Tibet and China

Dr. Warren Smith Jr., author of China’s Tibet?, recently said that the March 14 riots in Tibet were the largest since 1989 and the bloodiest since 1959. With the Olympic games quickly approaching, China is trying to cover up its acts of violence.

Smith, a New Age thinker, spoke at the Heritage Foundation on June 17 about Chinese-Tibetan relations, Tibet’s bloody past, and the country’s uncertain future.

“….The popular Tibetan reaction has had an air of finality, even desperation, about it, as though 2008 is the last chance Tibetans may have to preserve their national and cultural identity,” Smith wrote in an essay titled Tibet’s Last Stand?

On the March 10th anniversary of the 1959 revolt, 200 monks attempted to march into Llasa. They were stopped by Chinese security police and several were arrested for carrying the Tibetan flag, which the Chinese declared illegal.

The protests reached a climax on March 14 when 140 protestors were murdered. The damage totaled $40 million, according to Dr. Smith.

Tibetans wanted autonomy and freedom from Chinese rule. They carried their flags as symbols of national pride and risked their lives in the process, Smith said.

“Given that the last monk to carry a Tibetan flag in a demonstration back in 1989 was shot through the head, the courage of these monks was astounding,” said Smith. “The March 14 protests were acts of desperation; carrying a flag knowing that you invite a bullet in the head is an act of suicide.”

However, the Chinese did not deem these acts courageous. A Congressional Research Service Report for Congress titled “Tibet: Problems, Prospects, and U.S. Policy” claimed that “[b]y March 31, 2008, official [People’s Republic of China] sources reportedly claimed that 18 had died, while the Tibetan government-in-exile reportedly claimed 140 had died.”

“Based on numerous and sometimes sketchy reports, the dead included both Tibetans and ethnic Han Chinese merchants, some of the former reportedly having been shot by police and some of the latter reportedly having died in their establishments in fires set by the mob.”

Smith said that the result was two-fold: massive support for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and an Olympic games propaganda disaster for China.
“What neither Tibetan nor Chinese leaders seem to have expected, however, is that the Tibetan uprising has triggered a vast rally-round-the-flag phenomenon in support of the CCP,” said Smith.

The United States needs to be aware of this support for the CCP, Smith argued.
“[Support for the CCP] bears important implication for the policies of the United States and other democratic nations,” said Smith.

The violence reflects badly on China especially since its leadership has been trying to project a positive image to the rest of the world before the Olympics.

“Tibetans and their supporters were subsequently able to turn the Olympic Torch relay that Beijing had promoted as a ‘Journey of Harmony’ into a propaganda disaster for China,” said Smith.

However, the Chinese see the March 14 incident, as they’re calling it, as a disaster for their own country and their own people. Smith said the Chinese have been misled about Tibetan people all their lives.

“Comments by many Chinese, both within China and abroad, revealed that they were unaware of any reason why Tibetans should question or oppose Chinese rule,” said Smith. “The Chinese people have been taught that China liberated Tibetans from their own feudal misrule.”

Smith told the audience that most Chinese claim that the Tibetans are ungrateful, because the Chinese claim it was they who rescued the Tibetans from an oppressive system. However, this is a falsehood, Smith said.
“This issue fools a lot of people. This is the argument used by all empires—that [smaller states] can’t govern themselves as well as we can govern them,” said Smith.

Governing does not mean stealing and looting monasteries. The Chinese looted Tibetan goods, then redistributed the wealth to their own people in the 1970s and even recently. Smith claims that China finds Tibet a source of amusement.

“Is there any other fate for Tibet than to become a Disneyland for China? ,” argued Smith. “Are the Olympic games the only thing that seems to be restraining Chinese behavior in Tibet?”

The rest of the world will just have to wait until the Olympic games are over.

Melinda Zosh is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.

Melinda Zosh