China’s Crackdown On Tibet

Since 1951, when Chinese rule over Tibet was established, capital of Red mainland mainland chin awake has tried hard to stifle Tibetan culture, religion, and language (Demick, 2008a). In 1959, Chinese army brutally suppressed a fai take Tibetan uprising against china which toped in the line of achievement of the Dalai genus genus genus genus Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, and cardinals of thousands of Tibetans to India where they proclaimed a government-in-exile (Demick, 2008b).Despite the central governments heavy investments in Tibets stem and support of the regions tourism industry for the last decade which led to a 14% GDP egression rate in 2007 and the emergence of a new middle class in Lhasa, Tibets capital, the recent economic achievements failed to pull round Tibetans loyalty to capital of Red chinawargon. More and to a greater extent Han Chinese, the state of matters majority population, have go into to the region in recent age making up approximately 50% of Lhasa population and being the veritable beneficiaries of economic growth.Tibetans too oppose the sturdy policies adopted by the topical anaesthetic gossiper leader, Zhang Qingli, aiming at restricting ghostly persuade on the population and undermining the authority of the Dalai Lama who is revered in Tibet (Trashing the capital of Red mainland mainland china Road). Mid- butt protests in Tibet The last month protests in Tibet were sparked on treat 10th by ternary hundred or so monks in Lhasa staging a composed demonstration to mark the anniversary of a failed 1959 revolt against Chinese rule and spurring the government to set free jug colleagues.Protests continued on frame fourteenth shortly aft(prenominal) two monks had been beat out by police officers. These demonstrations by hundreds of Buddhistic monks and local Tibetan residents turned boisterous and resulted in clashes with the police forces and burning of shops have by Han Chinese residents. Protests qu ickly fiesta to the monasteries of Ganden, Drepung, and Sera, foliate 2 and also took office staff in Amdo province where the Dalai Lama had been natural (Magnier, 2008a).Thousands of people also attacked a local police station, vandalized several police cars, and raised Tibets national flag, banned by the Chinese government. At least ten people were reported to be killed in Lhasa as a result of rampage and clashes there. On butt on 15th, the rising erupted also in the holy metropolis of Xiahe. (Magnier, 2008b). The police forces surrounded the area and staged impertinenters to evacuate the region. The demonstrations were dispersed, galore(postnominal) Tibetan monks and residents beaten(a) and arrested.By March 17th, despite the heraldic bearing of Chinese security forces deployed to the region, the rioting spread out to Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai provinces, areas with considerable ethnical Tibetan populations, and resulted in eighty deaths (Demick, 2008b). The government selected media images and stories for broadcasting in order to describe Tibetans and Buddhist monks as the aggressors and the Chinese state as a victim and, thus, succeeded in winning almsgiving and support among the Han Chinese.capital of Red China acc utilise the Dalai Lama and his self-proclaimed government-in-exile of being the mastermind behind the riots in Tibet and portrayed the protests as a flight of arms between the Chinese and the Tibetans stirring up feelings of anger and fear among the former and benevolent to their nationalist sentiments (Magnier, 2008c). The Dalai Lama, by contrast, called for nonviolence but he admitted at a assemblage in Dharamsala, India, visited by m either foreign journalists that he was powerless to hinder the riots as Tibetans, being fed up with Beijing repressive regime, have became more and more violent and radicalized (Demick, 2008b).Methods such as telephone tapping, Internet filtering, and travel restrictions were used by the secu rity units to block either information or intelligence operation rough the rioting and its stifling. Chinese press also criticized foreign journalists accusing them of distorting the facts about the rioting in Tibet and of exaggerating the brutality with which they were suppressed. On March Page 3 26th, Beijing officials selected or so two dozen foreign journalists that were allowed to date Lhasa for the first time after the events there to show the damage caused by Tibetans (Welcome to the exceptionals). Beijings dilemmaTibet has been a restive area in China for decades and its current uprising, apart from being the just about dangerous one since 1959, also takes present at the most inconvenient snatch when Beijing prepares to host the 2008 Summer Olympics coterminous solemn. The violent riots in Tibet and the brutality with which Beijing responded have attracted the attention of the existences leaders as well as human rights groups many of whom instanter call for a b oycott of the Olympics (Demick, 2008b). The 72-year old Dalai Lama, by contrast, say that the Chinese people be to host the 2008 Summer Olympics emphasizing that he opposes their boycotting (Magnier, 2008c).Sympathy demonstrations have been held around the dry land whose participants have tried to disrupt the passage of the Olympic Games torch in Europe, the USA, and Asia demanding that Beijing stupefy the negotiations with the Dalai Lama to break up the contradict peacefully and ease control over Tibet (Torch line trilogy). Frances President Nicolas Sarkozy, Britains tiptop Minister Gordon Brown, and Polands Prime Minister Donald Tusk have al clear announced they may non attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics scheduled for August 8th if China does not tot up its talks with the Dalai Lama (Elegant, 2008).Obama and Clinton, the Democratic whoremongerdidates for the US presidency, believe bush-league should boycott it, too. With the protests gap further in Tibet, mor e critics of China impart be galvanized around the solid ground and more western leaders will be pressed to ignore the Beijings opening ceremony (Torch song trilogy). The way China deals with the current riots in Tibet is brutal, but not as brutal, however, as it was in 1989 when the last big protests erupted in Lhasa.Beijing has to show relative command because of the forthcoming Olympics and the reaction of the international Page 4 community to the events in Tibet. On the one hand, the government top-ranking officials are sensitive of the fact that for Tibetans the Games are a pure(a) chance to bring the attention of foreign governments to their situation under Beijings rule and with the help of other Tibetans life story abroad to put more insistence on the government to give them religious and political freedom.So Beijing is strained to forbear from any harsh suppression of the rioting it preferred to use in the past. On the other hand, the government squeeze outt ease the crackdown as it worries that ethnic minorities in other parts of China may get emboldened to revolt, too, if the Tibetan dissident movement is not suppressed. It concerns in particular the far region of Xinjiang in western China which is populated by restive Muslim Uighurs (Trashing the Beijing Road).Besides, any compromise with or concession to the Dalai Lama and Tibetans may undermine Beijings authority inside China now that government leaders succeeded in furnish nationalist sentiments among its citizens who believe that Tibetan rule belongs to China (Elegant, 2008). The US stance on China-Tibet conflict After the telephone colloquy between President Bush and Chinas president Hu Jintao on March 26th, Bush said China was ready to hold talks with the Dalai Lama (Welcome to the Olympics).For the Bush validation abuse of human rights in Tibet is undoubtedly an important issue. However, the administration is hostile to any boycotting of the 2008 Summer Olympics as virtually E uropean leaders propose because it is aware that such steps will publically humiliate the entire Chinese society, not just its government, and will not resolve the problem. The fact is that the list of the US issues with China includes also North Korea and Iran and their nuclear weapons. These are the countries on which Beijing has influence and can persuade them to give up their weapon of mass destruction programs.Chinese cooperation on Darfur is also urgently needed. So instead of shaming China, the Bush administration has chosen to Page 5 come out a wiser policy and urged Beijing to start serious talks with the Dalai Lama persuading the Chinese that he can help conciliate the region and that this move is in Chinas interest as well. Besides, the Dalai Lama who has an enormous influence on Tibetans has said on several occasions that he seeks only cultural autonomy, not license (Boycott opening ceremonies).REFERENCES 1. Boycott opening ceremonies. (2008, April 21). Newsweek. Re trieved April 22, 2008 from the cosmea roomy web http//www.newsweek.com/id/131761 2. Demick, B. (2008a, March 13). Tibetan monks protest Chinese rule. Los Angeles multiplication on the sack up. Retrieved April 18, 2008 from the military man coarse Web http//www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-tibet13mar13,0,4684975.story 3. Demick, B. (2008b, March 17). Tibet protests spread in China. Los Angeles Times on the Web. Retrieved April 18, 2008 from the World total Web http//www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-tibet17mar17,0,6519991.story 4. Elegant, S. (2008, April 10). Chinas Olympic shame. Time magazine. Retrieved April 18, 2008 from the World broad(a) Web http//www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1729704,00.html 5. Magnier, M. (2008a, March 15). 10 reported dead in Tibet rioting. Los Angeles Times on the Web. Retrieved April 18, 2008 from the World Wide Web http//www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-tibet15mar15,0,5602483.story 6. Magnier, M. (2008b, March 16). China cracks down in Tibet and beyond as protests spread. Los Angeles Times on the Web. Retrieved April 18, 2008 from the World Wide Web http//www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-tibet16mar16,0,6720285,full.story 7. Magnier, M. (2008c, March 17). China plays victim for its audience. Los Angeles Times on the Web. Retrieved April 18, 2008 from the World Wide Web http//www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-chispin17mar17,0,6547698.story? itinerary=ntothtml 8. Torch song trilogy. (2008, April 10). The Economist. Retrieved April 18, 2008 from the World Wide Web http//www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11016360 9. Trashing the Beijing Road. (2008, March 19). The Economist. Retrieved April 18, 2008 from the World Wide Web http//www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10875823 10. Welcome to the Olympics. (2008, March 27). The Economist. Retrieved April 18, 2008 from the World Wide Web http//www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10925708