Tibetans and Japanese Offer Tenshug Prayer for Dalai Lama [January 25, 2010 Source :TibetNet]

Tibetans and Japanese supporters facing towards the portraits of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on altar, recite prayers for longevity of His Holiness/Photos by Office of Tibet, Tokyo

Tokyo: Around forty Tibetans and Japanese gathered at Gokukuji, a popular Buddhist temple in Tokyo to offer Tenshug [Long life prayer] for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the supreme spiritual and temporal leader of Tibetan people. Tibetan community in Japan organised the prayer ceremony to compliment the grand ceremony on the same day in the exile Diaspora, Dharamsala, India and abroad.

Mr. Lhakpa Tshoko, Representative of Liaison Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama welcomed the participants and dwelt on the importance of the ceremony, and essential nature of His Holiness' teaching for world peace and harmony. He lamented the disaster unleashed by earthquake in Haiti, and said, "May our prayer also help the victims in finding relief and their return back to normal life at the earliest."

The two-hour long prayer ceremony begun with the Representative Lhakpa Tshoko performing prostration and presenting traditional Tibetan scarf to the picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the altar, followed by offerings of Buddha statue, scripture and stupa - representation of body, speech and mind [Ku, sung, thuk] of the Buddha. Prayer session was done with supplication and praise of Tara [Jetsun Dolma] and her mantra as the main recitations.

Gokokuji Temple's Ven. Izawa and the monks offered tea and mochi [Japanese rice cake] to the participants at the end of the prayer. Mr. Kalsang Dhondup, Representative of the Tibetan community in his closing remark, thanked the participants and Gokokuji Temple for their whole-hearted support in organising the long life prayer ceremony, and requested for their continued support in His Holiness the Dalai Lama's effort in propagating peace and harmony around the world.

--Report filed by Tsewang Gyalpo Arya, Office of Tibet, Japan

China, Dalai Lama's envoys no sign of compromise

BEIJING – Emissaries for the exiled Dalai Lama and China showed little public sign of compromise as they prepared Wednesday for their first talks in more than a year on restive Chinese-ruled Tibet.

The Dalai Lama's two envoys will reopen the long-stalled negotiations with senior Communist Party officials on Saturday, the Tibetan government-in-exile said.

Ahead of the meeting, the exiled government said it hoped Beijing would reconsider a proposal to give Tibet and other Tibetan communities greater autonomy. Chinese officials rejected that proposal at the last meeting 15 months ago.

On Tuesday, Chinese government and party officials wavered little, saying China's policy on the Dalai Lama has been "consistent and clear" and that it hoped the Tibetan spiritual leader would respond positively to Beijing's requests.

Two envoys of the Dalai Lama arrived in China on Tuesday to resume talks on Tibet after the lengthy deadlock, said Chhime R. Chhoekyapa, the Dalai Lama's secretary. The resumed talks came as a surprise after the acrimony and uncertainty that followed the last meeting in November 2008.

Chinese officials then refused to discuss the status of China-ruled Tibet and insisted that they would only address the return of the Dalai Lama, who fled to exile in India in 1959.

At the last talks, the Dalai Lama's envoys proposed a way for Tibetans to achieve more autonomy within the framework of the Chinese constitution — a key demand of the minority community. But China apparently rejected the plan, saying it would not allow Tibet the kind of latitude granted to the territories of Hong Kong and Macau.

It was not clear why the discussions had resumed, but the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharmsala, India said Wednesday it hoped the two sides would be able to revisit the proposal for greater autonomy. The Dalai Lama's office said Monday the decision to send envoys Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen was made at the end of last week.

"There is a very sincere hope that the Chinese government would base the discussions on the memorandum for genuine autonomy for all Tibetans which we presented to the Chinese side in 2008," spokesman Thubten Samphel said. "If they wish to resolve the issue of Tibet, I think that's the only way to go about it."

Beijing told the Dalai Lama on Tuesday to make the best of the talks, but publicly showed no sign of easing its hard-line stance on their disagreements.

"We hope the Dalai Lama will cherish the opportunity and make a positive response to the central government's requests," the United Front Department of the Communist Party, the office that handled past talks, said in a statement that did not go into specifics about what China wants.

Samdhong Rinpoche, the Tibetan prime minister-in-exile, said the envoys were in central Hunan province and would be visiting "important places" before arriving in Beijing on Friday for two days of talks starting the following day.

Asked what expectations he had for the talks, the official said, "Nothing special. ... We will wait and see."

Zhou Yuan, a historian at the government-backed Chinese Center for Tibetan Studies in Beijing, said the Chinese government continues to regard the Dalai Lama and his supporters as a group seeking formal independence for Tibet.

"The Dalai must recognize that Tibet is a part of China and stop the splittist activities," Zhou said. "If the nature of a splittist group hasn't changed, there will be no way to reach any agreement between the Chinese government and them."

The Dalai Lama has said he only wants genuine autonomy for Tibetans.

Last week, China promised to increase investment for Tibet and Tibetan communities at a rare high-level policy conclave on the Himalayan region. Tibetans complain policies that focus on economic development of the region have diluted or repressed their religion, language and culture in favor of the majority Han Chinese.

Tibetan areas have been tense in recent years, with the minority community complaining about restrictions on Buddhism, government propaganda campaigns against their revered Dalai Lama and an influx of Chinese migrants that leave the Tibetans feeling marginalized in what they see as their homeland. Those feelings boiled over in an anti-Chinese uprising in 2008 that shocked Beijing leaders.

China's decision to hold the talks could have been prompted by signals by U.S. officials in recent weeks that Obama might soon meet with the exiled Tibetan leader — something Chinese officials are keen to avoid before President Hu Jintao travels to Washington, possibly in April. The new talks were welcomed by the United States, Britain and Canada.

Senior communist cadres call for Liu Xiaobo's release

A protestor holds a picture of Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo in Hong Kong/file picture Four senior Communist Party officials known for their liberal views are pushing for the release of an imprisoned Chinese dissident who had issued a daring call for political reform, reported The Associated Press on Jan. 24. The four have signed a strongly worded letter, addressed to "incumbent party and government leaders," urging authorities to reconsider the verdict against Liu Xiaobo, who was sentenced on December 25, 2009 to 11 years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power.” Liu had written essays criticizing the Chinese government’s suppression of freedom of expression and co-authored Charter 08, an online petition released in early December 2008 calling for human rights and democracy and an end to one-party rule in China. "These four are senior cadres that have been quite an open-minded force within the party for many years," said Patrick Poon, vice president of the Independent Chinese Pen Center, which posted the letter on its Web site. "They have been always very supportive for pushing forward political reforms while the economic reform has been going well in China." While the letter did not call specifically for Liu's release, He Fang, a cadre who signed the letter and is honorary member of the academic committee at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said he signed the letter "To reverse the verdict and to find that Liu is not guilty and to release him." "Also, to safeguard the constitution and the rights of freedom of speech," The Associated Press quoted him as saying. The party officials' open letter was written by Hu Jiwei, a former chief of People's Daily newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party. "If the judge violates the constitution and has no knowledge of the history of the party ... and makes false and incorrect accusations that will seriously tarnish the image of the country and the party, then it's difficult to prove that China is a country ruled by law and a harmonious society," said the letter. The other signers were Li Pu, a former deputy chief of the official Xinhua News Agency, and Dai Huang, a former Xinhua senior reporter.

Dalai Lama’s Envoys to Resume Talks With China

BEIJING — Envoys of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetans, arrived in China on Tuesday to resume a long-running series of negotiations over Tibet that have so far been fruitless.


The current set of negotiations will be the ninth since 2002 between the Dalai Lama, whom China accuses of being a dangerous “splittist,” and the Chinese government, which has flooded large areas of Tibetan regions in western China with security forces since a widespread uprising there in March 2008.


The Dalai Lama, 74, who lives in exile in the Indian hill town of Dharamsala, says he does not want independence for Tibetan regions, but rather greater autonomy — the Tibetans should be able to make their own policy regarding religious practice, education and immigration to the regions, he says. Tibetans are anxious over the large numbers of ethnic Han, who dominate most of China, moving to the Tibetan plateau to seek their fortunes.


The series of negotiations between the Dalai Lama and China broke down in November 2008, after Chinese officials strongly rejected a proposal for genuine autonomy presented to them. During the eighth round of talks, the two envoys who handed over that proposal were Lodi G. Gyari, from Washington, and Kelsang Gyaltsen, of Switzerland. Both are representing the Dalai Lama again in this round.


The envoys will return to India in early February, the Tibetan government-in-exile said in a statement on its Web site.


The United Front Work Department, the part of the Chinese Communist Party that officially deals with ethnic policy, said in a written statement on Tuesday: “We hope the Dalai Lama side will cherish this opportunity and eagerly respond to the demands by the central government.”


Tibet remains one of the most delicate issues between China and the United States. President Obama has said he will meet with the Dalai Lama early this year. Last fall, Mr. Obama declined to meet with the Dalai Lama while the Dalai Lama was visiting the United States. The move was widely seen as an attempt by Mr. Obama to improve United States-China relations, but Chinese leaders continued to press the president on Tibet during his first state visit to China in November. State Department officials quickly abandoned a new phrase that had been coined to describe the conciliatory approach — “strategic reassurance” — and which had been criticized by some Americans as being tantamount to appeasement.


Late Monday, the State Department said it welcomed the latest round of negotiations between the Dalai Lama and China.


“The United States strongly supports dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama’s representatives to address longstanding differences,” said Philip Crowley, a State Department spokesman, in a written statement. “The administration hopes this meeting will produce positive results and provide a foundation for future discussions to resolve outstanding issues.”


Though Tibetans uniformly revere the Dalai Lama, there are many, especially younger ones, who criticize the Dalai Lama’s approach to China. They say that the Tibetan exile movement should be seeking independence for Tibet, not accommodation under Chinese rule. The Chinese government has no intention of giving ground, they say, and is just using the series of negotiations to stall for time until the Dalai Lama dies.


“Until we see visible change on the ground in Tibet and some real give-and-take on the part of the Chinese government, we can be confident that the resumption of the dialogue is nothing more than a delaying tactic designed to mute international criticism, especially in the lead up to the expected meeting between Obama and the Dalai Lama,” said Tenzin Dorjee, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, a group based in New York that advocates for Tibetan independence.


The Dalai Lama’s spokesman, Tenzin Taklha, said Monday that the talks were part of an “important process of trying to find a mutually agreed solution,” according to Agence France-Presse.


Last week, China’s top leaders met to draw up plans for governing Tibet. State news organizations said the leaders determined that continued economic development would bring “stability” to the region.

Xiyun Yang contributed research.