Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 214

Torbjørn Færøvik: Men tibetanernes hjerter vinner han aldri

«Godt Losar!» Også tibetanerne har de siste dagene vært travelt opptatt med å feire overgangen til nytt år – til Tredragens år. Sang, dans og god mat og drikke hører naturligvis med, men nå som før finner feiringen sted i skyggen av Kinas harde okkupasjon. Det begynner å bli noen år siden jeg selv deltok i festlighetene, det var før årtusenskiftet. Tusener av tibetanere strømmet til Lhasa for å

In Retrospect: The Sincere Indignation of Simon Leys

Simon Leys was actually Pierre Ryckmans, a scholar of ancient Chinese art and literature at the Australian National University in Canberra. His essays, published first in French and soon after in English, exposed in lucid, unflinching prose the uncomfortable realities of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Leys aimed many of his harshest barbs not at the regime itself, but at the phalanxes of Western

Torbjørn Færøvik: Tur-retur Kina med skylapper

Timingen kunne ikke ha vært dårligere. I forrige uke var utenriksminister Espen Barth Eide på offisielt besøk i Kina. På toget mellom Beijing og Shanghai lot han seg intervjue av Aftenposten, og oppglødd som han var, tok han til orde for enda mer samarbeid med diktaturet. I går fikk han svar, ikke fra politiske motstandere på Stortinget, men fra Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste. I sin nasjonale

Nasjonal trusselvurdering 2024: PST advarer nok en gang mot Kina

Kina vil utgjøre en betydelig etterretningstrussel i 2024. Vi venter at trusselen vil tilta i løpet av de nærmeste årene. Det skyldes særlig det forverrede forholdet mellom Kina og Vesten, Kinas ønske om økt kontroll over forsyningskjeder og posisjonering i Arktis, skriver Politiets sikkerhetstjeneste (PST) i den ugraderte trusselvurderingen for 2024.– Krigen bidrar fremdeles til å skjerpe

35 Years Ago: The 14th Dalai Lama's Nobel Lecture

Brothers and Sisters:It is an honour and pleasure to be among you today. I am really happy to see so many old friends who have come from different corners of the world, and to make new friends, whom I hope to meet again in the future. When I meet people in different parts of the world, I am always reminded that we are all basically alike: we are all human beings. Maybe we have different clothes,

Report: Chinese Transnational Repression of Tibetan Diaspora Communities (2024)

This report is the first to focus on transnational repression in the Tibetan diaspora. Why has this aspect remained under-addressed for so long? It would be a mistake to infer that TNR against Tibetans is less severe or more recent than other minority groups when the Tibetan community has a long history of coming into exile in 1959, with the first documented evidence of contemporary TNR against

Beijing accused of using spying, threats and blackmail against Tibetan exiles

Thousands of Tibetans around the world have been subjected to spying, blackmail and threats against family members still living in Tibet, according to a new report. The Chinese government’s repressive policies in Tibet continue to be documented, but the new report by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is the first to investigate the widespread targeting of exiles in

From China's Past: Ma Huan gave us a detailed record of Zheng He's voyages to the West

In the second year of Zong Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty (1451), an old man who was over the age of ancient times completed the final proofreading and signed and concluded his paper, summarizing his many years of maritime experience. The old man's name was Ma Huan, who was a member of the Hui ethnic group in the early Ming Dynasty. This work, dictated by him and copied by his colleagues, is the

Bad economy, nosy relatives: Young Chinese put off by Lunar New Year

"If I had the choice, I definitely wouldn't go back home," says Yuwen, a 33-year-old who has been unemployed for more than six months, days ahead of the Chinese New Year. Many of China's nearly 380 million internal migrants only go home once a year - and the Lunar New Year, the most important festival for family reunion, is usually the time to do it. That is why the Spring Festival travel rush,

From China's Past: "Do You Not Bow before Heaven?"

Shortly before the celebration of the New Year in February 1763, ambassadors from distant lands from within and without the Qing empire arrive in Beijing. Many have been traveling for months on end. Now, in the beating heart of the empire, each is to take part in rituals that reaffirm their respective relationships with the emperor. This year, parties from the empire’s far western frontier