Tibetan Sets Self on Fire To Protest China’s President

MUMBAI, India — A Tibetan independence activist set himself on fire yesterday outside the hotel where President Hu of China was courting Indian business leaders eager to boost trade between Asia’s emerging giants.The protester, Lhakpa Tsering, suffered only minor burns before police put out the flames and detained him and six other Tibetan activists.The incident was a sign of increasing frustration among Tibetans in India who feel their cause has been abandoned by Indian officials eager to foster closer ties with China, which forcibly absorbed Tibet in 1950.Throughout Mr. Hu’s four-day visit, Indian authorities went to great lengths to make sure he was not confronted by any anti-Chinese sentiment, erecting tight police cordons and banning gatherings of more than five people in areas where he was traveling.Police even barred Tenzin Tsundue — a prominent Tibetan activist with a reputation for publicity stunts that have embarrassed previous Chinese visitors — from leaving Dharmsala, the center of the Tibetan exile community.Yesterday’s demonstration was the closest Tibetans got to Mr. Hu, who addressed 300 Indian and Chinese business leaders at the hotel before flying to Pakistan.Mr. Tsering and six other Tibetan youths drove up in two taxis to Mr. Hu’s hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace & Towers in downtown Mumbai. They jumped out in front of a barricade, unfurled Tibetan flags, and shouted, “Get out of Tibet!”Mr. Tsering then doused his pants with a liquid and set them on fire. Several policemen quickly jumped on the man, rolled him on the ground, and doused the flames. They detained all seven Tibetan activists.Three more Tibetan protesters were detained later while demonstrating on an overpass downtown, police said.Indian officials made no public comment on either incident.Asked about the protests, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, said in Beijing: “Tibet is part of China. This is a widely recognized consensus of the international community.”India became a center for Tibetan exiles when their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising, settling in the northern town of Dharmsala.But once supportive officials in New Delhi are now eager to build closer ties with Beijing, which insist Tibet is a legitimate part of China.“During his four days in India, the Indian government did not raise the issue of Tibet. We are screaming, but the world is not listening to us,” Mr. Tsundue said in Dharmsala, referring to Mr. Hu. “It is desperate to the point that a young man is willing to sacrifice his life.”While many Indians sympathize with the Tibetans, they are also eager to see their country grow and prosper in a globalizing world — a drive many feel can be helped by building stronger ties with China.“It’s sad to say,” but “the Tibetans are a small and insignificant group, and it’s a lost cause,” the head of the history department at Mumbai’s St. Xavier’s College, Fleur D’Souza, said.India never made any political commitment to the Tibetan people beyond giving them refuge, she pointed out.“The people of India still feel the Tibetans are justified in their fight,” Ms. D’Souza said. “But India and China now have closer ties, and the Tibetan cause will suffer.”

Tibetan Sets Self on Fire To Protest China’s President

Tibetan Sets Self on Fire To Protest China’s President

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