Beijing: Along with their traditional robes, Tibetan delegates to the annual meeting of China's ceremonial parliament are sporting unique lapel pins displaying their loyalty to the Beijing leadership at a time of simmering tensions in their Himalayan homeland.
New this year and not seen on any other group of delegates, one of the inch-wide round pins shows a Chinese flag and busts of five Chinese leaders, from revolutionary founding father Mao Zedong to current President Xi Jinping.
The other shows a smiling Xi visiting a Tibetan family. "We want to express our gratitude to the Communist Party leadership and State Council, so it's only natural we wear the pin of the leaders of five generations," Hongwei, one of the 18 delegates from the Tibetan Autonomous Region, told The Associated Press at today's opening session of the National People's Congress.
"There have been so many great changes in Tibet," said Hongwei, who like many Tibetans uses just one name. "If we don't thank the party leadership the State Council, if we don't thank the socialist system, who else should we thank?" The State Council is China's Cabinet, headed by Premier Li Keqiang.
Images of Communist leaders are common in Tibet, which is under much tighter party control than the rest of China following a history of political volatility, and is generally off-limits to foreign journalists.
The remarks by Hongwei came days after US government- backed Radio Free Asia reported the death of 18-year-old Buddhist monk Kalsang Wangdu after he set himself on fire Monday in the Tibetan area of Ganzi in the western Chinese province of Sichuan, which adjoins Tibet.
The area also is known as Kardze in Tibetan. The monk reportedly called for Tibetan independence while he burned. Today, Yeshe Dawa, governor of Ganzi prefecture, denied the report. "No, no, this is a false allegation," he said. "There is nothing, we are a peaceful area."
The International Campaign for Tibet says at least 144 Tibetans have self-immolated in China since early 2009 in protest of Beijing's rule. Some cases have been confirmed in China's state media, which depict them as acts of terror instigated by the Dalai Lama, the Tibetans' exiled spiritual leader. Authorities have vowed to punish the self-immolators, their family members and sympathisers.
