TOURISM IN TIBET | OCCUPATION IS NO VACATION

In November 2010, the St. Regis Lhasa Resort opened its doors to guests, boasting 200 luxury rooms, an on-site butler, a spa, numerous restaurants, and countless amenities. This would be considered luxurious in anyplace but in Tibet, a formally independent country occupied by China in 1949. Occupation is no vacation and tourist operators need to understand that business in Tibet is not business as usual.

Under Chinese occupation, Tibetans’ basic human rights are regularly violated, including their internationally recognized right to control their own land and resources. Since 1999, the Chinese government has pursued its “Western Development Plan,” encouraging large-scale migration of Chinese settlers into Tibet and extending business opportunities to foreign companies. This plan is intended to help China consolidate control over Tibet and attract foreign direct investment to finance its occupation.

The operation of the St. Regis Lhasa could exacerbate the abuses that Tibetans face unless immediate measures are taken to ensure business is conducted in compliance with their needs and interests.

Students for a Free Tibet has contacted the CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Fritz van Paasschen, and the owners of  the St. Regis property with our concerns. We requested more information on the St. Regis Lhasa’s operation to determine if this luxury hotel could truly be part of the solution in empowering Tibetans in Tibet, rather than part of the problem in contributing to their further marginalization under Chinese rule.

Discrimination and intimidation tactics on the part of Chinese officials has made it increasingly difficult for Tibetan guides and tour operators to compete with Chinese businesses. In 2010, Dorje Tashi, a successful Tibetan hotelier, was sentenced to life imprisonment following a closed-door trial. Chinese authorities have yet to publicly release the details of his alleged crimes. No tourist operator should collaborate with the Chinese government in repressing the basic rights of Tibetans – or others – and Starwood’s executives need to think carefully about the implications operating in a conflict zone could have on their brand name and corporate reputation – especially in the event of another popular uprising in Tibet.

Economic development that brings an end to the decades of marginalization and repression suffered at the hands of the Chinese government and respects their right to control this development is welcomed by Tibetans. However, businesses that fail to both address the deep-seated inequalities Tibetans face under Chinese occupation and respect Tibetans’ political, cultural, and religious rights, will only intensify the injustices that Tibetans suffer. The Holiday Inn, British Petroleum, and KFC are amongst the corporations that have canceled their business plans or withdrawn from Tibet after facing intense public campaigns from Tibetan rights organizations.

We hope Starwood and the St. Regis owners’ will do the right thing.

 

Read More:

Tibetans Target Starwoods AGM Over New St. Regis in Lhasa

http://blog.studentsforafreetibet.org/2011/05/tibetans-target-starwoods-agm-over-new-st-regis-in-lhasa/

A Joint Open Letter to Investors of IHG from Free Tibet Campaign and Students for a Free Tibet:
http://www.freetibet.org/campaigns/letter

Tibetans and Tibet Supporters Target InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG)’s AGM

Read more about this effort led by Free Tibet Campaign:

http://freetibet.org/campaigns/no-intercontinental-tibet
http://www.freetibet.org/campaigns/occupation
http://www.freetibet.org/campaigns/resources
http://www.freetibet.org/campaigns/social-responsibility

 

Students for a Free Tibet Japan Protests Hu Jintao

Update from SFT Japan’s Director Tsering Dorjee:

On 13th November 2010, the APEC leaders gathered at Yokohama, Japan for the APEC Forum. A peace march and demonstration against China’s continued and brutal suppression of Tibet was organized by the Tibetan Community Japan with the support of Student for Free Tibet Japan.

The significant day began with speeches delivered by Zenkoji Temple Ven.Wakaomi, followed by the Vice President of the Tibetan community Ms. Dolma Tsering. In her speech, she explained the purpose of the demonstration:

“We are not here to protest against the countries participating in the APEC forum and we support a successful outcome. However, it is our appeal to the various world leaders gathered to raise the issue of human right and Tibet with China in a concrete way.”

Finally, everyone vigorously sang the Tibetan national anthem led by the Tibetan people. Makino Seishu, Japan ruling Diet member and ardent supporter of Tibet sent the following message:

“I firmly believe the core political agenda in the 21st century rests with the dilemma of human rights and poverty alleviation. With addressing and solving these issues, there will be peace in this world. And I am committed to addressing the Tibet issue in the spirit of non violence and dialogue with the people of the world. Being one of the politicians of Japan, I share my solidarity with the people protesting here today.”

The famous Japanese Alpinist Ken Noguchi also sent a message of support:

“According to China, Tibet is an internal problem and China always warns to other countries not to intervene in China’s internal affair. Until now, many Tibetan have been jailed, tortured and killed. Is this act of brutality not a human rights issues rather than China’s internal affair? I think human right issues have no boundaries.”

Around 140 people joined the protest which started near the APEC venue in Goshoyama Park and passed through Isezakicho mall, ending up at Yokohama Park. SFT Japan especially emphasized the recent Chinese language policy imposed on Tibetans and designed to eradicate the Tibetan language in Tibet. The protest was covered by various Japan media, including NHK.

The main objectives of the protest were to protest China’s continued and brutal suppression of the Tibetan people and culture, including the recent decision to make Chinese language the medium of instruction in Tibetan schools in eastern Tibet, a move aimed at eradicating the foundation of Tibetan language.

Yokohama city deployed 21,000 Japan police to avoid any disruptions to the G20 Forum.

SFT Canada’s Tsering Confronts HDI/Continental Minerals’ Executives

Footage from HDI/Continental Minerals Shareholders’ meeting in Vancouver, Canada on June 24th. Tibetans and their supporters protested at the meeting to intenisfy pressure on the company to Stop Mining Tibet.

Tibet Train Carries Chinese Troops

Chinese media are reporting that the Qinghai-Tibet Railway has been carrying more Chinese troops into Tibet. This confirms that a key consequence of the railway is that the Chinese government can now more easily sustain its military occupation of Tibet.

According to the BBC:

The Xinhua news agency cited unnamed sources in the People’s Liberation Army as saying the railway would become “a main option” for transporting soldiers.

Analysts say the move is likely to fuel concerns that China is using the rail link to tighten its hold on Tibet.

This is not good news for the people of Chinese-occupied Tibet. Nor is it good news for democratic India, which China has been threatening again lately.

The Chinese government praised the railway as bringing benefits to the people of Tibet (not that the people were consulted…). It turns out, surprise surprise, that it actually helps the Chinese government consolidate its grip over Tibet. Similarly, China’s much-touted investments in Tibet generally benefit Chinese settlers and Chinese companies, and most of the money just flows right back to China.

The lesson here: when the Chinese government claims it is magnanimously helping Tibetans, we should look under the surface at how such munificence supports the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

Turning Point for Tibet?

This is an exciting time for Tibet. As the Beijing Olympics approach, it’s good to assess now and then where the Tibet movement is. More and more, the Tibet movement has been winning important victories — even as repression worsens inside Tibet.

Internationally, HH the Dalai Lama is receiving more honors than at any time since he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. This includes the US Congressional Gold Medal (America’s highest civilian award), honorary Canadian citizenship (an honor only shared with Nelson Mandela and Raoul Wallenberg), and unprecedented official meetings with the German chancellor and Canadian prime minister.

As Canada’s Globe and Mail says,

The Dalai Lama and supporters of a free Tibet have been winning a number of battles on the international stage in recent years, hoping to force the Chinese government to loosen its grip on the region ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

In similar news, over two-thirds of Canadians, according to a recent poll, now believe their government should raise the issue of Tibetan human rights and freedoms with the Chinese government, regardless of its potential impact on trade with China.

In the global media, Tibet is being discussed more and more often. The issue is frequently linked with the Beijing Olympics, and also in the context of the Chinese government’s religious repression and economic colonization there. It seems that the Chinese government’s plan to use the media around the Olympics to spotlight its claim to Tibet has backfired. After China’s entire Olympic party was spoiled by a few Tibet activists with a banner, video cameras and laptop computers, you can bet that the Chinese government is worried about what it’s brought upon itself.

Even Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian recently declared that Taiwan will support “the Tibetan people in safeguarding their fundamental human rights and fighting for their right to self-determination.”

Inside Tibet, of course, religious and political repression is getting worse (although it is sometimes hard to believe that is even possible). But brave Tibetans like Runggye Adak, and the hundreds who called for his release, continue to surprise the Chinese government by showing that Tibetans’ resistance lives on.

Tibetans should also be inspired by the dramatic protests against the military government in Burma, being led by Buddhist monks. In Tibet too, monks have been at the forefront of the freedom struggle, which is why the Chinese government has struggled so hard to control Tibetan Buddhism. But try as it might, China has failed. The Burmese protests are a reminder that repression only temporarily constrains a people’s dissatisfaction — it can never erase it. This is equally true in Tibet.

So those of us on the outside should take heart from a confluence of factors. Outside Tibet, the Tibet movement has recently been piling on victories against the Chinese government, which must be feeling its grip over Tibet is more and more assailed. Inside Tibet, the Tibetan people have shown remarkable bravery in the face of an upsurge in repression. And the inspiring example of the Burmese monks show us that even when it appears that a dictatorship has completely won, a people can shake the government to its very core. When all these factors come together, we can see real change.

Tibetan Students Used as Olympic Props

News flash: the Chinese government is using Tibetan school children as Olympic props. According to China’s official Xinhua News, 2,008 middle school students from Lhasa were made to act as “human dominos” in the shape of the Olympic rings to celebrate the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

We missed the article when it first came out, since it was overshadowed by worldwide media attention on SFT’s dramatic protests in Beijing and the Great Wall. But this is simply too outrageous to let go:

Tibet Welcomes Olympics With Domino Show (Xinhua, Aug. 9, 2007)

More than 4,000 people gathered on Wednesday at a ceremony marking the one-year countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The celebration started with a creative performance in which 2,008 middle school students from Lhasa imitated the domino effect by gently falling to the ground one after another in front of the Potala Palace, forming the pattern of the Olympic rings and the number “2008″.

[...] More than 2,000 local residents and tourists watched the performance.

[...] Song Haiyan, sales assistant at the only souvenir shop in Tibet [really the only?], said trial sales since the shop was opened a month ago has been satisfactory, and she is optimistic about future business.

The Chinese authorities exploited Tibetan middle school students as human props in their Olympic propaganda. This is a perfect example of how the Chinese government is shamelessly using the Olympics to try to legitimate its occupation of Tibet.

Tellingly, there was apparently a one-to-one ratio of performers to spectators. We can conclude that this was a carefully stage-managed event, with Tibetans only grudgingly attending. Hardly an outpouring of support. This sort of silly, melodramatic spectacle is totally alien to Tibetan culture, and is clearly dreamed up by some communist bureaucrat.

The other ironic thing is that the “sales assistant” at the souvenir shop clearly has a Chinese name. What are the chances that this shop is Chinese-owned, employs Chinese, and sells goods imported from China? Given how the Chinese government is actively encouraging ethnic Chinese to settle in Tibet for political reasons, the chances are pretty good.

Sometimes Xinhua News reveals more than it intends to.

Chinese Anti-Olympic Activist Arrested

The Chinese government, showing again how the Olympics are bringing more human rights abuses to China, has just arrested a Chinese activist for gathering over 10,000 signatures on a petition.

Land rights activist Yang Chunlin had gathered this impressive number of signatures on a petition entitled “We want human rights, not the Olympics,” according to the AP. 

Watchdog organization China Human Rights Defenders said that the case against Yang points “to the nervousness and political sensitivity with which the government views efforts to link the Olympics and human rights.”  

As the AP also notes, “Land seizures have become a particularly sensitive issue ahead of the Olympics. Some activists have accused Beijing of forcing more than 1 million people from their homes to make way for new sports venues.”

So much for the Chinese government’s promises that the Olympics will bring human rights to China (which the IOC gullibly believed or cynically parroted).  Rewarding or “engaging” the Chinese government only  makes it bolder in oppressing its own people and the people of Tibet.

Olympics-Worthy Actions?

We at SFT have said for some time that China’s occupation of Tibet makes it unworthy to host the Olympic Games. For people uninterested in Tibet per se, the Chinese government’s brutal actions there serve as a useful proxy: if it is capable of such crimes in Tibet, what does this say about its overall responsibleness?

We were therefore unsurprised to read a BBC report that the Taliban in Afghanistan are obtaining Chinese-made weapons, including “surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft guns, landmines, rocket-propelled grenades and components for roadside bombs.” (No mention of toxic toys or other dangerous Made-in-China goods.)

There is no suggestion that the Chinese government is directly selling weapons to the Taliban, but China is accused of “selling arms to Iran which Iran is then passing on to insurgent groups in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Whatever the circumstances, China has an obligation to responsibly ensure that its products do not end up in the hands of terrorist groups. Much like its obligation under international law not to use state-sanctioned violence against civilians in Tibet. Apparently, the Chinese government is not fulfilling either of these obligations.

At the same time, we were definitely not surprised that the US and German governments have accused the Chinese government of orchestrating cyber attacks against the US Defense Department and German government ministries.  (The Economist discusses this issue in depth here.)

Tibet groups, including SFT, have often been targeted by China-based hackers who are in all likelihood organized by the Chinese government. Which is why we laughed when we read the remarks of Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu, who claimed that “The Chinese government has consistently opposed and vigorously attacked according to the law all Internet-wrecking crimes, including hacking.”

Funny, Comrade Jiang, you should speak with your government’s hackers — we can provide you their IP addresses.

Whether you look at the Chinese government’s actions in Tibet, in China, or in the rest of the world, one thing is clear: that government does not deserve to host the Olympic Games.