The travesty of the World's handling of Tibet

[Riddil]

Well, it's been a long while since my last post on the Cellar. (Loads painfully slow). Last time I came to offer a glimpse into China, and now I'm here to try to fix a gross misunderstanding.

From my perspective (as an expat living in China), it seems there is a mounting fervor against China and it's treatment of Tibet. (That's OK). There's even growing cries to "Free Tibet". (Not OK). The whole thing is now turning into a grade-A debacle.

Before I explain the details of my argument, I'm going to post my personal feelings and my conclusion up-front, to help offer perspective.

(Personally) I feel Tibet SHOULD be a free nation. They have a totally separate culture from the Han of mainland China. (Conclusion) The real tragedy is that somehow people have forgotten about the problems of the REST of the Chinese people, which in many regards is much worse than the Tibetans. What's sad is that the vitriol against China in Tibet is actually HURTING the cause to actually improve life in the rest of China.

Ok, now on to explaining WHY I believe those things...

Most people have a gross misunderstanding of Tibet. Many believe it was independent only 60 years ago. Not so. For all of recorded history Tibet has been "owned" by China, but has been allowed to be autonomous in most regards. Chinese tended to focus on Chinese issues, and Tibet was always viewed as a sort of holy-land, and allowed the Buddhist leaders to do as they pleased. And for most of history Tibetan lords and lamas ruled essentially as kings over the common man, who was either a serf or a slave. The Tibet of history was a land of one-sided wealth. The ruling Chinese could have cared less, their concern for Tibet was as a holy sanctuary, and as long as rule was maintained in Tibet, the leaders could do as they please.

What changed is when the Communists took control the elite ruling class became afraid (and rightly so) that the communists would eventually turn their eyes to Tibet, and try to "balance" the wealth. At first the Communists took baby steps in Tibet. Building schools, roads, hospitals, and leaving the culture and leadership basically alone. But when Mao launched his "Culture Revolution" and "Great Leap Forward"... Tibet was swept up in the same turmoil that engulfed mainland China. What's interesting is that the common people of Tibet actually WELCOMED the Chinese. Life was dramatically improving for them. The only people that were displeased were the rich ruling class. They're the ones that fled the country (to keep their wealth, and escape from the communists). Also, logically, they're also basically the only Tibetans now living overseas. If you listen to their opinion on Tibet, it is of course negative.

The tragedy is that the whole thing could have had a happy ending, with only a few pissed off elitists who ran overseas with their money. But China made a grand mistake with their Communists ideals. In their efforts to homogenize the WHOLE country they also began whitewashing Tibetan culture, and tried painting Chinese culture on top of it. And it's THAT change which slowly started shifting the general public opinion in Tibet against the PRC. It's grown and grown, until you see today the eruptions in Lhasa and elsewhere. If the PRC could have been more laissez-faire, the whole thing would be chuckles and flowers.

So, it's sad there was a mishandling, but it's the current reality. And in fact, if I also think Tibet should be free, why am I trying to convince people to back down?

Priorities.

There's a few key things I don't think people really understand... The Chinese government will not allow a totally independent Tibet. For many reasons. It would be a sign of weakness that foreign nations would exploit. Tibet is considered a key strategic piece of land, and is considered "the backdoor" for getting into China, and would be a safe base on the near side of the Himalayas. And not least, letting Tibet go could set off a political chain reaction within the country, causing instability. China will stop at nothing to hold on to Tibet, including international war.

Heck, even the Dalai Lama isn't calling for "freedom", just greater autonomy. He understands these same points, so he's actually calling for a change that is plausible, versus something that's impossible.

The other sad thing is that Tibetans already have much more freedom than "common Chinese". And this is what is causing such staunch nationalist fury in common Chinese people that's manifesting itself in growing angst to the West, all in defense of their country. Because by supporting Tibet, you're essentially over-looking every other Chinese person and saying that a Tibetan is worth more than they are.

Also consider this point... you may hate the Bush administration. But if suddenly the Sioux indians declared independence, and wanted to secede from America and take 5 different States with them.... and Russia and China started loudly pushing for "Sioux independence"... odds are you'd suddenly find your "American pride", and stand behind your country.

Anyhow, back to the real topic... Consider this... if you had a chance to support two causes, one possible, and one impossible... and if you knew that by supporting the impossible cause you were making the possible one more difficult to achieve... which would you choose? (Further, if by supporting the possible cause you could make the impossible one MORE plausible, which would you choose?)

The REAL cause that should be getting support from the West is a push to help ALL of the people ruled over by the Chinese Communist party, not just a tiny fraction in Tibet. Push for freedoms for ALL of the people. What's sad to watch is that the more people try to support ONLY Tibet, the more the common people stand behind their government out of national pride, and the more it hurts the cause to help actually bring real reform into China.

I really wish we could go into these Olympics preaching about how much ALL of China needs reform, and human rights improvement. There's a BIG chance that you could finally get your message out to common Chinese people, and they could see that the West DOES support them. But instead, we're going into the Beijing Olympics preaching about Tibet.... so common Chinese feel "attacked" by the West, their nationalist pride is triggered, and now they're more and more SUPPORTING their corrupt government.

*sigh*

It's so sad to see this missed opportunity to help make REAL change.