Opinions

When I was researching my “Free Radio Free Asia!” piece I came across more information than I could fit into the article. I also came across material which was troubling, and which I could not bring myself to include in the piece, though it would have bolstered the case I was trying to make.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in his closing remarks at the recently concluded Second Special International Tibet Support Groups Meeting, stated that the “younger generation of Tibetans in Tibet these days have much stronger determination as compared to earlier generations.”

In my last post I mentioned an instance of how Communist China was flexing its economic muscle to disseminate its propaganda in the USA, essentially through paying for pages of the China Daily to be inserted within the august recesses of America’s newspaper of record, the New York Times.

The New York Times expose on Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's close relatives having amassed assets worth more than $2.7 billion could not have come at a worse time for poor Mr. Wen.

A nation that has stood tall for more than two thousand years with a thriving civilization and significant cultural and political influence over large parts of Asia has suddenly come under an assault, which from all counts is tragic. When countries around the world, especially in Asia at the end of the Second World War were gaining independence as a result of the process of

Any attempt to “soften” the power of the oppressor in deference to the weakness of the oppressed almost always manifests itself in the form of false generosity....True generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity.

Although the number of self-immolations is rising at an exponential and very disturbing rate in Tibet, the crisis is gradually reaching a stalemate. With no change in the horizon and less attention being paid by foreign media and governments,

Seventy Tibetans have, one after the other, in relentless and purposeful succession, set themselves on fire for the cause of their people’s freedom. If anything so heroic, selfless, spontaneous, non-instigated, and entirely non-violent*

It has to be understood that Tibetans at no point invited or accepted Chinese rule. The Chinese communists invaded Tibet in 1949 and occupied the country against the will of the Tibetans.

In an exciting development, Tibet Fund has been awarded a $2 million grant by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to implement USAID’s Tibet Education Project. At a time when Tibet Fund looks to replace its recently-departed Executive Director, this grant presents a major opportunity but also a challenge.