There has been no reply from the Chinese Embassy in Reykjavik on whether or not Ambassador Zhang Keyuan has been recalled to Beijing, Mbl.is reports.
Meanwhile, Frettabladid reported this morning that the ambassador has been called home in protest at the Dalai Lama’s visit to Iceland this week.
Beijing consistently criticises any official governmental figures around the world for meeting with the exiled Tibetan leader China describes as an exiled political leader engaged in secessionist activities who aims to split China.
The Dalai Lama did not hold official meetings with any government ministers or the President of the Republic during his visit to Iceland. He did, however, talk with several ministers and lawmakers at an interfaith service held in Hallgrimskirkja cathedral on Monday. He was later given a tour of the country’s Althingi parliament by the President of Althingi where gifts of goodwill were exchanged.
According to mbl.is, the Chinese Embassy is advertised as open to the public on weekdays between 9 and 12, but nobody has been answering the phones today. A Morgunbladid journalist at the embassy managed to have physical contact with two embassy employees; but there were few answers on offer except for how to apply for visas to visit China.
So a mighty peaceful Iceland decided to piss on bad China? Looks like last chunks of brain left the heads… :-(
By chance I saw D. Lama’s interview on Icelandic TV. OMFG! If someone wants some “wisdom” – he can get more from ever drunk “prunks” that live on central square in Reykjavik. At least sometimes they are funny.
PS. China is…or was now?… the best chance for Iceland to get out of sh*t. Meanwhile they bought Hummer label from dying General Motors. I’m excited to see when they buy Ford.
Iceland lost this particular fight before it started…
The Chinese are acting like a bunch of bully boys, the world needs to stand up to them when it comes to Tibet.
Once again the Icelandic goberment scores one more international mistake. But what do you spect from a bunch of farmers, playing politics and banking.
Probably he ran out of shark fin soup, and needed to go back to Beijing to restock.
Saw the interview again. Oh my….
But OK, I’m a hard liner and not believer so my opinion about D. Lama might be ignored. No problem.
But the problem is that Icelandic TV program showed only the story from one side.
Well if nobody wants to listen to Chinese version – fine (though – very stupid). But what about stories of those Tibetans who live now in Tibet (in China)? I understand that monks are not happy with Chinese rule – as they lost their supreme power over people. But what about common people?
Like could all dalai lamas did this – the highest in the world railway?
“The Qinghai-Tibet railway is 1,956 kilometers long, with 960 km of the track located 4,000 meters above the sea level and the highest point at 5,072 meters. It stretches from Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, to Lhasa.The railway is the world’s highest and longest plateau railroad and also the first railway connecting the Tibet Autonomous Region with the rest of China.”
or
“contrary to the Dalia Lama’s claim that Tibetans are becoming a minority in their homeland:
– Tibet’s population stood at 2.84 million at the end of last year, 31,500 more than at the end of 2006. Among its permanent residents, more than 2.5 million, or 95.3 percent, were Tibetans.
– Tibet’s population was 1.14 million in 1951.
– China’s family planning policy, which limits most urban couples to one child and rural families to two since the late 1970s, does not apply to Tibetans. As a result, the birth rate and natural growth rate in Tibet have been above national average since 1970.”
http://eng.tibet.cn/
So D.Lama is free to sell his BS. But it’s not wise for Iceland to buy it. It might turn to be very “expensive”.
This story is BS. The ambassador wasn’t called home.
Probably this applies only to Tibetan people who are Marxists but not Leninist. Never heard of a half communist? This must be kind of a new Asian discovery.
Hi James,
The story is not BS; it is simply over a day old and things have changed.
The latest I’ve heard is that the ambassador was indeed called home but that we’re going to get a new one soon. Apparently the timing is pure coincidence.
Alex, editor
If Gorbachev (just few years after Chernobyl) has Nobel for peace imagine the other laureates…
Nobel prize for peace was the joke from the very beginning. Keeping in mind the source money came from for the prizes.
I fully agree with you Alexander.
First of all I think the icelandic TV report should at least have given the chinese embassy an opportunity to give their reaction.
It is irritating to see how the Dalai Lama is regarded in the west as the ultimate ‘good guy’ while China is blindly labelled as the evil agressor and suppressor.
Especially the USA likes to moan about China’s violations of human rights in Tibet while at the same time ignoring similar abuses by countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Why? Simple, countries like this are loyal servants of he USA while China is able to go its own way.
Now off course one can say a lot of bad things about the way China deals with human rights.
BUT what kind of country was Tibet before the chinese occupation? Certainly not the perfect, ideal state as portrayed in the Hollywood propaganda like ‘ 7 years in Tibet’ .
a theocratic dictatorship, no education, general illiteracy, high infant mortality, medieval punishments for those who did not obey the monks and worship of one single individual as a god.
Serfdom until 1959 !!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom
Even the sh*t of the Dalai Lama was dried and sold to the population. Many people rather bought this than feeding their children!
I can remember that the Dalia Lama visited the Netherlands some years ago. It was one big commercial circus. It was possible to have ‘a spiritual meeting’ with the Dalai Lama. For this one had to pay an enormous sum of money.
A big congress hall filled up with 100′s of people, each one having paid 100′s of euro’s (guilders at the time) in order to attend. Basically only managers of big companies, rich individuals and politicians were able to go there.
The Dalai Lama appeared and during one or two hours told some anecdotes and wisecracks.
Afterwards some of the visitors spoke enthusiatically about the ‘great spiritual experience’ .
Unfortunately only people with a lot of money could have this ‘great spiritual experience’
AFAIK, buddhism, a belief for which I have a lot of admiration, is not like this at all…
As for Iceland, once more icelandic politicians are showing their unique talent to shoot themselves in the foot.
The icelandic attitude towards the Dalai Lama certainly will not change the politics of China but it will certainly affect the chinese attitude towards China.
Right now Iceland needs every friend it can find. No matter what you think about them. China is an economic world power and has enormous financial reserves. If there is one country that could help out Iceland it is China.
In fact this is something what many people on this forum have expressed previously (going even as far as proposing to adopt the yuan as a currency).
But for icelandic politicians this ‘great spiritual experience’ is more important than that.
“The icelandic attitude towards the Dalai Lama certainly will not change the politics of China but it will certainly affect the chinese attitude towards China.
”
Sorry, I am saying: ” but it will certainly affect the chinese attitude towards ICELAND”
re Chinese-Icelandic relations I would repeat words of Deni Devito (he played very bad but very rich guy).
“I’m not your best friend. I’m your ONLY friend”…
PS. I think China is just waiting. As it was waiting with GM – till last moment to get the lowest price. If I was in the position to decide – I would talk to China. Strax. Before it too late. They even don’t need money – Iceland could pay back by goods and services in next 50 years. China can wait.
AS BAD AS TIBET WAS BEFORE THE CHINESE OCCUPATION, OCCUPYING A COUNTRY IS NOT THE RIGHT WAY TO ESTABLISH A DEMOCRACY. I THINK TIBET SHOULD BE AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY AND LET ITS PEOPLE DECIDE THEIR FUTURE. WE CANNOT JUDGE TIBET FOR WHAT IS WAS 60 YEARS AGO, BUT FOR WHAT IT COULD BE TODAY. 50 YEARS AGO BLACK PEOPLE WHERE TOTALLY DISCRIMINATED IN THE UNITED STATES,,, BUT I DID NOT SEE ANY COUNTRY WILLING TO INVADE THE USA AND ESTABLISH REAL DEMOCRACY THERE…
TIBETAN CULTURE AND PEOPLE IS AS DIFFERENT THAN CHINESE AS ANY OTHER NEIGHBORING COUNTRY, LETS SAY KOREA, VIETNAM, THAILAND, ETC… BUT WE EUROPEANS PUT THEM ALL IN THE SAME POT. IT IS LIKE FOR EXAMPLE SAYING THAT ALL EUROPEANS ARE GERMAN…
WE SEE ASIANS LIKE ALL THE SAME, BUT THEY HAVE THEIR OWN AND GREAT DIVERSITY. CHINA OCCUPIED TIBET BECAUSE THEY KNEW THEY COULD NOT DEFEND ITSELF AND THAT NO OTHER COUNTRY WOULD DO ANYTHING ABOUT. SO TIBET HAS BEEN LEFT ALONE WITH THEIR PROBLEM, LIKE MANY OTHER COUNTRIES ( F.E. WESTERN SAHARA OCCUPIED BY MARROCCO) AND MANY OTHER NATIONS THAT TODAY ARE UNDER THE CONTROL OF OTHER MORE POWERFUL NATIONS. SUCH DOMINATION SHOULD END…
EVERY COUNTRY SHOULD BE INDEPENDENT AND GOVERNED BY ITS OWN PEOPLE. AND IF ICELAND SUPPORTS TIBETS INDEPENDENCE IS A GOOD THING, IT IS NOT ABOUT MONEY BUT ALSO ABOUT THE KIND OF WORLD WE WANT TO LIVE IN. IF ICELAND, BEING A SMALL NATION THAT HAVE STRIVED FOR ITS INDEPENDENCE, TURNS THE BACK TO ANOTHER SMALL NATION… THEN, IF THEY DON´T SUPPORT EACH OTHER, WHO WOULD? THE BIG EMPIRES LIKE CHINA, USA, ETC…? COUNTRIES SHOULD HAVE THE FREEDOM TO JOIN OTHER COUNTRIES, LIKE THE COUNTRIES DECIDING TO BE PART OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, BUT IMPOSING SOVEREIGNTY IS WRONG.
ask your relatives how uncool was this date: 14th May, 1948 *grim smile*
Have you ever watched this movie ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Believer_(film) :°D
GUS, the European people have colonized the globe for last 500 years, exterminated so many natives in different part of the world. We are just following the good examples of you guys ;)