Group: China cops beat Tibet monk as he burns
In this photo taken Feb. 7, 2012, Tibetan monks perform a religious ceremony at a monastery in Jiuzhaigou, in northwestern China's Sichuan province. / AP
BEIJING - A Tibetan monk set himself on fire in western China and was beaten by security forces as they put out the flames, a rights group said, marking the latest in a series of dramatic protests against China's handling of its vast Tibetan areas.
Responding to spiraling unrest in Tibetan areas, Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday defended China's policies on Tibet, saying the government respects traditional culture and freedom of religious belief. He said China has invested heavily in Tibet and will continue to do so.
He also said attempts to undermine stability by inciting monks was counter to the interests of Tibetans.
Activist groups say the self-immolations are a protest against China's policies and a call for the return of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetans' exiled spiritual leader.
Group: Tibetan sets herself on fire in protest
The Chinese government has condemned the self-immolations and says an upsurge in violence in Tibetan areas, including some deadly clashes between Tibetan protesters and security forces, are being instigated by forces outside the country wanting to separate Tibet from China.
"Any attempt to incite a small number of monks to take radical moves to undermine stability in the Tibet Autonomous Region is not in the interest of development in Tibet or the interests of the people living in Tibet," Wen told reporters at a joint press conference with visiting leaders from the European Union. "Such attempts can have no popular support."
While Wen focused his comments on Tibet, much of the recent unrest has occurred in adjoining provinces with large Tibetan populations, particularly Sichuan.
In Sichuan's Aba prefecture on Monday afternoon, Lobsang Gyatso, a 19-year-old monk from the Kirti monastery set himself ablaze on the main street, the London-based International Campaign for Tibet said.
Security forces beat Gyatso while extinguishing the flames, then took him away, the group said in an online statement posted late Monday. It was not immediately clear whether he survived.
Two Tibetans who tried to help Gyatso were severely beaten by police, ICT's statement said.
The official Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday also reported the immolation, identifying the monk as 18-year-old Losang Gyatso. It said "police rushed to put out the fire and sent him to a local hospital," citing a spokesman for the county government whose name was not provided. It gave no information about his condition.
Aba prefecture has been the scene of numerous protests over the past several years against the Chinese government. Most are led by monks who are fiercely loyal to Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled the Himalayan region in 1959 amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule and is reviled by Beijing.
According to ICT, 20 Tibetan monks, nuns and laypeople have set themselves on fire in China over the past year, with at least 13 dying from their injuries. The self-immolations have occurred with increasing frequency in recent weeks, and most have taken place in Sichuan's remote and mountainous Tibetan areas.
An official with the local Communist Party's propaganda department in Aba said he was unaware of the latest case. He referred media to China's official Xinhua News Agency or the Foreign Ministry for reports about self-immolations, saying that only they were authorized to release such news.
Like many Chinese bureaucrats, the official would give only his surname, Bai.
A duty officer with the Foreign Ministry said she would look into it but had no immediate information to share.
Western reporters trying to visit that part of Sichuan have been turned away by security forces.
China says Tibet has always been part of its territory, but many Tibetans say the region was virtually independent for centuries and that Beijing's control is draining Tibetan culture.
Another overseas rights group, Free Tibet, said in a statement late Monday that around 200 Tibetans protested in a public square in neighboring Qinghai province's Yushu prefecture on Saturday and were surrounded by security forces, with some protesters reportedly detained. A second protest followed on Sunday, and Free Tibet quoted locals it did not identify as saying the situation in the town was very tense.
U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia said Tuesday that a 21-year-old Tibetan, Tashi Palden, was detained in Sichuan's Ganzi prefecture on Saturday after a poster appeared on the wall of a local police station warning that three Tibetans were preparing to self-immolate. It didn't say if Palden was suspected of putting up the poster. RFA said he was detained while shouting slogans in the town center calling for Tibetan independence.
The broadcaster cited local sources in Ganzi who spoke on condition of anonymity.
RFA also said an advocate of Tibetan songs and other traditional culture who worked as a civil servant in Tibet's Naqu prefecture was detained by police last week, citing a source inside Tibet who spoke on condition of anonymity. The broadcaster said Dawa Dorje was detained upon return to Tibet from Sichuan, where he urged a conference of singers to promote Tibetan language and culture through their music.
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1. The *current* Dalai Lama may be a really nice guy, but his predecessors were NOT. Religious rule is just as horrible as Chinese rule. At least under Chinese rule, the people will have a chance at prosperity. You had NO chance at prosperity under the Dalai Lama unless you were born into it. Maybe getting booted out taught them the lessons of humility that they failed to learn a few thousand years earlier.
2. Tibet is a dirt-poor region that borders several nations China would just assume keep well separated from themselves, and Tibet serves that purpose quite nicely. We weren't too kind to the Native Americans when *we* moved in, so by contrast, China is being rather saintly about it.
3. China should hold on to Tibet and make them a part of China, but beating a monk who's on fire? Seriously??? Dick move, guys.
You want to support the a state that entirely subrogates another country/culture? That supports slave labor and child labor? That enforces 60+ hour workweeks at minimal wages and dangerous work conditions while ruining the environment? That skins dogs alive for their fur, and kills people they don't like (e.g., certain Buddhist sects) to harvest organs for transplants? All you have to do to participate in all that is buy Chinese goods.
China rules, America drools.
They are sworn enemies of this country. It should never have had the privledge of such a standing.
Mexico has the same status, yet we treat their people here as invaders, when we should be welcoming them as tax paying residents.
They cannot believe a foreign nation away.
It takes the reality of war, a superior fighting force, and the will to use it.
A nation not willing to do such, is not a nation.
Your logic defeats me. What nonsense.
Try - Peaceful neighboring country is invaded by hostile Tyrant. Its not the fault of the peaceful country, its the fault of the invader.