Putting aside the question of China's historical claim to rule Tibet, one thing is obvious in all of this: very few Chinese people are capable of looking at the issue of Tibet objectively. The Chinese accuse Western news organizations of biased coverage of the Tibetan problem, yet everyone knows the CCP strictly controls every word published on the Mainland. Very few Chinese read foreign languages, and even if they could, the CCP controls access to foreign print and news media, so that the only point of view heard on the Mainland is the CCP's party line. No other country in the world today so actively denies its people access to uncensored information. I have Chinese friends in the States who have told me that if you want an historically accurate view of 20th-century China, you have to read works written by scholars in the West because what is published in China is not history but propaganda. The same thing was true of the Soviet Union.
On the question of Tibet, the difference between foreign news coverage on one hand, and China's view on the other, is so stark that it's obvious that one side has to be distorting the issue. Bear in mind, that all foreign news organizations - US, German, Brit, Italian, French, Japanese, etc. paint a very different picture of the Tibetan problem. It is absurd to think there is some vast conspiracy in these countries, where the media is not government controlled, to slander and split China. Normally in the West there is a diversity of opinion on any topic, yet they all look at the Tibetan issue differently from the Chinese - as do most scholars and academics in those many countries. In fact, what is remarkable to a Westerner is that when one hears Chinese opinion about Tibet, one is aware that what is being expressed is the opinion of
all Chinese - individuals and government. This kind of monolithic viewpoint is never encountered in the West on any issue.
And while it is true that the foreign news media does seem to dwell exclusively on China's shortcomings, there is a great deal of sympathy and admiration for China on economic, social, cultural and historical issues. China doesn't get savaged in the European/world press nearly as often as the US does, yet we don't think there is some conspiracy to destroy America.
That all Chinese speak with one voice on Tibet is due to love-of-country reasons. Given Chinese pride and resentment about the relatively recent foreign humiliation of their country, you have a situation driven by an intense nationalist sentiment that is not tempered by reason. Recently, a Chinese student at the University of Washington in Seattle attempted to act as a referee between a group of Chinese students and some Tibet supporters. For merely trying to be neutral, she received death threats, her home address was published on the web and her parents back in China were forced to go into hiding. Even the mayor of her home city denounced her!! For merely suggesting that the two sides should talk to each other she was branded a traitor to the Motherland. (see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/1 ... =1&oref=slogin) What kind of rational examination of Tibet is possible in this kind of atmosphere?
Whether you agree with her opinion or not, the thuggish way in which the aforementioned HK girl was manhandled by the police does not bode well for future democratic rights in HK. Instead of mocking her, you should be worried about your rights to freely express your opinion when HK is fully integrated back into the Mainland. Freedom of thought does not mean the freedom to think what every one else does. Democracy means being able to say what you think,
even if unpopular, without some government goon knocking you down. I know that HK citizens are very concerned about these issues, but when Tibet is mentioned, everyone suddenly becomes a Red Guard waving his copy of the little Red Book.
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Last edited by Marsupial at 8-7-2008 11:40 ]
