MCLC: Woeser blocked from receiving award

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Woeser blocked from receiving award
***********************************************************

Source: NYT 
(3/1/12):http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/world/asia/tibetan-writer-says-c
hina-is-blocking-her-from-award.html

Tibetan Writer Says China Is Blocking Her From Award
By EDWARD WONG 

BEIJING ‹ A prominent Tibetan writer living in Beijing said on Thursday
that police had placed her under house arrest to prevent her from
receiving a prize for culture from the Dutch Embassy.

The writer, Woeser, said in a telephone interview in the afternoon that
there were police officers downstairs in her apartment building, where she
lives on the 20th floor. She said she was unsure of the exact number, but
had noticed at least two men in a car outside the main door and others
waiting nearby. She said Beijing police officers came to her apartment on
Wednesday night and told her she would not be allowed to receive the
award. ³I told the embassy last night that I probably won¹t be able to go
this evening,² said Woeser, who like many Tibetans goes by only one name.

The embassy is giving Woeser an award from the Prince Claus Fund
<http://www.princeclausfund.org/>. The fund¹s Web site says the award is
given out annually to individuals and organizations in Africa, Asia, Latin
America and the Caribbean ³for their outstanding achievements in the field
of culture and development.²

Woeser, who has written critically of the Chinese government¹s policies in
Tibet 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/c
hina/tibet/index.html?inline=nyt-geo>, said she had planned to go the
Dutch ambassador¹s residence on Thursday at 6 p.m. to have dinner and
receive the award. The ceremony was originally to have been at the embassy
but was recently moved to the residence.

Woeser said the police might stay at her apartment building for a couple
weeks or even a month. ³I just asked them how long they¹ll be there, and
they said they don¹t know,² she said.

Security in Beijing has been bolstered ahead of the Monday opening of the
annual meetings of the National People¹s Congress and the Chinese People¹s
Political Consultative Conference, which are together known as the
lianghui, or ³two meetings.² During this time, people deemed to be
potential troublemakers are kept under close watch by the police.
Moreover, many critics of the Communist Party have been harassed in the
past year, as senior officials, especially those in the security
apparatus, have apparently watched with growing concern the revolutions
that have toppled long-seated dictators in the Middle East.

It has also been a fraught year for Tibetans in particular. Since last
March, at least 22 Tibetans in western regions have set fire to themselves
<http://www.savetibet.org/resource-center/maps-data-fact-sheets/self-immola
tion-fact-sheet> to protest rule by the Han, the dominant ethnic group in
China. Fourteen of those died. In recent months, there have also been
clashes between security forces and Tibetans in towns across the Tibetan
plateau; in several cases, security forces opened fire with live
ammunition, reportedly killing some of the protesters.

Most of the self-immolations have taken place in the town of Aba, known as
Ngaba in Tibetan, which is home to Kirti Monastery, an important center of
learning. The majority of those setting fire to themselves have been monks
from Kirti. The town is now in a state of lockdown
<http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/under-lockdown-life-inside-dissident-ti
betan-town-1.3568943>, with checkpoints on roads leading into it and
paramilitary troops in riot gear standing or sitting on each block during
the day.

The month of March is a delicate time in China-Tibet relations. The Dalai
Lama fled to India in March 1959, after the Chinese Army quashed a Tibetan
uprising in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, during the initial Chinese
occupation there. There has been a history of Tibetans protesting Chinese
rule on the anniversaries of the Dalai Lama¹s flight, and one such protest
by monks in 2008 in Lhasa, and the suppression of it by security forces,
led to the widespread uprising that enveloped much of the Tibetan plateau
that spring. Since then, the Chinese government has increased the presence
of security forces across the plateau each March and has barred foreigners
from traveling to many areas there during that month.