【10.03.11 纽约时报】China Increases Security in Tibet to Prevent Protests

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/world/asia/12tibet.html?ref=asia
BEIJING — For a second straight year, the Chinese government has increased security across parts of the vast Tibetan plateau to dissuade any Tibetans from holding protests this week to mark the anniversaries of ethnic uprisings. Witnesses who have spent time recently in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, and other Tibetan areas of western China say there are more police and paramilitary forces on the streets, some of them bearing automatic weapons.
On Tuesday, Ma Jun, the deputy chief of the Lhasa police force, said at a news conference that the police had begun a “crackdown storm” on March 2. He said 2,800 security officers had been deployed around the city and had examined thousands of people and nearly 150 businesses for signs of criminal activity, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.
A year ago, the Chinese government also blanketed the Tibetan region with security forces for fear that Tibetans would take to the streets as they did in March 2008. That widespread rebellion, which resulted in the deaths of ethnic Han civilians and others, began as a protest to mark the anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
The Dalai Lama fled to India at the time, and the Chinese government has been watchful every March of expressions of Tibetan discontent. Although Chinese officials vilify the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetans, many Tibetans revere him and chafe at restrictions on religion imposed by China’s Han rulers.
In Qinghai Province, the northern part of the Tibetan plateau, a senior monk in the main monastery in the town of Tongren said in an interview: “It’s very tense. The people of the state are watching.”
He added that the number of paramilitary troops and vehicles had increased a few weeks ago around the time of Losar, the Tibetan New Year. Wary of the security forces, monks in the monastery in Tongren, known in Tibetan as Rebkong, have not put up portraits of the Dalai Lama, which they usually do.
“It’s going to be tense for the foreseeable future as well,” said the monk, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of being harassed by the security forces.
A few foreign journalists who were invited by the government last week to Lhasa reported seeing Chinese security forces with automatic rifles patrolling the streets. The Associated Press reported that the troops were “as ever-present as Buddhist pilgrims.” The New York Times was not invited on the trip, and the government bans foreign journalists from reporting in central Tibet, known as the Tibet Autonomous Region, without such permission.
The International Campaign for Tibet, an advocacy group based in Washington, said this week that the Chinese government appears to be temporarily banning foreigners from entering Tibet via the neighboring country of Nepal. The group said the main border crossing had been closed, flights to Lhasa had been grounded and travel agents in Nepal had been told that foreigners might not be permitted to enter Tibet until several days after March 10.
A woman answering the telephone at the Foreign Affairs Bureau in Lhasa said she had not heard of any new restrictions on foreigners visiting the Tibet Autonomous Region. Foreigners usually need special permits to visit the area and must be part of a tour group.
In Nepal, where the government has been forging closer ties with China, the police on Wednesday arrested 30 protesters who had been demonstrating in Katmandu, the capital, in support of the Tibetan cause. More than 12,000 Tibetans live in Nepal, many of them refugees who have fled Chinese rule.
“They do not have right to hold political rallies,” said Ganesh K. C., the Katmandu police chief.
Nepal has maintained that Tibet is an integral part of China and has banned any activities that go against that policy. The protesters could be held up to six months for investigation, said Jaymukunda Khanal, a Home Ministry spokesman.
On Wednesday, the Dalai Lama gave a speech in India on the 51st anniversary of his flight from Lhasa. He urged Tibetans everywhere to make contact with Chinese people and said a shift in attitude among ordinary Chinese might one day sway Chinese government policy toward Tibet.
“There will be a time when truth will prevail,” he said. “Therefore, it is important that everyone be patient and not give up.”
Jonathan Ansfield contributed reporting, and Zhang Jing contributed research. Kiran Chapagain contributed reporting from Katmandu, Nepal.

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