The Tibetan-American community in New England has been preparing for the Dalai Lama’s arrival and have been taking part in a labor of love of sorts:

In the basement and driveway of a humble Malden house, the carpenters are building a throne.

Across town, in Medford, a lab technician spends his nights sewing embroidered silk for the drapery.

Three Tibetan-American men, two of them former monks, have devoted much of the last month to constructing the 9-foot high chair on which a cross-legged Dalai Lama will sit for a pair of lectures at Gillette Stadium next month.

The resulting throne is the most visible manifestation of the efforts by Boston’s small Tibetan community to prepare for the Dalai Lama’s four-day visit to the region, which begins April 29. But the throne also sheds light on the unusual backstories of local Tibetans, many of whom escaped difficult lives in Tibet or lived in exile in India before arriving in the United States.

The needleworker, Kunga Namgyal, leads the ordinary life of a research scientist at Shire, a biopharmaceutical company. But Namgyal is also the son and grandson of famed Tibetan tailors – his father was a tailor for the Dalai Lama – and now, at night, when he can steal time from playing with his son and dining with his wife, he sits on the floor by a china cabinet filled with Buddha statues and tries to remember what his own dad taught him about sewing.

One gem: While conventional sewing often involves pointing a needle away from the artisan, Tibetan Buddhists sew with the needle pointing toward themselves, to symbolize compassion for others who won’t get poked.

Hopefully, when the Dalai Lama returns to the United States in October (according to media reports), the US government will show him the respect and honor he deserves by granting him an official state visit with the President and the Secretary of State, although the Obama administration seems a bit too worried China might get “angry.”

This latest example of bullying from China was a depressing reality check which further solidified the view that human rights would take a back seat to economic interests, particularly where China is concerned.

As the day progressed yesterday and word spread of South Africa’s actions, there was an increase in anger and outrage and some big name conference participants put South Africa on notice that they found the governments treatment of the Dalai Lama unacceptable and publicly announced they would boycott the conference altogether. Today, there is now word the conference has been canceled altogether, at the behest of the SA government and it would be reasonable.

In a dangerous high-seas game of chicken, five Chinese boats harassed and came perilously close to colliding with a U.S. Naval surveillance ship off the coast of Hainan Island Sunday, after the Chinese military ordered the ship to leave the area or “suffer the consequences.” The Navy dispatched a destroyer, the USS Chung-Hoon, to the vicinity as a precaution.

[snip]

After repeated attempts to reach the Chinese ships over “bridge-to-bridge” radios failed, the crew of the unarmed Impeccable took defensive measures, turning firehoses on one of the Chinese ships, at which point the Chinese crewmembers on deck stripped down to their underwear.[emphasis mine]

Ok, there is a lot about this that reeks, but I have a question- what is with the Chinese crewmembers stripping down to their underwear? When the US sprayed them with the water hoses, they of course got wet, but to strip down right there immediately seems a bit strange, unless I am missing something?

And in other depressing news from China, today (Tuesday, March 10) marks the anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising 50 years ago and the resulting flight into exile by the Dalai Lama. On this anniversary, the Dalai Lama has this to say:

“These 50 years have brought untold suffering and destruction to the land and people of Tibet,” the 73-year-old spiritual and political leader of Tibetan Buddhists said from exile in Dharamsala, India. “Today, the religion, culture, language and identity … are nearing extinction; in short, the Tibetan people are regarded like criminals deserving to be put to death.”

I blogged ad nauseum about China’s whimsical disregard for human rights, here and the recently-stated US response from our Secretary of State, here.

For the past five or so months, Chinese troops have been making their way into Tibet to quash any “uprising”, but what they will really be quashing is any pro-Dalai Lama speech, observance of Tibetan Buddhism or peaceful pro-Tibet gatherings. Based up past experience with the Chinese government, the people of Tibet also know that the Chinese military will go into the monesteries and round up monks and nuns and imprison and torture them unless they denounce the Dalai Lama. A couple of months ago, the Chinese authorities rounded up at least 50 people in Tibet for “spreading rumors”.

And our politicians are worried about Cuba?

And that made me wonder- if just five or six years ago conventional wisdom said that countries like China, India etc. would never sign on to major international environmental efforts unless the US showed a real commitment to those efforts, why can’t the US take that stance with respect to international human rights as well?

We have a new President and thus far, the international reaction to Obama seems quite positive as he seems to be sending the message he is willing to work cooperatively along-side other nations to achieve common goals, even if that means opening a dialogue with countries more hostile to US interests. Doesn’t this provide the US with an opportunity for a new dialogue about human rights with countries like China, Sudan, etc.?

Or is that totally unrealistic?