Dalai coterie´s conspiracy aimed at sabotaging Olympics, seeks Tibet independence

Source: Xinhua | 07-04-2008 08:15

While some "pro-Tibet Independence" activists claimed their goals were different from the Dalai Lama, evidence has shown conspiracies behind all the plots initiated by them were linked.

Following trips to Berlin, London and Sydney, the Dalai Lama is expected to visit the United States and France. His "visits" are scheduled to end on Aug. 20 -- four days before the conclusion of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

As early as March, some Tibetan exiles, instigated by "Tibet independence" forces, launched their "Marching into Tibet" movement from Dharamsala, India.

They plotted to penetrate the China-India border and cross over Mount Qomolangma, also known as Mount Everest, and come into Tibet. Their arrival was fixed for August, the same month of the Beijing Olympics.

While it's been more than two months since the March 14 riot in Tibet, the Dalai Lama has shown no intention of taking a break or to display any sincerity in reining in his negative comments on the Chinese government.

The past two months has witnessed his continued criticism over the way China dealt with the unrest, and "testifying" at a hearing on the country's so-called human rights issue.

On June 4, Indian police arrested 265 members of the "Marching into Tibet" movement, including the ringleaders of the "Tibetan Youth Congress"(TYC). Also detained were members of the "Tibetan Women's Assocation" among other secessionist organizations. Later the Associated Press reported another 50 activists attempted to march into Tibet.

A CONSPIRACY NETWORK

Shortly after Beijing won the Olympic hosting rights seven years ago, the London-based "International Tibet Support Network" held a meeting and formed a propaganda plan. This included training their underlings to speak uniformly when being interviewed by media.

They were even taught rock climbing techniques -- something that came in handy when activists climbed San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and unfurled a banner on April 9.

Compared with other "senior" high-profile groups, the network, founded in 2000, wasn't known by many people previously.

According to the U.S.-based International Herald Tribune, in the early period, the network mainly sent out media-fanning communiques to its 153 member organizations. Later, it made the Beijing Olympics the focus of its campaign.

Before the Olympic torch relay kicked off its foreign legs at the end of March, a Canadian "general commander" of a torch-disruption network drafted detailed plans to interfere with the relay and sent her orders to group members.

Another Canadian, Lhadon Tethong, sneaked into China in April, 2007, and put up secessionist slogans at the foot of Qomolangma (Everest) with other activists. According to a report from the Toronto-based Globe and Mail newspaper, Lhadon Tethong is a member of the group "Students for a Free Tibet" under the network. His father is a Tibetan who keeps close relations with the Dalai coterie's senior level.

In the past six months, the group had established about 200 branches in Estonia, the Czech Republic and other countries. Alison Reynolds, director of the network, announced it had already started to plot "post-Olympic activities."

"All these are related to the TYC. The International Tibet Support Network itself was organized by the TYC," said Xie Gangzheng, a researcher with the Sichuan Tibetology research center.

OLYMPIC PLOTTING

Before the March 14 unrest, the secessionists' intention to tarnish the Olympics had already emerged with a senior member of the Dalai clique. In addition, the TYC said it would seize the opportunity of the Games.

Some people believed the current round of "Tibet independence" activities was mostly plotted at a meeting held in Brussels one year ago.

From May 11 to 14, 2007, the Dalai coterie held the fifth international conference on supporting Tibetans in the Belgian capital. According to a website compiled by independent journalists and social scientists who observed Germany's foreign policy, 315 people from 56 countries were invited by the International Tibet Support Network to attend. After days of discussion, the conference reached consensus for an action plan.

According to the full text of the plan provided by the website, the three-year plan for their future actions on Tibet independence included seven aspects -- the 2008 Olympics topped the list.

The plan said, in the next 15 months, it had four "goals" for their activities during the Olympics which underscored the word "Tibetan National Team." They included:

1. Recruit Tibetan athletes to the team and apply for the Games;

2. Launch a global torch relay with the free-Tibet theme, starting from Greece;

3. Making August 4, 2007, their international campaign day and starting a one-year countdown;

4. Contact the public under the pretext of the Olympics and other Tibet issues.

Rolf Berndt, principal of the conference organizer, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, said the Games were "an excellent opportunity" to publicly promote the cause of the "Tibet movement."

After the conference, a "Tibetan National Team," consisting of overseas Tibetans, was set up. In May 2007, the Dalai coterie announced it would hold a Tibetan Olympics at Dharamsala the following May.

SO-CALLED MIDDLE WAY

In January 2008, new "pro-Tibetan Independence" organization emerged in foreign countries.

From January 1 to 25, seven "pro-Tibet independence" organizations held a series of press conferences in New Delhi, India, during which a written proposal of "Tibet People's Uprising Movement" was formulated and began to spread via more than 100 websites.

A campaign team headed by Cewang Rigzin, president of the secessionist TYC, then started to collect funds and initiated a four-step action plan, including provocative activities such as organized protests.

From Feb. 15 to 17, TYC held training sessions in Dharamsala for leaders of the movement. From Feb. 21 to 26, it started to recruit campaigners. On Feb. 27, the Dalai Coterie sought financial support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), in the United States as a "fund to cope with emergencies".

On March 10, 101 members of the Dalai clique set out from Dharamsala and launched the so-called "Marching into Tibet" campaign. On the same day, several Tibetan secessionists staged a torch-lighting ceremony in front of the ancient archeological site of Olympia, Greece, to protest the upcoming Games in Beijing.

All the incidents were by no means a coincidence but well-organized and planned, said researcher Xie.

"They started to plan the whole thing by the end of last year."

The so-called "marching into Tibet" movement was expected to last until the eve of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, he added.

The planned activities of the "pro-Tibet Independence" forces included instigating Tibetans to stage global protests, storm Chinese embassies and disrupt foreign legs of the global Olympic torch relay on the same day -- March 10.

These activities aimed to create sensational effects and attract the world's attention, Xie said.

The aim of the "pro-Tibet Independence" forces was to launch secessionist activities in 2008, the year of the Beijing Olympics, said You Xiangfei, an associate researcher at the Sichuan Tibetology Research Center. "It was to make their political aims known and amplify their political ambitions."

He noted this had a direct link with the "Middle Way" put forth by the Dalai Lama in the 1980s.

By "Middle Way," the Dalai Lama means "high-level autonomy" or "real autonomy" in Tibet and other Tibetan-inhabited areas.

However, Tenzin Chogyal, the Dalai Lama's younger brother, said it would seek "autonomy" in Tibet in the first place and then drive away other nationalities living in the area.

Gyalo Thondup, another brother of the Dalai Lama, had a more specific explanation.

Under the conception of "middle way," the autonomy of "Greater Tibet" would be realized. In 20 years, the destiny of future Tibet would be decided by residents within "Greater Tibet" in a referendum, he said.

The Dalai coterie aimed at puzzling the public by adding the conception of "Middle Way" into their political slogan, the core of which was to seek "Tibet independence," said associate researcher You.

The sensational effects that the Dalai Lama created were targeted at attracting international attention and to call for international pressure on the Chinese government, Xie said. This year, a critical moment for China to host the Olympics, then became a significant occasion for the Dalai Coterie to seek "Tibet independence," he said.

Editor:Xiong Qu