Tag: Dalai Lama

I’ll Huff and I’ll Puff and I’ll…Shamble Away Somewhere

Dalai Lama Heads for Washington As Beijing Seethes  (Feb 18, 2010)

Seething?  Certainly the image China's been trying to project.  But you'd hardly know it from the next headline:

Five U.S. Warships Dock in Hong Kong  (also Feb 18, 2010)

LOL

Nice Little University Ya Got Here

Be a shame if anything happened to its accreditation…

Three months [after awarding an honorary degree to the Dalai Lama], the University of Calgary [in Canada] was dropped from the Chinese Ministry of Education’s accreditation list of universities for Chinese students desiring to study abroad, the Calgary Herald newspaper reported on Thursday.

The Hotline for Overseas Studies Service Center in Beijing had the following advice for Chinese students: “If you don’t already go to that school, it is better not to go because you will face risks.”

[…]

About 600 students from China and Hong Kong are enrolled at the University of Calgary.  [About 2.5 % of the student body — The Foreigner]. On average, tuition for foreign students is three times higher than for local students.

Which has absolutely nothing to do with Taiwan.  Except for the fact that the Chinese Nationalist Party government has previously stated it wishes to "flood" Taiwanese universities with students from China –rendering Taiwanese higher education prone to similar political domination.  Not over the Dalai Lama — the Communist Party collaborationists within the KMT will make sure THAT one never steps foot in Taiwan again.  More likely over curricula or the presence of China sceptics within the halls of academe.

Set a course for the Borg tractor beam, Number One.

Full speed ahead. 

Barack Gets Rolled

According to the Washington Post, the Chinese were apparently resigned to the American president meeting with the Dalai Lama in October, but in an act of Picardian sensitivity, Obama called the whole thing off.

Money quote from web page 2:

"We've got the classic case of a Western government yet again conceding to Chinese pressure that is imaginary long after that Chinese pressure has ceased to exist," said Robert Barnett, a Tibetan expert at Columbia University. "The Chinese must be falling over themselves with astonishment at what Western diplomats will give them without being asked. I don't know what the poker analogy would be. 'Please, see all my cards and take my money, too?' "

If it's any consolation, Western governments ain't the only ones doin' that . . .

UPDATE (Feb 20, 2010):  The Weekly Standard describes the Dalai Lama's visit when it finally went through:

It takes a special talent to aggravate the Chinese government, the White House press corps, and the followers of the Dalai Lama all in one fell swoop. But the Obama administration managed to pull off that trifecta on Thursday with its poor handling of the Dalai Lama's meeting with the president.