More blood on China’s hands: Tibetan nun dies after years of ill health following prison term
February 5, 2018
By Yangdon Demo
Radio Free Asia, January 31, 2018 – A Tibetan nun and former political prisoner, jailed for seven years after calling for an end to Chinese rule in Tibet, has died of complications arising from a chronic ailment she developed after being subjected to torture and poor living conditions during her incarceration, according to Tibetan sources.
Ngawang Tsomo, 51, died on Jan. 27 in Phenpo Lhundrub (in Chinese, Linzhou) county in the Tibet Autonomous Region’s Lhasa (Lasa) prefecture after her health began to deteriorate last year, a source inside Tibet told RFA’s Tibetan Service on condition of anonymity.
“In the summer, she went on retreat in Phenpo Lhundrub county, when her health condition became much worse,” said the source.
“She had developed an acute headache while she was in prison and, after her release, she was unable to seek proper medication for her failing health … As her condition recently became serious, she was taken to the hospital in Phenpo Lhundrub, but she passed away in the corridor of the building while waiting to receive treatment.”
The cause of Tsomo’s death was not immediately clear.
According to sources, Tsomo was arrested in 1993 and initially held in the Gutsa detention center after taking part in a peaceful protest along with several other people in Tibet’s capital Lhasa calling for an end to Chinese rule in Tibet.
A court sentenced her to seven years in jail “in a sham trial, without any due process,” before being moved to Lhasa’s Drapchi Prison, said a second source, who also asked to remain unnamed.
“While in jail at Drapchi Prison, like all other political prisoners, she faced inhumane treatment at the hands of the Chinese prisoner guards,” the source said.
Tsomo was among a group of inmates at Drapchi who in 1998 called for freedom in Tibet after prison authorities attempted to force them to salute China’s flag and sing the national anthem. Guards fired live rounds at the prisoners, killing two, according to the source.
“The [surviving] prisoners were kept under close supervision and suffered tremendously due to retaliation from Chinese officials,” the source said.
“Though she lived through the ordeal, Ngawang Tsomo was among those who were victimized by the Chinese authorities.”
Tsomo was released in 2000 after serving her full sentence, but “her time in jail took a serious toll on her physical health, and she became chronically ill due to the torture and suffering she sustained while in detention,” according to the source.
Additionally, Tsomo was prevented from reenrolling at her former monastery, due to laws prohibiting ex-prisoners from returning to their past lives as monks and nuns, and “faced numerous challenges in society … eking out a living doing odd jobs for all of those years.”
“She had faced so much hardship while alive, and though she is gone now, her legacy and courage will not be forgotten by generations to come,” said the source.

China’s insecurity over Tibet reaches Royal Court Theatre in London
February 5, 2018
Scroll.in, February 4. 2018 – An award-winning Indian playwright accused the Royal Court theatre of censorship after his play about contemporary Tibet was shelved, The Guardian reported on Sunday. Abhishek Majumdar claimed that Pah-la was withdrawn because of fears of negative Chinese reactions.
Pah-la shows the life in contemporary Tibet. Majumdar worked with Tibetans in India and the play draws on such personal stories. In a Facebook post, Majumdar shared a copy of the poster for the play that said it was due to run for a month from October 4 to November 4, 2017.
Majumdar said Pah-la was withdrawn as it may impact an ongoing arts programme in Beijing where Chinese writers are working with the Royal Court theatre and the British Council in China. He claimed that the British Council had “pressurised” the theatre to withdraw it.
Majumdar said that the Dalai Lama had told him to be ready to face resistance. “Now I know what that means,” he said. Majumdar told the Observer that he was now involved in “sensitive” discussions with the Royal Court.
The Royal Court, however, said it had had to postpone and then withdraw Pah-la for financial reasons. It added that the play will be staged in spring 2019. “The Royal Court always seeks to protect and not to silence any voice,” said the theatre. “In an international context, this can sometimes be more complex across communities. The Royal Court is committed to protecting free speech, sometimes within difficult situations.”
A British Council spokesperson said the Royal Court theatre’s programming team is responsible for their decisions about the plays they stage. “We are pleased this play can be staged in 2019: the playwright took part in previous writing workshops we supported in India,” the spokesperson told The Guardian.

Tibetan political prisoner completes 5-year term, barred from returning to his monastery and public speaking
February 5, 2018
Radio Free Asia, February 05, 2018 – A Tibetan monk jailed for five years for his writings on politically sensitive topics has been released from prison in China’s Qinghai province after serving his full term, but is now banned from speaking at public gatherings, Tibetan sources say.
Gartze Jigme, 41, was freed on Feb. 4 and was returned by his family to his home in Tsekhog (in Chinese, Zeku) county in the Malho (Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, a Tibetan living in exile said, citing sources in the region.
“His family and friends went to receive him at the prison early in the morning, but it took a long time to process the paperwork, and they were unable arrive at their home until 7:00 p.m.,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Jigme, who was welcomed with ceremonial scarves by relatives, friends, and monks on his return, had been held in a prison in Qinghai’s capital Xining during his time behind bars, the source said.
“He is physically frail, but he shows no signs of major health issues, at least for now,” he said, adding that Chinese authorities had quickly moved to block the online distribution of a photo showing Jigme following his release.
“He has been forbidden from returning to his monastery for one year, and has been banned from speaking public at the invitation of community organizations,” he said.
Caregivers from Dokar township and from elsewhere in the county have now been sent to look after him, the source said.
Politically sensitive writings

Jigme was first detained in April 2011 after he launched a literary journal titled Courage of the King, RFA’s source said.
In the journal’s second edition, a copy of which was obtained by RFA, Jigme wrote extensively on topics considered politically sensitive by China, including self-immolation protests by Tibetans, Tibet’s exile government and spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s environment, and Chinese policies in the region.
Speaking to RFA, a second Tibetan source said that Jigme was taken into custody again in January 2013.
“Police barged into his room and examined his computers. His publications were then banned, and those circulating in the market were pulled back,” the source said, also speaking on condition he not be named.
On May 14, Jigme was secretly sentenced to a five-year prison term by the Tsekhog county court, the source said.
China has jailed scores of Tibetan writers, artists, singers, and educators for asserting Tibetan national identity and civil rights since widespread protests swept the region in 2008.

Canadian Foreign Minister requests permission from China to visit Tibet’s Panchen Lama
January 30, 2018
Ottawa, January 30, 2018 – Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a written statement issued Monday that Canada has requested permission from Chinese authorities to visit Tibet’s Panchen Lama, Gendhun Choekyi Nyima, in order to ascertain his well-being. According to the Minister’s statement, the request was made on November 28, 2017. Freeland’s statement came in response to a petition submitted to the House of Commons by MP Randall Garrison.[1]
The statement also provides details about Canada’s intervention on behalf of imprisoned Tibetans, Shokjang (Druklo) and Tashi Wangchuk, who were jailed by Chinese authorities following their efforts to promote Tibetan culture and language.
“We welcome this important support from the Government of Canada” said Sherap Therchin, Executive Director of the Canada Tibet Committee. “We call upon Chinese authorities to release all Tibetan prisoners of conscience jailed for the non-violent expression of opinion or the practice of their religion.”
In her statement, Freeland also reaffirmed Canada’s long-standing commitment to the Panchen Lama who was taken by authorities in 1995 when he was only 6 years old. [2] Neither the boy nor his family have been seen since they were detained. [2]
In November 2017, Senator Denis Patterson led an inquiry in the Canadian Senate requesting stronger Canadian support for Tibetan prisoners of conscience including the Panchen Lama, Shokjang, and Tashi Wangchuk. [4]
# # #
[1] Minister Freeland’s statement is found here: http://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/ePetitions/Responses/421/e-1162/421-01868_GAC_E.pdf
[2] See for example, http://tibet.ca/en/library/wtn/13837
[3] For background information about the Panchen Lama see, http://tibet.ca/_media/PDF/en/Backgrounder_Panchen_Lama_eng.pdf
[4] The Senate Inquiry transcript is available at https://sencanada.ca/en/content/sen/chamber/421/debates/161db_2017-11-23-e#75

Why the endangerment of the Tibetan language bolsters Chinese expansionism
January 23rd, 2018 Posted in Aucun catégorie
In light of the recent trial of Tashi Wangchuk–who has been unfairly detained for Tibetan language advocacy—China’s attempt to forcefully incorporate Tibet into the PRC is once again rearing its ugly head. It is but indubitable that China’s policies have been designed to browbeat the Tibetans into submission and at the same time, dilute their culture by settling droves of mainland Chinese into Tibet. However, what is remarkably insidious about these measures to dominate Tibet politically, economically, and culturally is that their enforcement of Mandarin upon the Tibetan population might actually be a means to an end—the end being the consolidation of a regional Chinese empire.
Francis Fukuyama, a political scientist and author posits that China emerged as “the first modern state in history” during the Qin dynasty, where a unified political system, hugely informed by Legalism, was implemented. Like its predecessors, the Qin dynasty eventually met its demise, however, the Legalist system that it created and perpetuated in order to forge a homogenized national state has since been replicated in varying degrees in successive eras.
Legalism is essentially a Chinese political theory which firmly asserts that since man is innately selfish, he ought to be reined in by the state through harsh punishments and laws. At the same time, however, it believes that individuals can pursue their own selfish interests as long as the sovereignty of the state is not compromised or threatened. Hence, self-serving behaviour that serves the state’s objectives and aids in its prosperity is encouraged while oppressive laws are firmly put in place to ensure that that very same behaviour does not get out of hand and end up being detrimental to the state and its rulers. In short, the legalist world is a paradoxical one, where laws are put in place not to stamp out immoral behaviour but to direct it towards the benefit of the state.
Now one may be wondering what this has to do with China’s assault on Tibet’s language and culture. It is but undeniable that the Tibetan language and culture, both of which are inextricably and intimately intertwined, are far removed from China’s. Despite this all-too-obvious fact, China continues to persist in its delusional belief that Tibet is an integral part of it, thus condemning the Tibetans’ fight for their language and culture as “self-interested” behaviour that threatens to dismantle the new Chinese empire. Also, as China believes that linguistic standardization is necessary for national unity, it has embarked on a momentous task to homogenize the Tibetan populace in a bid to wrench their loyalty away from their social institutions to the Chinese state. And should this finally come to fruition, Tibet’s identity and its hope for an autonomous political existence will be erased forever.
Throughout my travels in Tibet, I could not help but notice that the ubiquitous presence of Chinese colonialism was but stark: street signs are either in Mandarin or in both Mandarin and Tibetan, with the former taking precedence over the latter; Tibetans towns are designated Chinese names; and major Tibetan cities such as Lhasa, Dartsedo, and Xining have been turned into full-fledged Chinese cities complete with glitzy malls and clusters of apartments. Worryingly, this has somehow pressured many local Tibetans into conformity, driving many of them to use Mandarin as the lingua franca. At first sight, this might appear as a survival-driven response and for the most part, it probably is; however, such responses over time have inevitably led to thought and behaviour modification, so much so that the urge to learn Tibetan has dissipated and the need to assimilate increased.12764676_940684662705152_8712916298705401282_o
Unsurprisingly, the Chinese language has also become a viable tool via which state-sponsored propaganda is disseminated. The effects such carefully manipulated language could have on a person is well illustrated by George Orwell: “If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought”. And this makes me recall an anecdote I heard from an old Tibetan man in Labrang: On one occasion, his grand-niece has come back from school filled with rage against the Japanese for having ravaged China during World War 2; and quite evidently, her school had conveniently ignored the fact that historically, the Tibetans have had no enmity with the Japanese. Indeed, it is a frightening phenomenon that can only be best described as the gradual formation of a uniform national identity that is required for China’s expansionist dream.
Nevertheless, it is reassuring to see that the spirit of advocacy is being kept alive by the likes of Tashi Wangchuk, for if it weren’t for them, Sinocentric ideology would have long taken root in the Tibetan region. Thus, I believe that our fight for Tibetan autonomy is not only a moral duty but a political necessity as well.
By Vithya Segar

Chinese officials take over the administration of the largest Tibetan Buddhist institute Larung Gar
January 29, 2018
Voice of America, January 27, 2018 – Chinese authorities are placing tighter administrative controls over Larung Gar, a Buddhist study center, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
About 200 Communist Party cadres and lay officials “are taking over all management, finances, security, admissions, and even the choice of textbooks at the center, following demolitions and expulsions in 2017,” according to the HRW report, which outlines the “micromanagement” of the monks, nuns and visitors to the institute founded in 1980.
“We think the latest developments at Larung Gar really are unprecedented,” Sophie Richardson, the HRW China director, told VOA’s Tibetan service, adding the controls are an “intrusion into the management security and even the textbooks of the community.”
VOA emailed a request for comment on the HRW report to the Chinese Embassy in Washington but received no reply.
Larung Gar was founded by Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok, a highly regarded Tibetan Buddhist master. At one point, it was home to at least 10,000 monks, nuns, lay students and elderly people, although some tourism websites estimated there were closer to 40,000 people. The center has long been targeted by Beijing, which planned to reduce the Larung Gar population to 5,000 by September 2017.
The brochure, A Simplified Program for the Separation of the Institute and Monastery at Larung Monastery Five Sciences Buddhist Institute, was apparently issued by local Chinese Communist Party authorities, according to HRW.
Authorities will split Larung Gar into two sections — an academy and a monastery — divided by a wall, according to an English-language translation of the document provided by HRW. The human rights group said it had received it in August 2017.
The academy will have no more than 1,500 residents, most of them monks, according to the HRW report, and the monastery with have a maximum of 3,500 nuns.
The monks and nuns at Larung Gar will be subject to “increased security and heightened control,” including restrictions on how many of them will be allowed to stay there, according to the HRW report. Ongoing surveillance will be tightened with the use of a “grid management” system, the report says, and visitors, as well as the nuns and monks, will be required to have identifying tags — red for monks, yellow for nuns and green for lay people.
“The new government controls over Larung Gar fly in the face of party claims that China respects constitutionally protected religious beliefs,” Richardson said in an HRW release.
Since 2008, the number of monks across the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) has fallen, leaving most monasteries with only a handful of monks, who are overseen by Chinese Communist Party members in charge of the facilities.
Many monks in the region decamped to Larung Gar in order to continue their studies.
In 2014, however, TAR-based Chinese officials ordered families in Driru County to bring monks back from Larung Gar and other monasteries in Ganze prefecture.
In August 2017, six members of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, all of them Tibetan, were appointed to manage the day-to-day affairs of Larung Gar, according to Radio Free Asia, which also reported on the establishment of checkpoints on the main road leading to the complex.
Relations between China and Tibetans have been uneasy since the Chinese army marched into Tibetan territory in 1950, land China contends had been in its orbit since the 13th century.
Many Tibetans believe Beijing is trying to suppress Tibet’s language, freedom of expression and religion while allowing migration of Chinese citizens and the construction of major infrastructure projects in the region. Chinese authorities say their presence has raised the local living standards while allowing the Tibetans much autonomy.

Opinion: How China forces Western companies to do its political bidding
January 22, 2018
The Washington Post, January 21, 2018 – As China’s economic might grows, Beijing is leveraging that power to coerce foreign companies to advance its political narrative and punish them when they step out of line. The Chinese Communist Party’s treatment this month of hotel giant Marriott after a minor website error takes the effort to a new and dangerous level.
In Washington, the Chinese government’s overreaction to Marriott listing Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong and Macau as “countries” on an emailed questionnaire has sparked alarm. Trump administration officials, lawmakers and experts said the Communist Party is escalating how far it is willing to go in enforcing strict adherence to its political positions among foreign actors.
After a Marriott Rewards employee “liked” a Jan. 9 tweet by the “Friends of Tibet” group praising the questionnaire, Chinese authorities called in Marriott officials for questioning, shut down their Chinese website and mobile apps, and demanded an apology. The Jan. 11 apology from Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson parroted the language the Communist Party uses to describe groups that stand opposed to Chinese repression or advocate for Tibetan autonomy.
“We don’t support anyone who subverts the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China and we do not intend in any way to encourage or incite any such people or groups,” Sorenson wrote.
Marriott has more than 300 hotels in China, its second-largest single market, after the United States. While it began disciplinary proceedings against the employee who “liked” the offending tweet, Chinese netizens scoured the Internet and found dozens more foreign corporations that had listed as countries territories that are claimed by China. Chinese Internet bots fueled the purportedly popular outrage.
Corporations including Delta Air Lines and Zara rushed out apologies of their own. But the Chinese government didn’t stop there. Dozens of companies were told to scrub their websites for any related content or face severe consequences. The state-run media organ China Daily piled on with an op-ed headlined “No flouting of China’s core interests will be tolerated.” Chinese government officials even threatened the family of a Chinese student in Canada who responded favorably to the Friends of Tibet tweet.
By combining government power, manufactured public outrage and negative state-sponsored media coverage, the Chinese government can place massive pressure on American companies to tow the party’s political line. That aggressiveness is now becoming an issue in the U.S.-China relationship.
“Everyone should be deeply concerned by the PRC’s growing comprehensive campaign to exploit trade and commerce to advance its global Communist agenda,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) told me. “For decades the Communist Party has limited speech within China on topics and opinions that threaten their one-party rule, and we are now seeing this form of information warfare influence the way American companies conduct business.”
For example, by parroting the Communist Party line on Tibet, Marriott helps the Chinese government whitewash its systematic and brutal repression of Tibetans. As the International Campaign for Tibet wrote in a letter to Sorenson, Marriott could have changed the emailed questionnaire without endorsing China’s political position on Tibet.
“China has been continually attempting to silence international public debates on the issue of Tibet, and your statement unfortunately furthers their efforts,” the group wrote, pointing out that the Chinese propaganda machine can use Marriott’s statement to further undermine Tibetan human rights.
The question for Washington policymakers is: Where does this end? What if a Tibetan group wanted to hold a conference at a Marriott hotel in Washington? Would Marriott be within its rights to prevent that? Does official Washington have a role to play?
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) told me that as China becomes more brazen in its efforts to coerce or control American businesses, the United States must devise a comprehensive public-private effort to push back.
“This is only the latest in a long pattern of the Chinese government leveraging access to its marketplace to extract painful concessions from foreign businesses,” he said. “Our actions, or lack thereof, can influence their behavior. To this end, we need to stand firm in defense of American interests, both security and economic.”

Tibet raised in US House of Representatives debate on China’s Strategy to Accrue Global Power
January 22, 2018
International Campaign for Tibet, January 19, 2018 – The US House of Representatives saw a discussion on the night of January 18, 2018 under the Special Order session that highlighted the situation in Tibet and the need to pass pending legislations relating to it as a way to China’s onslaught on American society.
The discussion was at the initiative of Representative Ted Yoho, Chairman of the Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee on House Foreign Affairs Committee. The subcommittee had organized a hearing on Tibet on December 6, 2017.
While Members of Congress wanted good relations with China the discussion saw them expressing concern at China’s increasing attempt to subvert American society. As Mr. Yoho said in his remarks, “…China has grown to become a revisionist power—not rising within the current order, but seeking to change, subvert, or coerce it to suit China’s end—not playing by the rules, but rewriting the rules to suit the needs of China.”
During the discussion, three Members of Congress – Mr. Ted Yoho (Republican from Florida), Mr. Ted Poe (Republican from Texas), and Mr. Jim McGovern (Democrat from Massachusetts) – made reference to the situation in Tibet.
Mr. Yoho highlighted the issue of lack of access to Tibet and the need for freedom to the Tibetan people to follow their religious tradition, including in the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.
Mr. McGovern spoke about Chinese interference in the physical and spiritual lives of Tibetans and the Dalai Lama’s nonviolent effort to resolve the issue of Tibet through the Middle Way Approach. He urged for the passage of H.R. 1872, the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, and H. Con. Res. 89, expressing the sense of Congress that the treatment of the Tibetan people should be an important factor in the conduct of United States relations with China. He also called for the full implementation of the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002.
Mr. Poe spoke about Chinese persecution of the Tibetan people in the context of it being an atheistic regime.
The relevant excerpts of their remarks are given below. The full proceeding of the Special Order session on China is found here.
Mr. YOHO: If we look at the Tibetan people, the Tibetan are probably one of the most peaceful populations on Earth, but yet I can’t travel there as a U.S. dignitary or as a U.S. Member of Congress. They can’t come here and be recognized. The Dalai Lama can’t come here and be recognized because China gets mad. Beijing gets mad. The Tibetan people have a way to pass on the Dalai Lama to the next generation. China kidnapped the Panchen child and said: We will replace it with who we think should be the next leader, and it is somebody they are going to groom.
Mr. McGOVERN: I have often stood on the floor of this House to call for respect for the human rights of the Tibetan people in China.
Just a few months ago the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, which I co-chair, held a hearing on the repression of religious freedom in Tibet.
Tibetan Buddhists face extensive controls on their religious life—an intrusive official presence in monasteries, pervasive surveillance, limits on travel and communications, and ideological re-education campaigns. Religious expression and activism have been met with violent repression, imprisonment and torture.
As of last August, 69 monks, nuns or Tibetan reincarnate teachers were known to be serving sentences in Chinese prisons—although the real number is likely much higher.
And the Chinese government continues to claim the prerogative to decide who will succeed His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, who is now 82 years old.
This extreme Chinese interference in the physical and spiritual lives of Tibetans occurs even though the Tibetans seek only to fully exercise the autonomy guaranteed them by the Chinese constitution and China’s ‘‘Law on Regional Ethnic Autonomy.’’ In the late 1980s the Dalai Lama proposed the Middle Way Approach as a path toward Tibetan autonomy within China, and he has pursued that path through non-violence ever since.
I urge us to start by passing two pieces of legislation on Tibet that have been introduced in the House: H.R. 1872, the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, and H. Con. Res. 89, expressing the sense of Congress that the treatment of the Tibetan people should be an important factor in the conduct of United States relations with the People’s Republic of China. I urge the full and robust implementation of the Tibet Policy Act of 2002—including the designation of the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Policy, a statutory position that the Administration has yet to fill. I urge the robust use of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to sanction Chinese officials responsible for grave violations of the human rights of Tibetans, Uyghurs, and the many other loyal opposition activists who have been targeted in recent years—human rights lawyers, religious practitioners, writers, artists.
Mr. POE: So when you have an atheistic regime in charge, you can see why they persecute their own people and torture not only Christians and Muslims, but Tibetans and other people who don’t agree with their atheistic philosophy.

The Guardian view on China’s spreading influence: look in the gift horse’s mouth

Editorial, Wednesday 17 January 2018
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/17/the-guardian-view-on-chinas-spreading-influence-look-in-the-gift-horses-mouth
There is growing concern about Beijing’s attempts to shape the thinking of politicians and the public overseas.
The arrest of a former CIA agent this week is the stuff of a classic murky spy tale. Though he is charged with unlawfully retaining national defence information, the US reportedly suspects that he leaked the names of informants. An earlier report alleged that China imprisoned or killed multiple US sources between 2010 and 2012. Both countries have plans for tackling espionage. But analysts, intelligence agencies and politicians are now debating how to handle the subtler challenge of Chinese influence activities: a “magic weapon” neither cloak-and-dagger nor transparent.
China says it does not interfere in other countries’ domestic affairs. Yet all nations seek to sway foreign governments and citizens towards their own priorities, interests and perspectives. The question is how they do so, and how far they go. (No one should pretend that western nations always act above board.)
China’s influence work is strategic and multifaceted. Some of it is distinctive mainly for lavish resourcing. The National Endowment for Democracy recently described other aspects as “sharp power”: the effort by authoritarian states not just to attract support but to determine and control attitudes abroad. It seeks to “guide” the diaspora and enlist it for political activity. It embraces foreigners, appointing those with political influence to high-profile roles in Chinese companies. Chinese-language media overseas have been bought by entrepreneurs with ties to Beijing. Partnerships with universities shape research and limit debate.
Last month, Australia’s prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, introduced a bill banning foreign donations as he warned of “unprecedented and increasingly sophisticated” attempts to influence politics. It follows a senator’s resignation after allegations that he tipped off a Chinese donor that his phone was probably tapped by security agencies; the case has reportedly prompted the Trump administration to open an investigation into Beijing’s covert influence operations in the US. In New Zealand, a Chinese-born MP denied being a spy after it emerged that he had spent years at top Chinese military colleges. A leading scholar on China has alleged that its “covert, corrupting and coercive political influence activities in New Zealand are now at a critical level”.
Chinese state media has complained of “hysterical paranoia” with racist undertones in Australia. In an era of populism, there is good reason to worry that members of the diaspora, in particular, could face unfair suspicion. Citizens have the right to listen to the views of a foreign government, be persuaded and share them. But to speak for them, on their order, is different. Is someone acting spontaneously, or have they been prodded, coerced or bought? What links or leverage does Beijing enjoy? Establishing the answers is hard – and proving self-censorship even tougher. But it is essential to at least attempt to distinguish between legitimate, improper and illegal activities.
Casting light on the issue is by far the most important step. Democracies must delve into areas that may prove embarrassing. They need the capability to do so – starting with language skills. Working together would help. In places, laws may need to be tightened, though with care: banning foreign political donations is a basic step. For this issue says as much about the west as China. Beijing’s keenness to control speech is manifest, while influential figures and institutions in democracies proclaim lofty ideals – then fall prey to gullibility or greed. China’s influence would not go very far without the western hunger for its cash.

Western retailers kowtow to China over Tibet
January 15, 2018
By Didi Tang
The Times, January 15, 2018 – Foreign companies operating in China are rushing to pull from their websites and mobile apps any list that identifies Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong or Macau as countries, fearing a clampdown.
The fashion retailer Zara removed an app page that identified Taiwan as a country and apologised. Delta Air Lines has changed its country list and apologised, and the Chinese website for Bulgari underwent maintenance as Chinese consumers took it upon themselves to check foreign companies’ websites and apps.
Last week Beijing shut down the Marriott’s Chinese app after the US hotel chain listed Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as separate countries. Arne Sorenson, the chief executive, apologised but it is yet to appease patriotic Chinese consumers who are boycotting it. Clients are cancelling events and popular travel apps are removing Marriott products and services.
Taiwan is a self-governing island but Beijing sees it as a renegade province and has threatened to take it by force. Hong Kong and Macau, both former colonies, have returned to Chinese rule. Tibet is seeking autonomy and wants the return of its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who is in exile in India.