioned under the Citizenship Act, and directed the government to issue passports to all Tibetans who meet the criteria of being Indian citizens by birth.

     
     

    But the important question is does this generation have ties to their homeland as strong as those of their parents and grandparents? Do they share the same fierce hope that one-day, soon, Tibet will be liberated and the entire exiled community can go home?

     
     

    Kunga Gyaltse, 43, a second-generation Tibetan refugee living with his family in Majnu ka Tila, a housing colony for Tibetans set up by the Indian government in north Delhi, is adamant that Tibetans in India have retained the purity of their culture. “Our ties with Tibet are just as strong,” he says.

     
     

    The colony is only a heartbeat away from the main road, but it seems like a wholly different world. A Buddhist temple and giant prayer wheel hem in the main square. Groups of Tibetans sit around the square sipping cups of tea while Buddhist monks in chougu robes are immersed in the counting of prayer beads. Tibetan culture seems alive and vibrant in the heart of old Delhi.

     
     

    Kunga places great value on housing colonies for refugees and the system of education controlled by the Tibetan government in exile. He believes that these have allowed Tibetans to flourish as a separate community with a distinct culture.

     
     

    “We teach our kids that it’s their duty to love Tibet. Their education is in Tibetan. If we’d mixed in with the Indian community we’d have lost our culture. But we stayed apart,” he adds.

     
     

    And what about the prospects of a Free-Tibet? Kunga and his friend, Dickyi, 48, are optimistic. “It will definitely be free in our lifetime,” Dickyi says.

     
     

    “The Dalai Lama is the reason our culture persists,” adds Dickyi’s friend Dolma, 45. All the Tibetans, varying in ages, are unanimous in their belief in the Dalai Lama and his central role in the freedom struggle.

     
     

    However, Jigme, 25, who lives in Dharamsala and works for the Tibetan government in exile, says a fully free-Tibet is unlikely to be realized any time soon.

     
     

    “I vouch for the middle path, I think that’s far more practical,” he says.

     
     

    This refers to a policy that advocates for Tibetan autonomy within the framework of Chinese rule. Jigme acknowledges that this is not something the older generation is likely to support.

     
     

    “My grandmother is purely Tibetan, she never adapted to Indian ways. She will only go back to a fully free Tibet,” he adds.

     
     

    Jigme is also in favor of Tibetans applying for Indian citizenship, an issue that has divided the Tibetan community in India in recent times. Citizenship provides security and permanence. It eases problems that refugees face with college admissions, where their foreign status leads to exorbitant fees. It makes it easier to apply for jobs in the public sector. Yet many Tibetans shun Indian citizenship.

     
     

    In 2015, the Election Commission, in a move aimed to ease the citizenship process for Tibetan refugees, allowed them to register for voter identity cards for the Delhi assembly elections. Many prominent activists and Tibetan leaders spoke out against the same. They argued that this move would dilute the cause for Tibetan freedom.

     
     

    Many younger Tibetans feel differently. Twenty-eight-year-old Tenzing wants the law governing citizenship to be expanded to include younger Tibetans.

     
     

    “I would like to apply for citizenship, it would help a lot,” she says ruefully.

     
     

    Angphurvasherpa, 57, a monk, disagrees. He sees applying for Indian citizenship as a selfish act.

     
     

    “In India, they give you documents to travel without having citizenship, so what is the need for it?” he says.

     
     

    According to him, the younger generation doesn’t understand the kind of hardships people in Tibet are facing.

     
     

    “They don’t value their own nation, they only care about themselves, they only value their own lives,” he says.

     
     

    The relationship of Tibetan refugees to their homeland has changed over time.

     
     

    Honey Oberoi Vahali, the author of Lives in Exile: Exploring the Inner World of Tibetan Refugees, describes how younger refugees view Tibet in a wholly different way from their ancestors.

     
     

    “Younger Tibetans have begun to feel that carrying the homeland forward is more symbolic than literal,” she says. “Since they’ve never seen Tibet it is viewed as part of an imagined past, inherited from their parents and grandparents.”

     
     

    Tenzing Sonam, 58, a writer, film director and essayist who is a long-standing advocate for Tibetan rights seems to agree.

     
     

    “Today’s youngsters are several generations removed from a direct connection with Tibet. So, although their sense of being Tibetan is still strong, their idea of Tibet is almost mythical,” he say

     
     

    He argues that Tibet has changed so drastically over the last 60 years that most exiled Tibetans would find it hard to adjust to life over there.

     
     

    Those who have come more recently from Tibet, see vast differences between Tibetans in India and those in Tibet. Lkhyi, 22, is one such refugee. She fled Tibet for India when she was 12. She observes that refugees born and brought up in India have adopted the local culture and customs to a far greater degree than they realize.

     
     

    “They are very different”, she says. “In terms of education, religion, the way they think everything. Even their taste in food is completely different.” She adds with a smile.

     
     

    For younger Tibetans, born and brought up in India, balancing their Indian identity with their Tibetan roots is a challenge. Moreover, India doesn’t always welcome them with open arms. The alienation that Tibetans still face within the nation, a place they see as home, often pushes younger refugees to join organizations such as the Students For Free Tibet (SFT), a global network of students and activists that work for the freedom of Tibet.

     
     

    Tenzin Tselha, SFT’s India branch director, recalls one such experience that prompted her to join the organization.

     
     

    “I had a lot of difficulties during my college admissions. People thought I was a foreigner, but I’ve been born and brought up in India, that’s when it really hit me,” she says. Tselha, 22, wanted to learn more about her culture and do something for her people so she moved to Dharamsala and joined the SFT.

     
     

    While some young Tibetans still echo the hopes and passions of their parents and grandparents, others are more focused on the present and creating a life of opportunity, than in the struggle to free Tibet.

     
     

    Thomas Kauffmann, author of The Agendas of Tibetan Refugees: Survival Strategies of a Government-in-Exile, argues that one of the main problems that Tibetans in India are facing is the dismantlement of settlements.

     
     

    “Many youngsters are indeed leaving the settlements because they don’t find jobs there and/or because they are attracted by other opportunities in cities or in other countries. There is nowadays a second migration from India to the West for the Tibetans.”

     
     

    “Many young Tibetans are moving to places like the US,” says Angphurvasherpa.

     
     

    He contends that since these countries don’t settle Tibetans into colonies, inevitably such relocation dilutes Tibetan culture. “But what can one do,” he says with a sad simile.

     
     

    Today, as the fourth and fifth generations of Tibetans are born within India, the differences among the community seem large. There are competing ideas regarding the best path to freedom, clashes over accepting Indian citizenship and discontent over the migration of youngsters.

     
     

    Despite this, until now the community has managed to preserve their culture. They have battled with yet stayed true to their identity.

     
     

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    Inserted from <http://defencenews.in/article/India-China-Standoff-Free-Tibet-Movement-In-News-Again,-But-Does-New-Generation-Really-Care-263158>

     
     

     
     

RED CHINA ON SLIPPERY SLOPE – OPENS FIRST OVERSEAS MILITARY BASE

RED CHINA ON SLIPPERY SLOPE – OPENS FIRST OVERSEAS MILITARY BASE

 
 

 
 

In my analysis, Red China placed herself on Slippery Slope by opening her first overseas military base in Djibouti. Red China’s military adventurism cannot ward off natural disaster, natural calamity, and natural catastrophe that is waiting, for Beijing invited her own Doom with her evil actions.

 

 
 

Soviet Union failed in the past due to military adventurism. It is too late for Red China to learn and plan to avoid sudden Downfall.

 
 

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada

DOOMDOOMA DOOMSAYER

 
 

China sends troops to Djibouti, establishes first overseas military base

By Brad Lendon and Steve George, CNN

 
 

Wed July 12, 2017

 
 

 
 

 
 

  • “This base can support Chinese Navy to go farther,” Chinese paper says
  • Djibouti has become host to several foreign military powers

    (CNN)China has dispatched troops to Djibouti in advance of formally establishing the country’s first overseas military base.

    Two Chinese Navy warships left the port of Zhanjiang on Tuesday, taking an undisclosed number of military personnel on the journey across the Indian Ocean.

    An editorial Wednesday in the state-run Global Times stressed the importance of the new Djibouti facility — in the strategically located Horn of Africa — to the Chinese military.

     

    “Certainly this is the People’s Liberation Army’s first overseas base and we will base troops there. It’s not a commercial resupply point… This base can support Chinese Navy to go farther, so it means a lot,” said the paper.

    The Global Times said the main role of the base would be to support Chinese warships operating in the region in anti-piracy and humanitarian operations.

    “It’s not about seeking to control the world,” said the editorial.

     
     

    Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy troops march in Djibouti’s Independence Day parade on June 27, marking 40 years since the end of French rule in the Horn of Africa country.

    Chinese military presence

     
     

    At a regular press briefing Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang described the base as part of ongoing efforts to help bring peace and security to the region.

    “China has been deploying naval ships to waters off Somalia in the Gulf of Aden to conduct escorting missions since 2008,” said Geng. “The completion and operation of the base will help China better fulfill its international obligations in conducting escorting missions and humanitarian assistance … It will also help promote economic and social development in Djibouti.”

    China has expanded its military ties across Africa in recent years. According to a report by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), cooperation with Africa on peace and security is now an “explicit part of Beijing’s foreign policy.”

    In 2015 Chinese President Xi Jinping committed 8,000 troops to the UN peacekeeping standby force — one fifth of the 40,000 total troops committed by 50 nations — China also pledged $100 million to the African Union standby force and $1 billion to establish the UN Peace and Development Trust Fund.

    More than 2,500 Chinese combat-ready soldiers and police officers are now deployed in blue-helmet missions across the African continent, with the largest deployments in South Sudan (1,051), Liberia (666), and Mali (402), according to the ECFR.

    “Blue-helmet deployments give the PLA a chance to build up field experience abroad — and to help secure Chinese economic interests in places such as South Sudan,” said the ECFR report.

    Africa is home to an estimated one million Chinese nationals, with many employed in infrastructure projects backed by the Chinese government.

    “China’s involvement in African security is a product of a wider transformation of China’s national defense policy. It is taking on a global outlook … and incorporating new concepts such as the protection of overseas interests and open seas protection,” said the ECFR report.

     
     

     
     

    US ‘strategic interests’

    China joins the US, France and Japan, among others, with permanent bases in Djibouti, a former French colony with a population of less than one million residents.

    Though small in both population and size, Djibouti’s position on the tip of the Horn of Africa offers strategic access to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

    The strait, which is only 18 miles wide at its narrowest point, connects the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean beyond.

    One of the world’s most important sea lanes, millions of barrels of oil and petroleum products pass through the strait daily, according to GlobalSecurity.org.

    US Marine Corps Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, the head of the Pentagon’s Africa Command, stressed Djibouti’s location during a visit to the US Camp Lemonnier garrison there earlier this year.

    “This particular piece of geography is very, very important to our strategic interests,” Waldhauser said in joint appearance with US Defense Secretary James Mattis.

    The US military has some 4,000 troops at Camp Lemonnier, a 100-acre base for which it signed a 10-year, $630 million lease in 2014, according to media reports.

    Elsewhere in Djibouti, the US military operates the Chabelley Airfield, from which the Pentagon stages drone airstrikes, likely into Somalia and across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait into Yemen, according to the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College in New York. The Pentagon is investing millions in the base, and satellite photos show several construction projects, the center reported last year.

     
     

    US Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys prepare to land at a landing zone during training conducted in Djibouti on January 10.

     
     

    ‘Get-rich-quick scheme’

     
     

    Japan, which has seen tense relations with China over disputed islands in the East China Sea, has established what it calls an “activity facility” to support its anti-piracy efforts there.

    A spokesperson for the Japan Self Defense Forces said 170 troops are at its 30-acre facility in Djibouti.

    Lease terms would not be released, but Japan will spend about $9 million to operate the facility this fiscal year, the spokesperson said.

    Edward Paice, director of the London-based Africa Research Institute, said a base in Djibouti makes a lot of sense for China, just as it does for Japan or the US.

    “It (China) has cited its desire to play a greater role in peacekeeping, and it has combat troops in both South Sudan and Mali. It’s logical that it needs an actual base somewhere in Africa, which is really no different from the Americans saying that they need Camp Lemonnier as a headquarters for operations in Africa, whether in peacekeeping or counterterror or whatever,” Paice said on The Cipher Brief website.

     
     

    Picture taken on May 5, 2015, shows work in progress on the new railway tracks linking Djibouti with Addis Ababa.

    Paice points out that China made a substantial investment in Djibouti — about $500 million, according to reports — to build the Djibouti portion of a rail line to the capital of neighboring Ethiopia.

    “It’s a confluence of these factors — trade, military, and stability in the host country’s government” that brought China to Djibouti, Paice said.

    Meanwhile, for Djibouti, it’s all about money, Paice said. “This is a fantastic get-rich-quick scheme — to rent bits of desert to foreign powers. It’s as simple as that.”

    CNN’s Serenitie Wang, Daisy Lee and Junko Ogura contributed to this report.

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    CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.

    Inserted from <http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/12/asia/china-djibouti-military-base/index.html>

     
     

     
     

     
     

WORLD TIBET DAY – PRAYERS AT PANG GONG LAKE FOR TIBET EQUILIBRIUM

WORLD TIBET DAY – PRAYERS AT PANG GONG LAKE FOR TIBET EQUILIBRIUM

WORLD TIBET DAY – PRAYERS AT PANG GONG LAKE TO DELIVER BLESSINGS OF FREEDOM TO TIBETANS IN OCCUPIED TIBET.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium. Tibetan President Dr. Lobsang Sangay at Pang Gong Lake on July 05, 2017.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.

Tibetan President Dr. Lobsang Sangay hoisted Tibetan National Flag and held special Prayer Service on Wednesday, July 05, 2017 at Pang Gong Lake near India-Tibet Border in preparation for celebration of World Tibet Day on Thursday, July 06, 2017. The Prayer seeks blessings of Freedom for all Tibetans in Occupied Tibet.

World Tibet Day – Tibetan President, Dr. Lobsang Sangay at Pang Gong Lake.

I invite my readers to view photo images to enjoy ‘Natural Beauty’ of Pang Gong Lake between India and Tibet.

World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada

DOOM DOOMA DOOMSAYER

‘TIBET CARD’ ADDED TO INDIA-CHINA BORDER MIX AS TIBETAN FLAG IS HOISTED AT PANG GONG LAKE – INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM

World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium on July 05, 2017. Tibetan President Dr. Lobsang Sangay at Namgyal Monastery.

Clipped from: http://indiandefence.com/threads/tibet-card-added-to-india-china-border-mix-as-tibetan-flag-is-hoisted-at-pang-gong-lake.62429/

BY DEVIRUPA MITRA ON  JULY 08, 2017 • 

Coming amid the ongoing stand-off between India and China in Doklam, the hoisting of the Tibetan flag on Indian territory could be seen as political activity.

World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium. Tibetan President Dr. Lobsang Sangay hoisted Tibetan National Flag on July 05, 2017.

Lobsang Sangay, head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, seen after hoisting the Tibet flag on Pangong Lake. Courtesy: Central Tibetan Administration website

New Delhi: Even as the stand-off between Indian and Chinese soldiers continued in one part of the Himalayas, Lobsang Sangay, head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, unfurled the Tibetan national flag on the shores of Pang Gong lake in Ladakh.

The lake, located at over 14,000 feet, sits astride India and China, with the Line of Actual Control passing through it.

Speaking to The Wire, Sonam Norbu Dagpo, spokesperson of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), said that this was the first time that the independent Tibet flag had been unfurled by the head of the government-in-exile at that important location.

“This is the first visit by the CTA president to Ladakh and, therefore, the first time that the national flag has been unfurled near the lake,” he said.

Dagpo pointed out that the location has special meaning for the Tibetan community. “As you know, half the lake is in India, and half the Tibet,” he added. Consequently, he said that the hoisting of the national flag has “political and personal significance”.

When asked if any go-ahead signal was taken from authorities, Dagpo asserted, “I don’t think any permission is required to hoist the Tibetan national flag”.

Sangay was in Ladakh on the invitation of the Ladakhi community to celebrate the birthday of the Dalai Lama on July 6, Dagpo added.

According to a report on the lake shore ceremony published on the CTA website, Sangay had a brief audience with the Dalai Lama before leaving for the lake on the morning of July 5.

The report noted that Sangay poured “blessed grains” received from the Dalai Lama into the lake in the hope that “these grains will reach Tibet and bless Tibetans inside Tibet as well”.

“Physically, I may be standing just a few meters from Tibet today. However, in terms of political freedom and views, I am still far away from the situation inside Tibet,” Sangay said, according to the report.

Speaking to The Wire, a former MEA secretary, R.S. Kalha said, “The unfurling of the Tibetan flag is a political act, especially at this time”.

For the last 22 days, Indian and Chinese soldiers have been watching each other warily on a clearing called the ‘Turning Point’ in Doklam. Indian soldiers had stopped Chinese soldiers from constructing a road within Bhutanese territory, which would have serious security implications for the tri-junction and the ‘chicken neck’ Siliguri corridor.

China has been on a media blitzkrieg claiming that India violated a 1890 treaty and asserting that Indian soldiers were on Chinese territory. India and Bhutan have both said that China had changed the status-quo by building a road and asked it to return to the previous position.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had a five-minute conversation on Friday on the sidelines of a meeting of BRICS leaders gathered in Hamburg for the G20 summit. However, no details were given of the “wide range of issues” discussed.

Meanwhile, even as the two leaders met in Hamburg, the Chinese embassy in India issued an advisory for its nationals to “pay close attention to personal safety”.

Observer Research Foundation’s Manoj Joshi agreed that the flag hoisting by Sangay “assumes importance due to the timing”. “This is a very significant gesture, given that it has happened for the first time at this location which has emotional and political symbolism.”

Both Kalha and Joshi pointed out that the flag was hoisted on Indian territory, which could be interpreted as political activity.

A former Indian diplomat, who has been a practitioner in India-China bilateral ties, claimed that it was unlikely that India would have “encouraged” Sangay to go to the lake. “So far, I do not see any signs of the Indian government interested in escalating the issue,” said the diplomat, who did not want to be named. He also pointed to the Indian statement on the Doklam stand-off, which he said was “very measured and sober”.

Joshi asserted that the NDA government has a history of trying to play up the Tibet issue. “Ever since this government took office, it has given more visibility to the Tibetan cause, right from swearing-in day. This has not gone unnoticed in Beijing,” he said.

When Modi was sworn in as prime minister, Sangay was among the special invitees in the audience, sitting right next to then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. Sangay’s presence led to speculation of new government policy on Tibet. Sangay’s presence didn’t go unnoticed, with China lodging a protest. A few months later, Modi and Xi were sitting together on a swing alongside the river Sabarmati – but that was probably the biggest high in India-China bilateral relations till now.

In April 2016, India allowed a US-based Chinese dissident organization to organize a seminar of pro-democracy activists in Dharamshala, but later cancelled the visa of an Uighur activist on the grounds that he gave wrong information in his visa application. The visas of three other participants to the conference were also cancelled. However, the seminar went ahead, but without the media being allowed in.

The permission for the conference had come in the wake of China putting on hold – yet again – the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar by the 1267 al-Qaeda and Taliban sanctions committee of the UN Security Council.

In December 2016, China warned India to respect Beijing’s “core interests” after Dalai Lama visited Rashtrapati Bhawan to attend a conference of Nobel laureates and shared the dais with the Indian president. This was the first contact between the Tibetan spiritual leader and the head of the Indian state in decades. India had played down the incident, stating that Dalai Lama had been invited for a “non-political event”.

A few months earlier in October 2016, Beijing had also protested the first ever visit by an US ambassador to India to Arunachal Pradesh.

This year, China was again upset by the visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh. The language used by the Chinese foreign ministry on Dalai Lama’s visit was so sharp that India issued a list of previous trips of the Tibetan spiritual leader to the north-eastern state, which is claimed by China. The foreign ministry spokesperson also clarified that there was a “no change” in Indian government’s policy towards China’s Tibet or to the boundary question.

https://thewire.in/155657/lobsang-sangay-central-tibetan-administration-tibet-flag-india-china/

World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium. Indian Armed Forces keeping watch at India-Tibet Border.
World Tibet Day – Prayers at Pang Gong Lake for Tibet Equilibrium. The Lake is at India-Tibet Border.
WORLD TIBET DAY – PRAYERS AT PANG GONG LAKE FOR TIBET EQUILIBRIUM.

Whole Trouble – Red China invents Border disputes to justify Occupation

Red China invents Border Disputes to perpetuate Tibet’s Occupation

Red China invents these Border Disputes to legitimize illegal Occupation of Tibet

The root cause of territorial disputes in Himalayan Plateau is an Unnatural event called ‘Occupation’ that shattered Tibet’s experience of Natural Balance, Natural Order, Natural Equilibrium, Natural Harmony, Natural Peace, and Natural Freedom. India and Bhutan must primarily focus upon return of Tibet to its Natural State or Condition, a condition that never threatened the existence of its immediate neighbors. Red China invents these Border Disputes to legitimize illegal Occupation of Tibet

Red China invents these Border Disputes to legitimize illegal Occupation of Tibet
Red China invents these Border Disputes to legitimize illegal Occupation of Tibet

Clipped from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/china-pushes-hard-in-border-dispute-with-india/2017/07/06/52adc41e-619b-11e7-80a2-8c226031ac3f_story.html?utm_term=.9bc54d806201

Red China invents these Border Disputes to legitimize illegal Occupation of Tibet

China pushes hard in border dispute with India

The Washington Post

Red China invents these Border Disputes to legitimize illegal Occupation of Tibet


This photo from 2008 shows a Chinese soldier, left, next to an Indian soldier at the Nathu La border crossing between India and China. (Diptendu Dutta/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)

NEW DELHI — Their meeting is likely to be all smiles and polite handshakes, as world leaders look on. But as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping left for Friday’s Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, tensions between the rising Asian powers had escalated over a patch of disputed territory claimed by both China and the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.

Border scuffles between India and China have simmered in the past, but analysts from both sides said the latest spat has the potential to spiral into conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations. So far, the countries’ troops, who are usually unarmed to avoid provocation, have engaged in what is known as “jostling,” when soldiers attempt to physically push rivals back.

The standoff began at the end of June, while Modi was meeting President Trump, prompting some Indian analysts to wonder whether the timing had anything to do with China’s disdain for India’s increasingly close ties to the United States.

“The Chinese are making their unhappiness clear on India and America’s relationship,” said Sameer Patil, director at an India-based foreign policy think tank called Gateway House.

The dispute started after Chinese construction trucks, accompanied by soldiers, rolled south in the disputed region of Doklam to build a road. India and Bhutan consider the region to be Bhutanese territory; China claims the land as its own. The countries disagree on the exact location of the “tri-junction,” where the three borders meet.

Red China invents these Border Disputes to legitimize illegal Occupation of Tibet

The argument bears some of the hallmarks of China’s efforts to fortify islands in the disputed South China Sea, where it has riled the Philippines and Vietnam and risked confrontation with the U.S. Navy.

India and Bhutan have traditionally been close allies; India often provides the small country with financial and military assistance. It was the first country Modi visited after being elected.

Indian analysts say China’s move in Doklam threatens a narrow sliver of strategically important land, known as the “chicken’s neck,” which connects central India to its remote northeast. In response to what it believed was extraterritorial Chinese road-building, New Delhi sent reinforcements supporting Bhutan — according to ex-Indian army officials, at Bhutan’s request.

Chinese officials say India’s intervention amounted to a provocation, violating an 1890 treaty with Britain that appears to grant China access to the region. According to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, the pact was affirmed by Indian leaders after independence.

“As to the boundary negotiation between China and Bhutan,” he said Wednesday, “we have repeatedly stated that Doklam has always been part of China’s territory and under China’s effective jurisdiction without disputes.”

The government’s messages were bolstered by stern statements in China’s state-run media. The Global Times newspaper printed a furious editorial warning India of China’s military might. “The Indian military can choose to return to its territory with dignity, or be kicked out of the area by Chinese soldiers,” it said.

Wang Dehua, from the Shanghai Municipal Center for International Studies, said, “By continuing to increase deployment of troops at the border, India once again underestimates China’s capability and determination to safeguard its territory. It also fails to estimate the cost of confrontation.”

Hopes for a discussion between Modi and Xi on the Doklam dispute on the sidelines of the G-20 summit were scuppered after Indian media reported that the government had not requested a one-on-one meeting. Instead, Xi and Modi will meet among leaders from other G-20 countries to discuss international issues.

“China has taken a very stubborn attitude, and there is little appetite in India to accommodate China’s behavior,” Patil said.

Modi had come into office with high hopes of building Sino-
Indian relations; experts called him the most pro-China prime minister since the two countries’ 1962 border war. Xi met Modi in India in 2014 shortly after the latter was elected, in the first visit by a Chinese leader in eight years.

Instead, the two nations have become increasingly suspicious of one another. During Modi’s recent visit to the United States, a deal was struck to buy surveillance drones that could be used to monitor Chinese naval activity in the Indian Ocean. In April, China fulminated over the Dalai Lama’s tour of Arunachal Pradesh in northeast India, known in China as south Tibet. China considers the Dalai Lama an opponent and a separatist whose power threatens its control over Tibet.

India also refused to join China’s “One Belt, One Road” program, a massive infrastructure project involving 70 countries aimed at reviving old Silk Road trade routes. Plans include an improved connection between China and Pakistan and would allow Pakistan access to other countries in Central Asia.

China, on the other hand, blocked efforts to designate a Pakistan-based militant outfit, Jaish-e-Muhammad, as a terrorist organization. It has also stood in the way of India’s bid for membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an organization of countries that supply — and control — the export of nuclear materials, equipment and technology.

China has billions of dollars in investment deals with Sri Lanka and Nepal and this year took part in a joint military training exercise with Nepal. India considers both neighbors to be allies.

“I think the root cause is that the Chinese feel that their moment has arrived and that they do not need to accommodate Indian interests in any way, given the huge power differential in their favor,” said India expert Ashley Tellis, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Chinese suspicion that India was casting its lot entirely with the United States has only intensified Beijing’s determination to be even less accommodative towards New Delhi.”

Politically, neither Modi nor Xi can be seen to be giving in to the other’s demands. Modi’s nationalist government has insisted upon maintaining the integrity of Indian borders, banning maps and representations of disputed regions in the north. Xi, too, cannot be seen to be relenting on what the Global Times called “unruly provocations” from India, as he prepares to face a Chinese Communist Party conference in the fall.

Denyer reported from Beijing.

China demands India leave Himalayan plateau in rising spat

Red China invents these Border Disputes to legitimize illegal Occupation of Tibet
Red China invents these Border Disputes to legitimize illegal Occupation of Tibet

TIBET EQUILIBRIUM – 66 YEARS AND COUNTING – TIBET AND CHINA

TIBET EQUILIBRIUM – 66 YEARS AND COUNTING – TIBET AND CHINA

TIBET EQUILIBRIUM – 66 YEARS AND COUNTING – TIBET AND CHINA.

American China Fantasy is Doomed. The reason is that of America’s Unfinished War in Asia. The Cold War in Asia is not about Tibet’s Independence or Autonomy. The Cold War is about engaging, containing, confronting, opposing, and resisting the threat posed by Communism and its influence in Asia.

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada
DOOM DOOMA DOOMSAYER

TIBET EQUILIBRIUM – THE COLD WAR IN ASIA IS NOT ABOUT TIBET’S INDEPENDENCE OR AUTONOMY. ITS ABOUT SPREAD OF COMMUNISM.

TIBET EQUILIBRIUM – MAN vs NATURE

TIBET EQUILIBRIUM – MAN vs NATURE

TIBET EQUILIBRIUM – MAN vs NATURE. NATURAL FORCE OR NATURE IN THE ROLE OF THE “BALANCER” OR “HOLDER OF THE BALANCE IN PHYSICAL WORLD.

Man has been shaping face of Earth by creating political boundaries to define the extent of territory under his domination. Man uses his physical power or military force to subdue his opponents while he expands his territory. Red China describes her military conquest of foreign territory as ‘Liberation’. In Man’s History, Empires have risen and fallen reshaping political boundaries.

Nature is also at work reshaping Earth from its beginning. Earth’s Natural History is full of remarkable events such as Continental Drift. Himalaya Mountain range came into existence due to force of collision generated by Indian Landmass thrusting against Asia. Apart from creating Himalaya Mountains, collision of Indian Plate caused uplift of Tibetan Plateau which began about 45 million years ago. This force is still acting slowly pushing Nepal towards Tibetan Plateau.

Tibet Equilibrium – Man vs Nature. Promoting global awareness of suppression, oppression, and repression in Occupied Tibet. How to reset Balance of Power?

Nature causes Major and Minor ‘Extinction Events’ altering shape of Earth and the lifeforms that live on Earth. Natural History records several episodes of heavenly objects striking Earth with devastating consequences. Earth witnessed on June 30, 1908 an event called Tunguska Event caused by asteroid collision.’Asteroid Day’ promotes global awareness of such collision events.

In my analysis, such Heavenly Strike is natural remedy for Man’s Pride and Arrogance with which Man desires domination of planet Earth.

Tibet Equilibrium – Man vs Nature. Natural Balance of Power instituted by Nature.

I use the term or phrase ‘Tibet Equilibrium’ to describe Natural Balance of Power instituted by Natural Factors, Natural Mechanisms, Natural Conditions, Natural Forces that act together to restore Natural Freedom in Tibet, the Freedom that prevailed before Red China’s military conquest of Tibet.

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada

DOOM DOOMA DOOMSAYER

DEFENCE NEWS: TIBET IS CHINA’S RIGHT HAND AND LADAKH, NEPAL, SIKKIM, BHUTAN AND ARUNACHAL ARE ITS FINGERS – MAO ZEDONG

Clipped from: http://defencenews.in/article/Tibet-is-Chinas-Right-Hand-and-Ladakh,-Nepal,-Sikkim,-Bhutan-and-Arunachal-are-its-Fingers—Mao-Zedong-262888

TIBET EQUILIBRIUM – MAN vs NATURE. MAO ZEDONG’S EXPANSIONIST DOCTRINE RESULTS IN POWER IMBALANCE IN ASIA.

China’s legendary revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, standing in front of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in the 1950s, talked about Tibet and the Himalayas: “Xizang (Tibet) is China’s right hand’s palm, which is detached from its five fingers — of Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Arunachal (formerly NEFA). As all of these five are either occupied by, or under the influence of India, it is China’s responsibility to ‘liberate’ the five to be rejoined with Xizang (Tibet).”

Beijing and New Delhi are two capitals of two of the most populated nations of the world, with the Himalayas forming the most formidable barrier to an extensive interaction between them. The Himalayas, however, have much more to do with Hindu history, culture and the traditions of South Asia than that of China owing to its remote distance from China. Beijing owes its glorious rice culture more to the Hwang Ho and Yangtze rivers than to the Himalayan rivers of the Sindhu, Ganga and Brahmaputra.

Just like Jerusalem is the cradle of both Christianity and Judaism, and Mecca and Medina the Centre of Islam, the Himalayas and its waters have played a seminal role in the rise, growth and development of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. The Chinese owe the origin and development of their glorious civilization more to the twin non-Himalayan river valleys of the Hwang Ho and Yangtze than to the remote Himalayas, the abode of snow. The name originates from the combination of two Sanskrit words “him (snow)” and “alaya (abode)”.

Let’s study the distance of the Himalayan “five fingers” from the two capitals of New Delhi and Beijing. Leh (Ladakh) is 1,258 km by road from Delhi and 3,490 km from Beijing; Kathmandu (Nepal) is 1,160 km from Delhi and 3,160 km from Beijing; From Nathula (Sikkim) to Delhi is 1,636 km, while to Beijing it is 2,888 km; Thimphu (Bhutan) is 1,782 km from Delhi and 2,820 km from Beijing; and lastly, from Tawang (Arunachal) Delhi is 2,315 km, while Beijing is 2,640 km from there.

Indeed, the “five fingers” of Beijing are rather too far when compared to the distance thereof from Delhi. Nevertheless, let us see things from Beijing’s point of view as well, in the light of its BRI/CPEC and SCO objectives. Several of its “economic” projects have been given different names to keep the non-Chinese guessing. That is the Chinese way, which could be to look different without being different. Why? Because the goal is always fixed. It’s the way to the acquisition of land and money, in the old Chinese tradition of kowtowing by rivals. Even when things do not exist, there is a need to make them “exist”. Almost like that of Voltaire’s logic: “Even if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him”. The belief has to prevail. If not today, in the long term and in the long run. The Chinese can go on hammering. The wall is bound to crack and crumble inevitably one day.

Ladakh is still with India, forced Chinese part-occupation notwithstanding. Nepal is independent and pursues its policy with great élan, despite its abolition of the monarchy and the tag of being a Hindu state. Sikkim joined India on its own volition in 1975, and there doesn’t seem to be any sign of a reverse gear. Bhutan too can’t be penetrated, as it is too steadfast in its approach. The proposed Chinese embassy in Thimphu is still a long way off. Arunachal Pradesh is one of the 29 states of India, and there is little to suggest that it can be anything other than that.

Therefore, the direct approach to “liberate” the “five fingers” of Xizang needs to change to an indirect one. How? By the application of “economics”. Development, investment, people-to-people contacts, profit, infrastructure, connectivity and corridor are alluring words. The Chinese aim to entice them, cajole them, as they are all landlocked terrain. All are “helpless” at the mercy of others. They need “liberation” by or under someone. Dissatisfaction and resentment is the key to their changing sides.

To begin with, a country has to have proximity to sea outlets. Five landlocked fingers cannot operate from Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea. It is remote and turbulent. It has to be the Bay of Bengal, with its six ports of Kolkata, Haldia, Khulna, Chalna, Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong. Nathu-La to Kolkata is 727 km, Dhaka 640 km, Chittagong 900 km.

No wonder China is anxious to open its embassy in Bhutan to balance New Delhi’s influence and to breach Siliguri’s “Chicken’s Neck” of less than 80 km to reach the shoreline of the Bay of Bengal. It does not matter what it takes to achieve the so-called economic goal. It matters little whether or not turbulence is created to breach the established polity of India and reach the beaches of West Bengal and Bangladesh. It is simply “economics”!

One of the priorities is the Sino-Bhutan border “issue”. The year 2017 has seen hectic Chinese activity in Bhutan — with very little effect though. They are trying hard in the Chumbi Valley tri-junction of Bhutan, Sikkim and Tibet. The Yadong railway will also reach Kathmandu via Gyirong (Tibet). The Chinese want a railway line through Bhutan, West Bengal and Bangladesh as well. Not too soon, it appears, as tension and turbulence go on increasing in the highly vulnerable Chicken’s Neck area of India, that in turn may well contaminate all four nations in the neighborhood — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal. Paradoxically, however, the adverse effect on these four nations is likely to be advantageous to China.

The Chinese hopes still revolve around Mao Zedong’s unfulfilled dreams. Hence, the renewed Chinese keenness to go to the east as well as the Northeast in Indian territory. India is the gateway to all the five (landlocked) fingers. The gate must be prized open — the sooner the better. It is the all-embracing “Chinese economics”: which Beijing sees as the only way to “liberate the “five fingers”.

TIBET EQUILIBRIUM – MAN vs NATURE. ON FEBRUARY 13, 1913 TIBET DECLARED FULL INDEPENDENCE AFTER DOWNFALL OF CH’ING OR QING CHINESE DYNASTY.

 

Whole Awareness – The Burden of Tibet’s Unequal Yoking

The Burden of Tibet’s Unequal Yoking

TIBET AWARENESS – UNEQUAL YOKING. TIBET IS SUBJECT TO BURDEN IMPOSED BY UNEQUAL YOKING WITH A MONSTROUS BEAST, UNEQUAL IN SIZE AND POWER.

Red China, using military force, yoked with Tibet. To perform farm work, farmers generally use two animals of same type, size, and strength to get work done without imposing unequal burden on animals yoked together. Red China is a huge, monstrous beast, and her Unequal Yoking with Tibet imposes burden called Subjection, Bondage, Servitude, Enslavement, Hardship, Trouble, Pain, and Suffering upon Tibetans.

TIBET AWARENESS – UNEQUAL YOKING. TIBET IS SUBJECT TO BURDEN IMPOSED BY UNEQUAL YOKING WITH A MONSTROUS BEAST, UNEQUAL IN SIZE AND POWER.

Tibet is under the Yoke of Burden, Control, Subjugation to become subservient to Red China’s Doctrine of Neocolonialism.

THINGS THAT SURPRISED ME ABOUT TIBET – FUN AND INTERESTING FACTS

Clipped from: https://www.onceinalifetimejourney.com/once-in-a-lifetime-journeys/9-things-surprised-tibet/

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking. The Burden of Military Occupation.

The country at the roof of the world, was very different from what I expected. Tibet, often considered the spiritual center of the world has more Buddhist monks, stupas and gods than any other place, yet it was anything but the peaceful and calm realm I had envisioned. Not that the available online resources lie about it, but more that there is a general lack of information beyond the Dalai Lama and the Chinese-Tibetan political situation, so my mind veered towards red-robed monks and the magical image of the Potala Palace. The list of things that surprised me about Tibet is quite long, but I will attempt to highlight the most relevant, the top 17 things that most people don’t know about Tibet or that will surprise any traveler to the oft-called Shangri-la.

1. Tibet facts – Tibet is developed and it has incredible infrastructure

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking. Red China’s Subjugation of Tibet.

I visited with the utopian idea in my head that Tibet was going to be a peaceful and isolated place resembling Bhutan. But Tibet, or the Tibetan Autonomous Region, is a Chinese occupied territory that became part of China in 1950 and, as a result, for good or for bad, infrastructure has developed dramatically. Even the road that leads to the world’s highest mountain, Everest, is paved almost all the way, a far cry from the 9-14 day trek from Lukla Airport (the world’s most dangerous airport) to reach the Nepalese equivalent. In fact, we drove all the way to 5,200m to the tourist Everest Base Camp. Roads throughout the country are smooth and paved, including the Friendship Highway that links Shanghai with Kathmandu and runs for 5,900km, practically crossing Tibet.

Countless electricity lines crisscross the arid landscapes, at times, several electricity posts slashed my photographs. Even the most remote of villages have electricity and solar panels. Why? Tibet is China’s richest province, with deep reserves of gold, copper and other precious and valuable resources and infrastructure is essential to mine and exploit this natural wealth. As our train to Lhasa glided through the middle of nowhere, high up in the Tibetan Plateau, the lights of trucks carrying minerals to processing factories provided a continuous source of light in the darkest of nights. Those factories lit the horizon in sudden outbursts. Next to them, nomad villages built to accommodate the workers supporting the factories sprung as if mushrooming from the rocks and sand. There were many, and we were to see even more across Tibet.

2. Tibet facts – The issue of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking. The Great Problem of Tibet.

The 14th Dalai Lama left Tibet after disagreement with the Chinese government about his successor, which made it too dangerous for him to stay and has lived in exile in Dharamsala, India, ever since. This shows his opposition to the occupation and his demands for true autonomy (not independence) for Tibet. The Chinese government recognizes Buddhism, a religion that is widely spread in the country despite communism, but nominated their own Panchen Lama, the successor to the Dalai Lama, in 1995, six years after the death of the previous Panchen Lama, following a traditional process using a golden urn that was used for the 10th, 11th and 12th Dalai Lamas. Their choice did not match that of the current Dalai Lama, whose successor has been kept in an unknown location in China ever since.

The Panchen Lama nominated by the Chinese Government has been receiving education in Buddhism and Tibetan culture since his enthronement at the Panchen Lama’s seat in Xigatse. His photograph can be seen across Tibet whereas having a photo of the 14th Dalai Lama is illegal and can carry fines or imprisonment. Tibetans often claim this misalignment about who the next Dalai Lama will be as the main attempt by the Chinese to eradicate Tibetan culture and identity.

3. Tibet facts – The highest country on the planet

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking. Natural Freedom violated by Unnatural Occupation.

When I visited Bhutan I thought I was high. High on life, high on spirituality and high up in the mountains! One of the country’s nickname, “The Kingdom in the clouds”, clearly reflects its high altitude, with the capital at 2,300m and several peaks above 7,000m. Bhutan ranks as the highest country in the world when average altitudes are taken, despite some of the lowest parts are almost at sea level.

But that is just because Tibet is not officially recognized as a country by the UN because of Chinese veto, so it is just a region of China. Before Chinese occupation, Lhasa was the highest capital in the world as per the Guinness World Book of Records, but La Paz in Bolivia has taken that prize since Tibet became a part of China.

What makes Tibet’s altitude extra special is that, not only does it have the highest mountain in the world (Mount Everest), but also the highest average altitudes at 4,575m above sea level, the highest road, the highest toilet, the highest town (Whenzuan), the highest monastery and the highest train. Everything in Tibet is made of superlatives. We drove up mountain passes that are at 5,200m, we used the highest toilet in the world, located on the same mountain pass top, we took the train to Lhasa, which climbs to 4,500m and visited the world’s highest monastery, Rongbuk, at the foot of Everest Base Camp. Altitude is an undetachable synonym with Tibet.

4. Tibet facts – 40% less oxygen

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking. Natural Conditions, Natural Factors, Natural Mechanisms, and Natural Events produce Natural Freedom in Tibet.

Tibet’s high altitude is the cause for the traveler’s worst nightmare: Altitude sickness. Because it is so high, the pressure is lower giving the sensation that there is less oxygen. I have extensively covered the topic of altitude sickness, because we felt it and felt it badly, but what I found most interesting is that it is not possible to descend in Tibet, the lowest altitude is already a whooping 3,500m above sea level.

5. Tibet facts – Permits, permits, permits

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking.

Getting to Tibet is not particularly difficult. Travel restrictions have been lifted and you can go on a small private tour like I did with WildChina, without issues. It was a similar process to that for North Korea. You cannot travel independently, but you can pretty much visit anything as long as you are entering with a tour company. And, unlike North Korea, you can freely wander the streets or explore anything without a chaperon.

However, visiting Tibet does require a lot of planning ahead. You will need a Chinese visa first, which is required by almost all citizens and can take up to two weeks to process depending on your country of residence and which can be very costly (US$100 in Singapore). With a photocopy of that in hand, the travel agent will apply for a Tibetan permit which will be linked to your detailed itinerary. The permit can take anything from a week to 3 weeks so you should start the entire process about two months ahead to ensure everything is done on time as the processing timelines vary vastly from country to country (e.g. one of my friends took 2 weeks for the Chinese visa and 3 days for the Permit whereas I took 3 days for the visa and 3 weeks for the permit).

The permit is your passport into the Tibetan Autonomous Region and will be checked and rechecked a million times throughout the trip. Your guide will keep the permit with him or her throughout your stay. Every time you reach a new village the guide will be registering you, even for just one night, with the local Police, so your whereabouts are being monitored at all times. There were also 20 road checks through our 9 day journey and we were thoroughly scrutinized at the train station and airport before boarding. If you plan to visit Everest Base Camp, then you will need an additional permit and to go through a Military check-point at the park’s entry.

6. Tibet facts – Big Brother is watching

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking.

The controls of visitors extend to the cars as well. All cars that take tourists around the country are owned by the government and kitted with two cameras and a radio system that communicates a central office to all the drivers. The cameras are constantly monitoring the driver and making sure that he is not doing anything against the Chinese rules. Every time the speed went above the marked limit, a message came through on the radio speakers to slow down. The speakers also shared a regular amount of updates and reminders about safety on the road. It was a constant reminder that our every move was being watched.

7. Tibet facts – Cold and high, but without snow

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking.

I was expecting the landscapes to be rocky, mountainous and majestic and for the snow to cap all mountain tops but Tibetan landscapes are rather brown and grey with very little snow. In fact, although we saw some snowflakes as we traversed the highest pass, at 5,200m, the majority of the mountains were devoid of that delicate white veil that tops other mountain ranges. Our guide confirmed that it does snow very little in Tibet and that pretty much all the snow we were seeing was permanent. The glaciers, receding as a result of global warming, were also perennial. The lack of snow is caused by the high Himalayan mountains that stop the clouds from emptying their bowels and providing rain or snow.

8. Tibet facts – Tibet was not always a peaceful nation

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking.

I associated Tibet with peace, not least because the Dalai Lama has been an example of opposition to the Chinese occupation, something which got him the Nobel Peace Prize. But Tibet’s past wasn’t always as spiritual and peaceful as Buddhism advocates. Tibetan Kings fought and defended Tibet from assailants for centuries. Remnants of Medieval fortresses, city walls and castles can be seen across the country. Unlike Bhutan, who was never occupied by an international power, the English had several incursions in Tibet, as did the Mongols, Indians, Afghans, Nepali and various Chinese dynasties. So monks, and the Tibetan Kings, were a fearless army defending their territory since the 17th century until the Chinese occupation in the 1950s.

9. Tibet facts – Yak meat, yak butter, yak hair

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking.

Tibet’s high altitudes and harsh conditions make life extremely hard and yaks are the lifeline for most Tibetans. Yak meat, leaner and lighter than beef, is ever present. Yaks are also used for milk and butter and their hair is used to make rugs and clothes, even to weave the cover ups that protect the Potala Palace – delicate paintings and carvings from the sun. Even yak dung is collected and dried to be used as fuel in the winter months. However, yaks are an endangered species and most of the animals seen roaming the fields are actually a blend between yak and cow.

10. Tibet facts – Photos of the Dalai Lama are illegal

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking.

Almost everyone has a clear image in their heads of the current Dalai Lama. However, carrying or having his photo in Tibet could lead to imprisonment and punishment. None of the houses or temples we visited had any. Instead, the Panchen Lama, nominated by the Chinese Government, is to be displayed in homes and businesses. The prohibition extends to the Tibetan Flag, which does not fly anywhere in the country. Bright Chinese flags are hung on rooftop of houses, next to the colorful prayer flags.

11. Tibet facts – Shangri-la is the result of a misspelling

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking.

Tibet is often referred to as the Shangri-la. The word has no meaning in Tibetan, although La does mean mountain pass and is attached to the end of all passes in Tibet. The word was first coined by the writer of the most famous novel about Tibet, Lost Horizon, in 1933. James Hilton probably misunderstood the word Shambala, which has a similar meaning in Tibetan Buddhism, and wrote Shangri-la instead. Since then, the word has been assimilated to a mythical place somewhere high in the mountains, a Heaven of sorts, a paradise on Earth, and is even the brand name of a luxury hotel chain whose eponymous Lhasa hotel I stayed at during my visit.

12. Tibet facts – The prostrations

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking.

I had seen some images of devout Buddhists prostrating in key Buddhist temples and landmarks but nothing could prepare me for the absolute devotion and extreme prostrations that some engage in. Some people would spend their entire day prostrating and praying, continuously kneeling down and lying flat on the floor then standing up again. Most will be dressed appropriately, with hand and knee protection to allow them to glide. At some particularly holy places, like in front of the Jokhang Monastery or the Potala Palace, some extreme devotees would prostrate in the middle of the pavement and receive donations from passers-by.

13. Tibet facts – The toilets

I cannot talk about things which surprised me about Tibet and not mention the toilets. Although there are public toilets across the cities and main road stops, they smelled so bad and were so dirty at times that we opted for the nature toilet: behind a rock (because there are no trees in the mountains). Bringing wet wipes and tissue is not enough, one needs to bring a sort of perfume to put a couple of drops under the nose to enter some of the public toilets. All of Tibet’s toilets, barring the hotels, are squat toilets consisting of a hole on the floor with a drop which may sometimes not be very long. There are no doors to the public toilets which often times will have more than one hole next to each other. You may do your thing next to someone who is doing her thing, in the open. And if that was not enough, many people miss and the toilets are never cleaned. You get the picture. This remained the main topic of discussion among my group, a source of constant jokes and laughter, as we hunted for the cleanest, least smelling holes. I will leave it there.

14. Tibet facts – Kora

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking.

Tibetans go on walking and praying pilgrimages around main landmarks and monasteries. Much like the Camino de Santiago or the trip to Mecca, only shorter and more frequent. These walks are called Kora and can be taken around any monastery. The most common one is the one in Lhasa, around the Potala Palace or the Sera Monastery. Locals pray as they walk around, many of them will spin prayer wheels like in Bhutan. Some of the Kora can take up to a full day and the elderly may repeat them every day.

15. Tibet facts – Temple smell

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking.

All temples and monasteries in Tibet have the same common smell of yak butter used in the butter lamps and fresh incense also burned across the country in houses and burners that can be found in public places.

16. Tibet facts – Paying for photographs

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking.

In Bhutan taking photos of temples and monasteries is simply not allowed. The interiors of the Buddhist buildings are usually covered from floor to ceiling with paintings and offerings in bright colors and gold and they are incredible to see and experience and provide a deep sense of spirituality. In Tibet you can photograph almost every landmark and interior as long as you pay a donation. At first we were surprised but relaxed as the money seemed more like a voluntary donation which we diligently dropped in bowls. But in some monasteries the monks would chase us for the donation, making us drop cameras for those who did not pay to avoid any photos being taken, and the initially innocuous amount started to amount to a small fortune as some temples started to ask for up to US$350 per hall for video, like in Shigatse. At US$2-4 per hall and an average of 3-5 halls worthwhile per monasteries I probably spent upwards of US$100 in photo donations, on top of the entry tickets. Considering these were religious places that were already filled with pilgrim donations (and stacks of money were stuffed inside God’s enclosures), the additional donation started to feel a bit much.

17. Tibet facts – Commercialized Everest Base Camp

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking.

I can speak for myself, who paid a handsome amount to take a helicopter to the Nepali Base Camp well before this was a commercial venture offered to tourists. But on the Tibetan side, thanks to very good infrastructure, the Base Camp has been commercialized extensively. We slept 8km from the climber’s Base Camp in a tourist tented camp which advertised free WiFi and was filled with souvenir stalls albeit it offered very basic accommodation at sub-zero temperatures without heating. The Chinese government has announced plans to build a resort, museum and helipad a few kilometers from Base Camp, in Gangkar, to offer greater comfort and drive more tourism dollars into the country, although most visitors to Tibet are still local Chinese from other provinces. Serious trekkers no longer consider Everest a hard climb since so many people are attempting and reaching the summit every year. I can tell you the acclimatization to 5,200m was very tough.

18. Tibet facts – Speed limits

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking.

We regularly saw cars stopped in the middle of the road. The Chinese authorities control speed limits in a very comical and questionable way: By putting road controls and checking how long it took you to get from one to the next. The speed limits on the road are low, about 35 km/h for many roads, making the trips longer than they should take given the great infrastructure. I already discussed before that the tourism vehicles cannot surpass the speed limit and if you do, the driver gets an announcement through the radio system. But, in addition, most roads have controls. You will get a stamp on a paper with the time you crossed the previous one and the policeman will check that it took you the stipulated amount of time to cover the distance. This was not an issue for us because we were not in a rush and were making plenty of photo stops. But the locals had to stop by the side of the road to waste some time before going through controls or speed cameras.

Tibet Awareness – Unequal Yoking.

 

DOOMED AMERICAN CHINA FANTASY – CIA’S UNFINISHED WAR IN ASIA

DOOMED AMERICAN CHINA FANTASY – CIA’S UNFINISHED WAR IN ASIA

DOOMED AMERICAN CHINA FANTASY – CIA’S UNFINISHED WAR IN ASIA.

I speak of Doomed American China Fantasy in context of ‘The Cold War in Asia’ introduced by spread of Communism from Soviet Union to China.

Doomed American China Fantasy – CIA’s Unfinished War in Asia.

On January 01, 1949, People’s Republic of China posed a lesser threat as compared to today. Most surprisingly, the United States refused to learn from conflicts in Korea and Vietnam. Bumbling United States has yet to review fate of CIA’s Unfinished War in Asia.

Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada

DOOM DOOMA DOOMSAYER

BUMBLING Ex-CIA OFFICER CHARGED WITH SELLING SECRETS TO CHINA

Doomed American China Fantasy – CIA’s Unfinished War in Asia. McLean Building n Virginia.

Clipped from: http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/23/bumbling-ex-cia-officer-charged-for-selling-secrets-to-china/

A prestigious Chinese think tank provided cover for the intelligence operation that ensnared Kevin Mallory.

  • By Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian. Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian is an assistant editor at Foreign Policy. She spent four years in China before joining Foreign Policy and holds a master’s degree in East Asian studies from Yale University., Elias Groll. Elias Groll is a staff writer at Foreign Policy, covering cyberspace and its conflicts and controversies. He has written for the magazine since 2012 and is a graduate of Harvard University.
  • June 23, 2017

Doomed American China Fantasy – CIA’s Unfinished War in Asia.

Caught with a bag of cash and an electronic device used to communicate with his handlers, a former government official with years of military and intelligence experience is accused of spying for China.

Kevin Mallory of Leesburg, Virginia is charged with providing defense-related information to a foreign government and lying to federal agents.

Mallory allegedly provided several classified government documents to a Chinese contact, who initially claimed affiliation with a prestigious Shanghai think tank, in exchange for cash. Documents filed by federal prosecutors depict Mallory, an experienced Chinese-speaking former operative, as a bumbling spy who executed his treason clumsily.

Mallory’s career spanned decades and multiple government agencies. After graduating from Brigham Young University in 1981, he served as active duty military and then an Army reservist for several years. From 1987 to 2013, he worked for different government agencies and U.S. defense contractors — as well as the CIA, according to a report in the Washington Post. He held a top secret security clearance for much of that time and was posted to regions including Iraq, China, and Taiwan.

It was only this year that Mallory allegedly began to stray from the straight and narrow, according to court documents. A Chinese handler posing as an employee of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS) made contact with Mallory during trips to China in March and April.

The SASS is a reputable and internationally known think tank. But it also maintains a close working relationship with the Shanghai State Security Bureau, a regional office of the Ministry of State Security, China’s intelligence arm.

In the following weeks, Mallory allegedly provided classified documents to Chinese intelligence officials in exchange for $25,000.

The FBI’s affidavit describing Mallory’s espionage activity appears to indicate that the former CIA officer tried to cover up his crimes. After he was stopped at Chicago’s O’Hare airport returning from Shanghai with $16,500 in undeclared cash in one of his bags, Mallory approached American intelligence agencies to describe his meetings in Shanghai with individuals he described as Chinese intelligence officers.

Having been caught with a payment that investigators believe was in exchange for classified government information, Mallory disclosed his contacts with the Chinese intelligence officers and may have offered his services as a double agent in order to conceal his alleged espionage on behalf of Beijing. The FBI affidavit never claims he offered to serve as a double agent, but in approaching an unspecified government agency with a communications device provided to him by the Chinese, Mallory appears to have made an overture to an American intelligence agency.

“He had a security clearance, he had apparently also worked at CIA, so he knew what he was doing,” said Peter Mattis “He had a security clearance, he had apparently also worked at CIA, so he knew what he was doing,” said Peter Mattis, a former government analyst and now a fellow at the Jamestown Foundation’s China Program.

But then Mallory made what Mattis called a “stupid mistake.”

The FBI affidavit filed in a Virginia federal court this week paints a picture of extraordinary technical incompetence by Mallory and his alleged Chinese handlers. Mallory’s Chinese contacts supplied him with a communications device — likely a smart phone — to exchange messages and allegedly transfer classified documents.

In a May 24 meeting with FBI agents, Mallory showed off the device and demonstrated how to move from a “normal” to “secure” messaging mode. When he toggled over to the secure mode, he was surprised to find that it displayed a history of his secure messages. Mallory seems to have assumed they would be deleted.

Mallory voluntarily turned the device over to the bureau for a forensic analysis. When the bureau’s technical experts dug into it, they were able to recover additional secure messages exchanged between Mallory and his Chinese contacts.

In an exchange of messages on May 3, 2017, Mallory’s handler asked why the documents had been blacked out at the top and bottom. “The black was to cross out the security classification (TOP SECRET//ORCON//,” Mallory replied. “I had to get it out without the chance of discovery. Unless read in detail, it appeared like a simple note.”

Two days later, Mallory discussed his motives with his handler: “Your object is to gain information, and my object is to be paid.” Two days later, Mallory discussed his motives with his handler: “Your object is to gain information, and my object is to be paid.” His handler replied: “My current object is to make sure your security and try to reimburse you.”

The FBI analysis also discovered four documents on the phone, three of which are described in court documents as government materials. One is top secret; the other two are classified as secret. The affidavit provides no hint as to what the documents contain.

Mattis told Foreign Policy that the “scope, scale and potential impact of Chinese intelligence operations” has been of primary concern to U.S. national security agencies for years.

Chinese think tanks, including SASS, often work closely with the Ministry of State Security. China’s spy arm prefers to meet sources inside China, and social science academies provide a useful front for intelligence and influence operations.

“Chinese think tanks can be used to invite someone over who is either a person of interest or a source,” said Mattis. “That person comes over and gives a talk, and they’ll be met and have meetings with the local state security element or the People’s Liberation Army.”

But some intelligence-linked Chinese think tanks also maintain a known presence in Washington. One of those is the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, which bills itself as a “comprehensive research institution” but which is also an official numbered bureau of the Ministry of State Security, functioning rather like the CIA’s Open Source Center.

The institute actively engages in the Washington think tank ecosystem and also invites U.S. officials and academics for events in Beijing. The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonpartisan Washington think tank, has co-hosted numerous cybersecurity dialogues with the Chinese institute in recent years.

For more than two decades, the institute has sent a fellow to Washington, who stays for a year or two, according to Mattis. “I guess some people find value in talking with them,” he said. “I have mixed feelings on that score.”

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

Doomed American China Fantasy – CIA’s Unfinished War in Asia.

Doomed American China Fantasy – CIA’s Unfinished War in Asia.

Doomed American China Fantasy – The Presidential Daily Briefing on CIA’s Unfinished War in Asia.

Doomed American China Fantasy – Unchanging Communist Party in China from 1949 to 2017. CIA’s Unfinished War in Asia.

Doomed American China Fantasy. CIA’s Unfinished War in Asia.