[Reader-list] Tibet: an article in the Hindu

[TaraPrakash]

Today's Hindu has an interesting article in it. Interesting because you'd 
think that Hindu told China High commission in India to write it. The term 
"International Media" used in the article denotes the media other than those 
under the control of Chinese government, Hindu seems to be one of them. Of 
course, the prison sentences to the dissenting Chinese journalists and 
intellectuals, lack of human rights, the forced evictions of people in the 
name of development never finds any mention in Hindu articles. The motto of 
the article seems to be "kill (in Tibet) and let us kill (in Kashmir)" The 
paper really seems to have become progressive.

The question of Tibet

If you go by western media reports, the propaganda of the so-called 'Tibetan 
government-in-exile' in Dharamsala and the votaries of the 'Free Tibet' 
cause,
or by the fulminations of Nancy Pelosi and the Hollywood glitterati, Tibet 
is in the throes of a mass democratic uprising against Han Chinese communist
rule. Some of the more fanciful news stories, images, and opinion pieces on 
the 'democratic' potential of this uprising have been put out by leading 
western
newspapers and television networks. The reality is that the riot that broke 
out in Lhasa on March 14 and claimed a confirmed toll of 22 lives involved
violent, ransacking mobs, including 300 militant monks from the Drepung 
Monastery, who marched in tandem with a foiled 'March to Tibet' by groups of 
monks
across the border in India. In Lhasa, the rioters committed murder, arson, 
and other acts of savagery against innocent civilians and caused huge damage
to public and private property. The atrocities included dousing one man with 
petrol and setting him alight, beating a patrol policeman and carving out
a fist-size piece of his flesh, and torching a school with 800 terrorised 
pupils cowering inside. Visual images and independent eyewitness accounts 
attest
to this ugly reality, which even compelled the Dalai Lama to threaten to 
resign. There was violence also in Tibetan ethnic areas in the adjacent 
provinces
of Gansu and Sichuan, which, according to official estimates, took an injury 
toll of more than 700. Western analyses have linked these incidents to the
March 10 anniversary of the failed 1959 Tibetan uprising, non-progress in 
the talks between the Dalai Lama's emissaries and Beijing, China's human 
rights
record, and the Beijing Olympic Games, which will of course be held as 
scheduled from August 8 to 24.

Recent accounts, however, express unease and sadness over the containment of 
the troubles, the 'large-scale,' if belated and politically slow, response
by Beijing, and the 'brutal ease' with which the protests have been 
'smothered'. In another context, say Pakistan under Pervez Musharraf, such a 
response
would have been called exemplary restraint. As evidence accumulates, the 
realisation dawns that it is too much to expect any legitimate government of 
a
major country to turn the other cheek to such savagery and breakdown of 
public order. So there is a shift in the key demand made on China: it must 
'initiate'
a dialogue with the Dalai Lama to find a sustainable political solution in 
Tibet.

But this is precisely what China has done for over three decades. The 
framework of the political solution is there for all to see. There is not a 
single
government in the world that either disputes the status of Tibet; or does 
not recognise it as a part of the People's Republic of China; or is willing 
to
accord any kind of legal recognition to the Dalai Lama's 
'government-in-exile.' This situation certainly presents a contrast to the 
lack of an international
consensus on the legal status of Kashmir. Nevertheless, there remains a 
Tibet political question, represented by the ideology and politics of the 
Dalai
Lama and the 'independence for Tibet' movement, and it has an international 
as well as a domestic dimension.

This is an era of unprecedented development for the Chinese economy, which 
has grown at nearly 10 per cent a year for three decades. Tibet itself is on
an economic roll: it has sustained an annual growth rate of more than 12 per 
cent over the past six years and is now on a 13-14 per cent growth 
trajectory.
A new politics of conciliation towards the Dalai Lama's camp has been shaped 
by this era, and since 2002, six rounds of discussion have taken place 
between
the representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government. The former 
have stated that the Dalai Lama's current approach is to "look to the future
as opposed to Tibet's history to resolve its status vis-À-vis China," and 
that the crux of his 'Middle Way' approach is to "recognise today's reality 
that
Tibet is part of the People's Republic of China ... and not raise the issue 
of separation from China in working on a mutually acceptable solution for 
Tibet."

The real problem arises from two demands pressed by the Dalai Lama. The 
first is his concept of 'high-level' or 'maximum' autonomy in line with the 
'one
country, two systems' principle. The Chinese government points out that this 
is applicable only to Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, and that the kind of 
autonomy
that the Dalai Lama demanded in November 2005 cannot possibly be 
accommodated within the Chinese Constitution. Secondly, the 2.6 million 
Tibetans in the
Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), which constitutes one-eighth of China's 
territory, form only 40 per cent of the total population of Tibetans in 
China. The
Chinese government makes the perfectly reasonable point that acceptance of 
the demand for 'Greater Tibet' or 'one administrative entity' for all 6.5 
million
ethnic Tibetans means breaking up Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan 
provinces, doing ethnic re-engineering, if not 'cleansing', and causing 
enormous
disruption and damage to China's society and political system. This demand 
too is ruled out, as any comparable demand to break up States in India would
be.

Multi-ethnic India is no stranger to such challenges to its territorial 
integrity: just consider the armed insurgency challenges, in some cases with 
external
fuelling, in Jammu & Kashmir and in several parts of the North-East. 
Although the United Progressive Alliance government has made some statements 
about
the Tibet incidents that hew close to the Washington line, it will be 
pleased that the studied official Chinese response has been to highlight 
India's
"clear and consistent" stand on the status of Tibet as part of the People's 
Republic of China. New Delhi has allowed too much latitude to the Dalai Lama
and the Tibetan discontents for their political activities on Indian soil, 
which go against the stand that they are not allowed "to engage in 
anti-China
political activities in India," a principle reaffirmed by External Affairs 
Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Washington on March 24. The time has come for 
India
to use the leverage that comes with hosting the Dalai Lama and his followers 
since 1959 to persuade or pressure him to get real about the future of Tibet
-- and engage in a sincere dialogue with Beijing to find a reasonable, just, 
and sustainable political solution within the framework of one China.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "S. Jabbar" <sonia.jabbar at gmail.com>
To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 8:40 AM
Subject: [Reader-list] Tibet


>A Million Strong for Tibet: End the violence
>
> THE TIBETANS ARE SENDING OUT A GLOBAL CRY FOR CHANGE.
>
> After decades of repression, Tibetans are crying out to the world for
> change. The Tibetan spiritual leader, His Holiness The Dalai Lama, has
> called for restraint and dialogs: he needs the world's people to support
> him. But violence is spreading across Tibet and the world, and the Chinese
> regime is right now considering a choice between increasing brutality or
> dialogs, that could determine the future of Tibet and China.
>
> We can affect this historic choice - China Œdoes¹ care about its
> international reputation. Its economy is totally dependent on "Made in
> China" exports that we all buy, and it is keen to make the Olympics in
> Beijing this summer a celebration of a new China that is a respected world
> power. The Chinese President Hu Jintao needs to hear that 'Brand China' 
> and
> the Olympics can succeed only if he makes the right choice. But it will 
> take
> an avalanche of global people power to get the government's attention.
>
> "I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not
> judge the universe."
> - The Dalai Lama
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> IMMEDIATE ACTION
> `````````````````
>
> Sign a petition.
>
> Click below to sign a petition to President Hu calling for restraint in
> Tibet and dialogue with the Dalai Lama -- and tell absolutely everyone you
> can right away. The petition is organized by Avaaz, and they are urgently
> aiming to reach 1 million signatures to deliver directly to Chinese
> officials:
>
> http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_violence/98.php/?CLICK_TF_TRACK
>
> Thank you so much for your help!
> _________________________________________
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