Miss Tibet - Women with Wisdom from the Roof of the World

Miss Tibet out of Zimbabwe pageant due to Chinese pressure

AFP 19 February 2005
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050220/wl_sthasia_afp/
afplifestyleindiatibetzimbabwepageant_050220052525

Published in:
Independent Online, South Africa - Feb 19, 2005
Zim Observer, Zimbabwe - Feb 20, 2005
Designerz.com, GA, US - Feb 20, 2005

DHARMSALA, India (AFP) - Miss Tibet Tashi Yangchen has been expelled from the Miss Tourism World beauty pageant in Zimbabwe due to pressure from China, an official said.

Yangchen, who arrived in Harare February 13, was told by the organisers that the Chinese embassy there had objected to her taking part in the February 26 event, according to Ngawang Samdup, spokesperson of the Miss Tibet pageant.

"It is unfortunate that politics dictates events of young women and their aspirations," Samdup told AFP on Saturday.

According to the Tibetan official, Taiwan is represented in the pageant as Chinese Taipei while Hong Kong is named as a representative of China.

Miss Tourism World has been running for 20 years with 72 countries taking part in the 2005 event.

China occupied Tibet in 1950. The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule and now lives in exile in the northern hill resort of Dharamsala.