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Updated Tuesday, March 17, 2009 5:03 pm TWN, By AUDRA ANG, AP

Bomb lobbed at police station in China's west

Beijing has said 22 people died in the rioting in Lhasa and its suburbs, and blamed the Dalai Lama, the revered Tibetan leader, and his followers for the "beating, smashing, looting and burning incidents."

It has acknowledged deaths in clashes elsewhere, but never provided a total. The Tibetan government-in-exile in India says 220 Tibetans died and nearly 7,000 were detained.

Last week, officials said they received an emergency notice from Sichuan's provincial government to seal off the town of Kangding to foreigners, the last corner of Ganzi to remain open.

It was one in a series of stringent security measures Beijing imposed while trying to head off trouble ahead of the anniversaries, including chains of checkpoints for vehicles and increased police and paramilitary patrols in towns.

So far, it appears that major demonstrations have been prevented. Small pockets of protests, however, have been reported by Tibetan rights groups in recent weeks.

Most could not be independently confirmed because communication is spotty in those areas and residents who are reached will not talk for fear of official retaliation.

The London-based Free Tibet group said Tuesday that a Tibetan monk on March 10 threw a pile of leaflets into the air and shouted "Free Tibet!" in Litang, another heavily Tibetan area in Sichuan province. The group said Lobsang Wangchuk, the 29-year-old monk, was quickly taken away by armed police to an unknown location.

Sensitivities have been heightened since the Tibetan new year, which began Feb. 25, and is traditionally a festive period that lasts about two weeks. Most Tibetans said they would unofficially boycott celebrations to honor the dead from last year's protests after the Dalai Lama said it would be "inappropriate."

The International Campaign for Tibet said Monday that more than 100 monks who protested in front of a government building on Feb. 25 were taken by authorities from their monastery in Qinghai province's Guinan county.

According to the report, which cites unidentified sources, the monks marched to county government headquarters, where they demanded the government "recognize the will of the Tibetan people" and called for the return of the Dalai Lama.

By early March, about 120 monks had been taken away for interrogation — many have been beaten, ICT said — and were put in patriotic education classes, in which they are forced to denounce the Dalai Lama.

Telephones rang unanswered in Guinan county government offices on Tuesday.

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March 18, 2009 myatthwin62@

These dirty tricks that Western countries' right wingers play on China; in a way it's an indication that China is on the rise and they fear her. That's one positive way of looking at it. They cannot do anything militarily and their policy are so bankrupt that they have to enlist traitors and separatists like the Dalai Lama, former "Taiwan" president, "East Turkestan" terrorists, etc. as proxy puppets.

This guy, the Dalai Lama, is similar to the "Last Emperor," collaborating with the enemies of his own country so that he can get his throne back. It's very simple and bold-faced. I call him Dalai "Pu Yi."


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