German foundation behind anti-China protests
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif](Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-14 08:57[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif] BERLIN -- A German foundation was behind an "action of plan" to spur anti-China protests over Tibet during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, according to a report posted by a German website.
"Conference reports and the research of a Canadian journalist reveal that a foreign policy front organization is playing a decisive role in the preparations of the anti-Chinese Tibet campaign," said the report on the www.german-foreign-policy.com website.
"According to this information, the campaign is being orchestrated from a Washington-based headquarters," it added.
"It had been assigned the task of organizing worldwide 'protests' at a conference organized by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in May 2007," the report said.
According to a news report by Canadian journalist Doug Saunders, the Brussels conference organized by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNSt) gave the impetus to the current anti-Chinese Tibet campaign that forced the interruption of the Olympian Torch Relay in Paris last Monday.
The story, titled "How three Canadians upstaged Beijing," was published by the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail on March 29.
Citing FNSt information, the German website report said the fifth "International Tibet Support Groups Conference" was held in Brussels on May 11-14, 2007.
The conference was supposed to do nothing other than the four preceding conferences, that is to "coordinate the work of the international Tibet groups and consolidate the links between them with the central Tibetan Government in Exile," the report said.
"The German foundation, which is largely state financed, began the conference preparations in March 2005, and coordinated its plans with the Dalai Lama at his headquarters in the self-proclaimed Tibetan Government in Exile in Dharamsala, India," said the report.
"After several days of consultations the conference ended with a concerted 'plan of action,'" it said.
Rolf Berndt, a member of the FNSt's executive council in Brussels, declared that the Olympic Games "are an excellent opportunity" to publicly promote the cause of the "Tibet Movement, " said the report.
"The conference participants agreed to make the Olympics the single focus of attack for their activities for the next 15 months," it said.
"They hired a full-time organizer for their campaign, who has since been directing the worldwide Tibet actions from their Washington headquarters," the report said.
Paula Dobriansky, the Undersecretary of State in the U.S. State Department and special coordinator for Tibet questions, also attended the conference, the report said.
The report said after the fifth "International Tibet Support Groups Conference", the campaign headquarters in Washington has been able to develop rather "successful" activities.
At the beginning of August 2007, exactly one year before the opening of the Olympics, an associate of the campaign headquarters who maintains close contact with the Tibetan "Government in Exile" organized a high profile action at the Great Wall to the north of Beijing, according to the report.
Another close associate recently orchestrated the disturbance of the Olympic Torch Relay in Greece, seen on television around the world. The Washington headquarters is orchestrating other "protests" intended to disturb the torch relay, the report said.
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[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif](Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-14 08:57[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif] BERLIN -- A German foundation was behind an "action of plan" to spur anti-China protests over Tibet during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, according to a report posted by a German website.
"Conference reports and the research of a Canadian journalist reveal that a foreign policy front organization is playing a decisive role in the preparations of the anti-Chinese Tibet campaign," said the report on the www.german-foreign-policy.com website.
"According to this information, the campaign is being orchestrated from a Washington-based headquarters," it added.
"It had been assigned the task of organizing worldwide 'protests' at a conference organized by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in May 2007," the report said.
According to a news report by Canadian journalist Doug Saunders, the Brussels conference organized by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNSt) gave the impetus to the current anti-Chinese Tibet campaign that forced the interruption of the Olympian Torch Relay in Paris last Monday.
The story, titled "How three Canadians upstaged Beijing," was published by the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail on March 29.
Citing FNSt information, the German website report said the fifth "International Tibet Support Groups Conference" was held in Brussels on May 11-14, 2007.
The conference was supposed to do nothing other than the four preceding conferences, that is to "coordinate the work of the international Tibet groups and consolidate the links between them with the central Tibetan Government in Exile," the report said.
"The German foundation, which is largely state financed, began the conference preparations in March 2005, and coordinated its plans with the Dalai Lama at his headquarters in the self-proclaimed Tibetan Government in Exile in Dharamsala, India," said the report.
"After several days of consultations the conference ended with a concerted 'plan of action,'" it said.
Rolf Berndt, a member of the FNSt's executive council in Brussels, declared that the Olympic Games "are an excellent opportunity" to publicly promote the cause of the "Tibet Movement, " said the report.
"The conference participants agreed to make the Olympics the single focus of attack for their activities for the next 15 months," it said.
"They hired a full-time organizer for their campaign, who has since been directing the worldwide Tibet actions from their Washington headquarters," the report said.
Paula Dobriansky, the Undersecretary of State in the U.S. State Department and special coordinator for Tibet questions, also attended the conference, the report said.
The report said after the fifth "International Tibet Support Groups Conference", the campaign headquarters in Washington has been able to develop rather "successful" activities.
At the beginning of August 2007, exactly one year before the opening of the Olympics, an associate of the campaign headquarters who maintains close contact with the Tibetan "Government in Exile" organized a high profile action at the Great Wall to the north of Beijing, according to the report.
Another close associate recently orchestrated the disturbance of the Olympic Torch Relay in Greece, seen on television around the world. The Washington headquarters is orchestrating other "protests" intended to disturb the torch relay, the report said.
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