Dalai Lama thanks Obama

by Guy Dinmore
published on FT 19 November 2009

The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, on Wednesday expressed his appreciation of support given by Barack Obama, the US president who is visiting China, while members of the exiled government said they were hopeful that stalled talks with Beijing would resume soon.

Speaking in Rome, where he attended an international parliamentary conference on Tibet, the Dalai Lama said the Obama administration had been “very supportive”, as had the previous Bush and Clinton administrations. He noted the appointment by the White House of a special Tibet coordinator.

In Beijing on Tuesday, Mr Obama called for the “early resumption of dialogue” between the Chinese government and representatives of the Dalai Lama.
A White House official, briefing reporters, said Mr Obama discussed Tibet with Hu Jintao, China’s president, “making clear his respect for the Dalai Lama as a cultural and religious leader, and his intention to meet with the Dalai Lama at an appropriate time”.

Europe gives mixed signals on Dalai Lama

By Guy Dinmore in Rome

Published: March 9 2009

Europe’s ambiguity over Tibet was on clear display on Monday when Martti Ahtisaari, former Finnish president and head of a prestigious European think-tank, declined to endorse the idea of EU contacts with the Dalai Lama, even as the Italian parliament moved to express its support for the exiled Tibetan leader. Mr Ahtisaari said his think-tank, the European Council on Foreign Relations, did not have a position on EU dialogue with the Dalai Lama. He indicated he was not enthusiastic about such contacts.

Gere’s Tibet cameo Fiat ad angers China

By Guy Dinmore in Rome and John Reed in London

Published: June 21 2008

Fiat yesterday apologised to China for its new television advert which includes scenes of Tibet and Richard Gere, the Hollywood actor who is an outspoken critic of the country. Still, the Italian carmaker said it would continue to air the advert in Europe and expressed support for Mr Gere, whom was chosen “because he is a symbol of difference.”

Italy to join ‘very firm’ approach on Iran

By Guy Dinmore in Rome

Published: May 15 2008

Italy’s new centre-right government is prepared to join the US and big European powers in taking a tough line on Iran but wants to be let into “the club” deciding on sanctions. Franco Frattini, foreign minister, told the Financial Times in an interview that the new government of Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister, would be closer to Israel and harder on Iran than its centre-left predecessor under Romano Prodi.

US backs call by Dalai Lama to visit China

Guy Dinmore in Financial Times (March 14 2006)

The Bush administration on Tuesday backed a call by the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual Tibetan leader, to be allowed to make a pilgrimage to religious sites in China as part of a process of reconciliation between Beijing and the Tibetan community.

Last week, on the anniversary of the 1959 uprising against Tibetan rule which resulted in the Dalai Lama’s flight into exile, the 70-year-old leader publicly expressed his wish to visit historic Buddhist sites and “see for myself the changes and developments in the People’s Republic of China”.

Chinese draw their power from Tibet’s sacred lake

Chinese draw their power from Tibet’s sacred lake: A hydro-electric project on the Yamdrok Tso threatens ecological disaster next century, a correspondent writes in Lhasa

Published on The Independent on 20 July 1993

SHAPED like a giant scorpion with its claws outstretched, Yamdrok Tso is one of Tibet’s largest freshwater lakes to the north of the Himalayan divide, twisting around mountain ranges high above the valley that leads to the capital, Lhasa.

A few villages hug its rocky shores, multi-coloured prayer flags fluttering from rooftops. Yaks and goats graze the slopes, migrating birds arrive in the summer months and an abundance of fish swim in its waters – as does a mythical dragon.

ibetans and Chinese Divided by Wide, Bitter Gulf of Misunderstanding

by GUY DINMORE, REUTERS

Published on the Los Angeles Times on January 07, 1990
LHASA, Tibet — Before the brother of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, returned to Lhasa as a guest of the Chinese government after years in exile, officials met local people and urged them not to spit or hurl stones at their former “slave master.”

The guests duly arrived–but far from being abused they found themselves greeted by thousands of weeping and prostrating Tibetans anxious to touch them.

In scenes at once embarrassing and shocking for Chinese authorities, some Tibetans even chanted pro-independence slogans and wished the absent Dalai Lama eternal life.

That was 10 years ago, and a Tibetan intellectual who recounted the scene said a gulf of misunderstanding between the Chinese who rule the Himalayan region and its 2 million people continues.

400 tibetans arrested

22 October 1989
The BBC reports that earlier that week, Wang Naiwen, a spokesman for the Tibet regional PSB, told Reuters correspondent Guy Dinmore that over 400 Tibetans had been arrested following the March demonstrations: 320 had been released; 63 had been tried and sentenced; and about 20 nuns had been sent to labour camps without trial for up to three years.

Chinese give warnings

BEIJING (Reuter) – China has suspended the credentials of Robert MacPherson, a Canadian journalist for Agence France Presse, for one month because of his coverage of recent anti-Chinese riots in Tibet. AFP said the foreign ministry accused MacPherson, of Magog, Que., of visiting Tibet without authorization, and of going to Lhasa after martial law had been imposed. The ministry also gave warnings today to reporter Guy Dinmore of Reuters and Jasper Becker of London’s Guardian newspaper, but did not suspend their credentials.

Chinese seal off Tibetan capital

Authorities Wednesday ordered foreigners to leave the riot-torn Tibetan capital of Lhasa, while Chinese troops acting under a new martial law decree began sealing off the city in a bid to prevent futher unrest.

No new violence was reported in the Himalayan region Wednesday, one day after the Chinese government declared martial law following the worst unrest in Tibet in three decades.Official reports said 12 people died and more than 110 were wounded in rioting that began Sunday, but foreigners in Lhasa estimated the death toll as high as 50. Chinese officials have given lower casualty tolls than reliable foreigners in three previous major disturbances in Tibet since October 1987.