A Canadian-Tibetan activist who was detained in China for two days says she was released because China is trying to put its best foot forward as the world counts down to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Lhadon Tethong, the Canadian executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, arrived in Toronto on Thursday after being detained in Beijing for criticizing the government on her blog.
Fellow B.C. residents Sam Price and Melanie Raoul were also detained. They were taken into custody on Tuesday after they unfurled a banner on the Great Wall calling for a free Tibet.
Tethong told CTV's Canada AM her family was concerned when she was detained on Wednesday, but with the world's attention focused on China, they felt the timing was good.
"They were worried for sure. They also understood this is a strategic moment in terms of China being under pressure and under the spotlight," Tethong said.
"So if there is a time they would be less inclined to do anything to people like us -- foreigners, activists -- it's now, because the Olympics are their platform to show their kind, good face to the world."
The group was in Beijing to protest China's presence in Tibet and draw attention to what it says is China's broken promise to improve human rights leading up to the 2008 Olympics.
Price and Raoul were among six international demonstrators who rapelled down the Great Wall on Tuesday, unfurling the banner that said ''One World, One Dream, Free Tibet." The official slogan for the games is "One World, One Dream."
Raoul told 麻豆影视net on Friday it was "exhilarating" to know images of the banner being unveiled were being sent around the world. She said she and her colleagues knew they were risking detention and even arrest by their actions, but it was a chance they were willing to take.
"Our intention wasn't to just go there and get arrested," Raoul said.
"Our objective was to get the message out about the Tibetan cause. You would be naive to go to china, a country with one of the most abysmal human rights records in the world and not think that you are going to get detained. There is going to be arrests taking place so we obviously knew that that was a likely scenario."
Tethong was arrested in Beijing one day after Price and Raoul. She was uploading videos and posting entries on her blog about China's presence in Tibet and perceived human rights abuses.
Tethong told Canada AM she was being followed by Chinese police while she was in Beijing, and was finally detained after leaving the official Beijing Olympics store.
"In a way it was a relief because they had been following us so much and the stress of that over time had been building up, that it was a relief to finally have some engagement because it was so strange. They just follow you, they're there all day and night," she said.
Tethong said she has no regrets about her actions or the time she spent in detention, and she would do it again despite criticism that the group was simply performing a stunt to gain attention.
"I feel like I'm privileged I was born with a Canadian passport, not a Tibetan who was born with no protection in Tibet or even in India. So I have an opportunity to use my voice and my education to speak on behalf of my people and in a way we have to do these kinds of things even though some people criticize us."
