Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Navigation
Primary Navigation
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Top Stories
Most Popular
Secondary Navigation
Australia
China
India
Indonesia
Japan
Malaysia
Philippines
Thailand
Vietnam
Search
Search:
Tibet movement takes a stop-gap remedy for dissent
AFP - 2 hours 33 minutes ago
NEW DELHI (AFP) - - A gathering of leading Tibetan exiles last week witnessed a rare debate on the future of their movement, but failed to bring the dream of a free Tibet any closer to reality, analysts say.
The unprecedented conclave in the exiles' Indian base of Dharamshala wound up on Saturday with the nearly 600 delegates backing the Dalai Lama's long-standing policy of seeking autonomy, rather than independence, from China.
If that was a victory for Tibet's spiritual leader, it was one that will cause few sleepless nights for the Chinese authorities, according to Barry Sautman, a Tibet expert at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
"It's all words in the air to them," Sautman told AFP. "As far as they're concerned, the exiles can huff and puff all they like, but they're blowing no one's house down.
"The bottom line is still the same: Unless China suddenly collapses, Tibet will not be independent, nor will it be granted any meaningful autonomy on a par, say, with Hong Kong," Sautman said.
The week-long Dharamshala meet had been presented as an opportunity for younger, more radical Tibetan exiles to voice their frustration with the Dalai Lama's "middle way" of seeking concessions from Beijing through talks.
Their voices were not only heard but also credited in the conclave's final report which noted the "strongly expressed" views of those who insisted that complete independence should be pursued if existing policy continued to yield no results.
The pro-independence Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) took this as tacit admission that the "middle way" was making no headway.
"It is a gradual shift that has come from a collective, democratic set-up," said TYC vice president Dhondup Dorjee.
"This was a good beginning at a critical time," Dorjee said.
Srikanth Kondapalli, a Tibet analyst at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said he had been "impressed" by the level of open debate in Dharamshala which he stressed was unprecedented in Tibetan history.
While extremely pessimistic of any concrete results emerging from further talks with China, Kondapalli said he was optimistic about the health of the Tibet movement.
"China would like the movement to become more extreme so that they can denigrate it in the eyes of the international community. In that sense, Beijing might be disappointed with the outcome in Dharamshala," he said.
The Chinese government has always vilified the Dalai Lama as a scheming separatist with a covert independence agenda supported by a clique of like-minded advisers.
Most analysts agreed that the 73-year-old Tibetan leader, who fled Tibet in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule, had been strengthened by the conclave which reaffirmed his core role in the leadership of the Tibetan movement.
"It was a strategic move," Dibyesh Anand, a Tibet expert at Westminster University in London, said of the decision to call the meeting in the first place.
According to Anand, the Dalai Lama had registered the growing sense of frustration within the Tibetan community and the need to provide it with an outlet before it boiled over untended.
"He knows he must do his best to secure the future stability of the Tibetan movement before he dies or has to step down," Anand said.
Whether his position was strengthened by the meeting or not, the Dalai Lama must now return to the challenge that he has struggled with for decades for so little reward.
His options appear as limited as ever, faced with an implacably intransigent government in Beijing and an international community which, while sympathetic, remains extremely wary of expressions of support that might anger China.
"A lot will depend, as it always has, on what happens inside Tibet itself," said Martin Mills from Aberdeen University.
In March, protests against Chinese rule in the capital, Lhasa, erupted into violence that spread to other areas of western China with Tibetan populations.
Tibet's government-in-exile said more than 200 Tibetans were killed in a subsequent Chinese crackdown.
"Events in Tibet tend to drive the issue and serious unrest in the future could bring new factors into play, especially with a new president in the White House," Mills said.
Email Story
IM Story
Printable View
Blog This
Recommend this article
Average (0 votes)
Sign in to recommend this article »
Most Recommended Stories »
Related Articles: Asia Pacific
Banker released on bail in Taiwan: prosecutorsAFP - 48 minutes ago
SKorea activists say will not suspend anti-Pyongyang leaflets:AFP - 52 minutes ago
More lay—offs in Q109 but contract work opportunities to rise, recruiters sayChannel NewsAsia - 55 minutes ago
Tamil Tiger chief to issue rallying call as fiefdom crumblesAFP - 1 hour 15 minutes ago
Asian Wall Street Journal fined S$25,000 for contempt of courtChannel NewsAsia - 1 hour 20 minutes ago
Enlarge Photo
Tibet movement takes a stop-gap remedy for dissent
Most Popular – Asia Pacific
Viewed
Massive 300-billion dollar rescue for Citigroup
Obama plans second stimulus package of up to 700 bln dlrs: report
Michael Jackson strikes 'amicable' deal with Arab sheikh
Standard Chartered to raise $2.66 billion in rights issue
Over 200 narwhal trapped in Canadian ice
View Complete List »
Search:
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Top Stories
Most Popular