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International | China
Hundreds of protestors smashed and burned at least 100 shops, banks and hotels owned by local Han Chinese. Cars and buses were also torched.” Reports say several thousand paramilitary police officers were mobilised to suppress the riots. “Rather than completely blacking them out, the statecontrolled media broadcast limited coverage of the protests in Tibet in a bid to minimise international criticism,” said one report, while in contrary the official Xinhua news agency declared: “Throughout the incident, Lhasa police officers exercised great restraint. They remained patient, professional and were instructed not to use force.” These claims lack any credibility, however. Foreign journalists are banned from going to Tibet, while CNN—the only foreign news service allowed in—was blacked out. China’s Internet police have also been filtering information related to the unrest. Even cell phone signals in Tibet were apparently blocked. Tourists have been asked to leave. What a great show of suppression (or should we call terrorism?)!!
Dalai Lama reacts
Initially, the Dalai Lama was ask-
38
April 08
International | China
ing for restrain and wanted his followers to carry on with their protests nonviolently. But he was not spared by the Chinese government, which laid all blames on this man for unrest and subsequent “police action”. The Dalai Lama, was however, quick to respond to the growing international pressure on China and criticized the government there for its “rule of terror”. He dubbed the current action of China as “cultural genocide”. The Dalai Lama has definitely a good section of Buddhist community following him blindly, but his act of balance on a thin line that divides China and Tibet has earned criticism from within. He preferred not to antagonize China and pleaded that “we must not develop antiChinese feelings. Whether we like it or not we have to live side-by-side.” It was in attempt to quell tension in Tibet that he offered to resign as the head of the Tibetan government-in-exile if “things get out of control”. But there is a great deal of fear in the minds of the shepherd Tibetans who are restricted to rear livestock and forcibly moved to urban areas. Though, if the Dalai lama along with his followers move to Tibet with some
kind of agreement with the Chinese government for greater autonomy, the fate of those Tibetan shepherd would then also hang in balance. The market reforms imposed by the Chinese regime in the 1990s have ruined the livelihoods of impoverished Tibetan farmers and herders, who make up 80 percent of the Tibetan population of nearly 3 million. Tibet is already China’s poorest region, with one million people living below the official poverty line of $150 a year. The opening up of the Qinghai-Tibet railway in 2006 has accelerated social inequality. The expanding tourist industry, as well as retail and real estate businesses, are controlled by Han migrants and a small affluent layer of the Tibetan elite, not the urban and rural poor. A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report in June 2007 warned that Beijing’s campaign since 2000 to move Tibetan herders into urban areas threatened the livelihood of seven lakh people. Chinese officials claimed that the urbanisation of herders was “an enlightened form of modernisation”, but their approach was bureaucratic and the main aim was to clear the land for investors and infrastructure projects. The study
ing people to speak out against China’s “oppression”, these words can not be given much credence for simple reason that US can never think of doing anything concrete to assist the hapless people of Tibet when there would not be any economic nor strategic gain by this (like in Iraq). Any armed struggle with China is going to be impossible to win nor even sustain. No amount of strong words are going to stir the Chinese even to an inch and any such venture would boomerang on US hurting its economy further. So there you are. For them Tibetan would have to fight their own battle, rest are all lip service.
Where is India in this?
pointed out that resettled Tibetan herders, unable to speak Chinese, could only obtain work as low-paid menial labourers. They had no money to start small businesses. Some herders tried to resettle as farmers, but the government provided no assistance.
International reactions
International reaction, as I have said earlier was not forthcoming, other then just a few words of caution that China needs to care about, while coming down on the protesters. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wanted Beijing “exercise restraint in dealing with the protesters” and urged the release of those who had been jailed. A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who offended Beijing by meeting with the Dalai Lama last year, declared that while Germany “understands and supports the will for cultural and religious autonomy” in Tibet, it also supports “the territorial integrity of China and everything that goes along with a ‘one China’ policy.”
There were some feeble voices against the holding of Beijing Olympic and they found no takers. Not even the Tibetan government in exile in the form of the Dalai Lama, not to talk of other countries. The limited international criticism is not motivated by concern for ordinary Tibetans. The scale of unrest in Tibet is relatively small compared to the many demonstrations and strikes by Chinese workers and farmers, which are all but ignored in the international media. The reason is obvious: global corporations are dependent on the super-exploitation of workers in China, where sweatshop conditions are maintained through police-state measures. The use of heavily-armed troops, military lock downs of entire areas and mass arrests are essential to discipline the working class and protect the interests of global investors. Though the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi described the situation in Tibet as a challenge to the “conscience of the world” and requested all freedom-lov-
India on the other hand exercised extreme caution while dealing with the issue. It would react late than getting caught on a wrong while acting in haste. But what about the internal pressure that the UPA government faces due to its alliance with the Left? Sitaram Yechuri went a few steps ahead and declared that India already accepted Tibet as part of China and
April 08
39
Hundreds of protestors smashed and burned at least 100 shops, banks and hotels owned by local Han Chinese. Cars and buses were also torched.” Reports say several thousand paramilitary police officers were mobilised to suppress the riots. “Rather than completely blacking them out, the statecontrolled media broadcast limited coverage of the protests in Tibet in a bid to minimise international criticism,” said one report, while in contrary the official Xinhua news agency declared: “Throughout the incident, Lhasa police officers exercised great restraint. They remained patient, professional and were instructed not to use force.” These claims lack any credibility, however. Foreign journalists are banned from going to Tibet, while CNN—the only foreign news service allowed in—was blacked out. China’s Internet police have also been filtering information related to the unrest. Even cell phone signals in Tibet were apparently blocked. Tourists have been asked to leave. What a great show of suppression (or should we call terrorism?)!!
Dalai Lama reacts
Initially, the Dalai Lama was ask-
38
April 08
International | China
ing for restrain and wanted his followers to carry on with their protests nonviolently. But he was not spared by the Chinese government, which laid all blames on this man for unrest and subsequent “police action”. The Dalai Lama, was however, quick to respond to the growing international pressure on China and criticized the government there for its “rule of terror”. He dubbed the current action of China as “cultural genocide”. The Dalai Lama has definitely a good section of Buddhist community following him blindly, but his act of balance on a thin line that divides China and Tibet has earned criticism from within. He preferred not to antagonize China and pleaded that “we must not develop antiChinese feelings. Whether we like it or not we have to live side-by-side.” It was in attempt to quell tension in Tibet that he offered to resign as the head of the Tibetan government-in-exile if “things get out of control”. But there is a great deal of fear in the minds of the shepherd Tibetans who are restricted to rear livestock and forcibly moved to urban areas. Though, if the Dalai lama along with his followers move to Tibet with some
kind of agreement with the Chinese government for greater autonomy, the fate of those Tibetan shepherd would then also hang in balance. The market reforms imposed by the Chinese regime in the 1990s have ruined the livelihoods of impoverished Tibetan farmers and herders, who make up 80 percent of the Tibetan population of nearly 3 million. Tibet is already China’s poorest region, with one million people living below the official poverty line of $150 a year. The opening up of the Qinghai-Tibet railway in 2006 has accelerated social inequality. The expanding tourist industry, as well as retail and real estate businesses, are controlled by Han migrants and a small affluent layer of the Tibetan elite, not the urban and rural poor. A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report in June 2007 warned that Beijing’s campaign since 2000 to move Tibetan herders into urban areas threatened the livelihood of seven lakh people. Chinese officials claimed that the urbanisation of herders was “an enlightened form of modernisation”, but their approach was bureaucratic and the main aim was to clear the land for investors and infrastructure projects. The study
ing people to speak out against China’s “oppression”, these words can not be given much credence for simple reason that US can never think of doing anything concrete to assist the hapless people of Tibet when there would not be any economic nor strategic gain by this (like in Iraq). Any armed struggle with China is going to be impossible to win nor even sustain. No amount of strong words are going to stir the Chinese even to an inch and any such venture would boomerang on US hurting its economy further. So there you are. For them Tibetan would have to fight their own battle, rest are all lip service.
Where is India in this?
pointed out that resettled Tibetan herders, unable to speak Chinese, could only obtain work as low-paid menial labourers. They had no money to start small businesses. Some herders tried to resettle as farmers, but the government provided no assistance.
International reactions
International reaction, as I have said earlier was not forthcoming, other then just a few words of caution that China needs to care about, while coming down on the protesters. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wanted Beijing “exercise restraint in dealing with the protesters” and urged the release of those who had been jailed. A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who offended Beijing by meeting with the Dalai Lama last year, declared that while Germany “understands and supports the will for cultural and religious autonomy” in Tibet, it also supports “the territorial integrity of China and everything that goes along with a ‘one China’ policy.”
There were some feeble voices against the holding of Beijing Olympic and they found no takers. Not even the Tibetan government in exile in the form of the Dalai Lama, not to talk of other countries. The limited international criticism is not motivated by concern for ordinary Tibetans. The scale of unrest in Tibet is relatively small compared to the many demonstrations and strikes by Chinese workers and farmers, which are all but ignored in the international media. The reason is obvious: global corporations are dependent on the super-exploitation of workers in China, where sweatshop conditions are maintained through police-state measures. The use of heavily-armed troops, military lock downs of entire areas and mass arrests are essential to discipline the working class and protect the interests of global investors. Though the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi described the situation in Tibet as a challenge to the “conscience of the world” and requested all freedom-lov-
India on the other hand exercised extreme caution while dealing with the issue. It would react late than getting caught on a wrong while acting in haste. But what about the internal pressure that the UPA government faces due to its alliance with the Left? Sitaram Yechuri went a few steps ahead and declared that India already accepted Tibet as part of China and
April 08
39
