Author: Ben Hillman

After the deadly riots that engulfed Tibetan areas in 2008, one might have expected that the Chinese government’s first high-level conference on Tibet policy since 2001 would generate some new ideas. Instead, China’s leadership offered more of the same. Blaming outside forces for ethnic unrest, the leadership promised to ‘fast track Tibet’s development’ to achieve ‘lasting stability’—Communist Party speak for ‘throw more money at the problem’ and ‘come down hard on unrest.’

Over the last decade the Chinese government has invested massive sums in Tibetan areas—US$46 billion in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) alone, where just under half of China’s ethnic Tibetans live. Read more…

Author: Ben Hillman

My last piece on Tibet brought a comment from Huw Slater. Huw is right about the need to differentiate among exiles (there are many different groups and views), but what we are talking about here is the exile government’s position—the position they take to ‘negotiations’ with Beijing with the support of a majority of exiles.

That position is clearly outlined in the document I referred to which is accessible, not on the exile government’s website as I incorrectly indicated in my first post, but on the web site of the Office of Tibet—the official agency of the Dalai Lama in London (www.tibet.com). The position is also summarized on the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s website. But this is beside the point. The exile government’s official position and the Dalai Lama’s position are the same. Regardless of when the document on the Dalai Lam’s London Office’s website was first penned, the recent ‘Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People’, which is viewable on the Central Tibetan Administration’s (Tibetan exile government’s) website shows that the position has not substantially changed.

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Author: Ben Hillman

Last week, Tibet was back in the headlines. One year on from the violent clashes that turned Lhasa into a war zone, another spate of protests marks the 50th anniversary (March 10) of the Dalai Lama’s flight into exile.

Unfortunately for Western audiences, journalists go weak at the knees when it comes to the Dalai Lama or Tibet. Reading some Western coverage on the issues is almost as exasperating as reading Chinese Communist Party propaganda. An editorial in The Age last weekend is a case in point.

It denounces China with accusations of ‘colonialism’ and ‘cultural genocide’. Its sensationalist moralizing plays to popular perceptions, but it distorts the facts and closes the door on serious discussion about what is going on inside Tibet.

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