{"id":14947,"date":"2011-10-10T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2011-10-10T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=14947"},"modified":"2011-10-09T00:34:10","modified_gmt":"2011-10-08T23:34:10","slug":"dalai-lama-slams-chinas-immoral-censorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2011\/10\/dalai-lama-slams-chinas-immoral-censorship\/","title":{"rendered":"Dalai Lama Slams China’s ‘Immoral Censorship’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Statement comes as Chinese government is accused of blocking him from traveling to South Africa.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Dalai Lama has slammed censorship in China as “immoral”, following accusations that the Chinese government blocked him from traveling to South Africa to celebrate Desmond Tutu’s 80th birthday.<\/p>\n

The Tibetan spiritual leader spoke with Tutu on Saturday, answering questions via a video link, instead of attending an event to honour the South African anti-apartheid activist a day after his birthday.<\/p>\n

His absence was symbolised by an empty chair at the event at the University of the Western Cape where he was meant to deliver an inaugural peace lecture.<\/p>\n

The Dalai Lama told Tutu when asked why the Chinese feared him that “some Chinese officials describe me as a demon so naturally some fear about the demon.”<\/p>\n

He said hypocrisy and telling lies had unfortunately become part of life in “the communist totalitarian system” and people who spoke truthfully and honestly sparked discomfort.<\/p>\n

“I often tell him [Tutu] 1.3 billion Chinese people should have every right to know … reality, then 1.3 billion Chinese people also have the ability to judge what’s right, what wrong, so therefore censorship is immoral.”<\/p>\n

The Tibetan leader, who\u00a0has lived in India since 1959 after fleeing an abortive uprising against Chinese rule, also urged China to raise its judicial system up to international law standards.<\/p>\n

The furore over the visa overshadowed the run-up to Tutu’s birthday after the former archbishop launched a virulent attack on President Jacob Zuma’s administration for succumbing to China’s pressure to deny the Dalai Lama entry into South Africa<\/p>\n

China has always sought to curb the Dalai Lama’s overseas travels, warning host governments that any visit would harm ties, especially if he is met by state officials.<\/p>\n

South African foreign ministry officials said the visa process was delayed by problems with the timing and completeness of the application.<\/p>\n

However, officials from the offices of Tutu and the Dalai Lama have denied the application was late or incomplete.<\/p>\n

Tutu accused the government of failing to side with “Tibetans who are being oppressed viciously by the Chinese.”<\/p>\n

China is South Africa\u2019s biggest trade partner.<\/p>\n

‘Testing’ government<\/strong><\/p>\n

The discussion between the two Nobel Peace Prize laureates who are close friends was filled with banter.<\/p>\n

“As a man of truth, man of God, please live long,” the Dalai Lama told Tutu.<\/p>\n

“Your 90th birthday, I’m looking forward. At that time, don’t forget send me [an] invitation. Then we can test your government.”<\/p>\n

Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his non-violent campaign against apartheid rule in South Africa. The Dalai Lama\u00a0received his Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his\u00a0efforts to “preserve the historical and cultural heritage of his people.”<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 aljazeera.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Statement comes as Chinese government is accused of blocking him from traveling to South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14947\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}