By Jeremy Lovell
LONDON (Reuters) – Activists demanding that China end its half-century occupation of Tibet said on Monday they would demonstrate at every stage of this week’s state visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao.
The visit is the first to Britain by a Chinese president since that of Hu’s predecessor Jiang Zemin in October 1999 when police angered rights activists by breaking up demonstrations over Tibet.
“We are planning to follow Hu Jintao wherever he goes during the visit. This will be non-violent, but we will try to be as visible as possible,” Free Tibet Campaign director Yael Weisz-Rind told Reuters.
“Unlike last time, the police have promised that as long as the protests are peaceful they will not be broken up,” she added.
Campaigners are demanding that the Chinese premier — a former party official in Tibet — agrees to meet the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, the Nobel prize-winning spiritual leader of the Buddhist Tibetan people who has been in exile since 1959.
This, they say, would open the doors to bringing an end to the 55-year occupation of the vast Himalayan nation.
China has always said its invasion of Tibet in 1950 was a process of liberation, not occupation, and was at the request of the Tibetan government.
It says there were long-standing historical ties between Tibet and successive Chinese dynasties, and insists that Tibetan independence is a myth propagated by the British from the 19th century.
However, opponents insist equally fervently that Tibetan independence is a long-established reality and its Buddhist civilization unique in the world.
Coincidentally, the Dalai Lama will be in Edinburgh on November 19 to address a meeting of the World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet — only the fourth time since it was formed in 1994 that the international Tibet support group has met.
During the state visit starting on Tuesday, the Chinese president will dine with Queen Elizabeth, take lunch with Prime Minister Tony Blair and visit an exhibition on Chinese emperors.
Asked at his monthly news conference on Monday what he expected to discuss with the Chinese premier, Blair made no mention of human rights or Tibet.
He said he expected to discuss growing economic relations with China, global security and climate change.
