HONG KONG - Sixty years after the Dalai Lama fled into permanent Indian exile, the cause of Tibetan freedom that earned him a Nobel prize and a celebrity-studded international following has lost much of its momentum - neutralised, analysts say, by the passage of time and China's rising global power.
"You don't see protests like that anymore," said Kate Saunders of the US-based International Campaign for Tibet, attributing the shift in part to Tibetans abiding by the Dalai Lama's message of non-violence and to massive Chinese state surveillance. The boy chosen by the Dalai Lama to serve as the Panchen Lama was detained by Chinese authorities at the age of six and has not been seen since, with Beijing appointing its own candidate in 1995.
BUYING FREEDOM As the exile-led movement loses momentum, Tibetans at home are struggling to keep their traditions alive. China's investment in the region includes a huge outlay on security to build a surveillance state that makes it harder to organise protests. Rights groups say that a government campaign targeting the family and friends of protesters has also helped suppress dissent.