The brutal crackdown by Chinese authorities on Tibetan protesters has met with a chorus of disapproval from the international community. Chinese authorities, however, appear to be ignoring the concerns and activists say it is time for action.
The United States, the European Union and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights were united this week in their call for China to show "restraint" in Tibet.
Their concern has been echoed by foreign ministers from the UK, Canada, Germany and France.
Ma Ying-jeou, the leading candidate for Taiwan's March 22 presidential election, went one step further by condemning the violence outright.
"Any use of violence should cease immediately," Mr Ma said.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, scheduled to visit China later this month, described the developments in Tibet as disturbing, but moderated his criticism in line with the majority.
"From my point of view, I would call upon the Chinese authorities to exercise restraint," he told the ABC.
International concerns, however, appear to have fallen on deaf ears in China. Reports have since surfaced that Chinese forces have been ordered to shoot Tibetan protesters on sight. The order follows a March 17 midnight ultimatum from Chinese authorities for those behind the protest to surrender.
Dr Simon Bradshaw, campaign co-ordinator for the Australia Tibet Council (ATC), says the protests and escalating state violence have served to illustrate the sort of repression Tibetan people have been living under for years.
"It has become very clear that China's rule in Tibet is not tenable, not sustainable and I think what we are seeing are the tragic consequences of many decades of very brutal repression and human rights violations," he said.
Test for Kevin Rudd
Speaking to The Epoch Times on his way to Canberra to meet with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet, Dr Bradshaw said the present crisis will be a test for Mr Rudd in his upcoming meeting with the Chinese leadership.
"Kevin Rudd is very keen to let us know that he speaks Mandarin and how much he knows about China. He did his masters thesis on a Chinese dissident. This I think is his first real test in respect to China since changing office."
Dr Bradshaw said Australia should not fear pressuring China about human rights as it was largely Australian resources fuelling China's industrial expansion and there was little risk that China would "sever all meaningful ties".
"I think Kevin Rudd needs to be bold in taking China to account on this human rights situation, particularly the current situation in Tibet," he said, adding: "All international governments have an obligation to do so at the moment."
The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism and a Nobel Peace Laureate, has called for a UN-led investigation into recent events describing the Chinese Communist Party's campaign against Tibetan people as an act of "cultural genocide".
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has consistently accused the Dalai Lama of "splittist activities" and has blamed him for the recent protests.
China's UN Ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters at the UN that a UN investigation would not be appropriate as "people are doing beating, smashing, arsoning in Lhasa and clearly that other activities happening all over the world is clearly a co-ordinated activity. So I think there are ample proof that Dalai Lama is behind all this," the International Herald Tribune reported.
The Dalai Lama, however, has consistently appealed to Tibetans to use peaceful means to express their frustration and urged "fellow Tibetans not to resort to violence".
He is also careful to acknowledge Tibet as part of China, but says the title of "autonomous region" needed to be respected and until the rule of brute force was replaced with constructive dialogue, he would continue to voice his concerns.
"The Chinese Government severely criticises me when I raise questions about the welfare of the Tibetan people before the international community. Until we reach a mutually beneficial solution, I have an historical and moral responsibility to continue to speak out freely on their behalf," he said in a statement.
Tibetan's economic underclass
Chinese authorities point to massive infrastructure developments in Tibet as evidence that things have improved for the Tibetan people, but Dr Bradshaw said many rural Tibetans had been displaced by those developments and the only beneficiaries of the "new" Tibet were migrant Han Chinese.
Living standards for Tibetan people had declined under Chinese rule, he said, and Tibet now exhibited the widest rich-poor divide of any of the regions under Chinese control, with Tibetans the new underclass.
Rigid restrictions on freedom of speech, religious repression and the stifling of any reference to Tibetan culture are equally hard to bear for those remaining in Tibet. Tibetans are not allowed to display the Tibetan flag, for example, or divest images of the Dalai Lama, Dr Bradshaw said. "Even very simple cultural gestures in terms of celebrations, such as the burning of incense or the whitewashing of walls, were stopped very quickly."
The recent protests were largely fuelled by these frustrations and compounded by disappointment that Chinese authorities had not fulfilled their promise to improve human rights in the lead-up to the Olympic Games.
"In the last year, there has actually been a three-fold increase in arbitrary arrests of dissidents and that, of course, is contrary [to the promise that] there would be greater respect for religious freedom, greater human rights as we approach the Olympics," Dr Bradshaw said.
Tibetans living abroad are also feeling increasing frustration at the lack of change.
Dr Bradshaw said there were about 500 Tibetans living in Australia, many of whom had been political prisoners in China and had escaped via India.
By way of explaining last weekend's emotional protests outside Chinese consulates in both Sydney and Melbourne, Dr Bradshaw said: "Almost all Tibetans here have family and friends in Tibet in Lhasa and areas where there are problems at the moment."
One Tibetan woman struggled to hold back tears at the Melbourne protests, telling The Epoch Times that her brother had been sentenced to three years in prison by the CCP for saying prayers to the Dalai Lama.
Another Tibetan, Ngawang Tobthen, said that if anyone demonstrated in China, they would be shot or put in detention and tortured, but all the Tibetans wanted was basic human rights.
"We want freedom; we always try to come here to talk to China…because we talking human rights, we talking for our rights, you know – our right," he said.
Dr Bradshaw said: "It is a very difficult and very painful time for Tibetans in Australia and around the world. I think we can only hope at this stage that something positive will come in the long term and there are positives in the current situation."
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