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Analysis
Echoes of Pain
in Tibet
By
Ramesh Menon
China may want to silence the voices of protest in Tibet like it did in
Tiananmen Square, but the Olympics will keep the issue alive all over the
world. Everyday, Tibet is being discussed across the globe as never before.
It is something that China would have wished never happened, as it was
getting ready to showcase the country’s modern face to the world with the
Olympic games. All of a sudden this seemed like a public relations disaster.
There has been a clampdown of information, something that has been a
hallmark in China. Foreign journalists can no more travel to and within
Tibet and the eyes of the army are all over. Many army vehicles are
reportedly moving around with covered license plates as it does not want the
world to notice the army’s role as it will be interpreted as army repression
just at a time when the Olympics is round the corner.
The world was busy singing China’s praises for its dramatic economic
turnaround and how it was emerging as the world’s biggest economic power
when violent anti-China protests shook Tibet. It was the first major
uprising after a similar one had failed in Tibet 49 years ago. China too was
taken unawares as it was readying to showcase itself to the world as a
modern nation when the Olympic games will be held later this year in
Beijing.
Predictably, China moved in to brutally suppress the agitation in Lhasa, the
Tibetan capital city, as Buddhist monks and Dalai Lama supporters who are
ethnic Tibetans were out on the streets. They were demanding justice and
autonomy. The authoritarian hand of China reminded the world of the brutal
Tiananmen Square massacre where scores of youngsters were killed and injured
when they demanded democracy. China does not take kindly to dissent.
Ironically, the United States had removed China from its list of human right
violators wanting to do business with the emerging economic giant. As army
vehicles rolled into Tibet, there were protests in various other provinces
too. The tremors shook Beijing. For President, Hu Jintao, it was no mean
challenge. Heading the Communist Party in Tibet two decades ago, he had
spearheaded the action against ethnic Tibetans using the military to quash
protests in Lhasa.
History has repeated and Hu is back suppressing the movement again as the
world watches China in a year when it is trying to tell the world what a
wonderful nation it has become. China had agreed to improve its human rights
record when bidding for the games.
The status of Tibet was earlier ambiguous. It had taken to Buddhism around
1,300 years ago. It went about its life with leisurely pace as it sat on the
roof of the world. Sources say that Chinese traditionalists predicted that
China would do well only if it had Tibet within it and so China invaded
Tibet and made it a part of China in 1951 Chairman Mao at that time called
it a “peaceful liberation” that was done to freed Tibetans from a feudal
theocracy.
Dalai Lama who was the spiritual leader of the Tibetans was forced to flee
to India along with thousands of others. Millions of Tibetans refugees now
live scattered in various parts of India but are mainly in Dharamshala and
Mcleodganj.
Dalai Lama recently said that they had no problem being with China but
wanted autonomy to practice their religion.
China had always wanted Tibet. In 1720, China claimed suzerainty over Tibet
but it was notional, as Tibetan rulers had always maintained that they were
free. In fact, British troops had invaded Tibet in 1904 and China could do
little to resist. Later there was a peace treaty between Tibet and Britain;
a document that Tibetans say was proof of the fact that they were not a part
of China.
Tibet was all the time trying to gain international attention to its plight.
But it was not succeeding. In 1950, Communist leader, Mao Zedong, ordered
that it be invaded and turned into an autonomous region of the People’s
Republic of China. The troubles of the Tibetans have since simmered as they
soon found their exclusive culture and heritage, customs and beliefs
attacked as forcible Chinese occupation and forced marriages diluted it all.
Last year it invested millions of dollars making the world’s highest rail
link from inland China into Lhasa. It was an engineering marvel that climbed
to 16,000 feet. This highest railroad in the world is special as it even has
oxygen tanks built in its compartments to come to the aid of passengers
gasping at such high altitudes. The railroad to the Tibetan capital was a
clever ruse to tell the world that it was a part of China and it was doing
all it could to develop it economically. Infact, China announced that the
rail link was to give Tibet an economic boost.
However, local Tibetans suspect the rail link will only encourage Chinese
migrants from all over the country to easily move in and settle down further
watering down the typical Tibetan culture. Chinese officials claim that the
per capita GDP has increased by almost hundred per cent in the last few
years.
China
maintains that it wants to make western China as prosperous as the east and
its rail link to Tibet was one of the strategies to achieve this. The new
train itself is projected to annually bring in around eight hundred thousand
visitors. It is inevitable that they will change the region and its people
with materialism and diluting culture and religion into showpieces.
Tibetans look at the rail link as a ploy to culturally dilute the region,
bring in foreign influences with thousands of tourists and with materialism
and westernization; the essence of their culture will vanish. The Chinese
are ensuring that history will erase all memories of the Tibetan struggle by
the Dalai Lama.
In fact, a
spanking new museum in Beijing exclusively dedicated to Tibet is being
completed. The strategy is to display antiquities, dynastic records and
reproductions to demonstrate China’s historical claims of how it was
dominating Tibet even in the 13th century. There will be no mention of the
Dalai Lama after 1959, which is when he fled China to take asylum in India.
It was clear that China had absolutely no intention of giving up Tibet even
as the world started putting pressure. It even said that the Dalai Lama was
trying to split the motherland. In an interview with Newsweek, Dalai Lama
said: “Both inside and outside (Tibet), the older generation may go away,
but the newer generations carry the same spirit. Sometimes it’s even
stronger. So after my death a younger generation will come up.”
Instead of
seeing the Dalai Lama as an embodiment of its “Tibet problem”, they should
engage with him and work out a permanent solution. He is no more asking for
independence and his stature is so high among the Tibetans that they would
agree to anything he says. There is no other leader who can do this with the
Chinese leadership. It would boost its image around the world, and even in
Taiwan, which might become less averse to the idea of Chinese sovereignty.
History is a potent tool to change perceptions. The Chinese are using it to
effect in Lhasa where monks today are told to teach history that says that
Tibet is a part of China. It is not something new. Even eight years ago,
Zhao Qizheng, the former information minister for the State Council, China’s
political cabinet, had asked scholars on Tibet to use research to sway
foreign opinion.
Since the last five years, even tourist guides are very carefully selected
from outside Tibet and most of them are Communist Party workers. Over 100 of
them are trained every year. History is a charge issue in Tibet and China
does not want to leave anything to chance as thousands of tourists will pour
into Tibet soon as it becomes a favorite destination because of its
chequered history and its unique geography.
Writer Pico
Iyer, who has met the Dalai several times in the last three decades, calls
him one of the worlds most realistic and pragmatic leader who has been the
undisputed leader of the Tibetans for the last 67 years.
Talks between the Dalai Lama and China have not been able to break any
ground and in the present circumstances, it does not seem it will. China is
one country that does not care for world opinion. It was once again
demonstrated after violent protests took place all over the world early this
year as Tibetans saw their voice rising in unison against China. But there
are literally no signs of the Chinese seeing the writing on the wall.
Tibetans fear that once the Olympics are over, the crackdown on the
protesters will start. If its past record of stamping human rights is any
indication, it will be no surprise at all if that really happens. As it is
the Tibetan population now is very small.
Within China, not many know about the complicated history of Tibet and its
struggle. Their understanding comes from the country’s textbooks, which give
only the China side of the story. So the impression is that China did such a
lot to integrate Tibet into the economic mainstream, gave opportunities to
its people, built a very expensive railroad into its heartland from mainland
China and all it got was ingratitude.
The perception of the Tibetan crisis in China has largely been shaped by the
state media, which has portrayed Dalai Lama as the man who engineered the
riots in Lhasa to give China a bad name before the Olympics and divide the
country.
The Communist Party in a well-orchestrated plan has tried to whip up
nationalism using censorship to position the country wanting to defend its
motherland. The state media have highlighted the suffering of Han Chinese
population in Lhasa and also of those who died in the violence but have no
coverage of what the Tibetans are so exercised about.
It may be in China’s interest to dispassionately look at the aspirations of
Tibetans. After all they do not want to separate from China. In fact, the
rising dragon can use Tibet to show the world how it has changed and
matured. The best option for Tibetans today is to struggle within the
constitutional framework of China instead of fighting for a “Free Tibet”
that the Chinese will not accept. China’s Tibet will be a goal that can be
possible in the near future.
India has stayed away from the Tibet crisis to avoid a diplomatic war. Its
relations with China are improving because of economic realities, and so New
Delhi does not want to complicate matters by saying anything that is not
politically right.
We have not heard the last word on Tibet.
In August it will hot up again as the Olympic games take off. China was
aiming a place in the sun when it bid for the Olympic games. It saw it as a
golden opportunity to tell the world that it had arrived. But with Tibet
simmering in discontent, the celebration party has been ruined. If China has
to rise in the eyes of the world, it will have to improve its human rights
record, tolerate religious differences and respect ethnic identities. It
will be foolish to loose this opportunity to tell the world that it is a
modern giant with a new heart.
June 15, 2008
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