Tibet
: The Shame of
China
The past two weeks have witnessed violence in
Tibet
as protestors mount the greatest challenge to Chinese authority in the past twenty years. Whilst the Chinese authorities have strived to crackdown on outside media reporting, partly by refusing foreign journalists into Tibet whilst simultaneously maintaining a stranglehold on reports being broadcast from the state media. This issue is, like so many others in the modern world of international relations, an issue of propaganda, of rhetoric being kept distant from reality as various factions use the protests to extend their own political agenda. It is therefore difficult to get an accurate picture of events on the ground, according to the BBC correspondent in the region “
China
has said that 19 people were killed in the
Lhasa
riots, which later spread to other Tibetan areas. “ However, Tibetan exiles say that nearly 100 have been killed by the Chinese security forces.” Pictures of angry mobs have been shown on screens across
China
, as have pictures of captured Tibetan “agitators” made to confess on air. Alternatively pictures of severe crackdowns and a strong military presence have been leaking out of isolated province.
The past two weeks have witnessed violence in
Tibet
as protestors mount the greatest challenge to Chinese authority in the past twenty years. Whilst the Chinese authorities have strived to crackdown on outside media reporting, partly by refusing foreign journalists into Tibet whilst simultaneously maintaining a stranglehold on reports being broadcast from the state media. This issue is, like so many others in the modern world of international relations, an issue of propaganda, of rhetoric being kept distant from reality as various factions use the protests to extend their own political agenda. It is therefore difficult to get an accurate picture of events on the ground, according to the BBC correspondent in the region “
China
has said that 19 people were killed in the
Lhasa
riots, which later spread to other Tibetan areas. “ However, Tibetan exiles say that nearly 100 have been killed by the Chinese security forces.” Pictures of angry mobs have been shown on screens across
China
, as have pictures of captured Tibetan “agitators” made to confess on air. Alternatively pictures of severe crackdowns and a strong military presence have been leaking out of isolated province.
Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, who has visited both
China
and
Tibet
during the crisis, has called on the world community to denounce Chinese actions as thousands of troops are deployed to the region in a crack down on Tibetan dissidents. She called the crisis "a challenge to the conscience of the world" claiming that if the West failed to act, failed to challenge
China
’s action in
Tibet
then it would loose all remaining moral authority on any issue concerning Human rights.
The situation in
Tibet
is an issue which had long fallen off of the radar of those on the left, those campaigners who march for
Palestine
, march for
Iraq
, march to pre-empt military action against
Iran
. It has been the forgotten oppression, ignored by the Western world and denied by Chinese state media. It is back on the agenda because this year the world is looking towards
Beijing
, as
Beijing
have the honour of hosting the worlds pinnacle sporting event, the Olympic Games. Chinese authorities have denounced the riots as work of the “Dalai Clique” accusing the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile of agitating the protests in order to disrupt the upcoming Olympics so as to promote Tibetan independence. The Dalai Lama denies this, offering dialogue with
Beijing
and stating quite clearly that he is calling for autonomy not independence. There is no doubt that these protests will cause great embarrassment for the Government in Beijing, especially as it comes only a fortnight after Director Steven Spielberg publicly resigned from his position as Olympic ambassador over his concern about Chinese links to the genocide in Sudan.
The situation in
Tibet
is an issue which had long fallen off of the radar of those on the left, those campaigners who march for
Palestine
, march for
Iraq
, march to pre-empt military action against
Iran
. It has been the forgotten oppression, ignored by the Western world and denied by Chinese state media. It is back on the agenda because this year the world is looking towards
Beijing
, as
Beijing
have the honour of hosting the worlds pinnacle sporting event, the Olympic Games. Chinese authorities have denounced the riots as work of the “Dalai Clique” accusing the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile of agitating the protests in order to disrupt the upcoming Olympics so as to promote Tibetan independence. The Dalai Lama denies this, offering dialogue with
Beijing
and stating quite clearly that he is calling for autonomy not independence. There is no doubt that these protests will cause great embarrassment for the Government in Beijing, especially as it comes only a fortnight after Director Steven Spielberg publicly resigned from his position as Olympic ambassador over his concern about Chinese links to the genocide in Sudan.
Historically of course the International Olympic committee have shown scant regard for any human rights issues. In 1936 both the Olympic and the Winter Olympic games were awarded to and hosted by Hitler’s
Germany
. In 1980 the games were held in
Moscow
, the capital of the then
USSR
. Both nations’ human rights record are well documented and are of course blood soaked marks on the twentieth century. We should therefore not be too surprised that the committee select a nation such as
China
in 2008. There are those who would argue that politics has no place in sport, that the Olympics reside in a vacuum an opportunity to ignore any real world suffering. If this is your view then perhaps it is worth considering why
China
, has been awarded such a prestigious sporting prize.
Whatever the reason for
Tibet
’s sudden resurgence into the world’s conscience it has not happened a moment too soon, the only question is whether it has happened a moment too late. It was over forty years ago, in 1951 that Mao’s Red army marched into
Tibet
to liberate or subjugate –depending on your point of view - the province. A brief period of resistance followed and in 1959 the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government fled to
Northern India
to form the Government in exile. For a time the West supported the Tibetan right to independence, Richard Nixon’s CIA funded and armed Tibetan resistance into the mid-70’s, until Nixon decided it was economically expedient to embrace China as a future ally. From the moment that Nixon and Mao first met and
China
’s rise to economic powerhouse began
Tibet
has been conveniently cast aside. Forgotten and betrayed by the world. In 2006 the Chinese government completed the construction of a 140 KM (710 mile), Rail link from the Chinese city of
Golmud
through the heart of
Tibet
. The government say that it will act as a permanent link to the rest of
China
and recently announced plans to extend the railway so as to completely dissect the Tibetan province. The Tibetan government in exile denounce the railway as “cultural genocide” arguing that the fragile culture of
Tibet
, fostered through generations of isolation will not be destroyed and
Tibet
will become completely assimilated into the Chinese heartland.
The question is, will the West Act? President Bush of the
United States
has already suggested that he will still be attending the games and that sport and politics should not be mixed. An interesting viewpoint when it is considered that his farther was part of the American government that boycotted the Soviet Olympics in 1980. The reason is of course, purely economics. The
United States
is the largest debited nation whilst
China
is the greatest Creditor. Billions of dollars flood into
China
each year as the nation becomes sweat shop to the world. One only has to look as the closest object to you and the chances are it will have made in
China
embossed on the side.
China
has also been working to create new markets in the third world.
China
is the largest exporter of African oil, Chinese money is propping up the economies of
Zimbabwe
and of
Sudan
.
China
is building hospitals and schools in the
Caribbean
and in
Latin America
. These are not kindly or altruistic acts,
China
are creating new markets to which to sell their goods, meaning that they will not be dependent on the Western world. The governments of the west know this; they know that the sun is setting on the monopoly of power enjoyed by the Atlantic nations for so long. The sun is rising in the
Far East
. So for
China
,
Tibet
is an internal matter and it is a damming indictment of the Western world that our governments seem to agree.
paw -
Mon, 24 Mar 2008
