As China continued to keep Tibet on military lockdown, the Beijing Olympic Torch was lit in Olympia, Greece today, launching the four and a half month relay. The relay organizers plan to take the torch through the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Tibetan provinces of Amdo and Kham, now annexed into China’s Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Gansu provinces. Tibetans warn that the torch is likely to provoke more unrest inside Tibet, leading to more heavy-handed suppression by Chinese authorities and further imprisonment, torture and loss of life for Tibetans. They are calling for the planned Tibet section of the route to be cancelled.

“The Chinese government’s plan to run the Olympic Torch through Tibet and up Tibet’s Mt. Everest is an attempt to proclaim their ownership of Tibet to the world,” said Paul Bourke, Executive Officer of the Australia Tibet Council. “Carrying this torch through Tibet is almost certain to provoke more protests against Chinese rule, and the Chinese government will respond again with military force, causing yet more suffering for Tibetans.”

On March 18th, Tibetans hand-delivered a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that was signed by 150 Tibet support organizations under the umbrella of the International Tibet Support Network. The letter requests the IOC “immediately remove Tibet from the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay route.” They also called on IOC President Jacques Rogge to make a public statement of concern about the current situation in Tibet. Despite receiving more than 10,000 faxes echoing these demands, the IOC insists that the torch relay will go ahead according to plan.

Protests continue inside Tibet with reports of students from the Tibetan Language Department of Qinghai Institute for Nationalities staging a sit-in on the campus. In the lead up to the new midnight March 25th deadline for protesters to turn themselves in, there has been a massive build-up of Chinese troops in Tibet and the ethnically Tibetan areas of
Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Gansu provinces. Meanwhile, all foreign journalists continue to be barred from Tibet, in violation of China’s promise that freedom of press would be respected in the lead up to and during the Olympics.

PM Kevin Rudd begins his world tour tomorrow, arriving in China on 9 April after a series of high-level meetings in the US and Europe. Expectations are mounting on PM Rudd to press the Tibet issue with the Chinese leadership and facilitate the resumption of dialogue between the Chinese Government and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.

For further comment:
Paul Bourke, Executive Officer or Simon Bradshaw, Campaign Coordinator
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