China's ethnic policies led to Tibet riots

[Harold Schiffman]

China's ethnic policies led to Tibet riots
The Yomiuri Shimbun

Rioting in China's Tibet Autonomous Region, has spread to neighboring
areas. Tibetan exiles across the world have staged protests, damaging
China's image abroad ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games to be held in
August. It is ironic that the riots occurred when the National
People's Congress, China's parliament, is in session until Tuesday
because the parliament had made social harmony, including harmony
among ethnic groups, one of the main themes of the annual session. The
latest riots could be considered the product of China's failed policy
toward Tibet.

The Chinese authorities announced that 13 people were killed and 61
policemen were injured in rioting in Lhasa, while the Tibetan
government-in-exile gave different figures, putting the death toll at
80 and the number of injured at 72 as of Sunday night. The Tibetan
government-in-exile called for an independent international
investigation team to be sent to Tibet, a suggestion that was
immediately rejected by Beijing. China apparently does not want to let
the international community know the real situation in Tibet.

===

History of violence


There have been many clashes between the security authorities and
Tibetan residents since the 14th Dalai Lama sought asylum in
Dharmsala, India, in March 1959 following the Tibet rebellion. Hu
Jintao, who was reelected president during Saturday's National
People's Congress session, oversaw an armed crackdown during the 1989
Lhasa revolt as party secretary for the Tibet Autonomous Region. Since
the mid-1990s, China's policy toward Tibet has centered around
economic and social development, symbolized by the construction of the
Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which opened two years ago between Golmud in
Qinghai Province and Lhasa.

The Chinese government encouraged the ethnic Han majority to migrate
to the region through commercial development and other projects. As a
result, Chinese became the dominant language over Tibetan and the
assimilation of Tibetans into the Chinese majority has progressed in
the educational and cultural fields.

Attempts to assimilate


The Tibetan government-in-exile says Han people now outnumber Tibetans
in the Tibetan-inhabited areas, including the Tibet Autonomous Region,
which has a total population of about 2.8 million, due to China's
migration policy.

Meanwhile, the Chinese authorities have clamped down on monks and
residents who took part in antigovernment activities, sent party and
military personnel to temples and forced patriotic education as part
of its efforts to repress Tibetan culture.

Also, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which is China's
Achilles' heel along with Tibet, the migration of Han people has been
encouraged, triggering persistent resistance movements among the Uygur
people.

The Dalai Lama dropped his demand for Tibetan independence in the
1990s and switched to a policy of seeking a "high level of autonomy"
for Tibet.

China and the Tibetan government-in-exile have intermittently engaged
in behind-the-scene dialogue.

The Chinese government should take the recent rioting as an
opportunity to begin making concessions.


(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, March 18, 2008)


http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/editorial/20080318TDY04305.htm

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