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How To Resolve the Tibet Crisis
Eric Margolis
Lew
Rockwell.com
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The current Tibetan rebellion against Chinese rule has captured
world attention and sympathy. Protests from Katmandu to New York
have ensured it stays on TV screens almost everywhere –
except China, of course.
China’s government, which has been preparing a massive,
carefully orchestrated Olympic summer extravaganza in Beijing,
has been deeply embarrassed and lost a great deal of face. The
latest Tibetan "intifada" erupted just after China’s
party congress was celebrating the nation’s economic upsurge
and orderly development.
Who is right about Tibet? Beijing claims Tibet has always been
and remains an integral part of China. The Dalai Lama, insists
Beijing, is a dangerous "splittist" fomenting rebellion
with Western help. Chinese civilians have been attacked by Tibetan
mobs, says Beijing.
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The Dalai Lama, his followers, and international supporters assert
China is conducting "cultural genocide" in Tibet by
bringing in settlers and drowning its ancient Buddhist traditions
in a flood of Han Chinese newcomers.
Is Tibet historically part of China, as Beijing claims? Yes and
no. The thirteenth century Mongol emperors adopted Tibetan Buddhism
as their new state religion and hailed the Dalai Lama as their
"teacher" and spiritual guide. When the Ming Dynasty
took power in China around 1370, it adopted and continued this
"priest-ruler" relationship.
Tibet’s Buddhist theocracy recognized the ultimate political
mastery of China’s emperor, while he recognized the spiritual
primacy of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa and Tibet’s total autonomy.
Lhasa became the Vatican for the Mongol Empire and China’s
Ming Empire.
In 1913, while China was in chaos, Tibet, backed by the British
Empire, declared independence. War-torn China had no chance to
reassert its claim to Tibet until the end of the civil war in
May, 1950. Four months later, China’s People’s Army
invaded Tibet and declared it "reunited" to China. Many
Tibetans, particularly the warlike Champa, resisted furiously.
A year earlier, Chinese troops had invaded and crushed the independent,
four-year old Muslim Republic of East Turkistan – today
called Xinjiang – whose Turkic-Mongol Uighurs, long fought
Chinese rule and Han Chinese immigration.
The world laments for the Tibetan cause, but utterly ignores
the unfashionable cause of Tibet’s northern neighbors, the
Uighurs. After 2001, the Bush Administration even branded Muslim
Uighur resistance movements "terrorists."
How many Tibetans are there? China has obscured census figures.
When I met with the Dalai Lama, who inspired my book, "War
at the Top of the World" – which is in part about Tibet
– he told me there were over seven million Tibetans. About
three million are in Tibet proper, and the rest in the neighboring
Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai, to which protests
have spread. The last two Chinese provinces used to form part
of historical Tibet.
A primary cause of the Tibetan "intifada" is continuing
settlement by Han Chinese. After what I call "ethnic inundation,"
ethnic Chinese settlers now outnumber Tibetans. The same process
of inundation occurred in Inner Mongolia, whose people are ethnically
close to Tibetans.
But we should be aware that China has also uplifted Tibet from
frightful poverty and medieval superstition, brought education,
hospitals, electricity, roads, and ended widespread serfdom. Last
year, a remarkable new high altitude rail line linked Lhasa to
Beijing.
When I last visited Tibet in 1993, people came up and begged
me with tears in their eyes for a photo of their beloved exiled
Dalai Lama. I saw anti-Chinese demonstrations in Lhasa, and regiments
of Chinese paramilitary police and soldiers. Resistance has simmered
for decades. Now, the pot has boiled over.
So far, China, keenly aware of the upcoming Olympics and its
world image, has been fairly restrained in suppressing the uprising.
As of this writing, the uprising appears to be abating. But if
it flares anew and gets out of hand, China will use much more
force.
Another danger: China’s giant rival, India, would dearly
like to drive China from the strategic Tibetan Plateau, which
looms over northern India. China has built a score of air and
missile bases in Tibet that deeply alarm India. Growing unrest
could tempt India to back Tibetan resistance. In the late 1940’s,
India also had its eye on Tibet but lacked the military power
to take action. But it seems likely that had not China annexed
Tibet, it would have become an Indian protectorate, like those
other forgotten Himalayan kingdoms, Bhutan, Sikkim and Ladakh
(known as "little Tibet").
Any Indian or American move to destabilize Chinese rule over
Tibet would be met with a fierce response from Beijing, which
considers the Tibetan plateau its most militarily sensitive region
after the coastal stretch of territory opposite Taiwan and the
Beijing military region.
So what can the world do? Some EU members urge boycotting the
Olympic opening ceremonies. Similar calls are coming from North
America. Others demand outright trade sanctions.
Such overt action won’t work. China will never voluntarily
relinquish control of Tibet. No one is going to tell China what
to do. A face-saving compromise needs to be found for this confrontation.
The best solution is the one proposed by the Dalai Lama: Beijing
restores the old "priest-ruler" relationship. Tibet
recognizes China’s political mastery and military presence,
China accepts Tibet’s genuine internal autonomy, ceases
Han immigration, and allows the Dalai Lama to return.
As globalization plays an ever larger role in China’s economy,
its positive image abroad is extremely important. Stomping on
Tibet is counterproductive. Beijing should respond with patience,
and accord the Dalai Lama, a fierce pacifist and great soul, the
same reverence and respect as did the Mongol and Ming emperors.
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