The brave new Tibet

Exactly one day ahead of Vice-President Xi Jinping's arrival in Lhasa for the grand celebration of the 60th anniversary of Tibet's peaceful liberation, US President Barack Obama welcomed the Dalai Lama to the White House for a predictable duet of China-bashing.

Just weeks before, at the 17th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, there were accusations that human rights conditions in the Tibet autonomous region of China were the "worst of the worst".

Some people in Dharamsala, annoyed by the festivities across the Sino-Indian border, which climax on Tuesday with carnivals from the Potala Palace Square to the remote corners of Tibet, repeated their stale claims of "cultural genocide".