REACTIONS IN GREATER TIBET
B.RAMAN
According to latest reports, the Chinese security forces continue to make house-to-searches in Lhasa for suspected participants in the violent uprising of March,14,2008. The total number of arrests made so far is estimated at about 500.In addition to people without proper documents, the Chinese troops have also been rounding up those with photographs of the Dalai Lama in their houses, those unable to explain satisfactorily where they were on March 14 and those with bodily injuries.
2.Vehicles of the People's Armed Police have been moving round Lhasa with loudspeakers through which the people are reminded that it is a crime to keep photographs of the Dalai Lama ans asking those having his photographs to voluntarily surrender them. Those not surrendering the photos are warned of severe penal action against them.
3.With heavy troop deployments and a large number of arrests, the Chinese have the situation in Lhasa and other parts of Tibet fairly under control since the morning of March 15,2008. No major incident of violence has been reported from Tibet after March 15,2008. However, foreign tourists and journalists continue to be barred from Tibet and the trains to Lhasa are running practically empty. The only passengers are troop reinforcements being moved to Tibet.
4. Widespread and serious disturbances broke out in different towns and even in villages of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai on March 16 and they continued sporadically till the evening of March 18. As in Tibet, in these three provinces too which have large Tibetan population, the monks took the lead in protesting and were subsequently joined by students and other sections of the general population. There were, however, some qualitative differences between the disturbances of March 14 in Tibet and the subsequent disturbances in Sichuan,Gansu and Qinghai.
5.Firstly, the disturbances in Tibet were largely confined to Lhasa, the capital. The rural areas were not much affected except for peaceful demonstrations by small groups of monks.In Sichuan,Gansu and Qinghai, the disturbances were widespread and affected urban as well as rural areas. Secondly, there were a large number of anti-Han and anti-Hui attacks in Lhasa. In Sichuan,Gansu and Qinghai, the anti-Han attacks were much smaller in number. Local officials and members of the security forces were the main targets of attacks at these three places and not Hans. There were raids by large groups of Tibetans, including many nomads on horse-back, on isolated and meagrely-staffed posts of the Army and the Police in these three places, the like of which one had not seen in Tibet.
6. There was also a difference in the slogans used by the demonstrators in Tibet and in the other three areas. In all the four places, one of the slogans praised the Dalai Lama and wished him a long life. Whereas in Tibet, another slogan called for independence for Tibet, one did not come across many slogans for independence in Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai. There were many slogans calling for democracy. The slogans used in these three provinces outside the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region also condemned the brutal suppression of the people of Tibet by the security forces after the uprising of March 14 in Lhasa.
7. On the basis of available evidence, it is possible to assess with a reasonable measure of conviction that whereas the uprising in Lhasa on March 14 had been pre-planned and well-orchestrated, the uprisings in Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai were spontaneous outbursts of anger among the local Tibetans when news of the brutal suppression by the Chinese Army in Lhasa after March 14 reached these three provinces. One could also see that whereas the Tibetan Youth Congress, which calls for independence, had a greater influence on the minds of the Tibetan people in Tibet, particularly Lhasa, it does not have the same influence on the minds of the Tibetans in Sichuan,Gansu and Qinghai.
8. These three provinces have also been quiet since the evening of March 18, with no major violent incidents reported since then. There are heavy troop deployments in all these three provinces and many arrests of suspected participants in the violent incidents. (20-3-08)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies. e-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
TIBETAN YOUTH: "WE WANT SUPPORT & UNDERSTANDING, NOT PITY" B.RAMAN
The Tibetan Youth Congress deserves credit for drawing the attention of the international community to the actual state of affairs in Tibetand to the continued violation of the human right of the Tibetan people by the Chinese. It is behind the current wave of demonstrations andprotests by Tibetans all over the world, including in Tibet and Sichuan. It has made the Tibetan people in Tibet and Sichuan rid themselvesof their fear complex and assert their rights in their homeland. 'Tibet for the Tibetans" is its policy. Even though very loyal and devoted tothe Dalai Lama, it respectfully differs from his policy of the "Middle Way". For it, there is no middle way between total independence andtotal servitude. It differs from His Holiness' policy of genuine autonomy and calls for total independence. It is not against the BeijingOlympics. It does not want to sabotage the Games. It says that the Olympics provides the Tibetans with a wonderful opportunity to drawattention to their unhappiness and aspirations. It feels that the Olympics provides a window of opportunity to the Tibetans to give strengthto their struggle for independence.
2. Among the legendary past leaders of the Tibetan Youth Congress is Mr.Lhasang Tsering, a well-known scholar, who has written andspoken extensively on Tibet---the present, the past and the future. He is in his late 40s. To understand the current developments relating toTibet, it is important to know the views of the Tibetan Youth Congress and those associated with it---either now or in the past. To serve thispurpose, I am reproducing below an article written by him in March 2000. (20-3-08)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For TopicalStudies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
INDIA'S TIBET
A Case for Policy Review
By Lhasang Tsering, Former President of Tibetan Youth Congress
In my years of travelling around the world talking about Tibet, it has been my experience that, more often than not, the audience generallyconsist of people who are interested in Tibet and already know a great deal about Tibet. Many, in fact, turn out to be old friends and expertson Tibet. So a lot of the time it is like 'preaching to the converted'. Therefore, repeating basic facts about Tibet appears to be unnecessary and a waste of time. Nevertheless, one cannot help wondering howmany in any particular audience or how many of your readers are truly aware that never before 23 May 1951 - when a conquered anddefeated Tibetan government was forced to sign an unequal 'treaty' - the so-called "17 Point Agreement on Measures for the PeacefulLiberation of Tibet" - had Tibet ever surrendered its independence. Therefore, China's claim that 'Tibet has always been a part of China' hasno basis, whatsoever, in fact that Tibetan language - both spoken and written - have no relation whatsoever with Chinese. that Tibet has itsown National flag and National Anthem that while it is true various Chinese dynasties had on several occasions interfered in Tibetan affairs,it is equally true that various Tibetan kings and rulers had invaded China or otherwise exercised influence in Chinese affairs. On oneoccasion in 763 AD Tibetan troops even occupied Chang'an - the then Chinese capital - deposed the Chinese Emperor who was not friendlytowards the Tibetans and appointed the son of another branch of the royal family as Emperor ? that the traditional boundary between Tibetand China was demarcated by the Peace Treaty of 821 when it was decided that the two countries shall never interfere in each other'saffairs; believing that "Chinese shall be happy in the land of China and Tibetans shall be happy in the land of Tibet." The text of this Treaty -containing these ancient words of wisdom - were carved on three stone pillars - one pillar each for the two capitals of Lhasa and Chang'anand the third pillar for the border, which was placed at a placed called Gugu Meru. The third stone pillar has so far not been found. But thetexts of the other two stone pillars have been compared by independent western and Tibetan scholars and have been found to match.? thatlong before the Mongols established the Yuan Dynasty in China in 1279; the Tibetans established a tribute relationship with the Mongols in1207 and thus averted a military invasion by Genghis Khan. The ties of the Mongols with Tibet not only pre-dated their conquest of China - it was an entirely separate relationship. The Mongols neverconsidered Tibet a Province of China. As such China's revised claim that 'Tibet has been a part of China since the Mongol rule over China'has no substance. That Tibet was recognised as an independent country during the Second World War, most importantly by China, USA andGreat Britain. This is evident from the fact that the US government had to send a mission to Lhasa in 1943 to request the Government of Tibet to permitthe Allies to send military aid through Tibet to help China in its war with Japan. Needless to say, this would not have been necessary if, asthe Chinese claim today, Tibet 'has always been an integral part of China'. As an independent country dedicated to the principles of peace,Tibet granted permission to the Allies to send only humanitarian assistance to China but no weapons of war. In retrospect, one cannot helpfeeling that Tibet is being punished today for its principled commitment to peace and for remaining neutral during the War.
More evidence can be listed to prove that Tibet was an independent country before the Communist Chinese invasion in 1949. However, foranyone willing to accept reason - the above facts should be sufficient.
First Things First:
I have sub-titled this article 'A Case for Policy Review' and not 'The Case for a Policy Review'. I have chosen this awkward construction for areason. Generally, when we talk about the need for a policy review on the issue of Tibet it is understood to mean a review of India's policyon Tibet. Or, in other contexts, the policy of the United Nations or the United States - among others. I am of the view that, first and foremost,it is the Tibetan people - especially the Tibetan Government-in-Exile - who must review the so-called 'Middle-Way' policy. This is the policythat must be changed - urgently - before we can call on other countries to review their policy on Tibet. For the past twenty years or more, wehave been confusing our own people and also our friends by first talking about 'settling for autonomy' and then of seeking 'association withChina' and now of working for 'genuine autonomy within China'. Of course, no one as yet to tell us who will define 'association', or 'autonomy'or 'genuine'. Under the circumstances one can only assume that it will be the Chinese, since they hold all the cards. In any case, as thingsstand now, there is no reason to believe that the Chinese even need to bother about defining these terms.
When speaking of 'autonomy' we need to take into consideration the fact that, as far as the Chinese are concerned, Tibetans are alreadysupposed to have 'autonomy'. The truncated half of Tibet - the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region which today the rest of the world knowsas 'Tibet' - as also other areas of Tibetan territory; have been labeled 'autonomous' one thing or another by the Chinese. So the Chinese maywell wonder what this offer of accepting 'autonomy' is all about when 'autonomy' is exactly what they think the Tibetans already have. It istrue the so-called autonomy the Tibetans are supposed to enjoy under Chinese rule is only in name. But what reason do we have to believethat the 'genuine autonomy' of the future - if ever there is to be one - will be any different ?
On the question of 'autonomy' another important factor to be born in mind is that the people inside Tibet are sick and tired of 'autonomy'with Chinese characteristics and they want no more of it - never. I believe the only hope for the Tibetan people and the survival of ourreligion, our culture and our land is the restoration of Tibetan independence. My reasons are simple and straightforward.
1. In the first place, I hold that the few Tibetans in exile do not have the mandate to change the goal. When we left Tibet - we did so with thesole purpose of continuing the struggle for independence. We also do not have the right to foreclose the options of future generations ofTibetans.
2. Secondly, I believe China's strategic, political and economic reasons for invading Tibet are far too important and that they will neverwillingly relinquish their hold on Tibet. They will certainly not be talked out of leaving Tibet and returning Tibet to the Tibetan people inwhatever shape or form.
3. It is all very well for us to call for negotiations with China, and I believe the various proposals put forward by His Holiness the Dalai Lamato the Chinese - in particular the 'Five-Point Peace Proposal' - are all well-intended. The problem is that the Communist dictatorship in Chinawill not respond favourably to any of these proposals. For them compromise is a sign of weakness and they will continue to expect anddemand further concessions.
4. What is more, at present China has no need to negotiate with the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. In all these years no one has yet to answerthis one simple question: Why should the Chinese talk to us ? Tibet is firmly under their control. No government in the world has the courageto question this. We are not a threat to their position in Tibet. Why then should the Chinese surrender to us any part of their complete,unquestioned and unchallenged control over Tibet?
5. But even if the impossible should happen and, for some temporary expedience, China should enter into an agreement with us - whatreason do we have to believe that China will abide by the terms of such an agreement ? None, whatsoever. Our bitter and bloody experiencehas been that China will not abide by the terms of any agreement once the purpose for which the agreement was signed has been served.This is exactly what China did with the so-called '17-Point Agreement'.
The reality is that China is playing for time and we are playing into their hands. Therefore, before we call on India to review its policy onTibet and before we can expect India and the world to support us - I believe it is absolutely necessary for us Tibetans to make up our mindsas to what it is we want. Having said this, I hasten to add, if I am wrong on the dismal picture I have painted above - no man will be happierthan I. As a matter of fact, in weaker moments, I hope and wish that I am wrong. That the Chinese will one day - and it better be soon - wakeup to the fact that they have committed untold atrocities in Tibet; that in the very first place they have no right to be in Tibet and that theTibetan people don't want them there; and apologise and leave Tibet.
But then the harsh reality of our tragic past and the harsher reality of the ever deteriorating situation in Tibet together remind me that theChinese are not going to leave Tibet. That we are not facing a multiple-choice problem. Indeed, that we are faced with a struggle for survival- a struggle for life and death where there are no choices. This is the brutal reality that the Tibetan people and the Tibetan Government must accept. The Chinese are not offering us any choices. It isnot a question of getting the 'right' proposal with the 'correct' wording into place.
CHINA DOES NOT NEED THE TIBETAN PEOPLE. CHINA ONLY NEEDS TIBET.
On the question of India's policy on Tibet, I wish to make the case that today India has more at stake in the future of Tibet than even theTibetan people. And, therefore, India should review its Tibet policy regardless of what the Tibetan people decide to do. I hope I do not soundungrateful or even manipulative and/or provocative in saying this.
My reasons for believing that today India has more at stake in the future of Tibet than the Tibetan people are sincere and simple: For one,Tibet will never be free when in the first place freedom is no longer our goal. Even otherwise, much as we wish Tibet to be free; much as wewant and long for Tibet to be free - today we are faced with the real and urgent danger of the Tibetans disappearing as a people and as adistinct culture. After death there is no pain and certainly no need for freedom or for land - especially for a people who feed their dead tovultures. What use is environmental protection or human rights to the dead ?
On the other hand, India cannot and will not disappear as a nation. However, with the death of Tibet, India will be left with a wound extending from Ladakh in the West to Arunachal in the East - a woundextending through the entire Himalayan range - some 2,500 km - for which there will be no cure. I need not elaborate on the far-reachingimplications of such a wound, which will forever eat into India like a deadly cancer. After all, India has already had a foretaste of this woundfor the past four decades. The need to defend India's long and difficult borders with Tibet is a major burden on India's economy and anobstacle to socio-economic development in the country. For these and other reasons I cannot understand India's policy on Tibet.
If it were in India's interest to accept and concede that 'Tibet is an autonomous region of China' (this has been India's position on the statusof Tibet since Nehru's time) - for the Tibetan people this will not be less painful, but at least it will be comprehensible. After all, foreign policyis not merely the 'art of the possible' - foreign policy is made on the grounds of national self-interest - or at least the perception of nationalself-interest. That such perceptions are often misguided and mistaken is an entirely different issue.
The Way Ahead:
We now have two issues before us. One, for the Tibetan people to make a clear decision about our goal and our struggle. The second issueis for the people of India to make a firm and clear decision about India's long-term interest regarding Tibet. If India decides that it is inIndia's interest to see Tibet free - then the next step is for us together to decide what we are willing to do for our mutual interest. This is to say that Tibetans should stop passively appealing for help. At the same time India must stop merely pitying the Tibetan people. India must start an active partnership with the Tibetans. In so doing there must be a clear understanding on both sides that in theshort-term there will be a heavy price to pay and enormous sacrifices to be made. However, whatever the difficulty, we must never loose sight of two things: that the long-term rewards will be lasting and worthy of anysacrifice; and, more importantly, that the struggle for the independence of Tibet must never be given up because in the end this is aquestion of right and wrong. Victory is important but it is secondary to the fact that we are fighting an evil for the restoration of Truth,Justice and Freedom.
On the other hand, if as a result of an informed national debate India should decide that it is indeed in India's long-term interest to haveChina and not Tibet as her northern neighbour - then so be it. I, for one, will return to Tibet. As a boy I made myself one promise. If bydedicating my entire life to the struggle I cannot free my country from the clutches of the Chinese, then at the very least I will die in Tibet.
Of course, I will never forget my gratitude to India. The Tibetan people are forever indebted to India for two reasons: in the past for theDharma and today for Refuge. But the problem is that at this moment there just isn't enough awareness in India about events anddevelopments in Tibet and their implications for India to enable the Indian people to make an informed decision on this important anddifficult issue. I am aware India has many other pressing problems to worry about - from poverty and basic education to Kashmir andPakistan. However, focusing on these problems alone is not enough. Take, for example, the case of a person suffering from a seriousdisease as a result of which he is running a high fever. Would it be enough to worry only about the fever and to focus one's attention only onbringing the temperature down ? Wouldn't it be more important, at some point, to seek to cure the disease itself ? India's current economic problems have much to with thehuge cost of defending India's long and troubled frontier with Tibet. Even in the case of the thorny problem in Kashmir and with Pakistan - it is not exactly a secret that China has been supplying Pakistan withweapons, military know-how and funding. Without China's control over Tibet the logistics of sending weapons to Pakistan will become analtogether different problem. A glance at any map is enough to see that the Karakorum Highway runs through Tibet to Pakistan.
Moreimportantly, when China no longer controls Tibet; helping Pakistan will become an altogether different priority. The level of ignorance andmisunderstanding about Tibet in India was evident during the escape of the 17th Karmapa to India. It was painful for us to read in certainsections of the Indian press; reports and letters suggesting that the Tibetan refugees in India are a liability and a security risk to India. There still seems to be speculation that the presence of the 17th Karmapa is a hindrance to India's relations with China.
The long-term strategic importance of Tibet to India should be evident even to those who wish to sacrifice everything on the alter of'friendship' with China. The presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile; and to a lesser extent the rest ofthe Tibetan refugee community, is at the very least a bargaining factor India can use in its dealings with China. The same is now true ofsuch a prominent figure as the 17th Karmapa. Even at the level of individual Tibetan refugees, it is not known and, therefore, not appreciated that Tibetan blood has been shed along with India's bravest sons in all the wars India has fought ever since Tibetans sought refuge in India. We are fond of talking of unsung heroes.
These Tibetans are the true unrecognised and unsung heroes. Yet they continue to fight and to die for India - believing that it is as much inthe interest of their beloved Tibet as their host country to continue to serve in the armed forces. These brave men and women - as also theirfamilies and loved ones; along with the rest of the Tibetan refugee community - believe that defending India's security is but a small way ofexpressing their gratitude to India.
India's Tibet:
Finally, a few words about the topic of this article. So far I have been commenting on the sub-title, which is about policy review, withoutsaying a word about what I mean by calling Tibet - 'India's Tibet'. There is a Chinese propaganda magazine called "China's Tibet". This is a clear example of how insecure China feels - not only about its holdover Tibet but more fundamentally even about its claims over Tibet. Fifty years after the invasion, forty years after the flight of the DalaiLama and the Tibetan Government; with an estimated half-a-million troops in Tibet and not a single foreign government openly questioningChina's military and colonial occupation of Tibet - it is indeed instructive that China still feels the need to call Tibet - "China's Tibet". Nodoubt, in addition to trying to reassure themselves, this is primarily an effort to convince the world that Tibet 'belongs' to China. In my view ithas precisely the opposite effect.
Be that as it may. I have often wondered why India doesn't stake its claim on Tibet. Between China - which seeks to exterminate the Tibetanpeople and to wipe out Tibetan religion and culture; and India - which gave Tibet the Buddha Dharma and has helped to save Tibetanreligion and culture - there is no doubt; India has the greater claim. It is like the story of young Prince Siddhartha who saves the swan hiscousin Prince Devadatta has shot. The claim of the latter rests on the grounds of having shot the swan. On the other hand, PrinceSiddhartha - the future Buddha - stakes his claim on the grounds of having saved the life of the wounded swan. The King rightly awards theswan to Prince Siddhartha. In today's world of realpolitik and spineless world leaders, we could hardly hope for such a decisive verdict.Nevertheless; even if only as a diplomatic exercise, why doesn't India file a case in the International Court of Justice and also raise theissue in the United Nations to stake its claims over Tibet ? In the first place India gave Buddhism to Tibet - the life-force of Tibetan life andculture. Today India has rendered crucial assistance and helped to save Tibetan religion and culture. If Tibet must belong to either of its giantneighbours, then surely, it should be to India - which has helped to save Tibet; and not China - which seeks to destroy Tibet.
52nd State of USA:
Even on the part of the Tibetan people, if we decide that Tibetan independence is not achievable (this is the present position of the TibetanGovernment-in-Exile to which I am totally opposed) and that the only option for us is to settle for some form of autonomy - however genuineor false - why then do we not decide to be a part of India ? Under any given situation or conceivable scenario; Tibet will fare far better under India than under China.
Those not willing to take decisions - especially one so unprecedented as this - will no doubt hasten to point out that the situation is toocomplicated; that this might not be acceptable to the Government of India; and even for a change, that such a decision may not beacceptable to the majority of our people inside Tibet; etc. etc. But we still have other options. We could ask to join the United States anddeclare Tibet the 52nd State of USA. And I cannot see what objections can be raised to this proposal. It is hardly a secret that almost allTibetans in exile - from senior Tibetan government officials down to the most lowly and unemployed; from high lamas to young novices - areall clamouring to emigrate to the USA by any means.
If it achieves nothing else, declaring Tibet a part of the USA will give the US President and the State Department the splitting headache theyso deserve. But this could become more than a headache. It could throw a real spanner in the works and mean that the US and China will nolonger be in a position to ignore Tibet in their bilateral ties. Also, calling the US and the Tibetans 'splittists' - China's favourite epithet for theDalai Lama and the US President - will finally have some substance.
Conclusion:
But as far as I am concerned the fight for Tibetan independence must go on. Whenever the question of our goal - or rather the lack of one -comes up; I am told time and again that every Tibetan wants independence. In that case why isn't independence our goal ? I am not sureabout 'every' Tibetan wanting independence. But I know that this is true of the vast majority - especially those inside Tibet who continue tosuffer and to die in the struggle against Chinese rule. But so long as we remain silent, however big this majority, we are not going to beheard.
I, therefore, call on every single Tibetan who believes in independence and who live in exile to make their feelings known to our Governmentand to the public at large. I also call on the Tibetan Government to respect the memory of all our patriots who have laid down their lives inthe struggle for Tibetan independence and to heed the feelings of the vast majority of our people inside Tibet who continue to face thegravest risks in protesting against Chinese rule. The Tibetan Government-in-Exile has itself stated that already more than one million andtwo hundred thousand Tibetans - which is fully twenty percent of our entire population - have died as a direct result of China's invasion andoccupation of Tibet. How much longer will our Government continue to pretend that it doesn't know what the Tibetan people want? Cananyone vote more clearly than to v for time; that we can expect nothing from China and that they also believe that the only way forward forthe Tibetan people is to struggle for independence. I have no way of knowing how many say this out of conviction and how many do so notto hurt my feelings. I appeal to all our friends who believe in independence to please make your feelings and your reasons known to theTibetan Government-in-Exile. It is quite possible that the opinions of our friends may carry more weight with our government than the wishesand the lives of the Tibetan people.
Please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XvvXdKAU90 for his views on the forthcoming Olympics in Beijing--- B.Raman.
The Tibetan Youth Congress deserves credit for drawing the attention of the international community to the actual state of affairs in Tibetand to the continued violation of the human right of the Tibetan people by the Chinese. It is behind the current wave of demonstrations andprotests by Tibetans all over the world, including in Tibet and Sichuan. It has made the Tibetan people in Tibet and Sichuan rid themselvesof their fear complex and assert their rights in their homeland. 'Tibet for the Tibetans" is its policy. Even though very loyal and devoted tothe Dalai Lama, it respectfully differs from his policy of the "Middle Way". For it, there is no middle way between total independence andtotal servitude. It differs from His Holiness' policy of genuine autonomy and calls for total independence. It is not against the BeijingOlympics. It does not want to sabotage the Games. It says that the Olympics provides the Tibetans with a wonderful opportunity to drawattention to their unhappiness and aspirations. It feels that the Olympics provides a window of opportunity to the Tibetans to give strengthto their struggle for independence.
2. Among the legendary past leaders of the Tibetan Youth Congress is Mr.Lhasang Tsering, a well-known scholar, who has written andspoken extensively on Tibet---the present, the past and the future. He is in his late 40s. To understand the current developments relating toTibet, it is important to know the views of the Tibetan Youth Congress and those associated with it---either now or in the past. To serve thispurpose, I am reproducing below an article written by him in March 2000. (20-3-08)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For TopicalStudies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
INDIA'S TIBET
A Case for Policy Review
By Lhasang Tsering, Former President of Tibetan Youth Congress
In my years of travelling around the world talking about Tibet, it has been my experience that, more often than not, the audience generallyconsist of people who are interested in Tibet and already know a great deal about Tibet. Many, in fact, turn out to be old friends and expertson Tibet. So a lot of the time it is like 'preaching to the converted'. Therefore, repeating basic facts about Tibet appears to be unnecessary and a waste of time. Nevertheless, one cannot help wondering howmany in any particular audience or how many of your readers are truly aware that never before 23 May 1951 - when a conquered anddefeated Tibetan government was forced to sign an unequal 'treaty' - the so-called "17 Point Agreement on Measures for the PeacefulLiberation of Tibet" - had Tibet ever surrendered its independence. Therefore, China's claim that 'Tibet has always been a part of China' hasno basis, whatsoever, in fact that Tibetan language - both spoken and written - have no relation whatsoever with Chinese. that Tibet has itsown National flag and National Anthem that while it is true various Chinese dynasties had on several occasions interfered in Tibetan affairs,it is equally true that various Tibetan kings and rulers had invaded China or otherwise exercised influence in Chinese affairs. On oneoccasion in 763 AD Tibetan troops even occupied Chang'an - the then Chinese capital - deposed the Chinese Emperor who was not friendlytowards the Tibetans and appointed the son of another branch of the royal family as Emperor ? that the traditional boundary between Tibetand China was demarcated by the Peace Treaty of 821 when it was decided that the two countries shall never interfere in each other'saffairs; believing that "Chinese shall be happy in the land of China and Tibetans shall be happy in the land of Tibet." The text of this Treaty -containing these ancient words of wisdom - were carved on three stone pillars - one pillar each for the two capitals of Lhasa and Chang'anand the third pillar for the border, which was placed at a placed called Gugu Meru. The third stone pillar has so far not been found. But thetexts of the other two stone pillars have been compared by independent western and Tibetan scholars and have been found to match.? thatlong before the Mongols established the Yuan Dynasty in China in 1279; the Tibetans established a tribute relationship with the Mongols in1207 and thus averted a military invasion by Genghis Khan. The ties of the Mongols with Tibet not only pre-dated their conquest of China - it was an entirely separate relationship. The Mongols neverconsidered Tibet a Province of China. As such China's revised claim that 'Tibet has been a part of China since the Mongol rule over China'has no substance. That Tibet was recognised as an independent country during the Second World War, most importantly by China, USA andGreat Britain. This is evident from the fact that the US government had to send a mission to Lhasa in 1943 to request the Government of Tibet to permitthe Allies to send military aid through Tibet to help China in its war with Japan. Needless to say, this would not have been necessary if, asthe Chinese claim today, Tibet 'has always been an integral part of China'. As an independent country dedicated to the principles of peace,Tibet granted permission to the Allies to send only humanitarian assistance to China but no weapons of war. In retrospect, one cannot helpfeeling that Tibet is being punished today for its principled commitment to peace and for remaining neutral during the War.
More evidence can be listed to prove that Tibet was an independent country before the Communist Chinese invasion in 1949. However, foranyone willing to accept reason - the above facts should be sufficient.
First Things First:
I have sub-titled this article 'A Case for Policy Review' and not 'The Case for a Policy Review'. I have chosen this awkward construction for areason. Generally, when we talk about the need for a policy review on the issue of Tibet it is understood to mean a review of India's policyon Tibet. Or, in other contexts, the policy of the United Nations or the United States - among others. I am of the view that, first and foremost,it is the Tibetan people - especially the Tibetan Government-in-Exile - who must review the so-called 'Middle-Way' policy. This is the policythat must be changed - urgently - before we can call on other countries to review their policy on Tibet. For the past twenty years or more, wehave been confusing our own people and also our friends by first talking about 'settling for autonomy' and then of seeking 'association withChina' and now of working for 'genuine autonomy within China'. Of course, no one as yet to tell us who will define 'association', or 'autonomy'or 'genuine'. Under the circumstances one can only assume that it will be the Chinese, since they hold all the cards. In any case, as thingsstand now, there is no reason to believe that the Chinese even need to bother about defining these terms.
When speaking of 'autonomy' we need to take into consideration the fact that, as far as the Chinese are concerned, Tibetans are alreadysupposed to have 'autonomy'. The truncated half of Tibet - the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region which today the rest of the world knowsas 'Tibet' - as also other areas of Tibetan territory; have been labeled 'autonomous' one thing or another by the Chinese. So the Chinese maywell wonder what this offer of accepting 'autonomy' is all about when 'autonomy' is exactly what they think the Tibetans already have. It istrue the so-called autonomy the Tibetans are supposed to enjoy under Chinese rule is only in name. But what reason do we have to believethat the 'genuine autonomy' of the future - if ever there is to be one - will be any different ?
On the question of 'autonomy' another important factor to be born in mind is that the people inside Tibet are sick and tired of 'autonomy'with Chinese characteristics and they want no more of it - never. I believe the only hope for the Tibetan people and the survival of ourreligion, our culture and our land is the restoration of Tibetan independence. My reasons are simple and straightforward.
1. In the first place, I hold that the few Tibetans in exile do not have the mandate to change the goal. When we left Tibet - we did so with thesole purpose of continuing the struggle for independence. We also do not have the right to foreclose the options of future generations ofTibetans.
2. Secondly, I believe China's strategic, political and economic reasons for invading Tibet are far too important and that they will neverwillingly relinquish their hold on Tibet. They will certainly not be talked out of leaving Tibet and returning Tibet to the Tibetan people inwhatever shape or form.
3. It is all very well for us to call for negotiations with China, and I believe the various proposals put forward by His Holiness the Dalai Lamato the Chinese - in particular the 'Five-Point Peace Proposal' - are all well-intended. The problem is that the Communist dictatorship in Chinawill not respond favourably to any of these proposals. For them compromise is a sign of weakness and they will continue to expect anddemand further concessions.
4. What is more, at present China has no need to negotiate with the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. In all these years no one has yet to answerthis one simple question: Why should the Chinese talk to us ? Tibet is firmly under their control. No government in the world has the courageto question this. We are not a threat to their position in Tibet. Why then should the Chinese surrender to us any part of their complete,unquestioned and unchallenged control over Tibet?
5. But even if the impossible should happen and, for some temporary expedience, China should enter into an agreement with us - whatreason do we have to believe that China will abide by the terms of such an agreement ? None, whatsoever. Our bitter and bloody experiencehas been that China will not abide by the terms of any agreement once the purpose for which the agreement was signed has been served.This is exactly what China did with the so-called '17-Point Agreement'.
The reality is that China is playing for time and we are playing into their hands. Therefore, before we call on India to review its policy onTibet and before we can expect India and the world to support us - I believe it is absolutely necessary for us Tibetans to make up our mindsas to what it is we want. Having said this, I hasten to add, if I am wrong on the dismal picture I have painted above - no man will be happierthan I. As a matter of fact, in weaker moments, I hope and wish that I am wrong. That the Chinese will one day - and it better be soon - wakeup to the fact that they have committed untold atrocities in Tibet; that in the very first place they have no right to be in Tibet and that theTibetan people don't want them there; and apologise and leave Tibet.
But then the harsh reality of our tragic past and the harsher reality of the ever deteriorating situation in Tibet together remind me that theChinese are not going to leave Tibet. That we are not facing a multiple-choice problem. Indeed, that we are faced with a struggle for survival- a struggle for life and death where there are no choices. This is the brutal reality that the Tibetan people and the Tibetan Government must accept. The Chinese are not offering us any choices. It isnot a question of getting the 'right' proposal with the 'correct' wording into place.
CHINA DOES NOT NEED THE TIBETAN PEOPLE. CHINA ONLY NEEDS TIBET.
On the question of India's policy on Tibet, I wish to make the case that today India has more at stake in the future of Tibet than even theTibetan people. And, therefore, India should review its Tibet policy regardless of what the Tibetan people decide to do. I hope I do not soundungrateful or even manipulative and/or provocative in saying this.
My reasons for believing that today India has more at stake in the future of Tibet than the Tibetan people are sincere and simple: For one,Tibet will never be free when in the first place freedom is no longer our goal. Even otherwise, much as we wish Tibet to be free; much as wewant and long for Tibet to be free - today we are faced with the real and urgent danger of the Tibetans disappearing as a people and as adistinct culture. After death there is no pain and certainly no need for freedom or for land - especially for a people who feed their dead tovultures. What use is environmental protection or human rights to the dead ?
On the other hand, India cannot and will not disappear as a nation. However, with the death of Tibet, India will be left with a wound extending from Ladakh in the West to Arunachal in the East - a woundextending through the entire Himalayan range - some 2,500 km - for which there will be no cure. I need not elaborate on the far-reachingimplications of such a wound, which will forever eat into India like a deadly cancer. After all, India has already had a foretaste of this woundfor the past four decades. The need to defend India's long and difficult borders with Tibet is a major burden on India's economy and anobstacle to socio-economic development in the country. For these and other reasons I cannot understand India's policy on Tibet.
If it were in India's interest to accept and concede that 'Tibet is an autonomous region of China' (this has been India's position on the statusof Tibet since Nehru's time) - for the Tibetan people this will not be less painful, but at least it will be comprehensible. After all, foreign policyis not merely the 'art of the possible' - foreign policy is made on the grounds of national self-interest - or at least the perception of nationalself-interest. That such perceptions are often misguided and mistaken is an entirely different issue.
The Way Ahead:
We now have two issues before us. One, for the Tibetan people to make a clear decision about our goal and our struggle. The second issueis for the people of India to make a firm and clear decision about India's long-term interest regarding Tibet. If India decides that it is inIndia's interest to see Tibet free - then the next step is for us together to decide what we are willing to do for our mutual interest. This is to say that Tibetans should stop passively appealing for help. At the same time India must stop merely pitying the Tibetan people. India must start an active partnership with the Tibetans. In so doing there must be a clear understanding on both sides that in theshort-term there will be a heavy price to pay and enormous sacrifices to be made. However, whatever the difficulty, we must never loose sight of two things: that the long-term rewards will be lasting and worthy of anysacrifice; and, more importantly, that the struggle for the independence of Tibet must never be given up because in the end this is aquestion of right and wrong. Victory is important but it is secondary to the fact that we are fighting an evil for the restoration of Truth,Justice and Freedom.
On the other hand, if as a result of an informed national debate India should decide that it is indeed in India's long-term interest to haveChina and not Tibet as her northern neighbour - then so be it. I, for one, will return to Tibet. As a boy I made myself one promise. If bydedicating my entire life to the struggle I cannot free my country from the clutches of the Chinese, then at the very least I will die in Tibet.
Of course, I will never forget my gratitude to India. The Tibetan people are forever indebted to India for two reasons: in the past for theDharma and today for Refuge. But the problem is that at this moment there just isn't enough awareness in India about events anddevelopments in Tibet and their implications for India to enable the Indian people to make an informed decision on this important anddifficult issue. I am aware India has many other pressing problems to worry about - from poverty and basic education to Kashmir andPakistan. However, focusing on these problems alone is not enough. Take, for example, the case of a person suffering from a seriousdisease as a result of which he is running a high fever. Would it be enough to worry only about the fever and to focus one's attention only onbringing the temperature down ? Wouldn't it be more important, at some point, to seek to cure the disease itself ? India's current economic problems have much to with thehuge cost of defending India's long and troubled frontier with Tibet. Even in the case of the thorny problem in Kashmir and with Pakistan - it is not exactly a secret that China has been supplying Pakistan withweapons, military know-how and funding. Without China's control over Tibet the logistics of sending weapons to Pakistan will become analtogether different problem. A glance at any map is enough to see that the Karakorum Highway runs through Tibet to Pakistan.
Moreimportantly, when China no longer controls Tibet; helping Pakistan will become an altogether different priority. The level of ignorance andmisunderstanding about Tibet in India was evident during the escape of the 17th Karmapa to India. It was painful for us to read in certainsections of the Indian press; reports and letters suggesting that the Tibetan refugees in India are a liability and a security risk to India. There still seems to be speculation that the presence of the 17th Karmapa is a hindrance to India's relations with China.
The long-term strategic importance of Tibet to India should be evident even to those who wish to sacrifice everything on the alter of'friendship' with China. The presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile; and to a lesser extent the rest ofthe Tibetan refugee community, is at the very least a bargaining factor India can use in its dealings with China. The same is now true ofsuch a prominent figure as the 17th Karmapa. Even at the level of individual Tibetan refugees, it is not known and, therefore, not appreciated that Tibetan blood has been shed along with India's bravest sons in all the wars India has fought ever since Tibetans sought refuge in India. We are fond of talking of unsung heroes.
These Tibetans are the true unrecognised and unsung heroes. Yet they continue to fight and to die for India - believing that it is as much inthe interest of their beloved Tibet as their host country to continue to serve in the armed forces. These brave men and women - as also theirfamilies and loved ones; along with the rest of the Tibetan refugee community - believe that defending India's security is but a small way ofexpressing their gratitude to India.
India's Tibet:
Finally, a few words about the topic of this article. So far I have been commenting on the sub-title, which is about policy review, withoutsaying a word about what I mean by calling Tibet - 'India's Tibet'. There is a Chinese propaganda magazine called "China's Tibet". This is a clear example of how insecure China feels - not only about its holdover Tibet but more fundamentally even about its claims over Tibet. Fifty years after the invasion, forty years after the flight of the DalaiLama and the Tibetan Government; with an estimated half-a-million troops in Tibet and not a single foreign government openly questioningChina's military and colonial occupation of Tibet - it is indeed instructive that China still feels the need to call Tibet - "China's Tibet". Nodoubt, in addition to trying to reassure themselves, this is primarily an effort to convince the world that Tibet 'belongs' to China. In my view ithas precisely the opposite effect.
Be that as it may. I have often wondered why India doesn't stake its claim on Tibet. Between China - which seeks to exterminate the Tibetanpeople and to wipe out Tibetan religion and culture; and India - which gave Tibet the Buddha Dharma and has helped to save Tibetanreligion and culture - there is no doubt; India has the greater claim. It is like the story of young Prince Siddhartha who saves the swan hiscousin Prince Devadatta has shot. The claim of the latter rests on the grounds of having shot the swan. On the other hand, PrinceSiddhartha - the future Buddha - stakes his claim on the grounds of having saved the life of the wounded swan. The King rightly awards theswan to Prince Siddhartha. In today's world of realpolitik and spineless world leaders, we could hardly hope for such a decisive verdict.Nevertheless; even if only as a diplomatic exercise, why doesn't India file a case in the International Court of Justice and also raise theissue in the United Nations to stake its claims over Tibet ? In the first place India gave Buddhism to Tibet - the life-force of Tibetan life andculture. Today India has rendered crucial assistance and helped to save Tibetan religion and culture. If Tibet must belong to either of its giantneighbours, then surely, it should be to India - which has helped to save Tibet; and not China - which seeks to destroy Tibet.
52nd State of USA:
Even on the part of the Tibetan people, if we decide that Tibetan independence is not achievable (this is the present position of the TibetanGovernment-in-Exile to which I am totally opposed) and that the only option for us is to settle for some form of autonomy - however genuineor false - why then do we not decide to be a part of India ? Under any given situation or conceivable scenario; Tibet will fare far better under India than under China.
Those not willing to take decisions - especially one so unprecedented as this - will no doubt hasten to point out that the situation is toocomplicated; that this might not be acceptable to the Government of India; and even for a change, that such a decision may not beacceptable to the majority of our people inside Tibet; etc. etc. But we still have other options. We could ask to join the United States anddeclare Tibet the 52nd State of USA. And I cannot see what objections can be raised to this proposal. It is hardly a secret that almost allTibetans in exile - from senior Tibetan government officials down to the most lowly and unemployed; from high lamas to young novices - areall clamouring to emigrate to the USA by any means.
If it achieves nothing else, declaring Tibet a part of the USA will give the US President and the State Department the splitting headache theyso deserve. But this could become more than a headache. It could throw a real spanner in the works and mean that the US and China will nolonger be in a position to ignore Tibet in their bilateral ties. Also, calling the US and the Tibetans 'splittists' - China's favourite epithet for theDalai Lama and the US President - will finally have some substance.
Conclusion:
But as far as I am concerned the fight for Tibetan independence must go on. Whenever the question of our goal - or rather the lack of one -comes up; I am told time and again that every Tibetan wants independence. In that case why isn't independence our goal ? I am not sureabout 'every' Tibetan wanting independence. But I know that this is true of the vast majority - especially those inside Tibet who continue tosuffer and to die in the struggle against Chinese rule. But so long as we remain silent, however big this majority, we are not going to beheard.
I, therefore, call on every single Tibetan who believes in independence and who live in exile to make their feelings known to our Governmentand to the public at large. I also call on the Tibetan Government to respect the memory of all our patriots who have laid down their lives inthe struggle for Tibetan independence and to heed the feelings of the vast majority of our people inside Tibet who continue to face thegravest risks in protesting against Chinese rule. The Tibetan Government-in-Exile has itself stated that already more than one million andtwo hundred thousand Tibetans - which is fully twenty percent of our entire population - have died as a direct result of China's invasion andoccupation of Tibet. How much longer will our Government continue to pretend that it doesn't know what the Tibetan people want? Cananyone vote more clearly than to v for time; that we can expect nothing from China and that they also believe that the only way forward forthe Tibetan people is to struggle for independence. I have no way of knowing how many say this out of conviction and how many do so notto hurt my feelings. I appeal to all our friends who believe in independence to please make your feelings and your reasons known to theTibetan Government-in-Exile. It is quite possible that the opinions of our friends may carry more weight with our government than the wishesand the lives of the Tibetan people.
Please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XvvXdKAU90 for his views on the forthcoming Olympics in Beijing--- B.Raman.
US STEPS UP BROADCASTS & TELECASTS TO TIBET
B.RAMAN
Western Governments have come under contraditory pressures in relation to their response to the uprising of the Tibetans since March10,2008. While growing sections of public opinion and human rights activists have been demanding a boycott of the Olympic Games similarto the boycott of Moscow Olympics in 1980, Western business companies, who have heavily invested in China, continue to be stronglyopposed to any boycott.
2.The movement for a boycott has received the strongest public support in France. Mr.Bernard Kouchner, the French Foreign Minister, hasstated that even if the Western Governments are not prepared to call for a boycott of the Games by their national Olympic Committees, theirleaders should at least refrain from participating in the opening ceremony. Amongst those who had announced last year their intention toparticipate is President George Bush of the US. Other Western Governments have not so far supported the suggestion of Mr.Kouchner.
3. Western human rights organisations have demanded that China should allow an international observer team to visit Tibet and Sichuan toenquire into the incidents and that an international team of lawyers should be allowed to defend the Tibetans being rounded up by theChinese authorities. If the Chinese authorities reject these demands, the demand for a boycott of the opening ceremony may gathermomentum.
4. In the meanwhile, the US authorities are reported to have taken action to strengthen the tranasmitting power of Radio Free Asia (RFA)and the Voice of America (VOA) in order to enable their broadcasts to overcome the jamming by the Chinese authorities. They have alsoannounced an increase in their hours of broadcasts and telecasts to the Tibetan people with effect from March 18,2008.
5. Mr.James K.Glassman, the Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which is an independent federal agency whichsupervises all U.S. government-supported, non-military international broadcasting, announced on March 18,2008, as follows: "The violentcrackdown by Chinese authorities in Tibet compels us to increase our broadcasts.Our audience clearly will benefit from these trustworthysources of news and information, which differ sharply from Chinese government sanctioned broadcasts."
6.At present, RFA broadcasts eight hours daily to Tibet via shortwave radio. The VOA broadcasts four hours daily, also via shortwave. Witheffect from March 18, each has expanded its respective radio programmes by two additional hours daily. The VOA will also double itsweekly Tibetan-language television programming from one to two hours via the AsiaSat 3 satellite.
7.Mr.Libby Liu, President of the RFA, said on March 18,2008: "RFA's Tibetan service is working round the clock to bring authoritative,breaking news to the Tibetan people. These additional hours will greatly enhance our capacity to deliver this news, including live updates,to people on the ground."
8.Lhasa and other areas of Tibet continue to be tense, but without any violent incidents since March 17,2008. Chinese troops on foot and inarmoured personal carriers continue to patrol the streets and the Chinese authorities have continued to surround all the monasteries,keeping the monks under virtual house arrest and preventing any interactions between them and the general population.
9. Chinese troops and People's Armed Police (PAP) personnel continue to make house-to-house searches for suspected participants in theviolent uprising of March 14,2008. The total number of persons detained for questioning so far has gone up to 300. The Chinese authoritieshave claimed that 105 self-confessed participants in the uprising have voluntarily surrendered to the authorities.
10.Sporadic incidents of violence continue to be reported from the Tibetan majority areas of the Sichuan province. Many of the Hans, whoseshops in Lhasa were attacked by the Tibetan demonstrators on March 14,2008, were settlers from Sichuan. In retaliation for this, therehave reportedly been attacks on Tibetans by Hans in Sichuan. According to Tibetan refugee sources, the Chinese military also opened fireon a large group of Tibetans demonstrating against the Government in the Aba County of the Sichuan province. According to otherindependent sources, there have also been sporadic incidents of stabbing in the Tibetan areas of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. Tibetanexile groups have managed to obtain photographs of the Tibetans allegedly killed by the Chinese security forces in the Aba county and havebeen disseminating them through the Internet. (19-3-08)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For TopicalStudies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
B.RAMAN
Western Governments have come under contraditory pressures in relation to their response to the uprising of the Tibetans since March10,2008. While growing sections of public opinion and human rights activists have been demanding a boycott of the Olympic Games similarto the boycott of Moscow Olympics in 1980, Western business companies, who have heavily invested in China, continue to be stronglyopposed to any boycott.
2.The movement for a boycott has received the strongest public support in France. Mr.Bernard Kouchner, the French Foreign Minister, hasstated that even if the Western Governments are not prepared to call for a boycott of the Games by their national Olympic Committees, theirleaders should at least refrain from participating in the opening ceremony. Amongst those who had announced last year their intention toparticipate is President George Bush of the US. Other Western Governments have not so far supported the suggestion of Mr.Kouchner.
3. Western human rights organisations have demanded that China should allow an international observer team to visit Tibet and Sichuan toenquire into the incidents and that an international team of lawyers should be allowed to defend the Tibetans being rounded up by theChinese authorities. If the Chinese authorities reject these demands, the demand for a boycott of the opening ceremony may gathermomentum.
4. In the meanwhile, the US authorities are reported to have taken action to strengthen the tranasmitting power of Radio Free Asia (RFA)and the Voice of America (VOA) in order to enable their broadcasts to overcome the jamming by the Chinese authorities. They have alsoannounced an increase in their hours of broadcasts and telecasts to the Tibetan people with effect from March 18,2008.
5. Mr.James K.Glassman, the Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which is an independent federal agency whichsupervises all U.S. government-supported, non-military international broadcasting, announced on March 18,2008, as follows: "The violentcrackdown by Chinese authorities in Tibet compels us to increase our broadcasts.Our audience clearly will benefit from these trustworthysources of news and information, which differ sharply from Chinese government sanctioned broadcasts."
6.At present, RFA broadcasts eight hours daily to Tibet via shortwave radio. The VOA broadcasts four hours daily, also via shortwave. Witheffect from March 18, each has expanded its respective radio programmes by two additional hours daily. The VOA will also double itsweekly Tibetan-language television programming from one to two hours via the AsiaSat 3 satellite.
7.Mr.Libby Liu, President of the RFA, said on March 18,2008: "RFA's Tibetan service is working round the clock to bring authoritative,breaking news to the Tibetan people. These additional hours will greatly enhance our capacity to deliver this news, including live updates,to people on the ground."
8.Lhasa and other areas of Tibet continue to be tense, but without any violent incidents since March 17,2008. Chinese troops on foot and inarmoured personal carriers continue to patrol the streets and the Chinese authorities have continued to surround all the monasteries,keeping the monks under virtual house arrest and preventing any interactions between them and the general population.
9. Chinese troops and People's Armed Police (PAP) personnel continue to make house-to-house searches for suspected participants in theviolent uprising of March 14,2008. The total number of persons detained for questioning so far has gone up to 300. The Chinese authoritieshave claimed that 105 self-confessed participants in the uprising have voluntarily surrendered to the authorities.
10.Sporadic incidents of violence continue to be reported from the Tibetan majority areas of the Sichuan province. Many of the Hans, whoseshops in Lhasa were attacked by the Tibetan demonstrators on March 14,2008, were settlers from Sichuan. In retaliation for this, therehave reportedly been attacks on Tibetans by Hans in Sichuan. According to Tibetan refugee sources, the Chinese military also opened fireon a large group of Tibetans demonstrating against the Government in the Aba County of the Sichuan province. According to otherindependent sources, there have also been sporadic incidents of stabbing in the Tibetan areas of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. Tibetanexile groups have managed to obtain photographs of the Tibetans allegedly killed by the Chinese security forces in the Aba county and havebeen disseminating them through the Internet. (19-3-08)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For TopicalStudies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
YEAR OF OLYMPICS: YEAR OF THE TROJAN RATS
B.RAMAN
February 7,2008, was the beginning of the Chinese New Year. The Chinese call the current year "the Year of the Rat".
2. As I was browsing through various blogs, chat rooms etc, I came across the following write-up: "Today begins the year of the Rat, whichnot only ushers in the celebrated Chinese New Year, but restarts the entire twelve-year cycle of the Chinese Zodiac. ....Being the animal thatkicks off the Zodiac cycle, the rat is associated with leadership and conquerors.....In life, rats are known for their suave personalities andcharm. But get them in competition, they become smart, controlling, aggressive and calculative. Get in their face and it's even worse. Ratscan get quick-tempered, aggressive and even dangerous to others."
3. There were many references to a new computer virus disseminated by Chinese hackers, which they had named "the Trojan Rat". Therewere also references to a football team called "the Trojan Rats."
4. There were also ominous (for the Chinese, if they had seen them) references to the Trojan Rats, which would keep the Chinese foxed andbusy throughout the year of the Olympics. Many were planning to let loose Trojan Rats all over China as the Beijing Olympics approachedand during the Olympics.
5. The highly intelligent, Internet-savvy Tibetan youth, the bin Laden-admiring Uighurs, the Falun Gong, the disgruntled youth of China, thepro-democracy activists of Hong Kong, the many anti-China groups in the US----- they were all planning for their own Year of the Trojan Rat.
6.Each had strong reasons for anger against the Chinese. Each was determined to give vent to his or her anger in this year of the Olympics.Each was determined to make this go down in history as the Year of the Trojan Rats.
7. What the Chinese saw in Tibet and Sichuan was only the beginning. The Mullas and students of the Lal Masjid of Islamabad are planningtheir next attack on the Chinese when the Olympic flame passes through Islamabad on April 16, followed by an uprising by the UighurMuslims of Xinjiang.
8. The Falun Gong---inside China and outside--- have their own plans. They know that the business companies of the West would never allowthe Games to be boycotted by their countries. They have invested so much not only in the Chinese economy, but also in the Games itself assponsors.Coca Cola and Pepsi are looking forward to sales of their drinks, which would beat their previous records. They are not going toallow any official boycott of the Games.
9. So, the Falun Gong have been contacting individual athletes---- particularly in the developing countries---- to persuade them to refuse tojoin their national teams. Their campaign against the Games is already showing some signs of success in Africa.
10. Till now, no Western athlete is prepared to join the boycott. So, they are appealing to them to do other things----such as wearing T-shirtswith the pics of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama (the genuine one, not the bogus one created by the Chinese), to shout slogansagainst the violation of human rights in China during the opening and closing ceremonies, to distribute copies of the Holy Bible to thepeople, distribute pics of the Dalai and Panchen Lamas etc.
11. The members of the Falun Gong and the Tibetan and Uighur students studying in Beijing are planning their own protest. The Chinese areworried that Osama bin Laden might be having his own plans for Jihadi Trojan Rats, but nobody knows about them.
12. In the Year of the Olympics, the entire world focus is on China. The Chinese cannot adopt the same methods of suppression as theynormally do. They have to suppress without seeming to be doing so.
13. The Chinese are worried not only over what could happen before and during the Olympics. They are also worried as to what couldhappen thereafter. Will the Olympics set in motion the weakening of the control of the Chinese Communist Party over the people?
14. A Chinese friend of mine recently remarked that often he wondered whether it was wise on their part to have bid for the Olympics.
15. They thought the Olympics would bring them glory. They did not realise that it could also bring the Trojan Rats. (19-3-08)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat. Govt. of India, New Delhi and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies,Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
B.RAMAN
February 7,2008, was the beginning of the Chinese New Year. The Chinese call the current year "the Year of the Rat".
2. As I was browsing through various blogs, chat rooms etc, I came across the following write-up: "Today begins the year of the Rat, whichnot only ushers in the celebrated Chinese New Year, but restarts the entire twelve-year cycle of the Chinese Zodiac. ....Being the animal thatkicks off the Zodiac cycle, the rat is associated with leadership and conquerors.....In life, rats are known for their suave personalities andcharm. But get them in competition, they become smart, controlling, aggressive and calculative. Get in their face and it's even worse. Ratscan get quick-tempered, aggressive and even dangerous to others."
3. There were many references to a new computer virus disseminated by Chinese hackers, which they had named "the Trojan Rat". Therewere also references to a football team called "the Trojan Rats."
4. There were also ominous (for the Chinese, if they had seen them) references to the Trojan Rats, which would keep the Chinese foxed andbusy throughout the year of the Olympics. Many were planning to let loose Trojan Rats all over China as the Beijing Olympics approachedand during the Olympics.
5. The highly intelligent, Internet-savvy Tibetan youth, the bin Laden-admiring Uighurs, the Falun Gong, the disgruntled youth of China, thepro-democracy activists of Hong Kong, the many anti-China groups in the US----- they were all planning for their own Year of the Trojan Rat.
6.Each had strong reasons for anger against the Chinese. Each was determined to give vent to his or her anger in this year of the Olympics.Each was determined to make this go down in history as the Year of the Trojan Rats.
7. What the Chinese saw in Tibet and Sichuan was only the beginning. The Mullas and students of the Lal Masjid of Islamabad are planningtheir next attack on the Chinese when the Olympic flame passes through Islamabad on April 16, followed by an uprising by the UighurMuslims of Xinjiang.
8. The Falun Gong---inside China and outside--- have their own plans. They know that the business companies of the West would never allowthe Games to be boycotted by their countries. They have invested so much not only in the Chinese economy, but also in the Games itself assponsors.Coca Cola and Pepsi are looking forward to sales of their drinks, which would beat their previous records. They are not going toallow any official boycott of the Games.
9. So, the Falun Gong have been contacting individual athletes---- particularly in the developing countries---- to persuade them to refuse tojoin their national teams. Their campaign against the Games is already showing some signs of success in Africa.
10. Till now, no Western athlete is prepared to join the boycott. So, they are appealing to them to do other things----such as wearing T-shirtswith the pics of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama (the genuine one, not the bogus one created by the Chinese), to shout slogansagainst the violation of human rights in China during the opening and closing ceremonies, to distribute copies of the Holy Bible to thepeople, distribute pics of the Dalai and Panchen Lamas etc.
11. The members of the Falun Gong and the Tibetan and Uighur students studying in Beijing are planning their own protest. The Chinese areworried that Osama bin Laden might be having his own plans for Jihadi Trojan Rats, but nobody knows about them.
12. In the Year of the Olympics, the entire world focus is on China. The Chinese cannot adopt the same methods of suppression as theynormally do. They have to suppress without seeming to be doing so.
13. The Chinese are worried not only over what could happen before and during the Olympics. They are also worried as to what couldhappen thereafter. Will the Olympics set in motion the weakening of the control of the Chinese Communist Party over the people?
14. A Chinese friend of mine recently remarked that often he wondered whether it was wise on their part to have bid for the Olympics.
15. They thought the Olympics would bring them glory. They did not realise that it could also bring the Trojan Rats. (19-3-08)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat. Govt. of India, New Delhi and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies,Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
CHINESE DAMAGE CONTROL EXERCISE
B.RAMAN
While continuing to make arrests of suspected participants in the revolt in Tibet, the Chinese have at the same time mounted a damagecontrol exercise to prevent the developments in Tibet from having an impact on their successful holding of the Beijing Olympics ofAugust,2008.
2. The arrests, which started on March17,2008, have not so far been as massive as originally feared. The total number of Tibetan youth arrested so far has been estimated at about 150. What the Chinese have been doing is to arrest identified past offenders, who had spenttime in the jail in the past for undesirable activities and had been released after they had completed their prison terms.In the initial wave ofarrests, they have also been looking for persons without valid documents.
3. The Chinese have been trying to prove that those, who attacked the Han and Hui settlers and members of the security forces, were notsons of the soil, who, according to the Chinese, are happy with the Chinese rule and have excellent relations with the Hans, but infiltratorsfrom outside. In the initial phase of enquiries, they are focussing on those Tibetans, who have relatives in India and the West in order to seewhether any of them had recently visited their relatives abroad or whether their relatives living abroad had recently visited them.
4. The Chinese are convinced that the disturbances were not spontaneous, but pre-meditated and well organised. In his customary pressconference after the conclusion of the session of the National People's Congress (NPC) held at Bejing on March 18,2008, the Prime Minister,Mr.Wen Jiabo, linked the disturbances to the Olympic Games and described them as "organized, premeditated, masterminded and instigatedby the Dalai Lama clique".
5. The campaign against the Dalai Lama and his set-up in Dharamsala has been stepped up by the Chinese authorities as well as thegovernment-controlled media in Beijing and Lhasa. He has been accused of telling lies when he talked of a cultural genocide in Tibet in hispress conference of March 16. He has been projected as insincere and deceitful.In this connection, reference is being made to hisprotestations of his belief in non-violent methods and the actual violence in Tibet and Sichuan.
6. Even while condemning the Dalai Lama in strong language, the Chinese have kept open the possibility of a dialogue with him. Mr.Wen saidat his press conference: "The door of dialogue is still open to Dalai, so long as he gives up the position for "Tibet Independence", so long ashe recognizes Tibet and Taiwan as inalienable parts of the Chinese territory." But he remained silent on the Dalai Lama's assertion that hewas advocating genuine autonomy for Tibet and not independence.
7. This is an intriguing part of the entire revolt in Tibet. While the Dalai Lama had been repeatedly saying even the past that his aim isgenuine autonomy and not independence, the monks and the youth, who participated in the uprising between March 10 and 14,2008, werecalling for independence. The Tibetan Youth Congress elements in India and the West do not seem to agree with the Dalai Lama that theTibetans would be satisfied with genuine autonomy. It is apparent that the Tibetan Youth Congress played an active role in organising theworld-wide demonstrations on March 10,2008, which in Tibet and Sichuan took a violent anti-Han turn.
8. The questions arising from this are: Was the Dalai Lama aware of the plans of the Tibetan Youth Congress? If so, why did he not try tostop them? If not, is he really in effective control of the Youth Congress? Was the violent uprising in Lhasa pre-meditated by the YouthCongress? If not, who was behind it? No convincing answers to these questions are available. The Chinese authorities see the entire thingas deliberately planned and organised by the Youth Congress with the knowledge of the Dalai Lama.
9. In a strongly-worded commentary based on a report from the Lhasa Bureau of the Government-owned Hsinhua news agency published onMarch 18,2008, the Government-owned "People's Daily" wrote as follows: " Memories of horror were alive again. Rioting that erupted inLhasa on Friday resembled two previous riots in 1959 and 1989, only in its cruelty and always indisputable links to peace-preaching DalaiLama.......In the shocking degree of cruelty which local Tibetans said they had not seen in their whole lives, "brutal" was an understatementof the true picture, but the word was only reserved for the mob, and not for the policemen......Such hostility was not "non-violence" as Dalaipreached, but what the "revered" monk practiced. Religious leaders, local Tibetans and other residents stood out and condemned the riot. It is obvious that the latest well-planned sabotage in Lhasa was another bloody exercise of Dalai clique's political conspiracy....In recentyears, the Dalai clique has been telling the world that they have stopped seeking "Tibetan independence". However, it is just another hugelie. In an effort to fan up the international community to link the "Tibet issue" with the Beijing Olympics, he repeatedly preached during hisfrequent international trips that the year 2008 is of key importance and the Olympic Games would be the "last chance" for the Tibetans.How can the Dalai clique justify themselves when the Tibetan Youth Congress vowed to pursue "Tibet independence" at the cost of bloodand lives in a March 10 statement, which says "they would never give up the fight for Tibet independence"? ....After the riot broke out inLhasa, the Dalai clique maintained real-time contacts through varied channels with the rioters, and dictated instructions to his hard coredevotees and synchronized their moves, police sources say. Evidence again mounted against the Dalai coterie's trumpet for "non-violence",exposing them as a deceitful bunch."
10. The Chinese have been avoiding giving an impression of panic in Beijing over the developments. All the senior officials of the TibetAdministration and party apparatus, who had gone to Beijing to attend the NPC session, continue to be there and are letting theirsubordinates handle the situation in Tibet and Sichuan.
11. Before starting the arrests in Tibet on March 17,2008, the local authorities ordered all foreign tourists and journalists to leave the regionfor their own safety. They also stopped issuing permits for foreigners to visit Tibet. Prime Minister Wen has, however, promised that oncethe situation improved, the Government would take the initiative in taking a team of foreign journalists to Tibet. (March 18,2008)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and,presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies,Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
B.RAMAN
While continuing to make arrests of suspected participants in the revolt in Tibet, the Chinese have at the same time mounted a damagecontrol exercise to prevent the developments in Tibet from having an impact on their successful holding of the Beijing Olympics ofAugust,2008.
2. The arrests, which started on March17,2008, have not so far been as massive as originally feared. The total number of Tibetan youth arrested so far has been estimated at about 150. What the Chinese have been doing is to arrest identified past offenders, who had spenttime in the jail in the past for undesirable activities and had been released after they had completed their prison terms.In the initial wave ofarrests, they have also been looking for persons without valid documents.
3. The Chinese have been trying to prove that those, who attacked the Han and Hui settlers and members of the security forces, were notsons of the soil, who, according to the Chinese, are happy with the Chinese rule and have excellent relations with the Hans, but infiltratorsfrom outside. In the initial phase of enquiries, they are focussing on those Tibetans, who have relatives in India and the West in order to seewhether any of them had recently visited their relatives abroad or whether their relatives living abroad had recently visited them.
4. The Chinese are convinced that the disturbances were not spontaneous, but pre-meditated and well organised. In his customary pressconference after the conclusion of the session of the National People's Congress (NPC) held at Bejing on March 18,2008, the Prime Minister,Mr.Wen Jiabo, linked the disturbances to the Olympic Games and described them as "organized, premeditated, masterminded and instigatedby the Dalai Lama clique".
5. The campaign against the Dalai Lama and his set-up in Dharamsala has been stepped up by the Chinese authorities as well as thegovernment-controlled media in Beijing and Lhasa. He has been accused of telling lies when he talked of a cultural genocide in Tibet in hispress conference of March 16. He has been projected as insincere and deceitful.In this connection, reference is being made to hisprotestations of his belief in non-violent methods and the actual violence in Tibet and Sichuan.
6. Even while condemning the Dalai Lama in strong language, the Chinese have kept open the possibility of a dialogue with him. Mr.Wen saidat his press conference: "The door of dialogue is still open to Dalai, so long as he gives up the position for "Tibet Independence", so long ashe recognizes Tibet and Taiwan as inalienable parts of the Chinese territory." But he remained silent on the Dalai Lama's assertion that hewas advocating genuine autonomy for Tibet and not independence.
7. This is an intriguing part of the entire revolt in Tibet. While the Dalai Lama had been repeatedly saying even the past that his aim isgenuine autonomy and not independence, the monks and the youth, who participated in the uprising between March 10 and 14,2008, werecalling for independence. The Tibetan Youth Congress elements in India and the West do not seem to agree with the Dalai Lama that theTibetans would be satisfied with genuine autonomy. It is apparent that the Tibetan Youth Congress played an active role in organising theworld-wide demonstrations on March 10,2008, which in Tibet and Sichuan took a violent anti-Han turn.
8. The questions arising from this are: Was the Dalai Lama aware of the plans of the Tibetan Youth Congress? If so, why did he not try tostop them? If not, is he really in effective control of the Youth Congress? Was the violent uprising in Lhasa pre-meditated by the YouthCongress? If not, who was behind it? No convincing answers to these questions are available. The Chinese authorities see the entire thingas deliberately planned and organised by the Youth Congress with the knowledge of the Dalai Lama.
9. In a strongly-worded commentary based on a report from the Lhasa Bureau of the Government-owned Hsinhua news agency published onMarch 18,2008, the Government-owned "People's Daily" wrote as follows: " Memories of horror were alive again. Rioting that erupted inLhasa on Friday resembled two previous riots in 1959 and 1989, only in its cruelty and always indisputable links to peace-preaching DalaiLama.......In the shocking degree of cruelty which local Tibetans said they had not seen in their whole lives, "brutal" was an understatementof the true picture, but the word was only reserved for the mob, and not for the policemen......Such hostility was not "non-violence" as Dalaipreached, but what the "revered" monk practiced. Religious leaders, local Tibetans and other residents stood out and condemned the riot. It is obvious that the latest well-planned sabotage in Lhasa was another bloody exercise of Dalai clique's political conspiracy....In recentyears, the Dalai clique has been telling the world that they have stopped seeking "Tibetan independence". However, it is just another hugelie. In an effort to fan up the international community to link the "Tibet issue" with the Beijing Olympics, he repeatedly preached during hisfrequent international trips that the year 2008 is of key importance and the Olympic Games would be the "last chance" for the Tibetans.How can the Dalai clique justify themselves when the Tibetan Youth Congress vowed to pursue "Tibet independence" at the cost of bloodand lives in a March 10 statement, which says "they would never give up the fight for Tibet independence"? ....After the riot broke out inLhasa, the Dalai clique maintained real-time contacts through varied channels with the rioters, and dictated instructions to his hard coredevotees and synchronized their moves, police sources say. Evidence again mounted against the Dalai coterie's trumpet for "non-violence",exposing them as a deceitful bunch."
10. The Chinese have been avoiding giving an impression of panic in Beijing over the developments. All the senior officials of the TibetAdministration and party apparatus, who had gone to Beijing to attend the NPC session, continue to be there and are letting theirsubordinates handle the situation in Tibet and Sichuan.
11. Before starting the arrests in Tibet on March 17,2008, the local authorities ordered all foreign tourists and journalists to leave the regionfor their own safety. They also stopped issuing permits for foreigners to visit Tibet. Prime Minister Wen has, however, promised that oncethe situation improved, the Government would take the initiative in taking a team of foreign journalists to Tibet. (March 18,2008)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and,presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies,Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
Monday, March 17, 2008
THE PEOPLE'S DAILY OF CHENNAI
B.RAMAN
Tibet and Sichuan have seen some determined protests by the long-suppressed Tibetans since March 10. The protests were initially started by Tibetan monks, but subsequently a large number of students and other sections of the general population joined in. The Chinese Army, which was taken by surprise, is in the process of putting down the protests ruthlessly.
2. There is no doubt they will ultimately succeed in ruthlessly crushing the protests, arresting those who participated and sending them to their own Gulags.
3.There can be different views on what the Government of India's attitude to the protests should be---sympathise with it or disaprove of it or adopt an ambivalent attitude? A decision on this has to be taken by the Government after taking the national interests into consideration.
4. But there can be no different views on what should be the attitude of the media to the developments in Tibet and Sichuan, particularly of a newspaper which projects itself to be independent and objective, with no agenda of its own. It has to inform the public of the various versions of the developments----the Tibetan, the Chinese, the Western etc--- and leave it to the readers to decide which version to believe.
5. If it has any views as to which version is more credible, it can express those views in its editorial columns for the benefit of its readers.
6. But, when a newspaper censors the various versions, blacks out the Tibetan version and disseminates only the version as put out by the Government-owned Hsinhua news agency of China, one has reason to feel shocked----- and sad.
7. Read the report as carried by that newspaper on its front page on March 17,2008. At the bottom, its says "Hsinhua, PTI and Reuters" as if the entire report is based on the versions put out by these three agencies.
8. It is not so. The portion regarding the disturbances in Tibet is totally the version of the Hsinhua with no clarifications or additions as to what the Tibetans have had to say. The Dalai Lama held a press conference on March 16,2008. Truncated versions of the press conference as disseminated by the Reuters and the PTI have been added on to the main Hsinhua version.
9. The Dalai Lama made two important points in his press conference. He accused the Chinese of cultural genocide in Tibet and asked for an international enquiry into it. At the same time, he made it clear that he did not want the Beijing Olympics to be disrupted. In its headline , the paper played up only what he said on the Olympics and remained silent on what he had to say about the alleged cultural genocide.
10. A few years ago, the paper came under a new leadership of the same family. Since then one could see a change in its editorial policy towards China and Tibet---- no publicity to the statements and activities of the Dalai Lama, no dissemination of his pictures, no publicity to the views and hardships of the Tibetans, no negative comments on China, only the positive to be highlighted and not the negative about China. Beijing to be projected as an angel in a world of villains.
11. More and more Hsinhua despatches started finding their way into the columns of this paper. The readers were told what a wonderful country China was, what a wonderful people the Chinese were, how there is nothing for India to fear from the Chinese.
12.Its Washington office was closed and shifted to Beijing indicating where its heart lay.
13. A Chinese interlocutor recently mentioned to me the names of two persons from this paper----one in its headquarters in Chennai and the other in its office in Beijing-- and remarked that if only all journalists were like these two, journalism must be the most beautiful profession in the world. I asked him why he thought so.
14. He replied that they write only positively about China. They never say anything negative.
15. All of us, who were born and brought up in Chennai, grew up on the mother's milk of this daily. Whatever little we achieved in our life and career was due to what we imbibed from its columns.
17. What a great family it was! What great names it had in its staff in its headquarters and in its field offices!
18. When we travelled abroad and mentioned that Chennai was our home town, people would immediately say " oh, the city of that famous newspaper". Chennai was known as the city of the Music Festival and this newspaper.
19. I am 71---- well on the way to making my peace with My Maker. How cruel to see this daily with which I grew up reduced to its present status!
20. Its founding fathers and the giants who served in it must be shedding tears in heavens over the way their child has been reduced to being the "People's Daily" of Chennai.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
B.RAMAN
Tibet and Sichuan have seen some determined protests by the long-suppressed Tibetans since March 10. The protests were initially started by Tibetan monks, but subsequently a large number of students and other sections of the general population joined in. The Chinese Army, which was taken by surprise, is in the process of putting down the protests ruthlessly.
2. There is no doubt they will ultimately succeed in ruthlessly crushing the protests, arresting those who participated and sending them to their own Gulags.
3.There can be different views on what the Government of India's attitude to the protests should be---sympathise with it or disaprove of it or adopt an ambivalent attitude? A decision on this has to be taken by the Government after taking the national interests into consideration.
4. But there can be no different views on what should be the attitude of the media to the developments in Tibet and Sichuan, particularly of a newspaper which projects itself to be independent and objective, with no agenda of its own. It has to inform the public of the various versions of the developments----the Tibetan, the Chinese, the Western etc--- and leave it to the readers to decide which version to believe.
5. If it has any views as to which version is more credible, it can express those views in its editorial columns for the benefit of its readers.
6. But, when a newspaper censors the various versions, blacks out the Tibetan version and disseminates only the version as put out by the Government-owned Hsinhua news agency of China, one has reason to feel shocked----- and sad.
7. Read the report as carried by that newspaper on its front page on March 17,2008. At the bottom, its says "Hsinhua, PTI and Reuters" as if the entire report is based on the versions put out by these three agencies.
8. It is not so. The portion regarding the disturbances in Tibet is totally the version of the Hsinhua with no clarifications or additions as to what the Tibetans have had to say. The Dalai Lama held a press conference on March 16,2008. Truncated versions of the press conference as disseminated by the Reuters and the PTI have been added on to the main Hsinhua version.
9. The Dalai Lama made two important points in his press conference. He accused the Chinese of cultural genocide in Tibet and asked for an international enquiry into it. At the same time, he made it clear that he did not want the Beijing Olympics to be disrupted. In its headline , the paper played up only what he said on the Olympics and remained silent on what he had to say about the alleged cultural genocide.
10. A few years ago, the paper came under a new leadership of the same family. Since then one could see a change in its editorial policy towards China and Tibet---- no publicity to the statements and activities of the Dalai Lama, no dissemination of his pictures, no publicity to the views and hardships of the Tibetans, no negative comments on China, only the positive to be highlighted and not the negative about China. Beijing to be projected as an angel in a world of villains.
11. More and more Hsinhua despatches started finding their way into the columns of this paper. The readers were told what a wonderful country China was, what a wonderful people the Chinese were, how there is nothing for India to fear from the Chinese.
12.Its Washington office was closed and shifted to Beijing indicating where its heart lay.
13. A Chinese interlocutor recently mentioned to me the names of two persons from this paper----one in its headquarters in Chennai and the other in its office in Beijing-- and remarked that if only all journalists were like these two, journalism must be the most beautiful profession in the world. I asked him why he thought so.
14. He replied that they write only positively about China. They never say anything negative.
15. All of us, who were born and brought up in Chennai, grew up on the mother's milk of this daily. Whatever little we achieved in our life and career was due to what we imbibed from its columns.
17. What a great family it was! What great names it had in its staff in its headquarters and in its field offices!
18. When we travelled abroad and mentioned that Chennai was our home town, people would immediately say " oh, the city of that famous newspaper". Chennai was known as the city of the Music Festival and this newspaper.
19. I am 71---- well on the way to making my peace with My Maker. How cruel to see this daily with which I grew up reduced to its present status!
20. Its founding fathers and the giants who served in it must be shedding tears in heavens over the way their child has been reduced to being the "People's Daily" of Chennai.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
CHINESE BEGIN ARRESTS IN LHASA
B.RAMAN
The Chinese Army and the People's Armed Police (PAP) have begun house-to-house searches in Lhasa. They have been checking the identity papers of all residents of Lhasa, probably in order to see whether the violent riots of March 14,2008, were caused by residents of Lhasa or whether there was also the involvement of likely infiltrators from the Tibetan diaspora abroad.
2.Even though the ultimatum issued by the Chinese authorities asking the trouble-makers to surrender was to expire only after nightfall on March 17,2008, the searches and arrests began even before the expiry of the ultimatum. The arrested persons were handcuffed and paraded through the streets of Lhasa---some on foot and others on open trucks. Vehicles fitted with loudspeakers have been moving round in the streets of Lhasa saying that the Hans and the Tibetans are brothers and are the same people and that the action is directed against foreign agents and not the Tibetan people. The Chinese have also been alleging that the monks and other rioters killed and destroyed the property of not only the Hans, but also of many Hui Muslims from Central China living in Tibet.
3. Despite the Chinese blockage of the Internet and all blogs and Internet chatter, sporadic chatter continues to take place. Internet-savvyTibetan exile groups had apparently anticipated the Chinese attempts to block all access to the Internet. They have been managing to get through to Tibetans in Tibet and Sichuan through various alternate routes. Myanmar monks and students, who rioted last year, were not that Internet-savvy. The moment the Myanmar military junta blocked all Internet servers, they found themselves totally isolated and without any way of remaining in touch with the outside world.
4. Tibetan exile groups have till now managed to outsmart the Chinese and have managed to keep up their communications with Lhasa. Interestingly, some of the Han settlers in Tibet and abroad have also been keeping up their web chatter. A number of organisations in the West have been closely monitoring the web chatter of the Hans and Hui residents of Lhasa and disseminating them.
5.Extracts of some web chatter by the Hans and Huis of Lhasa taken from one of these web sites are given in the Annexure. I have not had the time to edit them or remove the typos. Some of the chatters are apparently not Hans.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd),Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
ANNEXURE (EXTRACTS FROM WEB CHATTER)
Lhasa is rioting…school was closed…spoiled my birthday…fighting in the city is brutal! Army cars keep going by, hand grenades keep getting thrown around, the area all around Jokhang is being blasted, pedestrian streets have been closed by the PAP, Wenzhou Trade St. has been closed too, it seems the gas stations have been blown up…old as I am I've never seen anything like this…the Dalai is really fucking something! I hope he hurries and blows our campus up too! I'll transfer to Renmin U!
Lhasa today doesn't have the sanctity I thought it would; the Lhasa people once always revered has become a fountainhead of tyranny. I'm quite bummed to be staying on the island today; a good number of clothing shops in Lhasa have been burnt down, and everyone here on the island isn't allowed to leave. The lamaists have been fighting with police, don't know if any have been killed. To be honest, as old as I am I have never seen so many armored vehicles before, so many tanks and so much military. What I can't figure out is just what all this that I'm seeing is for. People are even saying they're killing us Han Chinese? All the shops on the island and in Lhasa are closed or are going to go bankrupt, because those shops were opened by Han, us…
The Chinese government allocates funds every year for development in Tibet, but to this day what has it really gotten? This kind of domestic tyranny is supposed to make China more developed? When I first came to Lhasa my feeling was that this place is simple, a place suited to personal development, and a palace suited to making money…because there were too many big business opportunities here, like mineral extraction over the past two years, which has also created a lot of wealth for the Tibet and makes the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet railway not even look like news.
March 14, 2008: Lhasa's Lama's rebel
This afternoon, PAP, traffic police and riot police all marched into Potala Palace Square to the Lhasa Department Store tower junctionTanks, armored vehicles and firetrucks all moved into the front of Potala Palace.At present, riot police have injured dozens and killed several.One fire truck has been blown up.Countless civilian cars have been blown up, and dozens of shops have been torchedOver a hundred Sichuanese have been killed.Jokhang Temple and Ramoche Temple have both already been burnt down!A friend just called to say: all small and large hospitals in Lhasa are already full with patients! (last night, several hundred Sichuanese got beaten in front of Jokhang Temple, 13 died at the scene, and 80 more were seriously hurt)
I often see the news about the war in Iraq, or attacks happening somewhere, and at the time I just sigh inside, reminded how lucky I am to be Chinese, where here it's at least peaceful, at least there are no battles, and people don't have to live their lives in fear of battle! But the riots which took place in Tibet today just make me see very clearly that in fact some people don't want our China to be a calm and peaceful place! I wonder, when people in other countries see the news about our battles here in China, will they feel the same thing that I did when I saw the news on Iraq?
When those insane dalais gathered in the street today and surrounded and viciously beat those Han Chinese, while they used lighters to light fire to shop after shop, while they threw molotovs at cars parked on the sides of the road, I really felt afraid, and that this is inconceivable. What you are destroying is the very place that you live in. Aren't you followers of the Living Buddha? You think this is something your Living Buddha instructed you to do, to destroy the very place that you live in? I think that most of these people haven't thought about this, and that most of them have been deceived by the words of certain people who would see the motherland split! But if you just think about it, just who was it that made Tibet the developed place it is today? Who set up the bridge between Tibet and the whole world? And who is it that sends qualified people each year from every sector to educate the children of Tibet with knowledge and culture? AND who is it that sends aid from every developed city in the motherland each year to assist Tibet? I think you seem to have forgotten all this……
March 14, Lhasa's lamas have finally “uprisen” again Smashing cars, lighting fires, and other stuff I don't even know whatEven with my build I can't easily get through the gaps in the PAP and army human wall And I definitely don't want to end up cannon fodder beneath the tracks of the armored vehicles Sigh..Lama, why can't you be more law-abiding like other monks?Everyone knows you don't do anything Just always making a commotion
Sunday, March 16:
As of Saturday, YouTube has been blocked in China. Little information seems to be coming out of Lhasa now, although micro-channels remain open. Phayul.com has cellphone video of a large number of monks demonstrating in the early afternoon of March 15 around Labrang Monastery in neighboring Gansu province.Also on Saturday, EconThink MSN Spaces blogger Robert posted a notice from the local law authorities calling on those responsible for the “smashing, looting, burning and killing” to turn themselves in before March 17, saying that those who do may be exempt from punishment, and those who don't will be severely punished, the same for those who are found to be covering up for or harboring criminals. Protection is being offered for those who turn “criminals” in.
I feel sorry for the Han, they may be the only people on earth not aware of the horrific atrocities that have been afflicted on the Tibetan people through the decades by the Chinese government.
March 16th, The fact Han people have no clue why these riots and separatists existed is a part of a carefully calculated program of “culture assimilation”, or in Dalai Lama’s saying: “cultural extinction / genocide”. Their reaction made me think about the cold talk between Israel-Pakistan and Serbia-Kosovo, where ignorance pave the way to war and hell.
I don’t know whether I have been brainwashed or you have been brainwashed. Why every person in developed western countries always think we are voice of goverment? I have been UK for 5 years, I am still working here. I have experienced your freedom or democracy for a long time. I admit it is good, but that doesn’t mean it is suitable for every country. I am here, not speaking for my goverment. I am speaking for my country. Most of you, don’t even know chinese, you received all information that have been filtered by your media. How could you know the truth and the thought of all chinese? I am feeling very sad for you.
I feel very sorry for those all you ignorant and arrogant westerners who know lilttle about China and a part of it, Tibet, and still think that you know much more about 1.3 billion Chinese, nearly 20% of the humanity. SHAME on you.
Rioters are only numbers in thousands if not in hundreds. The thugs (who beat and killed ordinary Hans, Huis, and other Chinese minorities like stray dogs) account for only a small percentage of Tibetan people (just like those ex- serf-owners in exile were a tiny part of the old Tibet), but they are many enough to do too much damage.
Even your much biased media (on one issue or another, one people or another people, like Arabs or Jews, then Paliasteinians or Jews etc) had to call those violent acts RIOTS, because they can’t filter out individual accounts as they used to, thanks to Internet. Just think that!
You guys are making a lot of progresses, though. 20 years ago, you guys would have more biased thoughts.
Don’t forget: vast majority of the officials in Tibet are Tibetans. Just think about that!!
Clearly we Chinese are mainly targeting at those rioters but not Tibetans in general. Why do you think that the rioters are representatives of the Tibetan people, a part of us? Do you really think that the Tibetan people are a violent people? You have to make up your mind!!
March 17
Hui Chinese, most Americans and Canadians who talk about Tibet, they are not interested in talking to you.
They want to talk at you as if you are some kind of subhuman. And they do it while completely ignoring the blood soaked ground we are standing on.
March 17: You should never trust the Western Media. It is amazing how well coordinated and well worded they make the current incident seems. They constantly used the word “protest” instead of the word “riot”. And it is consistent too. The source of course is either from Reuters or AP. There needs to be another more reliable source of news for the internet. Of course the prevalent language is English and most English speakers get their brainwashed news from Reuters or AP. I didn’t realized how stupid these English speakers were until recent years. And I have been in the West most of my life. It is amazing how the world is still being run by a minority. The West is obviously still in control. It is just another coordinated effort to bring more instability to a growing power like China. It is just a way to retain power in the West. The Chinese should see the West in its true light. They don’t intent to bring freedom or democracy to anybody, that is just BS. Nobody truly cares about Tibet or Tibetans. The true intention is to cause trouble for China.
B.RAMAN
The Chinese Army and the People's Armed Police (PAP) have begun house-to-house searches in Lhasa. They have been checking the identity papers of all residents of Lhasa, probably in order to see whether the violent riots of March 14,2008, were caused by residents of Lhasa or whether there was also the involvement of likely infiltrators from the Tibetan diaspora abroad.
2.Even though the ultimatum issued by the Chinese authorities asking the trouble-makers to surrender was to expire only after nightfall on March 17,2008, the searches and arrests began even before the expiry of the ultimatum. The arrested persons were handcuffed and paraded through the streets of Lhasa---some on foot and others on open trucks. Vehicles fitted with loudspeakers have been moving round in the streets of Lhasa saying that the Hans and the Tibetans are brothers and are the same people and that the action is directed against foreign agents and not the Tibetan people. The Chinese have also been alleging that the monks and other rioters killed and destroyed the property of not only the Hans, but also of many Hui Muslims from Central China living in Tibet.
3. Despite the Chinese blockage of the Internet and all blogs and Internet chatter, sporadic chatter continues to take place. Internet-savvyTibetan exile groups had apparently anticipated the Chinese attempts to block all access to the Internet. They have been managing to get through to Tibetans in Tibet and Sichuan through various alternate routes. Myanmar monks and students, who rioted last year, were not that Internet-savvy. The moment the Myanmar military junta blocked all Internet servers, they found themselves totally isolated and without any way of remaining in touch with the outside world.
4. Tibetan exile groups have till now managed to outsmart the Chinese and have managed to keep up their communications with Lhasa. Interestingly, some of the Han settlers in Tibet and abroad have also been keeping up their web chatter. A number of organisations in the West have been closely monitoring the web chatter of the Hans and Hui residents of Lhasa and disseminating them.
5.Extracts of some web chatter by the Hans and Huis of Lhasa taken from one of these web sites are given in the Annexure. I have not had the time to edit them or remove the typos. Some of the chatters are apparently not Hans.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd),Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
ANNEXURE (EXTRACTS FROM WEB CHATTER)
Lhasa is rioting…school was closed…spoiled my birthday…fighting in the city is brutal! Army cars keep going by, hand grenades keep getting thrown around, the area all around Jokhang is being blasted, pedestrian streets have been closed by the PAP, Wenzhou Trade St. has been closed too, it seems the gas stations have been blown up…old as I am I've never seen anything like this…the Dalai is really fucking something! I hope he hurries and blows our campus up too! I'll transfer to Renmin U!
Lhasa today doesn't have the sanctity I thought it would; the Lhasa people once always revered has become a fountainhead of tyranny. I'm quite bummed to be staying on the island today; a good number of clothing shops in Lhasa have been burnt down, and everyone here on the island isn't allowed to leave. The lamaists have been fighting with police, don't know if any have been killed. To be honest, as old as I am I have never seen so many armored vehicles before, so many tanks and so much military. What I can't figure out is just what all this that I'm seeing is for. People are even saying they're killing us Han Chinese? All the shops on the island and in Lhasa are closed or are going to go bankrupt, because those shops were opened by Han, us…
The Chinese government allocates funds every year for development in Tibet, but to this day what has it really gotten? This kind of domestic tyranny is supposed to make China more developed? When I first came to Lhasa my feeling was that this place is simple, a place suited to personal development, and a palace suited to making money…because there were too many big business opportunities here, like mineral extraction over the past two years, which has also created a lot of wealth for the Tibet and makes the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet railway not even look like news.
March 14, 2008: Lhasa's Lama's rebel
This afternoon, PAP, traffic police and riot police all marched into Potala Palace Square to the Lhasa Department Store tower junctionTanks, armored vehicles and firetrucks all moved into the front of Potala Palace.At present, riot police have injured dozens and killed several.One fire truck has been blown up.Countless civilian cars have been blown up, and dozens of shops have been torchedOver a hundred Sichuanese have been killed.Jokhang Temple and Ramoche Temple have both already been burnt down!A friend just called to say: all small and large hospitals in Lhasa are already full with patients! (last night, several hundred Sichuanese got beaten in front of Jokhang Temple, 13 died at the scene, and 80 more were seriously hurt)
I often see the news about the war in Iraq, or attacks happening somewhere, and at the time I just sigh inside, reminded how lucky I am to be Chinese, where here it's at least peaceful, at least there are no battles, and people don't have to live their lives in fear of battle! But the riots which took place in Tibet today just make me see very clearly that in fact some people don't want our China to be a calm and peaceful place! I wonder, when people in other countries see the news about our battles here in China, will they feel the same thing that I did when I saw the news on Iraq?
When those insane dalais gathered in the street today and surrounded and viciously beat those Han Chinese, while they used lighters to light fire to shop after shop, while they threw molotovs at cars parked on the sides of the road, I really felt afraid, and that this is inconceivable. What you are destroying is the very place that you live in. Aren't you followers of the Living Buddha? You think this is something your Living Buddha instructed you to do, to destroy the very place that you live in? I think that most of these people haven't thought about this, and that most of them have been deceived by the words of certain people who would see the motherland split! But if you just think about it, just who was it that made Tibet the developed place it is today? Who set up the bridge between Tibet and the whole world? And who is it that sends qualified people each year from every sector to educate the children of Tibet with knowledge and culture? AND who is it that sends aid from every developed city in the motherland each year to assist Tibet? I think you seem to have forgotten all this……
March 14, Lhasa's lamas have finally “uprisen” again Smashing cars, lighting fires, and other stuff I don't even know whatEven with my build I can't easily get through the gaps in the PAP and army human wall And I definitely don't want to end up cannon fodder beneath the tracks of the armored vehicles Sigh..Lama, why can't you be more law-abiding like other monks?Everyone knows you don't do anything Just always making a commotion
Sunday, March 16:
As of Saturday, YouTube has been blocked in China. Little information seems to be coming out of Lhasa now, although micro-channels remain open. Phayul.com has cellphone video of a large number of monks demonstrating in the early afternoon of March 15 around Labrang Monastery in neighboring Gansu province.Also on Saturday, EconThink MSN Spaces blogger Robert posted a notice from the local law authorities calling on those responsible for the “smashing, looting, burning and killing” to turn themselves in before March 17, saying that those who do may be exempt from punishment, and those who don't will be severely punished, the same for those who are found to be covering up for or harboring criminals. Protection is being offered for those who turn “criminals” in.
I feel sorry for the Han, they may be the only people on earth not aware of the horrific atrocities that have been afflicted on the Tibetan people through the decades by the Chinese government.
March 16th, The fact Han people have no clue why these riots and separatists existed is a part of a carefully calculated program of “culture assimilation”, or in Dalai Lama’s saying: “cultural extinction / genocide”. Their reaction made me think about the cold talk between Israel-Pakistan and Serbia-Kosovo, where ignorance pave the way to war and hell.
I don’t know whether I have been brainwashed or you have been brainwashed. Why every person in developed western countries always think we are voice of goverment? I have been UK for 5 years, I am still working here. I have experienced your freedom or democracy for a long time. I admit it is good, but that doesn’t mean it is suitable for every country. I am here, not speaking for my goverment. I am speaking for my country. Most of you, don’t even know chinese, you received all information that have been filtered by your media. How could you know the truth and the thought of all chinese? I am feeling very sad for you.
I feel very sorry for those all you ignorant and arrogant westerners who know lilttle about China and a part of it, Tibet, and still think that you know much more about 1.3 billion Chinese, nearly 20% of the humanity. SHAME on you.
Rioters are only numbers in thousands if not in hundreds. The thugs (who beat and killed ordinary Hans, Huis, and other Chinese minorities like stray dogs) account for only a small percentage of Tibetan people (just like those ex- serf-owners in exile were a tiny part of the old Tibet), but they are many enough to do too much damage.
Even your much biased media (on one issue or another, one people or another people, like Arabs or Jews, then Paliasteinians or Jews etc) had to call those violent acts RIOTS, because they can’t filter out individual accounts as they used to, thanks to Internet. Just think that!
You guys are making a lot of progresses, though. 20 years ago, you guys would have more biased thoughts.
Don’t forget: vast majority of the officials in Tibet are Tibetans. Just think about that!!
Clearly we Chinese are mainly targeting at those rioters but not Tibetans in general. Why do you think that the rioters are representatives of the Tibetan people, a part of us? Do you really think that the Tibetan people are a violent people? You have to make up your mind!!
March 17
Hui Chinese, most Americans and Canadians who talk about Tibet, they are not interested in talking to you.
They want to talk at you as if you are some kind of subhuman. And they do it while completely ignoring the blood soaked ground we are standing on.
March 17: You should never trust the Western Media. It is amazing how well coordinated and well worded they make the current incident seems. They constantly used the word “protest” instead of the word “riot”. And it is consistent too. The source of course is either from Reuters or AP. There needs to be another more reliable source of news for the internet. Of course the prevalent language is English and most English speakers get their brainwashed news from Reuters or AP. I didn’t realized how stupid these English speakers were until recent years. And I have been in the West most of my life. It is amazing how the world is still being run by a minority. The West is obviously still in control. It is just another coordinated effort to bring more instability to a growing power like China. It is just a way to retain power in the West. The Chinese should see the West in its true light. They don’t intent to bring freedom or democracy to anybody, that is just BS. Nobody truly cares about Tibet or Tibetans. The true intention is to cause trouble for China.
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