Future of Tibet

Today, the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee of East Asian and Pacific Affairs held a hearing entitled "The Future of Tibet" where Sen. Barbara Boxer, among others, announced their plans to develop a plan of action to resolve the Sino-Tibetan Crisis.

While this meeting was overall a very productive dialogue on the serious need for a solution now, if the current administration does not act quickly to enact this plan of action (the Bush Administration has already failed to follow the recommendations the committee gave earlier in the year), the United States will lose some of the key leverage it has gained due to the Beijing Summer Olympics.

All of the witnesses provided excellent testimonies and there were many intelligent questions the senators asked. Among these were John Negroponte, Deputy Secretary of State; Richard Gere, chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet; Lodi Gyari, special envoy of His Holiness XIV Dalai Lama; and Lobsang Sangay of the East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School. With the obvious, unanimous bipartisan agreement on the necessary steps that need to be taken to resolve this crisis within China, it is quite reasonable to expect far more genuine efforts on behalf of the Congress and the Bush administration to seriously address this issue and work with the Chinese government to create a mutually beneficial solution.

Part of the testimony, courtesy of YouTube and the Associated Press. For full coverage, see links below the video clip.


Click here for the Subcommittee's page for the hearing.

Click here to watch the hearing in its entirety.

Click here to read Lodi Gyari's full testimony.

Click here to read Richard Gere's full testimony.

12 Suggestions for Dealing with the Tibetan Situation

These are 12 suggestions presented in a petition signed by a number of prominent Han Chinese intellectuals as posted on Human Right Watch's webpage. This is the type of dialogue, from extremely courageous individuals, that will lead to a mutually beneficial solution in a tumultuous region.

Twelve Suggestions for Dealing with the Tibetan Situation

by Some Chinese Intellectuals

Editor's Note: On March 12, a group of Chinese intellectuals including prominent dissidents, lawyers, rights activitise and writers circulated a petition supporting calls for an independent investigation in Tibet by the United Nation, and urging the government to reconsider its policies in Tibet, so as to work toward "national reconciliation, not continue to increase divisions between nationalities." Two of the signatories, the tibetan poetess Woeser and the writer Wang Lixiong, have reported being under close police surveillance at their home since the beginning of the protests on March 10. Woeser maintains a blog, in Chinese.

1. At present the one-sided propaganda of the official Chinese media is having the effect of stirring up inter-ethnic animosity and aggravating an already tense situation. This is extremely detrimental to the long-term goal of safeguarding national unity. We call for such propaganda to be stopped.

2. We support the Dalai Lama’s appeal for peace, and hope that the ethnic conflict can be dealt with according to the principles of goodwill, peace, and non-violence. We condemn any violent act against innocent people, strongly urge the Chinese government to stop the violent suppression, and appeal to the Tibetan people likewise not to engage in violent activities.

3. The Chinese government claims that “there is sufficient evidence to prove this incident was organized, premeditated, and meticulously orchestrated by the Dalai clique." We hope that the government will show proof of this. In order to change the international community’s negative view and distrustful attitude, we also suggest that the government invite the United Nation’s Commission on Human Rights to carry out an independent investigation of the evidence, the course of the incident, the number of casualties, etc.

4. In our opinion, such Cultural-Revolution-like language as “the Dalai Lama is a jackal in Buddhist monk’s robes and an evil spirit with a human face and the heart of a beast ” used by the Chinese Communist Party leadership in the Tibet Autonomous Region is of no help in easing the situation, nor is it beneficial to the Chinese government’s image. As the Chinese government is committed to integrating into the international community, we maintain that it should display a style of governing that conforms to the standards of modern civilization.

5. We note that on the very day when the violence erupted in Lhasa (March 14), the leaders of the Tibet Autonomous Region declared that “there is sufficient evidence to prove this incident was organized, premeditated, and meticulously orchestrated by the Dalai clique.” This shows that the authorities in Tibet knew in advance that the riot would occur, yet did nothing effective to prevent the incident from happening or escalating. If there was a dereliction of duty, a serious investigation must be carried out to determine this and deal with it accordingly.

6. If in the end it cannot be proved that this was an organized, premeditated, and meticulously orchestrated event but was instead a “popular revolt” triggered by events, then the authorities should pursue those responsible for inciting the popular revolt and concocting false information to deceive the Central Government and the people; they should also seriously reflect on what can be learned from this event so as to avoid taking the same course in the future.

7. We strongly demand that the authorities not subject every Tibetan to political investigation or revenge. The trials of those who have been arrested must be carried out according to judicial procedures that are open, just, and transparent so as to ensure that all parties are satisfied.

8. We urge the Chinese government to allow credible national and international media to go into Tibetan areas to conduct independent interviews and news reports. In our view, the current news blockade cannot gain credit with the Chinese people or the international community, and is harmful to the credibility of the Chinese government. If the government grasps the true situation, it need not fear challenges. Only by adopting an open attitude can we turn around the international community’s distrust of our government.

9. We appeal to the Chinese people and overseas Chinese to be calm and tolerant, and to reflect deeply on what is happening. Adopting a posture of aggressive nationalism will only invite antipathy from the international community and harm China’s international image.

10. The disturbances in Tibet in the 1980s were limited to Lhasa, whereas this time they have spread to many Tibetan areas. This deterioration indicates that there are serious mistakes in the work that has been done with regard to Tibet. The relevant government departments must conscientiously reflect upon this matter, examine their failures, and fundamentally change the failed nationality policies.

11. In order to prevent similar incidents from happening in future, the government must abide by the freedom of religious belief and the freedom of speech explicitly enshrined in the Chinese Constitution, thereby allowing the Tibetan people fully to express their grievances and hopes, and permitting citizens of all nationalities freely to criticize and make suggestions regarding the government’s nationality policies.

12. We hold that we must eliminate animosity and bring about national reconciliation, not continue to increase divisions between nationalities. A country that wishes to avoid the partition of its territory must first avoid divisions among its nationalities. Therefore, we appeal to the leaders of our country to hold direct dialogue with the Dalai Lama. We hope that the Chinese and Tibetan people will do away with the misunderstandings between them, develop their interactions with each other, and achieve unity. Government departments as much as popular organizations and religious figures should make great efforts toward this goal.


Signatures:

Wang Lixiong (Beijing, Writer)
Liu Xiaobo (Beijing, Freelance Writer)
Zhang Zuhua (Beijing, scholar of constitutionalism)
Sha Yexin (Shanghai, writer, Chinese Muslim)
Yu Haocheng (Beijing, jurist)
Ding Zilin (Beijing, professor)
Jiang peikun (Beijing, professor)
Yu Jie (Beijing, writer)
Sun Wenguang (Shangdong, professor)
Ran Yunfei (Sichuan, editor, Tujia nationality)
Pu Zhiqiang (Beijing, lawyer)
Teng Biao (Beijing, Layer and scholar)
Liao Yiwu ()Sichuan, writer)
Wang Qisheng (Beijing, scholar)
Zhang Xianling (Beijing, engineer)
Xu Jue (Beijing, research fellow)
Li Jun (Gansu, photographer)
Gao Yu (Beijing, journalist)
Wang Debang (Beijing, freelance writer)
Zhao Dagong (Shenzhen, freelance writer)
Jiang Danwen (Shanghai, writer)
Liu Yi (Gansu, painter)
Xu Hui (Beijing, writer)
Wang Tiancheng (Beijing, scholar)
Wen kejian (Hangzhou, freelance)
Li Hai (Beijing, freelance writer)
Tian Yongde (Inner Mongolia, folk human rights activists)
Zan Aizong (Hangzhou, journalist)
Liu Yiming (Hubei, freelance writer)

The rules of signing one’s name are as follows:
1. Open signature
2. Only accept the signature with one’s own name or commonly used pen name
3. One needs to include one’s name, the province of one’s current residence, occupation
4. The e-mails for one to send one’s signature: xizangwenti@gmail.com; xiamixiami@hotmail.com; degewa@gmail.com.

"War is Peace"

Leave it to the Chinese government to restrict protests, then twist events, and intensify martial law, while simultaneously denying their crimes. This time, the Chinese government has turned a week of the most intense protesting seen in Tibet and the rest of the world in decades into yet another myth. As Jim Yardley of The New York Times reports,

BEIJING — Thousands of Buddhist monks and other Tibetans clashed with the riot police in a second Chinese city on Saturday, while the authorities said they had regained control of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, a day after a rampaging mob ransacked shops and set fire to cars and storefronts in a deadly riot.

Residents in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, walked through Barkhor, an ancient part of the city where protesters had set fire to a shop and several vehicles on Friday. Conflicting reports emerged about the violence in Lhasa on Friday. The Chinese authorities denied that they had fired on protesters there, but Tibetan leaders in India told news agencies on Saturday that they had confirmed that 30 Tibetans had died and that they had unconfirmed reports that put the number at more than 100.
Chinese authorities defended their response to the violence in Lhasa. “We fired no gunshots,” said Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government, according to state media.

But Tibetan advocacy groups and witnesses in Lhasa offered contradictory accounts. The Tibetan government in exile said at least 30 Tibetans died in the protests, according to Agence France-Presse. Witnesses told Radio Free Asia, the nonprofit news agency financed by the United States government, that numerous Tibetans were dead. A 13-year-old Tibetan boy, reached by telephone, said he watched the violence from his apartment and saw four or five Tibetans fall to the ground after military police officers fired upon them.

The protests also disprove yet another lie propagated by Chinese authorities.

The tumult also undercuts a theme regularly promoted by China’s propaganda officials — that Tibetans are a happy minority group, smoothly integrated into the country’s broader ethnic fabric.

It is sad that such a peaceful people simply desiring freedom and democracy are only noticed as endangered by a repressive government when they are provoked to lashing out in violence against an oppressor infinitely larger than themselves. As Wolf Blitzer reports,


Clearly, people across the world are calling for action to prevent the genocide China has engaged in since 1949 that has been largely ignored by the international community. The plight of the Tibetan people is one that is rooted in the minds of all people, regardless of their origin. As a promoter of democracy and a nation vowed to uphold the Geneva Conventions, the United States is in a key position of influence to encourage and persuade the Chinese government to stop its murderous campaigns and allow Tibet to uphold its culture and the democracy they desire through meaningful autonomy.

Or, better yet, independence.

For the rest of the story, click here.

For more by Jim Yardley, click here.