BEIJING — A young Tibetan monk died this week after setting himself on fire in Sichuan Province to protest Chinese rule, according to a Tibet advocacy group. It was the first known act of self-immolation in a Tibetan area of China since August.
The
monk, Kalsang Wangdu, 18, set fire to himself on Monday, according to
Free Tibet, a group based in London. On the same day, a 16-year-old
Tibetan student, Dorjee Tsering, did so in the Indian city of Dehradun
while shouting “Free Tibet,” the group said. He survived and was in a
hospital in New Delhi
More than 140 Tibetans have self-immolated in protest
in Tibetan regions of China since 2009, starting in Ngaba County, a
focal point for demonstrations against Beijing’s rule. Many of the
initial self-immolations were carried out by monks, but a growing number
of laypeople, including nomads and farmers, have since taken part.
Mr.
Kalsang set himself on fire at 4 p.m. outside his monastery, Retsokha
Aryaling, in what the Tibetans call Kardze Prefecture, according to Free
Tibet. Kardze, whose Chinese name is Ganzi, has been a prominent site
of protests against the Chinese authorities.
Free
Tibet said that Mr. Kalsang had called for “Tibet’s complete
independence” while self-immolating. Passers-by doused him with water,
the group said; he was taken to a county hospital and later to one in
Chengdu, the provincial capital, but died en route. Radio Free Asia, a
news service funded by the United States government, also reported Mr. Kalsang’s death.
Free
Tibet also said that a Tibetan woman, Mang Gha, 33, was detained on
Tuesday after walking through a town in Ngaba Prefecture, which includes
Ngaba County, holding up a portrait of the Dalai Lama,
the Tibetan spiritual leader who fled to India in 1959. Chinese
officials have deemed it illegal to display images of the Dalai Lama,
who it accuses of fomenting plots against China, anywhere in the nation.
The
Dalai Lama’s escape to India in 1959 took place during an uprising that
began in March, and each year, the Chinese government fears protests in
Tibetan areas as the uprising’s anniversary approaches. In March 2008,
widespread demonstrations that unfolded across the Tibetan Plateau
struck fear into the Communist Party’s top leaders, who deployed
paramilitary troops to suppress the unrest.
Last
month, the authorities began barring foreign tourists from going to
central Tibet, known as the Tibet Autonomous Region, according to an
advocacy group based in Washington, the International Campaign for
Tibet. The shutdown is expected to last until the end of March.
Also
last month, a court in Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province,
sentenced a popular Tibetan blogger, Druklo, to three years in prison
after he had been detained for a year, according to the International
Campaign for Tibet. The blogger, who writes under the pseudonym
Shokjang, has advocated true Tibetan autonomy within China, the same
position that the Dalai Lama takes.
Tibetans last month celebrated their new year, Losar, another time when the Chinese authorities are on the watch for protests.
On
Thursday, Yu Zhengsheng, a top Communist Party official who is the
chairman of a legislative advisory committee, addressed the issue of
China’s ethnic policies at the opening session of the committee’s annual
meeting in Beijing. “We promoted ethnic unity and religious harmony to
bring together the will and strength of the people,” he said, according
to China Central Television, the state network
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