Tenzin Lhalungpa told the Straight he fears China may bring down the cloak of censorship further now that foreign journalists have been ordered to leave Lhasa.

According to Tibet’s India-based government in exile, 99 pro-Tibet activists and Chinese people have been killed in the Tibetan capital since March 10. That date marks the 49th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising against the Chinese occupation. Now Lhalungpa, president of the Vancouver chapter of the Canada Tibet Committee, fears that China’s strategy will be a waiting game until world media scrutiny dies down.

“I think that is going to be their strategy, but you know, when the [Beijing] Olympics happens they have promised they will allow unfettered access to all parts of China,” Lhalungpa said by phone. “Now they are going to renege on that? I was talking to some of the Uigurs in town, and they said all of Ürümqi and Kashgar [in Xinjiang region] and all those places, where China expected more trouble than in Tibet, already China has increased its military presence there.”

Lhalungpa said he is “quite sure” China will try shutting Tibetans and Uigurs out of Beijing during the Olympics in August.

In an interview with the Straight, Wang Zeliang, vice consul at the Chinese Consulate in Vancouver, dismissed Lhalungpa’s assertion and said “We welcome everybody,” including Tibetans, to Beijing during the Games.

“They are part of China,” Wang said of the Tibetan population. “They are Chinese citizens, and of course we welcome them to Beijing to visit for the Olympics.”

When the Straight suggested some would be carrying banners critical of China’s policies in Tibet, Wang would only say, “Yes, some are protesting for that.”

Lhalungpa said he fears for those rounded up during the demonstrations.

“Up until now, the Chinese…have always said this whole issue is being fostered by the exile community,” he said. “They say that the people in Tibet are relatively happy and peaceful, and this just puts a lie to that. It is obvious that Tibetans inside and outside Tibet are basically all on the same page.…They are very much united.”