Dalai Lama denies saying 140 Tibetans feared shot in western China

Friday 22nd August, 05:00 PM JST

BEIJING —

Tibetan government-in-exile officials have denied that the Dalai Lama said 140 people may have been killed after Chinese troops allegedly opened fire on a crowd of ethnic Tibetans in western China earlier this week. The Dalai Lama’s office released a statement saying he had been misquoted in an interview French newspaper Le Monde published Thursday. Le Monde quoted the Tibetan spiritual leader as saying Chinese troops had opened fire on a demonstration in an ethnic Tibetan area of Sichuan Province on Monday and added there were unconfirmed reports that 140 people had been killed. The statement that the Dalai Lama’s representatives accompanying him on a visit to France released late Thursday said the Tibetan spiritual leader had responded in the interview to a question about an alleged shooting incident, but he gave no information about casualties. ‘‘In this particular interview His Holiness said, ‘We just heard that, but (there is) no possibility to cross-check. So I don’t know,’‘’ the statement added.

Tibetan government-in-exile officials in India told Kyodo News late Thursday that they were investigating reports of a possible shooting incident earlier in the week, but gave no details. A researcher for the Free Tibet Campaign, also based in Dharamsala, northern India, said neither he nor any of his contacts in the Tibetan community-in-exile had heard reports of any shootings in Sichuan on Monday. Matt Whitticase, a spokesman for the Free Tibet Campaign based in London, said that after the security crackdown following rioting and antigovernment protests earlier this year it is extremely difficult to obtain accurate, independent information from ethnic Tibetan areas in Tibet and western China. ‘‘Free Tibet Campaign and other Tibet groups have not been able to contact their own sources in Kandze and Kham for several weeks now,’’ he said. ‘‘But we do know there have been huge troop buildups in the area as well as a publicized purge of monasteries in the Kandze Tibetan autonomous prefecture.’’

Kyodo

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12 Comments

reddragonguy at 07:51 PM JST - 22nd August

Dali Lamma,Le Monde, CNN,BBC they are all big liars, the student nof Joseph Gobbels! Tibet is an independent country was a myth fabricated with political motives!
marchhare at 08:11 PM JST - 22nd August

Dali Lamma, CNN, BBC they are all big liars.

Look who's talking. The citizen of a state where "Press Freedom Policies" are as valuable as a toilet paper. No criticism against the state is the religion there.
Betzee at 09:21 PM JST - 22nd August

The Dalai Lama, though a beloved figure in the West, has become somewhat irrelevant to young Tibetans and their struggle. His type of non-violence is of the mind over matter variety, not particularly useful to those who want to use non-violence as a weapon to confront, rather than seek accommodation with, state power.

Beijing no doubt will keep claiming "foreign influence" as the source of unrest. Yet compared to some of the home-grown trouble-makers, the Dalai Lama is a consummate gentleman and the CCP-government would be well advised to accord him some respect.
Betzee at 09:45 PM JST - 22nd August

The "mind over matter" type of non-violence certainly has value. The Japanese film-maker Makoto Sasa showcases it in her excellent documentary Fire Under the Snow about Palden Gyatso, a Tibetan monk now living in exile who suffered three decades of torture and abuse in Chinese prisons.

But as a form of political engagement it does little to advance the Tibetan cause. By contrast televised images of the monk who committed self-immolation in Saigon in 1963 played a large role in the decision of Washington to withdraw its support for the Diem regime.

Monks in Burma are in the forefront of the democracy movement. This is partly a tactical move; most soldiers will think twice about opening fire on a monk because it almost certainly consigns them to rebirth as an animal, not a human. Few in the Chinese PLA are Buddhists, of course, so such considerations are not in play.
SushiSake3 at 10:28 PM JST - 22nd August

One of the biggest problems with China today is its complete failure to recognize Tibet as an independant nation, which of course it is.
SushiSake3 at 10:29 PM JST - 22nd August

I would even go as far as to say that the notion that Tibet is NOT an independant nation is a corrupt idea bred by power-hungry young people who are incapable of independant thought, but that's just my view.
tclh at 11:19 PM JST - 22nd August

While no person in the world really wants turmoils, chaos in China for fear of creating far too many refugees, but it seems clearer and clearer by the day that peaceful talk alone will never get the Dalai Lama anywhere near he wants to go( meaningful autonomy for Tibet). On the other hand, China is not confident enough to relax on Tibet because it fears that others(Xinjiang,Taiwan) will learn from that example and demanding or declaring independence, and China will fall apart quite easily.My guess is that while the world continues to do the roaring trade with China, China can just simply ignore outside pressure on Tibet /free speech.
marchhare at 11:42 PM JST - 22nd August

China (on Taiwan, Tibet) and Russia (on Georgia, Ukraine ) should learn their lessons by now. You cannot defy people's "will" forever.
skipthesong at 01:31 PM JST - 23rd August

sushi, I have respect for you I do. But your statement, the notion that Tibet is NOT an independant nation is a corrupt idea bred by power-hungry young people who are incapable of independant thought, but that's just my view." Yes its your view, but its also your political agenda.

Since man started grouping himself together, he has always sought to expand his domain. No?
What if being part of a larger nation is better for you? What about historical events, such as the Civil War, surely you wouldn't want confeds running the US show, would you?

There are people in New Jersey, who feel they should separate from from the US, New Hampshire too.. are we just supposed to jump up and give support?
reddragonguy at 08:14 PM JST - 24th August

Tibet has Chinese everwhere the tibetan pleateau will be assimilated and absorbed finally. China wont gives a care to the wesy\t and they have no cards to make China to stop this! Chinese were in Tibet every single inch, the idea of an idependent was extinct!Take a look at what is real!
Jyan_Bon at 12:42 AM JST - 26th August

I believe in Dalai Lama who holds much higher MORAL principles than CHINESE leaders. The last 50 years is the PROOF. Many Chinese citizens I know LOATHE their leaders.
marchhare at 06:36 PM JST - 27th August

reddragonguy, If Chinese were there in millions, in every single inch , does it mean that land belongs to the Chinese? Then, What about Upper Burma (Bhamo, Myitkyinar ,Mandalay etc.) where millions of Chinese have seeped into the country illegally for a century or more? Does Upper Burma belongs to Chinese?