Australian Ambassador to China seeks visit to Tibet/ENG

2012. március 19./Phayul.com/TibetPress

DHARAMSHALA, March 19: Australia’s Ambassador to China will be seeking Beijing’s permission to visit Tibet to “examine the reasons” for the ongoing wave of fiery self-immolations in Tibet.

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr today told the Australian Senate that Ambassador Frances Adamson will also request the Chinese authorities to allow an Australian parliamentary delegation to visit Tibet.

"Our ambassador will be seeking today to travel to Tibet to see for herself the grievances that have given rise to the self-immolations," Senator Carr told Senate question time.

30 Tibetans have set their bodies on fire demanding the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile and freedom in Tibet since 2009. Three self-immolations in the past week alone have triggered massive demonstrations involving thousands of Tibetans protesting China’s continued occupation of Tibet.

While calling the self-immolations “distressing,” Senator Carr announced that the Ambassador’s deputy will also seek permission to travel and inspect areas in eastern Tibet, which have been at the centre of the fiery protests.

Senator Carr's announcement came as a delegation of 12 Tibetan-Australians visited Canberra to discuss the shocking protests with government, opposition and crossbench parliamentarians.

Delegation leader Kyinzom Dhongdue welcomed Senator Carr's announcement but said, “we'll have to wait and see” whether the Chinese government allows the Australian delegation to visit Tibet.

Senator Carr went on to call the Dalai Lama, a “significant religious leader,” marking a major shift from his earlier stance in 2010 when he described the Tibetan spiritual leader as a "cunning monk".

He also said he would consider meeting the Dalai Lama during any future visits to Australia.

Tibet is currently closed to outside visitors and journalists with many areas reeling under an undeclared martial law.

Chinese security personnel have detained several foreign journalists attempting to enter Tibetan areas, including reporters from the BBC and CNN.

However, journalists who have been able to slip through the tight security cordon have described areas in Tibet as a “conflict zone” under “stifling lockdown.”

An Associated Press journalist reported that soldiers with helmets, rifles, sticks and shields marching in rows were not only patrolling the streets, but also “policing the minds” of the community.

"The locals are definitely feeling very heavy-hearted, very frustrated, all day. The soldiers are everywhere," the report quoted a teacher as saying. "At every moment, people wonder what will happen to the person next to them, what the soldiers will do to them."

One of the first to gain access to the Ngaba region, where a large majority of the self-immolations have occurred, a Guardian reporter, revealed that Chinese paramilitaries were trying to “snuff out Tibetan resistance to Beijing's rule with spiked batons, semi-automatic weapons and fire extinguishers.”

"Essentially you've got a town that's on edge - a town that's divided between the potential immolators and those standing by to extinguish," the Guardian reported.