HENRY A. KOSHOLLEK/THE CAPITAL TIMES
Members of Students for a Free Tibet hang a banner Wednesday on a bridge over University Avenue connecting two buildings on the UW-Madison campus. Their banner calls for the release of the Panchen Lama of Tibet, an important spiritual and political leader detained by the Chinese government in 1995.
Plan to raise Tibet's flag here raises China's ire
Pat Schneider
The Capital Times
Published: April 26, 2007
It would mean a lot to Madison area Tibetans to see their flag fly over the City-County Building during a visit by the Dalai Lama next week, said Sherab Lhatsang.
"In Tibet, if you possess a Tibetan flag or honor the Dalai Lama, you can be locked up," Lhatsang said Wednesday.
Lhatsang is a leader in the local Tibetan community, estimated at more than 500 residents of Dane County. Many came to the United States through a resettlement program that followed the 1950 invasion of Tibet by China. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people.
The government of China, through its consul in Chicago, has objected to the city of Madison's plans to raise the flag over City Hall next week.
In a letter sent Tuesday to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, Consul Zhiyuan Ji described himself as "astonished" that the Madison city government would take official action to welcome the Dalai Lama.
He is "not merely a religious figure, but a political exile who has long been engaged in activities of separating Tibet from China," Ji wrote.
Mayoral spokesman George Twigg said Wednesday that the city would go ahead with its welcome for the Dalai Lama.
"We have no plans to ask for any changes to any aspect of his visit," Twigg said.
The mayor, he said, declined to meet with the Chinese consul.
A resolution passed on a voice vote by the City Council on April 18 calls for a welcome for the Dalai Lama and "appropriate placements" of the Tibetan flag in his honor.
The suggestion is that the flag fly over the City-County Building, but since the building's operating rules allow only the U.S. flag to be flown, an exception would be required.
The City-County Liaison Committee will meet at 7:30 tonight in Room 201 of the City-County Building to consider an exception to permit the Tibetan flag to be flown.
Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said his organization has taken no official position on the issue, but that fundamental separation of church and state must be preserved.
"Our government is a secular government. Since the Dalai Lama is a religious leader, we cannot use our government buildings or money to endorse him," Barker said.
Clearly, the Dalai Lama is a political leader as well as a religious leader. But so are many others, Barker said. "What about Pat Robertson? Would we fly a flag at the City-County Building to honor him? He's a political leader too."
"There should be a separation from religions you like as well as religions you don't like," he said.
"We would hope that the Dalai Lama himself would ask the flag not to be flown. He should be sensitive to the social conflict that arises when you mix religion and government," Barker said.
Lhatsang, who has been a leader in the Wisconsin Tibetan Association, said about 100 supporters, Tibetans and members of Students for a Free Tibet were on hand when the resolution honoring the Dalai Lama was approved.
"People were really moved when the resolution was approved," he recalled.
This is the second time in just weeks that the Chinese government has reacted to largely symbolic government measures in Wisconsin.
Last month, two representatives of the Chinese consulate visited state Rep. Joe Parisi, D-Madison, to express their displeasure of his sponsorship of a resolution commemorating a 1959 Tibetan uprising against China.
Hilary Edwards, Midwest coordinator for Students for a Free Tibet, said the Chinese government has of late demonstrated greater interest in such measures, as it tries to burnish its image before hosting the 2008 World Olympics by diverting attention from its relationship with Tibet.
"China is working hard at having a more presentable image to show the rest of the world," Edwards said.
"There's a lot of support for the Tibetan community in Wisconsin," she said.
Ji's letter, where he points to Wisconsin's growth of trade with China and advises careful reconsideration of the wisdom of welcoming the Dalai Lama, is nothing short of a threat, she said.
"I don't see how it could be interpreted as anything else," she said.
