PLA troops converge on Lhasa
　

'HOUSE-TO-HOUSE': Foreign reporters said that a convoy about 2km long was heading toward the Tibetan capital, while authorities said 24 demonstrators were arrested in Lhasa

AGENCIES, BEIJING AND DHARAMSALA, INDIA
Friday, Mar 21, 2008, Page 1
　

Thousands of soldiers were seen in Lhasa yesterday amid reports of a huge military build-up, as the Dalai Lama expressed fears China's crackdown on Tibetan protesters had caused many casualties.

Long military convoys were on the move in Tibet while troops also poured into nearby provinces, after a week of violent unrest against China's rule of the Himalayan region, witnesses, activist groups and media reports said.

"We saw a big convoy of military vehicles with troops in the back," German journalist Georg Blume said from Lhasa early yesterday.

"One convoy was about 2km long and contained about 200 trucks. Each had 30 soldiers on board so that's about 6,000 military personnel in one convoy," he said.

Blume, who works for the German newspaper Die Zeit, and another witness in Lhasa said they had seen security forces going from house to house.

"There are lots of security forces on the streets. We can see Chinese security going door-to-door. It's very tense," an independent source in the city, who did not want to be named for fear of retaliation, told AFP by telephone.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday he planned to meet with the Dalai Lama, triggering a swift response from Beijing.

Australia added to the pressure yesterday, with Foreign Minister Stephen Smith expressing concern over the violence and calling on China to allow foreign journalists and diplomats access to Tibet and other hotspot areas.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his government was considering whether to send a delegation to the ceremony to start the Olympic Games.

China has banned foreign journalists from Lhasa and tried to block them from the nearby western provinces of China, where a spate of violent protests have taken place over the past week.

More than 400 vehicles were seen heading to Tibet through mountain passes in western China, a BBC reporter said, without specifying his location because of Chinese restrictions.

Large troop movements also took place in Sichuan Province, which borders the Tibetan Autonomous Region and has several mainly Tibetan areas, a foreign reporter said.

Authorities have arrested 24 people linked to the "grave crimes" in Lhasa, while 170 people have surrendered to police, Xinhua news agency reported.

Activist groups say hundreds of Tibetans have been arrested.

The prosecutor's office in Lhasa said the suspects faced charges of "endangering national security as well as beating, smashing, looting, arson and other grave crimes" in riots on Friday, the Tibet Daily reported yesterday.

The Dalai Lama said yesterday he was willing to meet Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).

But Tibet's exiled leader said he would not travel to Beijing for talks unless there was "a real concrete development" in relations between Beijing and Tibet.

Chinese officials said they would talk with the Dalai Lama if he "stopped separatist activities" and recognized Tibet and Taiwan as parts of China.

Also yesterday, activists released a letter to the Coca-Cola Co, one of three sponsors of the Olympic torch relay, from a coalition of 153 Tibet groups asking it to press the International Olympic Committee to move the relay out of ethnic Tibetan areas. The letter also called on Coke to end its relay sponsorship.

China seeking to limit Taiwan's role in OECD
　

BAD INTENTIONS: Joseph Wu said China's move to intervene in the OECD was proof that its professions of goodwill toward Taiwan were nothing but a show
　

By Jenny W. Hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Mar 21, 2008, Page 2

"The OECD's main member states are not pleased with China's unreasonable demands. They feel that Taiwan's continued participation in the OECD serves the interests of its members and the organization."－Phoebe Yeh, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman

China is making moves to block Taiwan's participation in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the nation's representative to the US, Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), said on Wednesday, but the Paris-based organization will most likely reject Beijing's demands, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) said yesterday that Wu told Taiwanese reporters China would propose the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) -- similar to the one it signed with the WHO in May 2005 -- to restrict Taiwan's participation in the 30-member body.

China proposed seven conditions in the MOU -- that Taiwan cannot become a full-fledged OECD member, Taiwan cannot become a member of any auxiliary committee or organizations under the OECD umbrella, no Taiwanese nationals are allowed to occupy an OECD position, the OECD will not convene any events in Taiwan, the OECD will not cosponsor any events with Taiwan, high-ranking OECD officials are barred from visiting Taiwan and no Taiwanese officials are permitted to visit the organization -- Wu was quoting as saying in the report.

This clearly shows Beijing is paying mere lip service to its professions of good intentions, Wu said.

China "speaks of goodwill, but does malignant deeds," he said.

China currently participates in the OECD as a non-member economy, while Taiwan uses the name "Chinese Taipei" in the organization and maintains an observer status at the Competition Committee, Fisheries Committee and Steel Committee.

Ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) said yesterday that the OECD had on many occasions touted Taiwan's contributions in the organization and that many member states had said they would not acquiesce to Beijing's demands.

"The OECD's main member states are not pleased with China's unreasonable demands. They feel that Taiwan's continued participation in the OECD serves the interests of its members and the organization," she said.

In related news, Wu told reporters he had decided not to attend a dinner and forum sponsored by the Atlanta-based Southern Center for International Studies because of Beijing's interference.

The forum, to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, was originally going to feature Wu, along with five former US secretaries of state -- Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell.

Wu said that the five former US officials, in a joint letter last week, said that because of Beijing's concerns, they would not be able to appear in the same venue as Wu and asked to be excused from the forum if Wu was present.

Wu said under the circumstances, he decided to turn down the center's invitation.

Lee backs Frank Hsieh's presidential credentials
　

By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Mar 21, 2008, Page 3

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday threw his weight behind Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), ending months of speculation on whom he would endorse.

"Having observed the two candidates over the months ... I have decided to give my vote to Mr Frank Hsieh," Lee told a news conference. "As for what the election result will be, I respect the choice of the Taiwanese people."

He said two factors had informed his decision: the need for checks and balances within a democracy, and the qualifications required of a national leader.

The legislature had been behaving like "a horse running out of control" since the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) won an absolute majority in January's elections, Lee said, adding that the situation would worsen if the KMT won the presidential election.

"Without checks and balances, Taiwan's democracy will regress, leading to frustration and disaster. It's really a great concern," Lee said.

Lee listed five qualifications required of a national leader: firm, consistent adherence to core values; devout religious beliefs; honesty and an open-minded world view; and love for one's country.

"Of the five, the most important is love for one's country," Lee said.

A devout Christian, Lee said he always prayed to God for advice. When he prayed with his wife yesterday morning, Lee said God told them to read "The Parable of the Two Sons" in the Book of Matthew Chapter 21, from Verse 28.

Lee said it was important to vote for the candidate who best suited Taiwan -- someone who could help the country reach out to the world.

Later yesterday, Hsieh thanked Lee for his support and said he shared the former president's concerns.

"I know he has great expectations for the nation's leader," Hsieh said. "I appreciate his support and I promise to do my best if elected."

He said voters who care about the checks and balances and the country's hard-earned democracy would make the same decision as Lee.

"We cannot afford to see see our democracy unbalanced and the system of checks and balances destroyed overnight," Hsieh said.

If KMT candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is elected president, Hsieh said, no one could restrain the legislature -- in which the KMT holds a comfortable three-quarters majority.

The public cannot depend on the goodwill of KMT legislators and it would be impractical to expect the legislators to restrain themselves, he said.

Hsieh spokesman Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said Lee had made a vital decision at a key moment.

When asked to comment yesterday, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said the party respected Lee's decision.

Honorary Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), meanwhile, endorsed Hsieh in an interview with Formosa TV broadcast on Wednesday night.

Lee said he was concerned by Ma's "lack of insistence" on universal values and that Ma often vacillates on policy and issues.

Yesterday, seven members of the Academia Sinica wrote an open letter to the public, urging them to preserve the checks and balances in Taiwan's democracy by supporting Hsieh.

They also urged the public to support the two referendums on UN membership and resist the threat posed by China.

The DPP has proposed joining the UN using the name "Taiwan," while the KMT has suggested "rejoining" the world body using the country's official name -- the Republic of China (ROC) -- or any other "practical" title that would uphold the country's dignity.

The West and Beijing must share shame over the Tibet crisis
　

Western governments have focused too much on Beijing's economic clout and not enough on its illegitimacy, which helps to explain their meek responses

By Simon Tisdall
THE GUARDIAN, LONDON
Friday, Mar 21, 2008, Page 9

China's anger and embarrassment over the Tibet protests is keenly felt and will not be easily assuaged. Its sense of betrayal is as striking as its inability to comprehend the cause of it. But Beijing's shame is widely shared. The unrest has confronted Western governments with inconvenient truths for which they plainly have no answers.

In the short term the hosts of the Beijing Olympics know they must act cautiously as the world watches, its running shoes in hand. Having been forced belatedly to acknowledge the scale of the trouble, Beijing cannot afford an even wider, more brutal public crackdown, its instinctive reaction to similar situations in the past.

State retaliation in the weeks and months ahead is likely to be stealthy and silent. For those who dared to make a stand, vengeance will come by night, in an unmarked car or an unheralded knock on the door.

This is typically how China deals with dissent, as Hu Jia (胡佳), a prominent human rights activist who went on trial for subversion on Tuesday, could testify.

Yet in blaming the Dalai Lama and his "clique" for organizing a conspiracy of sabotage, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) missed the mark. Tibet's exiled spiritual leader has long promoted an autonomous accommodation with, not independence from, China. It is younger generations of Tibetans, inside and outside the country, who increasingly call the shots and pursue more robust tactics.

An editorial in the Communist Party mouthpiece the Tibet Daily appeared to acknowledge this shift -- while revealing the true extent of Chinese fury.

`LAWLESS ELEMENTS'

"These lawless elements have insulted, beaten, and wounded duty personnel, shouted reactionary slogans, stormed vital departments, and gone to all lengths in beating, smashing, looting, and burning," it said. "Their atrocities are appalling and too horrible to look at and their frenzy is inhuman. Their atrocities of various kinds teach and alert us to the fact that this is a life-and-death struggle between the enemy and ourselves."

This official "us versus them" view implies there will be no quick end to the disturbances or the retaliation. Horrific photographs of 13 people allegedly killed at Kirtii monastery in Aba (Ngawa) town, Sichuan Province, by Chinese security forces and released on Tuesday by the Free Tibet campaign will meanwhile stoke opposition fires.

The next flashpoint could be Beijing's plan to relay the Olympic torch through Lhasa and other ethnic Tibetan areas on its journey from Greece to Beijing.

Another so-called Chinese "renegade province," Taiwan, has already refused to take part. Tibet was not given a choice.

The broader prospect now, unnerving for a Chinese leadership that has staked so much on a showpiece, self-validating Games, is of trouble continuing right through until August.

This is a worrying prospect for Western leaders, too. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that he will meet the Dalai Lama when he visits Britain in May. If so, it will enrage Beijing, even more than German Chancellor Angela Merkel's recent meeting with the Tibetan leader.

All Brown's commercial and business networking during his China trip earlier this year could be undone.

Earlier, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband tied himself up in knots when asked about a possible meeting, refusing to say whether the government would welcome it while insisting that the issue would be dealt with "in a very straightforward and appropriate way." It's a safe bet that London hopes the Dalai Lama won't come after all.

Brown's decision to attend the Olympics opening ceremony, not normally an essential requirement despite the expected presence of US President George W. Bush, is also beginning to look like a big potential embarrassment. Steven Spielberg and Mia Farrow, attacking China over Darfur, triggered the first round of pre-Olympic, anti-Beijing media frenzy.

ROUND TWO

Tibet is round two. There are more bouts, and many more similar issues, in the pipeline, waiting to trip up an accident-prone prime minister.

European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pottering on Tuesday urged politicians to reconsider going to Beijing if violence and repression in Tibet continued. Such calls are likely to become more voluble.

Nearly all Western governments have found themselves in the same leaky boat this week, calling meekly for more information, restraint and dialogue in Tibet and knowing their advice will be ignored. All insist that a boycott of the Games is not contemplated. All worry too much about the Chinese government's economic power and not enough about its basic political illegitimacy.

All now face a growing body of international and domestic public opinion that is increasingly questioning what has been dubbed their pre-Olympics "three monkeys policy." See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil could have worked in 1904, when a power-grabbing British expeditionary force butchered thousands of Tibetans without a second thought.

But in the present-day interconnected, globalized world that Brown and Miliband talk about and China perforce inhabits, that dog won't hunt.