China on Friday operationalised its first fully electrified bullet train in the remote Himalayan region of Tibet, connecting the provincial capital Lhasa and Nyingchi, a strategically located Tibetan border town close to Arunachal Pradesh.
A heavy rain Sunday morning did little to dispirit the thousands who gathered in the main courtyard of Tsuglagkhang, the Dalai Lama temple, to observe the 90th birth anniversary of the 14th Dalai Lama.
China, which is building numerous villages in Tibet close to its borders with India and Bhutan, has held several celebratory events to mark its takeover of Tibet in the new border villages with a mix of border troops and the local population, the official media in Beijing reported.
The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in Tibet, will resume on June 30 after a five-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The yatra will be conducted in five groups of 50 people each, with the first group entering China via Lipulekh Pass on July 10 and the last group departing on August 22. The pilgrimage, which holds great religious significance for Hindus, involves circumambulating Mount Kailash and taking a bath in Lake Manasarovar, believed to be the abode of Lord Shiva.
Gere accused China of 'cruelty, collective violence and persecution' of the Tibetan people, whom he said were repressed by a 'pervasive surveillance system.'
'China has thus far been cautious, emphasising its focus on development rather than weaponising water resources.'
One priority for Delhi (for the new foreign secretary in particular) is to have an in-depth discussion with Dharamsala as soon as possible, suggests Claude Arpi.
Chinese nuclearisation of Tibet endangering ecosystem, says new book
The Dalai Lama addressed rumors about his successor, stating he intends to live for another 30-40 years to serve people. He spoke at a long life prayer ceremony ahead of his 90th birthday.
'China did not expect India to show such strategic resolve in defending its territorial integrity.'
Doval is in Beijing for the 23rd round of the Special Representatives' talks being held after a gap of five years.
'The logical step is to challenge the very legitimacy of the Chinese claim over Tibet,' recommends Inspector General Gurdip Singh Uban (retd).
Xi's visit to Nyingchi, bordering Arunachal Pradesh, signals China's opening of another front to India in the eastern sector, observes Srikanth Kondapalli, the leading China expert.
China is acutely conscious of the need for the next Dalai Lama to be under its control. It was for this reason that China recently stressed their claim on Arunachal Pradesh. There were rumours that the next Dalai Lama may be found in Tawang. If that happens, India-China relations will become tense and there may be demands for the child to be handed over to the Chinese, points out Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
China on Tuesday accused the Dalai Lama of "masterminding" the self-immolation bid by a Tibetan activist in New Delhi ahead of the visit of President Hu Jintao to attract world attention on Tibet independence.
Tibetan Prime Minister-in-exile Lobsang Sangay has said that China's repression in Tibet is getting worse by each passing day.
China, which claims Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet, routinely objects to Indian leaders' visits to the state to highlight its claims. Beijing has also named the area Zangnan.
Many people believe that India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru made a blunder when he recognised China's sovereignty over Tibet but he did what he thought was best for his country, said the president of the Tibetan government in exile.
Though Beijing asserts the Dalai Lama's successor needs its approval, observers say it remains concerned as the present Panchen Lama, the number two spiritual leader who was appointed by it after unseating the boy nominated by the Dalai Lama, has not gained much traction in Tibet.
China on Thursday appreciated the stand of the Indian government, recognising the Tibet autonomous region as an integral part of China, and New Delhi's assurance that it will not allow 'Tibetan separatist' activities in the country."The Indian government has said that the Tibet Autonomous Region is an integral part of Chinese territory and that they do not allow Tibetan separatist activities in India. We express our appreciation to the Indian side," said a Chinese spokesperso
China on Thursday said it 'firmly opposes' the United States recognition of Arunachal Pradesh as part of Indian territory and affirmed that Washington, DC has nothing to do with the India-China border dispute.
Addressing his first press conference in Mcleodganj, Himachal Pradesh, in the wake of the violence in the Tibetan capital since Friday, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader felt said that India has a few limitations as far as China is concerned and was 'too cautious' on the Tibet issue. The Indian government, the 73-year-old monk said, had 'hostile views' on certain actions of Tibetans but 'we should not pick up one particular incident'.
...with extravagant claims in both the eastern and western sectors, observes Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad, as India is fixated on asserting its border claims based on the McMahon Line.
Wang Junzheng, Tibet's new Communist party boss, is on a number of sanctions lists by the US, Britain, the EU and Canada, for his tough role in Xinjiang, aimed at China's Uyghur ethnic minority, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the retired senior RA&W officer and distinguished China expert.
The Daily Express quoted Tan Lin, an official with the business administration office at the Tourism Bureau of Tibet, as saying that foreign tourists would be banned from entering Tibet, but added that those who have already arrived would be allowed to stay.
If the effort of bidding and conducting Olympics is to showcase China's rise to the world, popular indictments at the global and Tibetan levels have unnerved Beijing. For so long Tibet is considered to be the minimalist foreign policy position for China, while the Olympics indicated its bidding for global legitimacy for its policies.
China on Friday inaugurated its second railway line in Tibet, built at a cost of $2.16 billion, close to Indian border in Sikkim, enhancing mobility of its military in the remote and strategic Himalayan region.
Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo spoke to India's National Security Adviser M K Narayanan over phone and briefed him on the 'violent crimes' in Lhasa and 'expounded' China's stance on and concerns over the Tibet issue. Narayanan stated that Tibet was part of the Chinese territory and that India does not allow Tibetans to conduct 'anti-China political activities' in the country, official Xinhua news agency said.
India on Tuesday outrightly rejected as 'senseless' China renaming some places in Arunachal Pradesh, and asserted that assigning 'invented' names does not alter the reality that the state 'is, has been, and will always be' an integral part of India.
The Games will also include five competitors from China's western Xinjiang region, media there reported, including two ethnic Kazakhs, one Uyghur, one Kyrgyz and one from China's Han majority.
And while delegates from all over China attended the National People's Congress, all eyes were on one man, the anointed-by-personal-diktat ruler for life, Xi Jinping.
Lieutenant General Shakti Gurung deserves to be complimented in telling his life story and that of his people, as subaltern communities within this vast and diverse nation of ours clamour for recognition and a plea for their voices to be heard and their aspirations to be met, notes Lieutenant General Gautam Moorthy.
The people who know Tibet will continue to fight the good fight. Long, hard, less than hopeful, but always peaceful.
US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Monday held their first in-person meeting in Bali, with both leaders underscoring the need to manage their differences and prevent a conflict, amid Beijing's coercive military posturing against Taiwan and in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.
Undeterred by the strong protest lodged by Beijing on a Tibet resolution introduced in the United States Congress, the American lawmakers have said that China is not serious in resolving the Tibet dispute.
"Repeating baseless arguments in this regard does not lend such claims any validity. Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always be an integral and inalienable part of India. Its people will continue to benefit from our development programmes and infrastructure projects," he said.
"We are alarmed by recent incidents in Tibet of young people lighting themselves on fire in desperate acts of protest, as well as the continued house arrest of the Chinese lawyer Chen Guangcheng," Clinton said in her remarks at the East-West Centre in Honolulu, Hawaii.
India was fooled into believing that Communist China wanted a 'negotiated' settlement with the Tibetans; it was never the case, says Claude Arpi.
He claimed China has a policy of keeping "hot spots like Taiwan, South China Sea and Tawang burning" in order to divert attention to its own failings.
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