World news – Embassy 6 – March 2008

China lets in diplomats

Foreign diplomats visited Tibet over the weekend on a fact-finding mission approved by China, following criticism of Beijing’s crackdown on Tibetan protests.

Envoys from 15 nations were invited on a tightly managed two-day trip to Tibet’s capital Lhasa – the first since anti-China riots began two weeks ago.

A group of 17 diplomats from countries including the US, UK, Japan and Australia arrived in Tibet from Beijing on Saturday. Although the move was welcomed, critics said diplomats and observers should have been free to see areas surrounding Lhasa and conduct unsupervised conversations with local residents.

US state department spokesman Sean McCormack said the trip was a “step in the right direction” but added: “It’s not a substitute for the ability of our diplomats, as well as others, to travel not only to Lhasa, but into the surrounding area specifically,” he said.

Reports of new protests at the Ramoche monastery where the original riots broke out earlier this month were not confirmed by diplomats. An American Embassy spokeswoman said she had no information on any protests, while a Japanese diplomat, Mitsuhiro Wada, denied seeing protests when asked at Beijing airport.

Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers meeting in Slovenia rejected a proposed boycott of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing. However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Czech President Vaclav Klaus have threatened not to attend the ceremony.