Tibetan Uprising

New York Times
March 21, 2008

DHARAMSALA, India — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, visiting the Dalai Lama’s headquarters here on Friday, described recent protests in Tibet as “a challenge to conscience of the world” and pressed for an investigation into whether the Dalai Lama masterminded that unrest as the Chinese government has alleged.

“If freedom loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China’s oppression and China and Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world,” said Mrs. Pelosi, a Democrat.

A few hours later came a tart response from the Chinese ambassador to India, calling Tibet an “internal affair” and shunning interference. “We don’t allow anybody to meddle in China’s internal affairs,” Zhang Yan told reporters in New Delhi, the Indian capital, according to the Press Trust of India. “Any attempt to cause trouble to China is doomed to fail.”

Within a couple of hours of those remarks, Tibetan protesters scaled the fence of the Chinese embassy compound, ran around its lawns and unfurled Tibetan flags. Police said a total of 33 protesters were arrested and security around the mission was fortified.

The latest protests complicated matters for the Indian government, which has had to strike a delicate balance between maintaining warm relations with China and hosting the Dalai Lama, along with about 100,000 Tibetan refugees.

Asked for a response to the Chinese Embassy demonstrations, the Dalai Lama’s secretary, Tenzin Taklha, said Friday evening that while the Dalai Lama believes in every Tibetan’s “right to protest,” he reminded them of their obligation to “respect the laws of the land.”

The Dalai Lama has repeatedly denied accusations by Beijing that he instigated the violent protests in Tibet, and extended an open invitation, including to the Chinese, to investigate. Repeatedly this week, he has said he opposes violence and does not seek independence for Tibet, but greater autonomy within China.

The visit by Ms. Pelosi, accompanied by nine members of Congress, most of them Democrats, had been scheduled previously as part of a visit to India. It was unclear what her visit would yield for Tibetans, except a symbolic shot in the arm. For the Americans, the timing could not have been better.

Indeed, as far as visits by American officials go, it would be hard to imagine a warmer reception. In front of a horde of television news cameras that had camped here all week to cover the Dalai Lama, Mrs. Pelosi and her husband, Paul, descended the stairs of the main temple here to enormous applause, the 72-year-old Buddhist monk sandwiched between them, holding both their hands. Nuns and school children waved American flags. The Dalai Lama ordered his followers to rise and offer Mrs. Pelosi a standing ovation. One man held up a homemade placard that read “thank you for recognizing non-violent struggle.”

“We are here at this time to join you in shedding bright light on what is happening inside Tibet,” she said. “Little did we know we would be coming at such a very sad time. Perhaps it is our karma, perhaps it is our fate we be with you at this time.”

Mrs. Pelosi spoke first to an overwhelmingly Tibetan audience of about 2,000 in the courtyard of the Tsulakhang Temple and then, in the compound of the Dalai Lama, where the Congressional delegation was hosted for lunch.

After her speech, a monk who spent four years in a Chinese prison for participating in the last round of major protests inside Tibet, in 1988, said he hoped Mrs. Pelosi would use her visit to put concrete pressure on the Chinese government, including encouraging dialogue with the Dalai Lama. “If she don’t do anything and just come here, then nothing,” said the monk, who gave his name as only Bagdro.

The Dalai Lama has long enjoyed American support. He received the Congressional Gold Medal last fall in Washington. Mrs. Pelosi made it a point to say that when he was young, he had received a gold watch from President Franklin Roosevelt, which he carried with him when fleeing Tibet in 1959.

But her first message to the audience was to acknowledge their gift to her country. “Thank you for your warm welcome and thank you especially for flying the American flag today,” she told them. “This is more than we could have ever dreamed of.”

Hari Kumar contributed reporting from New Delhi.