[Is there a trade deal behind this? -- Trudy] The Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/news/9909/20/text/national12.html Tibet's never had it so good: Nats MP Date: 20/09/99 By MARK METHERELL in Canberra Tibetans were "far better off" under Chinese rule than under the former "medieval, feudal theocracy" of the Dalai Lama, a senior Federal Government MP said yesterday. Mr Garry Nehl, the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, who returned from Tibet yesterday, said the progress in Tibet had been "nothing short of astonishing" since his last visit in 1992. However, the Australian Tibet Council said MPs were being "manipulated" by China to justify its continuing occupation of Tibet. It said Mr Nehl's four-day visit follows another delegation in April, several members of whom also defended aspects of Chinese rule. These contrasted with a report by Greens Senator Bob Brown, who visited Tibet in July as a tourist and said he been struck by the militarisation of the country. Mr Nehl, the National Party MP for the NSW seat of Cowper, said he revisited big towns including Lhasa and all were "virtually unrecognisable because of the growth and development that has taken place" since his 1992 visit. There were large numbers of new buildings, including schools, office blocks, department stores and many new small shops. "There were absolutely no signs of Tibet being a 'police state' nor the people being oppressed," he said. "I did not see any road blocks, checkpoints or any other sign of restrictions on freedom of movement. "Equally, there were no restrictions on people entering monasteries or temples and throughout Lhasa there were a great many people perambulating with prayer wheels and freely prostrating themselves on the ground in prayer." Mr Nehl said in 1992 the only public transport in Lhasa consisted of a few bicycle rickshaws. Now there were a large number of taxis. When he visited the Potala holy place, there were hundreds of tourists crowding all the rooms, many of whom were ordinary Tibetans and monks. This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited. ************************************************************************* This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
