PRC shoot Tibetan monk

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Chinese shoot Tibetan monk: activists

Chinese police on Friday shot a Tibetan monk who tried to self-immolate with an image of the Dalai Lama, activists alleged, as tensions mount in the Himalayan territory.

New York-based Students for a Free Tibet said the trouble broke out when authorities blocked some 1,000 monks from praying inside the Kirti monastery in a historically Tibetan part of China's Sichuan province.

While most monks dispersed on the advice of elders, a monk named Tape in his 20s set himself on fire in the main market while shouting slogans and carrying a homemade Tibetan flag bearing an image of the Dalai Lama, the group said.

Police fired three shots at Tape and quickly took his body, said the group, which was unsure whether he was dead or alive.

Students for a Free Tibet said it based its account on witness testimony from around the monastery in Aba county, called Ngaba by Tibetans, a focal point of last year's protests which remains under tight control.

"This desperate action is a reflection of the intense frustration and pain that all Tibetans are feeling after nearly a year of being mercilessly targeted and oppressed by the Chinese authorities and after having endured 50 years of subjugation at the hands of the Chinese government," Lhadon Tethong, the group's executive director, said in a statement.

Tibet's government-in-exile based in India says last year's unrest left 200 Tibetans dead.

China denies this, but has reported police killed one "insurgent" and blamed Tibetan "rioters" for 21 deaths.

China denounces the Dalai Lama as a separatist, although the Nobel Peace laureate says he is only seeking greater freedoms for Tibetans under Beijing's rule.

China is pouring troops into Tibetan areas which next month mark 50 years since their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled into exile. Last year, the anniversary triggered the region's deadliest riots in two decades.

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Pro-Tibetan group excluded from talks

AUSTRALIA has criticised China over its refusal to allow a pro-Tibetan group to participate in the annual human rights dialogue this week in Canberra.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Government had "pushed very hard" for the Australian Tibet Council to attend a welcome reception with the Chinese delegation, But the Chinese Government had rejected the move.

The exclusion of the group, which was allowed to attend the last two dialogues in Australia, appeared to be part of a broader slowdown in China's engagement with Tibet since its crackdown on protests in the country last March.

"On this occasion it was not possible to obtain Chinese Government agreement to their participation, despite the fact they attended similar functions in 2004 and 2006," a department spokesman said. "The Government is disappointed with this outcome."

The Rudd Government yesterday began its first Australia-China human rights dialogue, which features two days of talks on human rights issues at a government and non-government level.

The dialogues provide a rare opportunity to raise human rights at a senior level with the Chinese Government, though they have also been criticised for their secrecy and for allowing China to avoid talks at a multilateral level.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said the Government had decided to proceed with this year's talks despite the Chinese decision but had received approval for the inclusion of a broader range of non-government groups than for previous dialogues.

"The key issue is to ensure we are able to engage the Chinese Government in detail, at a senior level, on the full range of our human rights concerns in China," the spokesman said.

"It would therefore be irresponsible for us not to hold the human rights dialogue - or indeed to cancel the parallel meeting between the Chinese delegation and a wide range of Australian human rights NGOs - because of a disagreement over the participation of one particular organisation."

A spokesman for the Australian Tibet Council, Simon Bradshaw, said the Chinese decision was a "step back" and demonstrated a failure by the Chinese Government to seek meaningful dialogue with the Tibetans. "Sadly this mirrors the approach they have taken with the Dalai Lama's representatives," he said.