By IRNA,
Berlin : The United Sates is massively funding the International Tibet Support Network as part of its policy of containing China’s global political influence, the Munich-based daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported in its Saturday edition.
The private American organization ‘National Endowment for Democracy’ (NED) which is being subsidized by the US government, paid 45,000 US dollars to the International Tibet Support Network for highly publicized protests ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games in China.
The International Tibet Support Network played a crucial role in the recent worldwide disruptions in the Olympic torch relay.
The American government funds those Tibetan groups which China views as rebellious.
The main link between the US administration and Tibetan insurgents is often the NED.
According to the NED, it has donated 293 000 US dollars to Tibetan groups in 2006 which Beijing accuses of having planned the insurgency in Lhasa two months ago.
The NED’s financial support for Tibetan groups is politically controversial because it receives a major portion of its money from the US Congress.
Thus, the US is funding activities which Beijing sees as destabilizing or at least damaging China’s international image.
The NED allocated 20 million US dollars for projects inside China in the 1990s, a US Congress report said last year.
The US Congress had approved 23 million US dollars for so-called ‘democracy programs’ in China and Tibet in 2006.
Private US organizations like the NED have become an important instrument for American foreign policy, according to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.