Chinese leadership and Tibet

May 26th, 2008

Author: Shiro Armstrong

John Garnaut writes an excellent column in today’s Sydney Morning Herald about a Chinese government official with a sophisticated understanding of the current situation in Tibet. What’s more he reports that the official shared his views with Australian diplomats.

The column draws largely from Ben Hillman’s Far Eastern Economic Review piece written in April titled Money can’t buy Tibetans’ love. This is a great piece and if what John Garnaut says is true, Hillman’s piece is being read high up in the Chinese bureaucracy and hitting home.

ANU’s China program gets some positive publicity in the piece. . .

Related articles:

1. Chinese unrest in Xinjiang – Weekly editorial
2. Chinese aid in the Pacific: Playing the short game
3. Urumqi ethnic conflict and failure of the Chinese justice system
4. Europe needs to screen Chinese investment

What other people are reading:

1. Copenhagen and beyond – Weekly editorial
2. Ross Garnaut at the Australia-China Climate Change Forum
3. Japan’s negotiations with North Korea on the move again

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One Response to “Chinese leadership and Tibet”

1. Roc says:

   27 May 2008 at 4:22 pm

   Faint!
   I lose every thing I have written before. This a good article as it remind the Chinese government to address this issue. It also hints the western readers that Tibetan issues are not always cuased by the government. I would not repeat it in detail. My key argument is that:
   First, the competition is not caused by policy. It is “a question of cultural attitude. Tibetans … rather be poor on the farm than shine someone’s shoes.”, While those migrants have the Chinese hardworking tradition. One key difference between these “lower level” migrants and local Tibetans is that the government would not give money to these migrants. They have to work hard to make their ends meet, even to “shine someone’s shoes”.
   Second, Education is a dilemma. “Tibetan schools teach Tibetan languages but perhaps this has only exacerbated the challenge of connecting Tibetans to China’s roaring economy”. The alternative way is teach more Chinese. However, this will incur blame the government of culture annihilation.
   Third, the Tibetan issue is not so controversy within China as it was outside China. The key reason is international politics. Thinking about the fact that main US enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan were trained by CIA. The change of political demand will change view.
   Fourth, Dalai lama is not only religionist, but also the top governor of Tibetan.
   Fifth, the old Tibetan is not a heaven, but a hell. About 80% Tibetans were slaves and had no human rights at all. The lords treats majority of Tibetan as animal. Many Tibetans were beheaded or decorticated alive (I sought many pictures about these brutal behavior. Will try to find the link next time).
   Last, the gap of views inside and outside China is a result of asymmetric information. Dalai Lama’s and his followers repeat lying, which is not balanced by other voices. The recent torch relay should have shown that how little proportion of Chinese agree with them. Unfortunately, no ody has spoken out before. It is reasonable for Dailai to say something against the Chinese government because he is funding by the CIA. If carefully study, you will find that many of those people who try to stop the torch replay are European extremists rather than Tibetans.
   Wish this information will more or less balance the landslide argument.