Ottawa speech by region’s governor draws cries of ‘hypocrisy’ from protesters
By CAMPBELL CLARK
OTTAWA – The Chinese government brought its top Tibetan official to Ottawa yesterday, launching efforts to counter the Dalai Lama’s recent visit to Canada.
About 50 demonstrators chanted and waved “Free Tibet” signs as Chamba Phuntsok, governor of the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China, gave a luncheon speech in Ottawa — a presentation the demonstrators labelled propaganda.
Although he insisted he has not come specifically to follow the visit of the Dalai Lama, Mr. Phuntsok said he came to set the record straight by giving “true picture of Tibet.”
“The Dalai Lama has a very large influence among the Western countries through his use of efforts for propaganda. That has caused a lot of misunderstanding and biases about Tibet. Some people have poured a lot of dirty water on us and given you a very wrong picture of Tibet,” he said.
“In that sense, you may also say that my visit is related to the Dalai Lama, however, I have not come to Canada just to follow on the heels of the Dalai Lama.”
China has made a contested claim to sovereignty over Tibet for hundreds of years, and has occupied it since 1951.
The Dalai Lama, considered the leader of Tibetan Buddhists, has lived in exile since 1959.
The Dalai Lama’s high-profile visit to Canada in April included a visit with Prime Minister Paul Martin, which angered the Chinese government, and well-received public events.
Mr. Phuntsok insisted the Dalai Lama is a separatist whose call for greater autonomy for Tibet is only the latest tactic in a long push for independence.
“On the surface, he is a religious figure,” he said, “but down under the surface, he is a political figure.”
Mr. Phuntsok denied that there is repression of religious freedoms in Tibet, and that an influx of ethnic Han Chinese is destabilizing the traditional culture and forcing Tibetans to the economic margins, as many exiles say.
Protesters from the Canada Tibet Committee dismissed the event as two-faced public relations.
“This event is basically hypocrisy. They come here saying that they’re preserving Tibetan culture and religion, bringing Tibetans to use them as puppets, when in fact China has caused cultural genocide in Tibet,” said Jordhen Chazotsang, a member of the Canada Tibet Committee.
He accused the Chinese government of destroying monasteries, killing monks and detaining political prisoners, and mounting a long campaign to eradicate the Tibetan language.
A report issued this month by the International Campaign for Tibet concluded that China is threatening the future of Tibetan Buddhism by limiting the numbers of monks and discouraging religious festivals.
Mr. Phuntsok, governor of Tibet for eight years, called the report “full of lies,” declaring religious festivals are widely attended without government interference and that the government has heavily invested in the restoration of monasteries.
And he cited the 1,700 religious sites and 46,000 Buddhist monks and nuns as proof that Beijing does not discourage religious freedom.
The ICT report attacks the Chinese government’s imposition of political education classes on Buddhist monks and nuns, a practice Mr. Phuntsok defended as innocent.
“Buddhist monks and nuns are also citizens of the country,” he said. “What is so wrong with educating our citizens to be patriotic?”
Mr. Chazotsang said that religious oppression includes preventing Tibetans from owning a portrait of the Dalai Lama, and said money recently spent on monasteries is part of a superficial effort that belies a deeper move to rob them of their traditional role as centres of teaching.
“They have spent money on rebuilding monasteries,” he said. “Most of it is because the Chinese government sees real big boom as far as using these monasteries they previously destroyed as a tourist attraction.”
