By The Chinese government is continuing business as usual in Tibet:
The Tibetan Government in exile, based in the north Indian town of Dharmsala, offered no details about those reported dead and gave no details on its sources.
The new statement only said "there have been 30 confirmed deaths until today, and over 100 unconfirmed deaths”.
Protests by Buddhist monks in Tibet have turned violent in recent days, with shops and vehicles set on fire and gunshots fired in the streets of the region’s capital, Lhasa – but independently verified details remained slim.
China maintains rigid control over the area, foreigners need special travel permits to get there and journalists rarely get access except under highly controlled circumstances.
Earlier reports gave lower death tolls. China’s official Xinhua News Agency said 10 people had been killed. [AFP]
CNN is reporting that the death toll is at 100 people dead, but details are hard to come by because of the Chinese government’s lock down on the Tibetan capitol of Lhasa. This video smuggled out gives a good idea of how large the demonstration was. Also this British Channel Four News report offers more images of the violence in Lhasa as well as video of how the Tibetan protests have spread out of Lhasa and to neighboring cities to include even into India:
Here is another pretty good report from Sky News:
Of course in times like these what would a major international news story be without in depth analysis from a Hollywood actor, here is Richard Gere:
On a side note I do have to say the US media coverage of these protests is shockingly poor while the British media has been all over this story. It kind of makes you wonder why that is?
What is even more pathetic about this is that this is far from being the first time that Tibetans have been gunned down by the Chinese military. Some may remember this video taken last year by international climbers of Chinese soldiers sniping Tibetan pilgrims:
Could you imagine what the headlines would be if US authorities beat down hundreds and killed 30 demonstrators? You would have endless claims of the Bushhitler’s police state yet when Chinese gun down demonstrators what do the human rights organizations call it? Here is your answer:
The Chinese authorities have engaged in a number of troubling crackdowns on activists and minority groups in the past week. On Tuesday, eyewitnesses reported that Chinese police used teargas and electric prods to disperse 500 demonstrators in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.
The demonstrators were seeking the release of fellow monks held after the previous day’s protests.
It was also reported that 11 protesters, including nine monks, were severely beaten and detained outside Tsuklakhang cathedral in central Lhasa on Monday. They had been demonstrating to mark the 49th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s flight from Tibet after the failed rebellion against Chinese rule. Some 50 monks have also been detained across the capital. [Amnesty International]
This is the first time I have ever seen a gunning down of civilian demonstrators described as a "troubling crackdown". The Amnesty report does not even mention the fact that Tibetan monks have been killed. Also if you go to the Amnesty International webpage this story is not even headlining the site. The killing of Tibetan demonstrators is just a story on their side bar of rotating news reports. The headlining story is of a Palestinian family who had their house demolished by the Israeli army. Let’s see what is the more important human rights story, possibly a hundred people gunned down and a city in flames for simply protesting against Chinese occupation or someone having their housed bulldozed probably for supporting a terrorist group in Israel (Of course the AI story doesn’t say)? Let’s also not forget the continued Gitmo links on their frontpage as well. Kind of shows you what Amnesty International’s priorities are.
I am also curious to what Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s reaction to this will be. The parallels between the occupation of Tibet and the Japanese colonization of the Korean peninsula are quite similar. If any nation knows about an unwanted colonization of their country, it is the Koreans. You can read much about how Koreans criticize the United States for not speaking out and doing anything to stop the Japanese colonization of Korea, but here is a chance for Koreans to speak out and do something about an occupation and colonization of a country by the Chinese government. Does anyone think Lee Myung-bak will show moral courage and condemn the Chinese occupation and crackdown in Tibet? I doubt it, just like the rest of the world will show little moral courage as well. Quickly and quietly as possible the protesters will be either killed or silenced and then the news cycle will move on and this whole story will all be just a vague memory similar to last year’s protests in Burma. When it comes to making excuses for human rights violations, China has many more apologists then just Amnesty International.
A whole lot more of good information, videos, and links over at One Free Korea as well.
12:13 pm on March 16th, 2008 1
[...] That didn’t take long, YouTube is currently blocked in China probably because of the slaughter of Tibetan protesters by the Chinese military. – The Chinese are officially now the world’s largest internet [...]
3:24 am on March 17th, 2008 2
korean reaction? u must be kidding. do u think chinese care about korean reaction to this event? it’s like estonia condemning russia for human rights violation. russia will laught at estonia just like chinese will laught at lee myung bak.
also it’s unfair for u to compare US to korea. US probably had the power to stop the occupation and protect the koreans against the japanese. American was and still is the super power. Korea on the other hand, does not have that kind of influence and power.
if president lee summons enough courage to speak out against this event, i am sure china will put some kind of economic sanction on korea and korea will have to rely on IMF to bail them out again. It is unfortunate that sk is so weak and pathelic against the all powerful china.
Sk do not have enough power and influence to help the nk refugees in china so what make u think sk could do anything for tibet folks?
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4:11 am on March 17th, 2008 3
Your reasoning kimchi2000 is exactly why China will continue to get away with shooting Tibetans along with sponsoring regimes such as in Burma, Sudan, Zimbabwe, etc. I also find it interesting that you compare Korea to Estonia. A nation with the world’s 11th largest economy and one of the world’s largest armies is not the equivalent of Estonia.
Also the United States did not have the power to stop the occupation of Korea despite Korean propaganda saying otherwise:
http://rokdrop.com/2007/01/08/the-taft-katsura-agreement-an-american-sell-out-of-korea/
Also I am not condemning LMB, I’m just saying that if you state your government it going to be a promoter of human rights then here is a chance to prove it. I do not expect LMB to say anything and just ignore the problem which would make him no different then anyone else, just like how the world treated Korea during the Japanese occupation.
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5:17 am on March 17th, 2008 4
gikorea,
estonia’s gdp per catipa is 23k while sk is 25k. estonia is part of baltic tiger while sk is part of four asian tigers. so economically they are comparable. estonia is not one of those third world european coutnry that u see in american hollywood movie such as borat.
u r missing my point. my point is that koreans cannot afford to piss china bc they could easily destroy sk’s “world 11th largest economy”. what will happen if china put economic santion on sk? what will happen to koreans? will they have to be on mercy of IMF again? will their economy go back to post-korean war state? u could simply go back to US but many koreans do not have that luxury. koreans worked too hard to going back to eat grass and finding food from garbage from american military base. it is unfortunate for sk but u have to see the reality. sk have to watch china’s “noon-chi” for the next 5000 years as they have for the past 5000 years. it sux for koreans but that’s their “pal jja”. they have to do whatever to survive.
i think country like american and orgainzation like EU could do somethin about it since they have the power and influence sk lacks.
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5:41 am on March 17th, 2008 5
Korea has much more influence globally then Estonia. The World Bank has Luxembourg ranked with the highest per capita GDP compared with Purchasing Power Parity. Does that make Luxembourg more influential then South Korea as well? Of course not. Also Korea’s GDP per capita is greater then China’s, so does that make Korea more influential then China? Of course not because influence has more to do with just GDP per capita stats.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita
South Korea has much more influence in the world then Estonia and much more influence then many of its own citizens give it credit for. The Korea of today is not the Korea of the 1960’s.
However, I have already stated I don’t expect LMB to say anything because no one else will either. I take exception to how you expect the US to do something about it when Korea isn’t willing to do anything either.
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5:54 am on March 17th, 2008 6
gi korea,
i expect US to do something while korea watch china’s “noon-chi”. US brought happiness, freedom and democracy to south korea, taiwan and maybe iraq in the future. i expect US to do the same with tibet becuase they have the influence and power that korea and many other country does not have.
as i have stated before, korea will not and cannot do anything because they are too weak. US is not a weak country. If US will not or cannot stand up to China then who will?
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6:02 am on March 17th, 2008 7
If I only had a dollar for every time I heard a Korean claim they have “weak country” I would be a millionaire.
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10:05 am on March 17th, 2008 8
Once again, the USA is blamed for Korea’s failure of the 1890’s to 1905 to prevent the colonization by Japan. Is he actually serious? I have said it before and once again, If Korea wants to blame anyone for that, all they need do is look into a mirror and the guilty will show themselves.
I can not believe that I am actually agreeing with people who call for a boycott of the 2008 Olympics. Have we learned nothing from the past?
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10:33 am on March 17th, 2008 9
mike,
i do not “blame” US for the colonization. i was just saying that US could have prevented it if they really wanted to. unfortunately for koreans, korea was unimportant at that time. yes, i agree with u mcstay, it is korean fault that they got raped by both japanese and chinese. they should defend themselve but they were just too weak.
a boycott will not happen bc nobody wants to piss off china. during the 2002 korea/japan worldcup, the europeans and the americans wanted to boycott the event because koreans eat dogs. the call for boycott was really strong and i believe they almost pulled it off with massive media coverage. where are these people now? are they saying that eating dog is worse than killing and torturing innocent people? or is it that korea is much more easier target then china? they probably fear china and i dont blame them.
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3:26 pm on March 17th, 2008 10
Kimchi 2000 are you really serious?
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/anti-dogmeat/ is a link that i found about the 2002 boycott
another boycott was going to happen because of qualifying for the 2002 tournament.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E4DF133CF933A25754C0A96F958260
Chelsea chairman, Ken Bates, has urged England to boycott the 2002 World Cup, in protest of plans to hold the competition a month earlier than usual.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/414234.stm
OK SO THAT STORY HAS BEEN BLOWN APART ABOUT THE DOGS…
Now lets deal with the Korean question?
How could have the US in 1904 prevented the takeover of Korea?
Please read GI Koreas blog about the same.
http://rokdrop.com/2007/01/08/the-taft-katsura-agreement-an-american-sell-out-of-korea/
Its obvious that you did not, so let try and make this very simple.
The USA had a friendship treaty with Korea and until WW1 had no defense treaty with any nation, including Korea. Look at the writing of the friendship treaty, There is no war clase.
#2 Korean leaders were afraid of another noble Admiral Yi, that they army was disbanded and was a joke by the time of the US incident in 1871 and grew weaker by the the time of the 1895-1905 takeover of Korea.
3. The USA military of today, in no way, resembles the military that the US had in 1905. We were not a world power yet, that did not happen until 1918. The US was not going to fight a war with Japan over Korea. The US was involved with the Panama Canal, Philippines, Cuba, Guam, Hawaii and a few other interest. We has no formal treaty with Korea.
So your boycott and your colony stories have both been proven false.
You have not asked the question that you should have asked, “Why was Korea allowed to be weak in the first place?”
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2:24 am on March 18th, 2008 11
mike,
i already stated in comment 9 that i do not “blame” US. of course it’s korean fault for being weak. humans are no different from animal. the weak gets eaten by the stronger and the faster animal… anyway, is it fault of a sudanese that genocide happened? perhaps people too should ask why was christian and animist sudanese allowed to be weak in the first place? do US have moral duty to help the sudanese? we are involved with iraq and other interest so perhaps that’s why we didnt help… not to mention we have no formal treaty with sudan. but i believe that strong country should help the weak. if we could end the misery of poor and innocent then we should. at the same time, US is not obligated to help the sudanese just like they were not obligated to help the koreans.
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10:27 am on March 18th, 2008 12
Are You now equating the Sudan genocide to the 1905-1945 Korea? What is your logic? How many Koreans died during the colonial period? How many were willing participants in this?
We are going in a circle here, The USA of now, was not the power that it was in 1905. Once again please read GI Korea’s part of the treaty…
http://rokdrop.com/2007/01/08/the-taft-katsura-agreement-an-american-sell-out-of-korea/
You still have not addressed why Korea became a colony of Japan. This now vs then arguments is not working.
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12:55 pm on March 18th, 2008 13
mike,
i will end the discussion with this post. ive already told u several times in comment 9 and 11 that i do not blame US for the colonization. ive already told u that it’s korean fault for all the suffering that took place during the colonization. if u think that the colonization was “good” for korea and koreans should give big hug to japan for 40 years of comfort and luxury that japanese provided for koreans then i really cant help u.
mike, i am guessing ur either an els teacher or a military officer stationed in korea. i know the korean society did not treated u with respect that u guys deserve but dont let that blind u from the truth and the reality about korea and koreans. please go visit occidentalism.org to let ur anger out towards the koreans.
mike, i will tell u one more time just in case, i do not blame us for the colonization. korea at that time was too weak to denfend themself. weak country always get to tossed the salad of bigger and stronger country and koreans certainly tossed many salad just like the jews and the sudanese.
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11:50 pm on March 18th, 2008 14
Ok, now you state that I supported the takeover of Korea by Japan? Are you really able to comprehend what I am writing here?
What I asked was how many Koreans were complacent and agreed with the takeover, once again a question was asked and you have failed to answer.
I am not angry with Korea, a few of the Korean laws that govern my E-2 visa and the renewal, I am angry with.
To summary I support a boycott of 2008 Olympics, will Korea condemed what is going on in Tibet or all good men damned because we do nothing?
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7:21 am on March 19th, 2008 15
mike,
r u suggesting that majority of korean wanted to be part of imperial japan? let me answer ur question, majority of koreans did not want to be part of japan. many people suffered during the colonization. if u think majority of korean supported the annexation then i am lose of word here. i know it’s popular belief amongst expat in korea, especially amongst an esl teacher, that korea wanted to be part of japan and that they were treated with love from the japanese.
to clarify, majority of koreans did not support the colonization. there were couple of traitors who made the colonization happen but majority did not want to be part of the japanese empire.
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9:49 am on March 19th, 2008 16
Wow, talk about going over the edge.
What I asked was how many Koreans were complacent and approved of the takeover of Japan. I, in no way stated, that all of Korea welcomed becoming a colony. Once again a question was asked and once again a question was not answered. Are we beginning to see a pattern here?
The question was very simple, how many Koreans (number of people) were OK with the takeover?
I can not say if it is a popular belief, but I have asked my office mates and we are wondering, what kind of bad Saki or Soju are you drinking to come up with this thought? Once again, I would like to see your evidence of this so called ESL teacher belief.
My ESL mates have never had a discussion about the colonial period in general, but I will be sure to bring up the subject at our next social gathering.
Now since the original topic was Tibet, lets go back to that. Will Korea protest to China about the killings in Tibet,or will they be silent? If they are silent then is not Korea guilty of the same thing that you have been complaining about the USA doing to Korea?
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11:02 am on March 19th, 2008 17
mike,
i thought i answered ur question fully. like i told u before, majority of people did not want to be a colony of japan. lets be reasonable here, i would say it would be impossbile for anybody to know just how many koreans wanted to be part of japan. people like lee wan yong comes and top class yangbans comes to my mind. it’s rather irrelevant since vast majority of people did not want to be part of japan.
also about an esl teacher, i misspoke. i meant to say many esl teacher who are active in korea blogsphere. just read some posts and comments from some of the popular korean blog and u will know what i am talking about. look at gi korea and his post on “abnormal japan.” it seems that whenever korean demands an apology (rightfully so) for sex slavery, gi korea had to go grab his samurai armor and wildy swing his katana to defend japan’s honor against the lying koreans. expat like him got so much rage towards the koreans but no anger towards people who actually commited the crime.
for the tibet issue, i think whole world, lead by US, should do something. i doubt it will happen. like i told gi korea before, it doesnt matter if korea stay silent or not because it wont matter due to power disparity between china and sk. if people of iceland tell hitler to stop killing jews, do u think hitler will stop? do u think he will think deeply whether he should listen to iceland people? i think not.
please dont compare current sk to 1909 US. current day sk is shrimp with body armor while US was and still is the titan. China is a titan, so it only make sense for titan like US to stop another titan like china. i hope i answered ur question fully.
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11:11 am on March 19th, 2008 18
also mike, u could disagree with me but u dont need to be a racist. i dont drink any bad sake or soju, acutally i stay away from alcohol. iam not sure if u r a black guy or a white guy but if u r a black guy it would be racist for me to say put down ur bad fried chicken and spoiled watermelon. u could disagree with me but please dont make it personal.
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1:31 pm on March 19th, 2008 19
Well sir, you did state about esl teachers and I brought up the question and that was their reply.
Nothing infered or personal, but once again you did not answer any questions.
So drinking soju is racist, are you kidding me? I just asked my students and they are looking at me very strangely not really understing why someone drinking it would be racist.
so can you answer the question why all esl teachers think this way.
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4:22 pm on March 19th, 2008 20
kimchi2000, if you are going to claim I am anti-Korean then provide a specific example. Otherwise it is just unsubstantiated claims. Also I am not an ESL teacher or an expat I am active duty US Army and have served multiple tours in Korea in the 2nd Infantry Division.
As far as the Japanese colonization of Korea I have long recommended on this blog for everyone to read Under the Black Umbrella by Hildi Kang which provides the best analysis of the Japanese colonial period I have seen.
Once again the “weak Korea” argument is growing old. Korea is not the equivalent of Iceland. Would you call Australia a “weak country” when Korea has far more people, a higher GDP, and a much larger military then Australia? Australia is a more relevant player in the world because it voluntarily accepts much global responsibility unlike Korea which despite greater capabilities then Australia does not.
Korea is not “weak” and has the ability to take on greater responsibilities in the world but choose not to, just like how the Korean government chooses not to be fully responsible for their own national defense.
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4:51 pm on March 19th, 2008 21
[...] Office of H.H.the Dalai Lama for Japan & East-Asia has a news release on the Tibet uprising. ROK Drop and One Free Korea have good information, videos and links on the uprising.Threat Level from [...]
5:03 pm on March 19th, 2008 22
GI I have been debating this person for a few days now and it just going in a circle of unproven claims.
I have been trying to show that he needs to prove his facts and so far he has not. I, honestly, think that its sad, that he thinks so little of his country not to fact check.
My earlier soju reference was that only a drunk person would think that all esl teachers think one way. I asked my office mates the colony question and that was their answer and this idiot think that its racist.
His logic makes no sense. This person is assuming that, just because I am an ESL teacher, I have no brains.
Maybe he has watched the anti-teachers specials on Korean TV one too many times.
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2:12 pm on April 1st, 2008 23
[...] March 16, 2008 “Troubling Crackdown” in Tibet as Chinese Military Kills Civilian Demonstrators » by GI Korea in: [...]
9:45 am on April 22nd, 2008 24
[...] Originally Posted by Douchebag: I’m game…explain….let’s see how deep the rabbit hole goes.. Well here’s one sample, there are also numerous reports of what happens to people who speak freely against the government. No amount of data will please you though so speaking of rabbit holes, stay down the one that tells you the USA has no double standards and is not ever guilty of the crimes you castigate other governments for.. http://rokdrop.com/2008/03/16/troubl…demonstrators/ [...]