[New York] - Members of Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) confronted Canadian business and government leaders in China today and called on them to put human rights before trade. Kate Woznow, a student at the University of British Columbia, and Sam Price, a recent graduate of the University of Victoria, unfurled a banner at a contract signing ceremony between Chinese and Canadian firms at the China World hotel in Beijing. The action was designed to bring attention to China's 50-year illegal occupation of Tibet as well as the human rights violations in both Tibet and China.

The student group accused the Canadian Prime Minister of pandering to the Chinese government in the interest of trade following his statement Sunday that China had made "a big improvement" in human rights since the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. "Chretien's claim is outrageous considering the overwhelming evidence that shows the human rights situation in Tibet and China to be getting worse," said Lhadon Tethong, a Canadian born Tibetan who is the Projects Coordinator with Students for a Free Tibet. "It is bad enough that these trade talks go on with no regard for human rights, but to have our Prime Minister say such a thing on the heels of the worst crackdown in Tibet in years is absolutely shameful."

SFT began their protests against Team Canada with a press conference and demonstration at Vancouver airport last Friday. They joined a coalition advocating for responsible trade including labour unions, environmentalists, Tibetans and Chinese-Canadians. Woznow and Price traveled to Beijing to make sure Canadian officials and business leaders would remember Tibet.

"Not only is Tibet being overlooked but Canadian jobs are being lost while corporations move to capitalize on the low wages and poor working conditions in China - all the while claiming to be opening China to western ideas," said Kate Woznow who is also the National Coordinator of SFT in Canada. "Hopefully our actions here will remind Team Canada of the value of democracy and human rights."

The students were detained immediately following the action. There is as of yet no information available on their whereabouts.

Students for a Free Tibet works in solidarity with the Tibetan people in their struggle for freedom and independence. A chapter-based network of more than 600 schools worldwide, SFT campaigns for Tibetans' fundamental right to political freedom through education, grassroots organizing, and nonviolent direct action.

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