By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala, July 23: Tibetan Journalists in exile under their association requested the Chinese Ambassador in New Delhi for permission to go to China alongside media journalists from around the world during the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing.
In an appeal letter posted to the Chinese Embassy on Friday last week, the journalist group has called on the Chinese Government to improve media freedom in China and, particularly in Tibet by allowing media people to record ground realities more freely without any prior official restrictions.
In its four-point demand letter, the Association of Tibetan Journalists (ATJ) has called on the Chinese Government to improve freedom of speech and expression inside Tibet, and China at large.
As part of the call, the group raised concern over the recent closure of Tibetan literary site run by a Tibetan and demanded the Chinese Government to respect the basic fundamental right of Tibetan people of free speech and expression.
On July 4 this year, the Chinese authorities have closed down the website www.tibetcm.com, apparently for posting “political” content according to the site’s editor.
The site, known as “The Lamp,” claimed some 800 registered forum users. The sudden closure of this Web site is said to have disappointed many young Tibetan readers and many expressing their disappointment on another Web site called ‘Tibetan Language.
The editor said another Tibetan-language site he edited, “China’s Tibetan Residential Education Network,” was also closed at the same time.
The letter has urged the PRC government to immediately lift the ban on the website by stating that the Tibetan Medias in exile continue to raise strong condemnation against the PRC Government’s banning and closure of websites and blogs.
The letter also expressed concern over the safety of the editor, Kyabchen Dedol, and others involved with the website.
Earlier on July 1, the Chinese government is said to have issued rules requiring the name of an author to appear at the end of each article posted on a Web site. If the Web site contains articles on sensitive topics, the Web site or the author could be fined 4,000-60,000 yuan (U.S. $526-U.S. $7,893).
According to the Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), at least 30 journalists and 50 Internet users are currently detained in China, some of them since the 1980s.
“The government blocks access to thousands of news Web sites. It jams the Chinese-, Tibetan-, and Uyghur-language programs of 10 international radio stations. After focusing on Web sites and chat forums, the authorities are now concentrating on blogs and video-sharing sites,” RSF said in a statement on its Web site.
Chinese Internet users who do not use proxy servers are blocked from searching with keywords considered subversive by the country’s Internet police.
Critics are frequently sentenced to jail terms for “divulging state secrets,” “subversion,” and “defamation.”
The ATJ’s letter was issued after its fifth annual seminar held for two days on July 12 and 13 at the DIIR hall in Dharamshala.
The Tibetan journalists came together and formed the association in 1997. The Club has more than 40 members, who are mostly based in Dharamsala, the seat of the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile.
The Dalai Lama declared democracy for Tibetans in 1960 and promulgated a constitution for a future Tibet, based on the principles of modern democracy.
