The First Airline In Tibet
(June 22, 2010) State Media
BEIJING — The first airline based in Tibet will launch its first high-altitude domestic flights in the middle of 2011.

Tibet Airlines will operate flights within Tibet, and link the capital Lhasa with other major cities across China.

In the first quarter of this year, a total of 177,000 tourists visited the picturesque region, up 27.8 percent from the same period a year ago, official data showed.

President Obama Meets With The Dalai Lama
(February 18, 2010) The Boston Globe / CNN
WASHINGTON — The long awaited meeting of the two Nobel Peace Prize laureates delivered a message which told Tibetans that the White House recognizes the Dalai Lama as their legitimate leader in the struggle to preserve Tibet’s unique religious, cultural, and linguistic identity and the protection of human rights for Tibetans in the People’s Republic of China.

Additionally, the recent poll by CNN shows that nearly three-quarters of all Americans think Tibet should be an independent country.

The Dalai Lama is popular with Americans, according to the survey, with 56 percent holding a favorable view of him.

The poll also indicates that 53 percent say it's more important for the United States to take a strong stand on human rights in China than to maintain good relations with Beijing.

The meeting of president Obama and the Dalai Lama clearly shows the uncompromising policy of the US on issues of human rights, religious freedom in Tibet, and the cultural survival of Tibetans. It is also seen as willingness of Obama to stand up to Beijing.

Tibet Tourism Surges in 2009
(October 14, 2009) AFP
BEIJING — A record 4.75 million tourists visited China's Tibet in the first nine months of 2009, more than twice as many as in all of 2008, when unrest led to a ban on foreigners, state media said Wednesday.

The local government slashed the cost of holiday packages, hotels and tickets to draw tourists back to the picturesque Himalayan region, Xinhua news agency reported. "It's a high point for Tibet's tourism industry," director of the regional tourism bureau was quoted as saying, without providing a breakdown for foreign and domestic tourist numbers.

China banned foreign tourists from visiting Tibet after deadly anti-Chinese riots erupted in Lhasa and across the Tibetan plateau in March 2008.

The number of visitors to the region fell to 2.2 million in 2008 as compared with four million the year before. Beijing also barred foreigners in March of this year during the tense 50th anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against China that sent the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, into exile.

Foreign tourists must obtain special permission from China's government to enter Tibet, where resentment against Chinese control has seethed for decades.

Spanish Judge Wants To Question Chinese Leaders Over Tibet
(May 08, 2009) AFP / Expatica
Spanish judge wants to question eight senior Chinese officials as suspects in a genocide case linked to the region.

Spanish National Court judge Santiago Pedraz said Tuesday he wanted to investigate a crackdown on unrest that erupted in Tibet on 14 March 2008 after four days of peaceful protests against Chinese rule.

A suit was filed against the Chinese officials in July 2008 by a Tibetan rights groups, the Tibet Support Committee, and accepted by the court the following month, just days before the opening of the Beijing Olympics.

It "denounces the new wave of oppression that began in Tibet on 10 March 2008, and just goes to prove that acts of genocide continue to be committed against the Tibetan people".

The Tibetan government-in-exile says 203 Tibetans were killed and about 1,000 hurt in China's subsequent crackdown. Beijing insists that only one "insurgent" was killed and has accused the "rioters" of killing 21 people.

The suit also "denounces China's manipulation of the global war against terrorism in its attempt to justify and cover up crimes against humanity committed against the Tibetan people."