Pipelines, pandas trump democracy

[ellisonz]

By David Akin, Parliamentary Bureau Chief
First posted: Tuesday, February 07, 2012 06:00 PM MST

BEIJING — Last July, the man who is widely expected to succeed Hu Jintao as China’s president stood in front of the palace in Lhasa, Tibet, that is the traditional seat of the Dalai Lama and delivered a warning to the world.

“We will completely smash any plot to destroy stability in Tibet and jeopardize national unity,” said Xi Jinping, serving notice that China would fight what he called Tibetan separatists.

As Prime Minister Stephen Harper begins his five-day trip to China, those Tibetan “separatists” are very much in the news again.

Demonstrations in the past few weeks in support of Tibet in cities a few hundred miles from one of the cities Harper will visit here are being met with sharp government crackdowns.

http://www.calgarysun.com/2012/02/07/pipelines-pandas-trump-democracy

7 February, 2012
International Campaign for Tibet
International Day of Action for Tibet

Where: Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, 3505 International Place, NW, Washington, DC 20008 (nearest Metro location: Van Ness UDC)

Date and Time: Wednesday, February 08, 2012, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm

The International Campaign for Tibet, an international NGO working for human rights and democratic freedoms in Tibet, is standing with the Tibetan people at this time of crisis and Chinese aggression against unarmed protestors in Tibet. Since February 2009, 20 Tibetans have set themselves on fire, calling out for freedom and for the long life and return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet. Twelve are known to have died. In several incidents in recent days, Tibetan protestors have been fired on and some killed by police, drawing further attention to what increasingly appears to be a continuation of popular challenges to Chinese rule or mis-rule in Tibet that has spread across Tibet since March 2008.

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The International Campaign for Tibet wishes to remind Chinese leaders, especially Vice President Xi Jinping who will meet with U.S. leaders, including President Obama, on February 14, and those Chinese who will host the 7th EU-China Summit on or near the same date in Beijing, that western democracies have embraced dialogue between the Chinese leadership and the Dalai Lama or his representatives as the way forward in Tibet.

Governments of the United States, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, and numerous parliamentarians around the world, have strongly and publicly condemned the human rights violations and Chinese crackdown in Tibet, and urged dialogue with the Tibetans, and open access to Tibet for international monitors.

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The International Campaign for Tibet invites friends of peace and justice everywhere to stand with the Tibetan people and join us in a global vigil.

For more information, please contact:
Regional Capital Area Tibetan Youth Congress
Tenzin Lhadon (202/378-0740) or Tenzin Lhamo (703/839-5064)

http://savetibet.org/media-center/ict-press-releases/international-day-action-tibet

If you're in DC and looking to Occupy, there's the entrance of the embassy of the People's Republic of China.

China's Vice President Xi Jinping, who is widely expected to be his country's next leader, will meet President Barack Obama during a Valentine's Day visit to the White House next month, officials said.

Xi, who will officially be the guest of his opposite number Vice President Joe Biden on February 14, will also travel to Iowa and California during his visit to the United States, the White House said.

http://news.yahoo.com/chinas-xi-meet-obama-white-house-feb-14-195342493.html

[CAPHAVOC]

1. Wonder if he would bring my old job back with him?

[ellisonz]

2. Doubtful.

Your job will never come back within your life time, you should stop asking for such a thing!

[ellisonz]

3. Pic from Today