Eric's Beijing Diary

Watching Aljazeera English this evening, I am getting a slightly different picture than the one painted by the China Daily. It really takes work to get a feeling for what is actually going on. It does seem that things are calming down, but there is clearly lots of very intense feeling left, as shown by the monks who interrupted an information session for foreign journalists. The way you view the Tibet situation depends, I guess on where your prejudices lie. But what, really, is the truth? In trying to determine this, I have become wary of both Chinese and foreign sources. People in the West do not understand the Tibet situation, and especially do not know the history of the area.

Westerners tend to think of Tibet as having been an independent country before 1959. In fact, Kublai Khan took Tibet in the 13th Century, and it has been internationally recognized as under China since long before 1959. The Western perspective is understandable, in one sense, because Tibet is so very mountainous and naturally isolated, and before the time of electricity and telephone communications, the logistics of managing Tibet as a "colony" made any real direct control impractical if not impossible. So Tibet functioned as an independent country through much of the time that it was claimed by China. Nevertheless, it was claimed by China, and that claim was largely unchallenged. Before the PRC was set up in 1949, it was claimed by Chiang Kai-shek's government, and, in fact, it still is on the official maps of the Republic of China (Taiwan). So this is not really a Communist/non-Communist issue, although it was made to appear that way, because Chiang Kai-shek (somewhat hypocritically) supported the rebels at the time of the 1959 trouble.

But if the perspective encouraged by Western media is not altogether accurate, China itself doesn't help matters by it's own position, which, at times, borders on the irrational. I have grown weary of references in the Chinese media to the "Peaceful Liberation" of Tibet. This kind of expression damages China's credibility, because anyone with any knowledge of history knows that the Chinese went in with overwhelming force to which there was significant resistance. There is another problem, I believe, with the way China has handled this whole situation. The Dalai Lama, as you know, is sorta the "Pope" of Tibetan Buddhism. Second to him is the Panchen Lama. In 1989, the Panchen Lama died mysteriously after giving a speech critical of the Chinese occupation of Tibet. He was 51. The Tibetans chose a replacement, and this choice was confirmed through secret communication with the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India. But after the Dalai Lama publicly announced the selection of the new Panchen Lama, the Chinese government kidnapped him and set up their own replacement. So nobody knows where the "real" Panchen Lama is. The government insists that he doesn't want to talk to reporters, and they are honoring his wishes. But this action has created considerable resentment among the common people of Tibet. At the outbreak of the recent trouble, the China Daily had a headline on the front page saying that religious leaders were critical of the rebellion. Sure enough, they quoted, as example of that statement, the puppet Panchen Lama they had set up. This may fool local Chinese folks, but the laobaixing in Tibet would not be so naive.

So what is best for Tibet? There is little question that the current uprising was anything but a peaceful demonstration. The rebels vented their rage by killing innocent people. As such, they are criminals, and I have little sympathy for them. Furthermore, I don't believe that Tibet would be better off under a religious autocracy controlled by the monks. That being said, it may be time for China to consider some sort of dialogue with the Dalai Lama, since he is considered by most Tibetans to be the leader of the Tibetan people. A negotiated autonomy such as the one Hong Kong enjoys is far preferable, in my opinion, to the current status quo, where feelings of resentment are constantly boiling under the surface, ready to erupt at the first opportunity.