MB Civic

Epoch Times
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
By Lin Da
Epoch Times Staff

COPENHAGEN-Pierre Maina sat in a restaurant at Copenhagen Airport. He
gently fiddled with his coffee cup as he
searched for the words to describe his Tibet trip. “We went to Tibet on August 27 and retuned to Denmark on October 12 This was my first time going to China and
joining a mountain climbing tour in Tibet,”
said Maina.

Forty-seven-year-old Maina is the doctor
in charge of surgery at the Slagelse
Sygehus Hospital in Denmark, as well as a
member of the Mountaineering
Association. The association has 400
mountaineering fans from around the
world with most of the members being
from western European countries. Two
months ago, Pierre and three other Danish
mountaineers fans joined the fall
mountaineering trip organized by the
association. They planned to climb Cho Oyu
Mountain in Tibet, which has an elevation
of 8,000 meters.

Cho Oyu is located in the central part of
the Himalayas, 20 km west of Mount
Everest. It is the sixth highest summit in the
world with an elevation of 8,201 meters.

According to Maina, this mountaineering
trip left an indelible mark on his psyche.
Our conversation begins from this
permanently snow-covered Cho Oyu
Mountain…

The mountain climbers had already been
staying in this high, cold area for more
than a month, during which time they
overcame countless problems and severe
tests. They finally reached the final camp
before the summit. They settled down and
prepared to climb to the top. Maina was
having troubles with altitude sickness.
Therefore, when the other three Danes and
the rest of the group headed to the
summit, Pierre had no choice but to stay
and rest at the camp, which was at an
elevation of about 5800 meters.

“Our tent is not far from the Chinese
border with Tibet and Nepal. It is called the
Nangpa La Pass. Every day we can see some
Tibetans transporting some goods across
the border, and the majority of them went
to Namche Bazar in Nepal to sell their
goods. However, on that morning,
everything changed!” said Maina.

“On Saturday morning, September 30, I
was sleeping in the tent and suddenly was
woken up by the sounds of shooting. At
first I didn’t realize that the sounds were
gunshots, as I never heard shooting before.
After five to ten minutes I had changed
into my clothes and walked out of my tent.
The first thing I saw is that some 50 meters
from our tent, some Tibetans tried to run
fast, and they all seemed like children.
Many Chinese soldiers began shooting at
them. I saw the person at the very front of
this group shot and fall down,” Maina
recalled.

Maina didn’t know what happened at that
time, so he walked to another tent of the
encampment. Their cook, two Tibetans and
five Nepalis were there. Through their
introduction, he then knew that a group of
Tibetans was trying to cross the border to
go to India to find their spiritual leader,
the Dalai Lama, for shelter. In order to stop
them, the Chinese border guards shot
them. “They told me that Tibetans are
usually not allowed to cross the border,
and they cannot obtain permission to leave
Tibet. Only a few Tibetans are allowed to
sell goods in Nepal.”

Maina, after witnessing the shooting, was
so shocked that he couldn’t speak a word.
“At that time I could not  comprehend what
had happened. Everything just seemed so
unbelievable,” he said.

“Later, when I was talking to a Romanian
from another tent on this issue, I realized
that I had become a witness. This was a
massacre, but the victims had no weapon
and no ability to fight back. They could only
try to run. However, on a wide, open,
glacial terrain, there is no place to hide.
The majority of the fugitive Tibetans were
young people. I was told that two of them
were just teenagers.”

Recently, the exiled Tibetan government
announced that in this incident, out of 77
people, at least two girls were shot dead.
One was 14 and the other 17 years old.
Another 20 people were arrested and are
facing imprisonment.

Currently, there is still no accurate count of
how many people have lost their lives.

Later, Maina learned that the Tibetans
there lived an extremely poor life. Their
children have hardly any opportunity to
receive education; moreover, they don’t
have any religious freedom. In order to
ensure that their children have a good
future, many parents take great risks to
send their children to a “snakehead” who can help them cross the border to the Dalai
Lama. Thus that is why majority of the refugee group are young people or even
children. This kind of escape normally
happens during the winter, when the
security guards at the boarder are fewer.
Every year there are as many as 2,500
Tibetan refugees that cross the boarder
illegally. To date, of six million Tibetans,
over 130,000 have successfully escaped to
India or Nepal.

After his return to Denmark, Maina saw on
TV that the Chinese regime claimed that
the incident was one of self-defense,
ostensibly because Chinese soldiers were
under attack. “But, the Romanian Sergiu
Matei who was with me at the time was a
photographer for a Romanian TV company.
He photographed the whole shooting
event. A Danish TV station purchased that
video and it was broadcasted on TV2 and
DR. These videos tell the full story on how
the crime was committed, and it also put
paid to Chinese government’s claim of
so-called ‘self-defense by the border
security,'” said Maina.

“From the clip, you could see that the
Chinese communist soldier stood up and
fired. Why did he stand up? If you were
being shot at, you would hide, not stand
up. You can clearly see that the Chinese
soldier stood up and opened fire. From the
video, there is no evidence to prove that
Tibetans were attacking the soldiers,”
Maina refuted.

“Everybody can view the video clip on the
web at www.mounteverest.net or www.protv.ro/filme/exclusive-footage-of-chinese-soldiers-shooting-at-tibetan-pilgrims.html
[view site here] ,” Pierre suggested.

This short video clearly records the incident that day. On snow-covered
ground, over 20 Tibetan refugees lined up and walked with great difficulty. All of
sudden, one of them, walking in the front,
staggered and then fell to the ground. The
camera moved to a Chinese soldier who
was opening fire. The Tibetans didn’t stop
despite the gunfire. They didn’t even turn
back; instead they chose to continue to
walk forward quickly. Soon after, three
Chinese soldiers approached the Tibetan
refugee on the ground. They examined the
body for a while, then tuned back and left
without any emotion. From their behavior,
what is certain is that the Tibetan on the
ground had already died. The video also
shows a Chinese soldier smoking and
taking a rest after “completing the task.”
The video also shows a Tibetan refugee
who escaped to hide in the restroom at the
mountain climber’s campground.

“At night, after getting food and clothes
from the mountain climbers, this Tibetan
refugee continued on his adventure of
crossing the boarder. I don’t know whether
he succeeded,” Maina said with concern.
“Some Chinese soldiers saw that we
witnessed their shooting because we were
not too far away. But they didn’t avoid the
shooting at all, almost as if we were not
around.”

“The second day, a large group of soldiers
came. Apparently, they were looking for
the dead body. Those soldiers
emotionlessly threw the body into the
cracks of the icy river. They didn’t care that
we were watching them,” Maina recalled,
as he grew even sadder.

“Before, I heard that the human rights
problem is very serious in China. But in
Western society, many people are saying
China is becoming better. This time I witnessed how the Chinese communist
regime treats Tibetan refugees. I was very
shocked. I realized that the situation in
China has in fact not improved.”

Because of altitude sickness, Maina was
unable to make it to the summit. However,
after the shooting, he conquered his own
fear and firmly stood up. Since his return to Denmark, he constantly receives phone
calls. Many media inside and out of
Denmark are contacting him for interviews.

When I asked Maina whether he felt
scared, he said, “Yes, maybe I will be scared
of going to China. I don’t know what
strange things might happen.” But Maina
didn’t hesitate and chose to tell his own
experience to the public. He said, “The
West still doesn’t know what is happening in China.

People must know the truth. If I can do a
little bit, I will do it.” After Maina exposed
the shooting, not only did he obtain
encouragement and support from his wife,
he also has received many supportive
messages from friends. “I have heard many people discussing whether to boycott 2008
Olympic games in Beijing,” Maina said.

Maina’s choice to speak out has generated
a big reaction in Danish society. The Danish government said that they would treat this
incident seriously and pressure the Chinese
regime.

When asked about his future plans, Maina
said that he would continue to support the
Tibetans. “If the Danish government needs
me to do anything to help, I will try to do
the best I can,” he responded simply.