Read readers' comments:
A Canadian
Why does U of C give Dalai Lama the degree when it knows Dalai Lama leads a group of people against China? Who is more political, China or U of C? Dalai Lama is serfdom master. I do not think any government of a country will accredit any institution that bestows someone who is any enemy of that country. Same question again. Would U.S. government accredit U of C if U of C honored Bin Laden a degree? The answer is obvious. Wake up. That is reality. If one provokes, he or she expects consequence.
February 08, 2010
4:38 AM
Haida brotherhood
If Canada is so wonderful, why did Harper send 4 ministerial visits to China and then only personally visit China to get a public rebuke??
If you feel that you have the right to tell Chinese immigrants to go back to China, then I have the right to tell all you white folks to get the hell out of America and try you for trespassing and crime against humanity for slaughtering my ancesters across North America !
February 08, 2010
2:30 AM
To all China supporters
If China is so wonderful, why are you even here?
February 08, 2010
1:39 AM
wei c.
While I think UoC's political move is quite stupid, the Chinese government's sanction against it is even stupider. It's actually sanction against its own young overseas students. People who made these policies are hopelessly out of touch with reality. We will see a series of downward spiral of Canadian-Chinese relationship.
February 08, 2010
1:10 AM
Advice to the writer & S Harper
It’s interesting that the writer wrote about the fact that China is one of the top trading partners to Canada and that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is even more American than the Americans by being the last G7 leader to take a trip to China. One advice to Stephen Harper, we should leave the politics of Tibet and Taiwan to the U.S. and project ourselves as having a neutral position on these issues. The U.S. wants to conquer the world militarily. We, the Canadians, should focus on striking a lot more business deals with the Chinese. Who doesn’t like a more prosperous Canada? The Americans would be more even envious of us in addition to their current jealousy of our relative financial stability because of their AIG and Lehman Brothers disasters.
February 08, 2010
12:45 AM
Carl
I just want to ask the auther what USA would response if the U of C bestowed an honorary degree on the Ben Laden?
February 08, 2010
12:39 AM
Mad Dog
If Tibet were an independent country like Nepal or Bhutan, The West wouldn't know nor care who Dalai Lama is. His hollness, I'm afraid, is just a pawn in the complicated game of geopolitics.
February 07, 2010
11:44 PM
Mess
This is a strong example that an educational institution gets itself into a complicated political issue and doesn't want to face the consequence...
February 07, 2010
11:42 PM
TONY
Everybody insists that he or she is always right, but the fact is not.
February 07, 2010
11:23 PM
TONY
U OF C has its right to give Honor Deg to anybody but China has its own right to maintain its own Education website. If U OF C does not care, why will China care? U OF C has the right to damage China's interest, why does China have no right to protect itself? Is U of C a kid?
February 07, 2010
11:17 PM
aaronzzt
"Universities have every right to grant degrees to whomever they please, and this incident should deter none of them from continuing that tradition" Why not the UC reward a degree to OSMA Ben LADEN?
February 07, 2010
10:19 PM
Scottie
To soundoff,
You must be an American.
February 07, 2010
9:38 PM
wei c.
from bulled to bully? When china was weak, the free world sanction against it. When china opened up, the free world humiliated it without missing one chance. Finally china say, enough is enough! We have never sponsor any independence in the free world. Not in Quebec, in Northern Ireland, in Corsica, in Hawaii, Texas, or Alaska. We don't stick our nose into your affair, why should you?
February 07, 2010
7:56 PM
Doug
There is not a dam thing in this world I would buy knowing it was made in China.Makeing and selling lead poisoned pencils outa be enough to scare parents with school aged children.How many other inferier products are made in China that we dont know about.I personly dont give a hoot what the Chinese do.But yet I like the Chinese people I have met. Canadian Chinese are honest and hardworking people.Good for the U of C.
February 07, 2010
7:32 PM
Brad
For over 40 years, US has sanctioned on a tiny communist Cuba. Why the west is so afraid of communism? Should we say Fragile US and Fragile Canada? When did we hear any western countries get sanctioned before? You got it all wrong. It is the west that has been bullying China and other non-western countries. I think China is quite brave to stand up against the gang of bullies.
February 07, 2010
7:04 PM
zzz
This article totally reflect the fear from Canadian government about China's growing power.
February 07, 2010
6:56 PM
Tommy
Juvenile behavior of CCP is wel-known to all. It is rather saddening to see that just because degree has been conferred to the Dalai Lama, UoC Chinese students are being punished for their university is now removed from list of accredited international institutions. Which government will alienate its 600 students in this way? It is also a fallacy on part of CCP to think that it can impose its political will on western educational institutions for the principles of truth and justice are rooted in them. As a person living in Calgary, it makes me sick to learn the CCP's attitude.
February 07, 2010
6:31 PM
rob
If dalai Lama only is relegious leader, it is ok. But the fact is wrong. Why does U of C go into this issue? University should teach knowledge. Is U of C top 10 unversities in Canada? No. Never!
February 07, 2010
6:09 PM
TT
@ Kyatktsar You mentioned the atrocities in Tibet, care to name them? Do not lecture the Chinese on Tibet lest you get lectured on California, Texas and Miami. Return it to the Mexicans and the Spanish and perhaps you will be taken seriously. Every government has a right to quell protest. Surely America will not tolerate a mass protest turned violent with looting and destruction of property in say New York. Do you think the NYPD will just stand still and not even use tear gas and water guns? Do you not think a reserve force of the military will not be mobilised to disperse this violence caused by an angry mob? Ignorance at best. Ignorance is the western way of thought. Do not expect the world to embrace this simple train of thought glazed with a veneer that otherwise covers up the blemishes and flaws of an otherwise barbaric and hypocritical school of thought.
February 07, 2010
5:13 PM
Gyame Kyakpa So
To all the Chinese government stooges, if you miss all the state interference of back home, perhaps it is time to go back. You are a disgrace to the thousands of your brothers and sisters who fought for rights on Tiananmen Square little over 20 years ago. Many of you are children of those who took blood cards. Time to wake up and appreciate the rights we have in this country. Canada has a long history of not kowtowing to brutal regimes. We must continue to stand up. And for China, stop playing the victim all the time. Whenever they don't get their way, it is always about how their feelings have been hurt. What about the TIbetans who are massacred in Tibet? What about all the dissidents in China? Time to tell China -- ENOUGH! UofC's financial mismanagement is an entirely different story. Realise that the Dalai Lama did not receive a single penny from his visit to Calgary. UofC also needs to be condemned.
February 07, 2010
5:12 PM
Wang
To the passionate and caring canadian people and every commentator below, are we so sure the stories we hear from media are true not just one side of opinion. Who are we to question the noble peace price laurreate? No one but the historians. Is it really true Tibet was independent country? If it is, there must be some recognistions from other countries. Did canada or ANY other country recognised it in the past? No, no one did. That's history and fact. Please, before you get mad, please take little time to check what has happend in the history. Do not just get your informtion from TV or Lama if you really cares. A lot of questions about Tibet for you to find out. Was Dalai Lama a slave owner before 1950? What does serf mean? What kind of social structure Tibet was? Please follow the link to see the history from neutral point of view, not from communist, not from Lalai Lama, and the author has a Ph.D from Yale University.
http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html Just some fun factor that Lalai Lama is the only buddhist monk who eats meat.
http://www.shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=3404 http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/mccartneys-meat-row-with-dalai-lama_1089529 Thank you for your understanding.
February 07, 2010
5:12 PM
BP
Yet another article about China that gets overwhelmed by lock-stepping defenders of the CCP.
February 07, 2010
4:29 PM
GRAVITY
This was obviously a very political issue and the U of C was warned of the consequences. U of C chose to provide the degree, so the U of C must live with the consequences so there is no reason to be upset with China. The real sad part of this mess is that the staff and current students will have to pay for the lost 600 chinese students tuition fees.
February 07, 2010
4:22 PM
X.
The author is getting things backwards: The west is bullying China, not the other way around. Separatists in China can terrorize ordinary citizens and then get peace prizes and awarded honorary university degrees. All they need to do is to pay some lip services to peace. All the bloody photos of the victims can then be ignored. If China does not accept that, it would be China trying to bully the bullies. If you buy into this propaganda, just think about this: if your own religion cannot stop its believers from killing people, are you really naive enough to believe that Buddhism would stop its believers from stepping on ants? Do you think that the modern weapons shipped to Dalai Lama in the 60's were for praying?
Not only the western media is twisting the reality, it is twisting history as well. Just because your forefathers had to cross a huge ocean to "discover" the indigenous people of North America to kill, you are trying to make people believe that China suddenly "discovered" Tibet in the 50's, and "invaded" Tibet. If you can read a map, you will find that people of Tibet live side by side with the rest of the Chinese people, and that goes back millenniums. There is no ocean between them. Did you even think about how things were before the 50's? You can look up maps going back centuries, and find that "the Chinese" invaded their own countries is absolutely ludicrous. I can tell you what invasions are: when the Europeans entered China with weapons, and made the Chinese government pay billions of ounces of silver to them in the 1800s, THOSE were called invasions. The payments are in the books. Go look them up. This is not even like the way that the Spaniards looted Americans. These were done as official government to government transactions. Of course, if you added in the looting done by European soldiers individually, the number would even be more staggering. You are saying the Chinese do not a have democratic society? If the west did not take all that money, the Chinese people would have had much better education than the author, and they would have a much more democratic society than the author's right now.
So stop bullying "the Chinese", as the western media like to referred to the Chinese people. Those days that you can bully the Chinese with rifles are long gone. Learn try to get along with them. Not just "tolerate" them.
February 07, 2010
3:53 PM
X. Tan
The author is getting things backwards: The west is bullying China, not the other way around. Separatists in China can terrorize ordinary citizens and then get peace prizes and awarded honorary university degrees. All they need to do is to pay some lip services to peace. All the bloody photos of the victims can then be ignored. If China does not accept that, it would be China trying to bully the bullies. If you buy into this propaganda, just think about this: if your own religion cannot stop its believers from killing people, are you really naive enough to believe that Buddhism would stop its believers from stepping on ants? Do you think that the modern weapons shipped to Dalai Lama in the 60's were for praying? Not only the western media is twisting the reality, it is twisting history as well. Just because your forefathers had to cross a huge ocean to "discover" the indigenous people of North America to kill, you are trying to make people believe that China suddenly "discovered" Tibet in the 50's, and "invaded" Tibet. If you can read a map, you will find that people of Tibet live side by side with the rest of the Chinese people, and that goes back millenniums. There is no ocean between them. Did you even think about how things were before the 50's? You can look up maps going back centuries, and find that "the Chinese" invaded their own countries is absolutely ludicrous. I can tell you what invasions are: when the Europeans entered China with weapons, and made the Chinese government pay billions of ounces of silver to them in the 1800s, THOSE were called invasions. The payments are in the books. Go look them up. This is not even like the way that the Spaniards looted Americans. These were done as official government to government transactions. Of course, if you added in the looting done by European soldiers individually, the number would even be more staggering. You are saying the Chinese do not a have democratic society? If the west did not take all that money, the Chinese people would have had much better education than the author, and they would have a much more democratic society than the author's right now. So stop bullying "the Chinese", as the western media like to referred to the Chinese people. Those days that you can bully the Chinese with rifles are long gone. Learn try to get along with them. Not just "tolerate" them.
February 07, 2010
3:53 PM
Concerned Citizen
I would encourage China to STOP buying ANYTHING from ALBERTA and specially from CALGARY as a designated Tourists area ! Enough China Bashing from Calgary Herald ! CANWEST media is just a mouth piece for CNN and CIA.... CTV also deliberately reporting "Chinese Police" beating up Tibetan monks when the TV video clip clearly shows they were "Napalese Police" !!! CANWEST is doomed !!! Chinese all over the world should BOYCOTT anything related to Calgary , related to CANWEST !!
February 07, 2010
3:32 PM
Samual Jackson
Do don't to others that you don't don others do that same thing to you. Karma. That is. Western powers have been trashing China for over two hundred years on 1/5 of all human beings on earth and have been stealing her resources and suppressing their voicing their own interests in the so-called INTERNATIONAL areans where domainated by the Anglo-Saxon countries led by US, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ etc. China's decline started two centuries ago when British forced opium on Chinese via East India Company to fuel British Empire's greed and imperialism. Now when China voices her own interests and Canadians started to call China a bully as this biased author is blatantly subscribe to, how long do we have to up to the so-called Western Media being the mouthpiece for the CIA ?? We should all know that CIA funded once the terrorist group to train in Colorado for an armed struggle against China, that group is called "Tibetan Freedom Fighters" ...manned by non other than the Tibetan Monks under Dalai Lama whose Budhist teaching says "Take NO life" ! How Spiritually Enlightened do you think Dalai Lama is after ALL 14 re-incarnations and did not abolish serfdom slavery until 1992? Abraham Lincoln abolished it on his FIRST reincarnation !! Enough China Bashing by Calgary Herald !
February 07, 2010
3:28 PM
Victor
I wish "The Great Firewall" falls down and Chinese people get more balanced information about China, Tibet, Uighur, T. Sq., etc. This is crucial as poor Chinese students whose parents are not members of CCP can't afford to study in western universities. Most effective education can be brought about by reaching out to those Chinese students in the mainland.
February 07, 2010
2:17 PM
ken
"But it should serve as a wake-up call to those who may be lulled into complacency about China and tempted to think that because China is growing in global importance as a trade partner, it is making equal strides toward attaining more western ways of thought" Ha ha, Chinese is acting in western ways of thought. Such as genocide against native population of America, Canada and Australi. such as forcible removal of Indian tribes like America. Forcible assimilation of Native Indian. send the little native kids into canadian boarding school sexually abuse them. West has already set a very good example for china.
February 07, 2010
2:00 PM
Kluks
This is a perfect punishment to the ignorant UofC management.
February 07, 2010
1:47 PM
The Voice of Canada
The writer of this article must be an American. Where is the voice of Canada? The Canadian government is becoming more like a Chihuahua to the Americans. When the owner yells, the Chihuahua barks!!! What happened to the neutrality of our Canadian mentality? Canada should be more like the Switzerland of the Americas. Where are the great worldly Canadian leaders, the likes of Trudeau and Jean Chretien? The current Canadian government’s nose is so deep into the American’s ass, we don’t even see the face anymore.
February 07, 2010
1:21 PM
Chris
As an emerging world super-power. China seems to feel the need to exert its influence over other countries similar to America. It also seems that China is making an example of UofC, sending a message to other universities.
February 07, 2010
1:12 PM
Kyaktsar
China has grown from being the spoiled child of international community to the schoolyard bully. Say no to Chinese bully! Shame on those who feel they can justify such tactics. We should stop apologizing and stand up for the values we cherish. Imagine what they do to the Tibetans. There is no justification to Chinese atrocities in Tibet. UofC was at fault for kowtowing to the Chinese by censoring any discussion on Tibet. UofC organizers disallowed all questions on Tibet at the public talk.
February 07, 2010
1:07 PM
Due Diligence
Your editorial, and many of the comments that have been echoed by dozens of Herald viewers since the story broke, are making one HUGE assumption: the UofC has been delisted because it HOSTED the Dalai Lama and/or it CONFERRED an honorary degree on His Holiness. Perhaps this is wrong!! Many universities around the world, including a number in Canada, have all hosted such visits and conferred such degrees with no major backlash. (e.g. Berkeley, UBC, SFU, U of T) Did anyone stop to think that there could be OTHER FACTORS at play? Given the fact that the event actually lost $300,000, perhaps we can start thinking maybe, just maybe, the MANAGEMENT of the trip was an issue? Also, are we sure that the UofC, it's agents and/or advisors were up to the task of handling the diplomatic protocols involved? The visit did afterall occur on Oct. 1, 2009, the 60th anniversay of "Liberation Day" in China, one of the most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the day in 1949 when Mao said "today China stands up." I smell a fish here, and that fish stinks of incompetence on the Canadian side, not the Chinese side.
February 07, 2010
1:02 PM
Pema
@Brian: Why Chinese are whining about its past suffering under Japan and European occupation of China yet China does it to Tibet in 21st century. Shame on Beijing for behaving like big bully saying "My way or High way". Respect others rights for others to respect your right.
February 07, 2010
12:55 PM
Chinese Canadian
I agree with Brian completely! If you want to know from the Chinese perspectives, you dont need to go very far. Please do a survey among Chinese Canadians to see who is the bully here. By delaying his visit to China, Harper is accomplishing nothing except to please his western power base! Time to think out of the box! For all the poor Chinese students at the University of Calgary, I am sure that their credentials will be honored in China. The reason that China does that is to make sure not to send more Chinese students to a university that put politics above education!
February 07, 2010
12:29 PM
FreeSpeech
Indeed - wouldn't it be wonderful if China supported Free Speech and self-determination! .... if only China allowed Tibetans, Mongolians, Uyghurs and others who are unhappy, to express their displeasure without fear. And, if there were a referendum there, as there has been in Quebec (as imperfect at the process has been, at least there has been process). So, yes Brian, it would indeed be wonderful if the Chinese Gov't supported the right of the people of Quebec etc to free expression and self-determination. If the the Chinese Gov't people did so, they might then have to look in the mirror, and respect the rights of ALL people, including those who live within China's current borders. (and, yes, I am Canadian - and I'm not afraid of facing criticism of Canada -- Canada is not perfect -- the fact that we have freedom of expression, and complaints are heard, is VERY good! I wish and pray for the same freedoms for all people who live in China, and elsewhere in the world)
February 07, 2010
12:18 PM
David
The Herald, that is just your opinion, not the Chinese. The Chinese should go to UN security council to enlist Dalai Lama and his followers as a terrorist organization after last year's killing in Lhasa, Tibet. To delist the UofC is just a very modest action. The extreme actions should be the Invasion of India to get rid of Dalai Lama's followers like Americans did in Iraq and Afghan, or to chase him and his followers like Isrealis' did to Nazis.
February 07, 2010
12:17 PM
Think Rational
Yes, but I bet the indignation won't stop the Alberta oil industry from trying to build a pipeline to the West coast to ship oil to China.
February 07, 2010
12:09 PM
Brian
How much the westerns know about Dalai Lama. He is the spirutual Budist monk or a piloticia?. Why are Canadian acting like American? In the name demoncracy and human right, the westerns have sent armies around the world, not the Chinese. Who is the real bully boy? How much changee have we made in Afghanistan and Iraq? We lost Korea, and Vietman war, will soon loose in Afghanistan and Irag. We do not feel safe to flight, we constantly watch our back. Have we wondered, why? It is because our stupid goverment policies. It is ok the America sell arms to Taiwan, it should be ok for China to sell arms State of Palestine to balance the power in the region. Come on Herald! we want facts, not bias opinion. How do you feel if China supports Quebec or BC to separate from Canada?
