29 Mar 2008, 0002 hrs IST
,Saibal Dasgupta,TNN
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BEIJING: A group of Beijing-based diplomats from several countries left for Tibet on a conducted tour on Friday morning but, despite an invitation from the Chinese government, there was no Indian envoy accompanying them. Sources in the Indian government cited the short notice given by the Chinese as one of the reasons for not taking up the invitation. They denied a suggestion that India may be boycotting the Tibet tour in reaction to Chinese authorities summoning ambassador Nirupama Rao for talks at 2am last Friday. The Indian government also felt there wasn't much inside knowledge to be gained by joining a highly controlled trip to Tibet. Indian officials were contacted at 11am on Thursday and asked to confirm by 4pm the same day whether any diplomat from India would like to join the trip. Envoys from the US, Japan and European countries left for Lhasa on Friday morning. The tour by diplomats, organised by the Chinese foreign ministry, follows another move by the government to take a band of selected journalists to Lhasa. The purpose is to persuade world governments to see the Lhasa violence in the way the Chinese government would like it to be seen. Beijing is deeply worried over remarks from several world leaders, including French president Nicolas Sarkozy, suggesting they do not fully accept China's version of the events in Lhasa in the past few weeks. China is particularly keen on ensuring that there is no boycott of the Olympic Games owing to Tibet. Sarkozy has already caused a flutter in Chinese hearts by saying "all options are open'' regarding a possible boycott of the opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics. Indian officials are trying to talk down the Chinese move to summon Rao for talks at two am, saying envoys of several other countries too were called for discussions at late hours in the past two weeks, and no exception was made in the case of the Indian ambassador. |
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