China on Thursday sharply criticised US special coordinator for Tibetan issues Uzra Zeya's meeting with the Dalai Lama and her visit to Dharamshala, saying it violated Washington's commitment that Tibet is part of China and it does not support Tibetan separatists.
A police officer was killed in fresh violence in Sichuan province near Tibet, China said on Tuesday as it struggled to quell the fortnight-long pro-independence protests. Armed with knives and stones, a mob attacked the police officers in Garze prefecture on Monday, killing one of them on the spot and injuring several others, a local official said. China's Minister for Public Security Meng Jianzhu, during his Lhasa visit, vowed stricter management of Buddhist monasteries.
The Chinese government has ordered security forces in Tibet to crush any signs of support for the Dalai Lama, as the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan spiritual leader's escape to India draws near.
"We hope that India will proceed from the overall interest of our bilateral relations and honour its commitment," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news briefing when asked if Beijing was satisfied with the Indian government's handling of protests by Tibetans. Qin said no country in the world had recognised Tibet as an independent country and, since ancient times, it had been an inalienable part of China.
The 7.9 Richter Scale temblor that struck Nepal on Saturday also affected parts of Tibet. The two border ports to Nepal were seriously affected.
US Special Coordinator for Tibetan issues Uzra Zeya will travel to India and Nepal this week to deepen cooperation on human rights and democratic governance goals with the two nations, the state department has announced.
No fresh outbreak of violence was reported by authorities in Lhasa, which came under the vice-like grip of security forces after Friday's orgy of violence saw marauding mobs torching buildings and police and private vehicles, and loot banks and shops. However, spontaneous demonstrations continued elsewhere in China with at least three Tibetan protesters killed in clashes in a Tibetan-populated district of Sichuan province in southwest China, rights groups said.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing that "the Indian side should fully recognise the anti-China separatist nature of the 14th Dalai Lama."
The earthquake damaged houses, roads, as well as other infrastructures, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted eyewitnesses from the area as saying.
Since Tibet's occupation, China has disrupted the natural flow of rivers by pursuing a series of ill-conceived environmental and developmental policies such as the Great Leap Forward, the South-North Water Diversion Project, etc, the report said, adding that, this has led to a dam-building spree on the Tibetan plateau with disastrous impacts on Asia's major rivers.
Eight Nobel peace prize winners, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, on Tuesday asked China to end its 'repressive' policies in Tibet and expressed their support to Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama's efforts to achieve autonomy for his homeland. The support by Nobel laureates -- Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Desmond Tutu, Rogoberta Menchu Tum, Adolfo Perez Equivel, Betty Williams and Wangari Maatai -- was contained in a signed letter
China plans to build a new highway along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India as part of Beijing's efforts to strengthen its strategic position and project its power, a media report said on Wednesday.
India on Friday strongly protested China's decision to issue invalid visas to some of its athletes for the Asian Games.
Dai Bingguo, who served as the China's boundary negotiator with India from 2003 to 2013, told Chinese media, "If the Indian side takes care of China's concerns in the eastern sector of their border, the Chinese side will respond accordingly and address India's concerns elsewhere."
India on Tuesday lodged a strong protest with China over its so called 'standard map' laying claim over Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin, and asserted that such steps only complicate the resolution of the boundary question.
Joshi's reaction came after Gandhi termed as "very serious" the issue of China releasing a "standard map" that laid claim over Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin, and claimed the neighbouring country has already taken India's land in Ladakh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should speak on the issue.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Wednesday expressed concern over China's proposed mega hydropower project on the upstream of Siang River in Tibet, stating it will have a cascading effect on India and Bangladesh in the near future.
According to the 'Military and Security Developments involving the People's Republic of China' report 2023: "Since early May 2020, sustained tensions along the India-China border have dominated the Western Theater Command's attention."
Samdong Rimpoche's visit to China materialised against the backdrop of strained India-China relations consequent to the face-off between Indian and Chinese troops at Doklam, says former RAW officer Jayadeva Ranade.
'Information about the Dalai Lama's heath is normally not shared with the public. Its release on this occasion implicitly underscores the message that the window of opportunity for Beijing to recommence the dialogue with the Dalai Lama -- an advocate of non-violence -- to resolve the contentious Tibetan issue is limited.' says Jayadeva Ranade.
'It is flabbergasting to think that this heavenly region has, for decades, been coveted by India's aggressive neighbours,' says Claude Arpi after a recent visit to Ladakh. 'Wanting to use the newly created infrastructure to defend the borders after the clash of 2020 with China and the resulting standoffs, the home ministry is keen to boost border tourism to show that these areas are controlled by India.'
Xi Jinping's recent actions in South Asia have amply demonstrated the disastrous impact of China's embrace, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the retired senior RA&W officer and China expert.
'Three decades of intensive discussions, protocols and Confidence Building Measures were jettisoned one fine morning in 2020.' 'The primary lesson that has been learnt is that that there is no reliability about the Chinese.'
The government needs to answer the critical question of whether it has accepted any restrictions on its infrastructure creation activities, asserts Ajai Shukla.
Xi has called on Chinese border troops to enhance their capabilities in border defence and control to forge a "great wall of steel" along the country's borders, it said.
Taking serious note of protests by Tibetans in India during the visit of President Hu Jintao, China on Thursday said Tibet was an "integral part" of its territory and the region's affairs were an "internal matter".
'In the short term the relationship will get worse.'
"We accept India as a land of Buddha," he said, adding that he had no regret for not getting an opportunity to return to Tibet.
In Tibet, the people's frustration with their colonial masters has reached the extreme, international silence is too loud, says Vijay Kranti
In Tokyo, hundreds of Japanese citizens came out on the streets to express solidarity with the oppressed people of Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Self-immolation by six Tibetans, including three teenage monks, protesting Chinese rule in Tibet continued to haunt China as Communist Party leaders on Thursday began a key meeting where Panchen Lama, projected by Beijing as the rival to the Dalai Lama, was given prominence.
Rebuffing the Dalai Lama's remarks that there were "encouraging signs" about China changing its attitude towards Tibet, a top Chinese official has said there would be no breakthrough in talks until the Tibetan spiritual leader changed his stand on "some fundamental issues".
'Unless India ups the ante, Beijing will continue to believe its transgressions are cost free and will feel encouraged to do more of the same.'
Accusing China of creating "hell on earth" in Tibet by launching a "brutal crackdown," Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama on Tuesday demanded "legitimate and meaningful" autonomy for the Himalayan plateau.
Bhutan firmly abides by the one-China principle meaning Taiwan and Tibet are part of China and stands ready to work with China for an early settlement of the boundary issue and advance the political process of establishing diplomatic relations, it said.
Gyatso had been unrecoverably ill since his release in October 2016 after serving five years in prison on a conviction for "inciting separatism."
India on Thursday strongly rejected China renaming 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh and asserted that the state has 'always been' and will 'always be' an integral part of India and that assigning 'invented' names does not alter this fact.
The question and her reply did not figure in the official transcript of the media briefing posted on the Chinese foreign ministry website hours later.
The Chinese inference is that if the Chinese visa is embossed on an Indian passport, held by Indian citizens from Arunachal Pradesh, it may be tantamount to recognising Indian sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh, states Rup Narayan Das.