Channel 4 TV (UK) Reports From Tibet

SFT’s Everest and Beijing actions continue to impact news stories about the Olympics, China, and Tibet. 

In the latest example, the UK’s Channel 4 News ran a TV story on August 28 about how the Chinese government is exerting socio-economic control over Tibet.  The anchor started out the broadcast mentioning SFT’s “free Tibet” banners, and said that Tibet has “been under Chinese control for more than fifty years.”

Mentioning that journalists rarely get access to Tibet, the story then follows Channel 4 reporter Lindsey Hilsum as she visits Tibet, always accompanied by Chinese government minders.  Despite the tight control over her reporting, the story she filed is well worth watching. 

Highlights include:

• An interview with the Tibetan writer Woeser, describing how the Chinese government forces its development policies on Tibetans. (“We’re forced to take something, told it’s good, that we’re being treated kindly.  This is colonialist.”)
• A patronizing Chinese official claiming Tibetan culture is an “exotic flower among Chinese cultures.”
• The negative social impact of the forced settlement of nomads, including welfare-dependency and making it easier for the government to control Tibetans.

(Click here and click on “Watch the Report”).