Xu Wenli
01-05-08, 09:42
Xu Wenli: Who is really behind violence in Tibet?
{ May 1, 2008 @ 7:51 pm } · { Articles on Tibet }
{ Tags: China, Lhasa, Tibet }
XU WENLI
THE RECENT RIOTS in Tibet have attracted the attention of international media, human-rights organizations and Tibet-related activist groups. As a long-time Chinese political dissident, I am, of course, very concerned about the safety and security of the local Chinese and Tibetan residents. I also fear that amid all the reports on conflicting casualty counts and the implications for the Olympic Games, the world is overlooking an important question: Who is actually behind the violence?
The Chinese government already has an answer of its own. Premier Wen Jiabao has publicly condemned the riots as an orchestrated attack by the Dalai Lama to sabotage the Beijing Olympics and push for Tibetan independence. However, it is clear that the story is not as simple as the Chinese government suggests, given the Dalai Lama’s candid invitation for international and Chinese investigators to search his exile government in India, his commitment to resign as the political leader of the Tibetan people if bloodshed continues, and his continuous reiteration of his policy of peaceful demonstration for meaningful autonomy.
What else could be at work behind the violent uprisings in Tibet? I would like to posit a scenario of my own: It is likely that the violence in Tibet could have been instigated by the Chinese government.
I say this for several reasons. First, the account of a hijacking of a Chinese domestic flight by a Uighur separatist in early March has raised suspicions that the Chinese government is fabricating terrorist-like plots to target the problematic Uighur minority. The hijacker was supposedly a young Uighur girl who began her “terrorist” training at the age of 6. She allegedly brought gasoline onto the plane and bribed an airport guard with a meager 100 renminbi ($14) to circumvent security. These highly improbable allegations reveal that the Chinese government could be deliberately demonizing troublesome ethnic minorities with separatist tendencies, namely the Uighurs and the Tibetans, in an effort to justify more aggressive control measures before the Olympics.
Second, the timing of the Tibetan riots is strange. If the Tibetans really want to sabotage the Olympics and embarrass China, it would be more effective to wage a large-scale uprising in June or July, when it is closer to the Olympics and damage control by the Chinese government would be more difficult.
Furthermore, the Tibetans have never had a history of being violent despite their rightful resentment toward the Chinese. It is difficult to believe that a peaceful protest by the monks could have escalated so quickly into regional chaos without external provocation by the Chinese government. After all, it would not be the first time that the Chinese government has done this. During the Tiananmen Massacre, tanks were purposely destroyed and lighted on fire by non-demonstrators to make the situation look more violent, thus justifying the necessity of an immediate and brutal crackdown.
Provoking the Tibetans with violence gives the government ample justification to aggressively clamp down early on any activity that could derail the perfect execution of the Olympics in the name of security. It also gives the government the excuse to restrict foreign media access to politically sensitive regions in western China — reducing, if not eliminating, the possible annoyance and embarrassment that the Tibetans and the Uighurs might cause before China becomes the center of the world’s attention in August.
Unfortunately, the recent tour by foreign journalists to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa was tightly managed, and there is still not enough information coming out of Tibet to determine who sparked the violence. In addition to accusations against the government and the Dalai Lama, there are also suggestions that the violence was instigated by local “thugs” who are victims of economic inequality, or that the younger, more militant Tibetan organizations may have steered the protests toward a bloody turn. It could turn out that no one scenario captures the full complexity of the issue at hand and the various dynamics at play. A thorough and objective investigation should be conducted as soon as possible. Only when we have a complete grasp of the truth behind the bloodshed and destruction can we justly resolve this tragedy.
Xu Wenli, a prominent Chinese dissident and chairman of the China Democracy Party who spent 16 years in Chinese prisons, is a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. This article was translated by Kevin Xu and Ruo Mei Chua.
http://madeintibet.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/xu-wenli-who-is-really-behind-violence-in-tibet/
{ May 1, 2008 @ 7:51 pm } · { Articles on Tibet }
{ Tags: China, Lhasa, Tibet }
XU WENLI
THE RECENT RIOTS in Tibet have attracted the attention of international media, human-rights organizations and Tibet-related activist groups. As a long-time Chinese political dissident, I am, of course, very concerned about the safety and security of the local Chinese and Tibetan residents. I also fear that amid all the reports on conflicting casualty counts and the implications for the Olympic Games, the world is overlooking an important question: Who is actually behind the violence?
The Chinese government already has an answer of its own. Premier Wen Jiabao has publicly condemned the riots as an orchestrated attack by the Dalai Lama to sabotage the Beijing Olympics and push for Tibetan independence. However, it is clear that the story is not as simple as the Chinese government suggests, given the Dalai Lama’s candid invitation for international and Chinese investigators to search his exile government in India, his commitment to resign as the political leader of the Tibetan people if bloodshed continues, and his continuous reiteration of his policy of peaceful demonstration for meaningful autonomy.
What else could be at work behind the violent uprisings in Tibet? I would like to posit a scenario of my own: It is likely that the violence in Tibet could have been instigated by the Chinese government.
I say this for several reasons. First, the account of a hijacking of a Chinese domestic flight by a Uighur separatist in early March has raised suspicions that the Chinese government is fabricating terrorist-like plots to target the problematic Uighur minority. The hijacker was supposedly a young Uighur girl who began her “terrorist” training at the age of 6. She allegedly brought gasoline onto the plane and bribed an airport guard with a meager 100 renminbi ($14) to circumvent security. These highly improbable allegations reveal that the Chinese government could be deliberately demonizing troublesome ethnic minorities with separatist tendencies, namely the Uighurs and the Tibetans, in an effort to justify more aggressive control measures before the Olympics.
Second, the timing of the Tibetan riots is strange. If the Tibetans really want to sabotage the Olympics and embarrass China, it would be more effective to wage a large-scale uprising in June or July, when it is closer to the Olympics and damage control by the Chinese government would be more difficult.
Furthermore, the Tibetans have never had a history of being violent despite their rightful resentment toward the Chinese. It is difficult to believe that a peaceful protest by the monks could have escalated so quickly into regional chaos without external provocation by the Chinese government. After all, it would not be the first time that the Chinese government has done this. During the Tiananmen Massacre, tanks were purposely destroyed and lighted on fire by non-demonstrators to make the situation look more violent, thus justifying the necessity of an immediate and brutal crackdown.
Provoking the Tibetans with violence gives the government ample justification to aggressively clamp down early on any activity that could derail the perfect execution of the Olympics in the name of security. It also gives the government the excuse to restrict foreign media access to politically sensitive regions in western China — reducing, if not eliminating, the possible annoyance and embarrassment that the Tibetans and the Uighurs might cause before China becomes the center of the world’s attention in August.
Unfortunately, the recent tour by foreign journalists to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa was tightly managed, and there is still not enough information coming out of Tibet to determine who sparked the violence. In addition to accusations against the government and the Dalai Lama, there are also suggestions that the violence was instigated by local “thugs” who are victims of economic inequality, or that the younger, more militant Tibetan organizations may have steered the protests toward a bloody turn. It could turn out that no one scenario captures the full complexity of the issue at hand and the various dynamics at play. A thorough and objective investigation should be conducted as soon as possible. Only when we have a complete grasp of the truth behind the bloodshed and destruction can we justly resolve this tragedy.
Xu Wenli, a prominent Chinese dissident and chairman of the China Democracy Party who spent 16 years in Chinese prisons, is a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. This article was translated by Kevin Xu and Ruo Mei Chua.
http://madeintibet.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/xu-wenli-who-is-really-behind-violence-in-tibet/