Chinese Foreign Minister greeted with protests by Tibetan activists in India
By lobsang Tenchoe
DHARAMSALA, Dec 12: Tibetan activists greeted visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi protests calling for freedom for Tibetans and an end to Chinese occupation of Tibet.
Activists from Students for a Free Tibet-India (SFT) unfurled a banner from a flyover overlooking the road taken by Wang Yi’s motorcade as he emerged from New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Dec 10 for the trilateral meeting of Russian, Indian and Chinese foreign ministers.
SFT also held a protest rally near the Imperial Hotel where the Chinese Foreign Minister and delegations were staying and shouted slogans such as ‘Tibet is not part of China’, ‘Freedom for Tibet’ and ‘Free Tibet now’.
Following the protest, nine activists from SFT were detained by the police and were later released around midnight.
Another protest rally was also held near the venue of the 15th trilateral meeting by activists from the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC). Holding Tibetan National flags and banners, around 50 activists from TYC shouted slogans demanding freedom for Tibet and the end of Chinese occupation of Tibet.
The trilateral meeting was originally scheduled to be held in April but the Chinese foreign minister didn’t confirm his participation for the meeting citing scheduling problems. But its been highly speculated that His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India, which China claims as South Tibet, during the same month could have been the reason.
The meeting is expected to review global and regional issues of mutual interest of Russia, India and China as well as to discuss trilateral exchanges and activities.
