Chinese intellectuals urge Beijing to re-think Tibet policy

In a promising sign, the Washington Post reports that a group of Chinese intellectuals are asking Beijing to re-think its counterproductive Tibet policy (CLICK HERE FOR TEXT OF LETTER).

This is heartening, because currently, China is taking a very hard-line approach. As with China’s conflicts with Taiwan, Japan and the U.S., the Chinese government is stirring up Chinese xenophobia and nationalism, which unleashes emotions that are very damaging, dangerous, and difficult to control.

Beijing, for example, goes on tirades against the “Dalai clique” and blankets the domestic news with reports of Tibetan violence against Chinese (mentioning nothing of Chinese troops shooting unarmed Tibetans) — specifically designed to incite ethnic hatred as well as support for Beijing’s policies in Tibet.

This is the dangerous road of petty dictators like Slobodan Milosevic, who have to rely on xenophobia and nationalism rather than democratic legitimacy. Hopefully, China will pull back from this precipice.

The Tibet movement is not anti-Chinese, but anti the Chinese government’s violence occupation of Tibet. Considering the five decades of occupation, and all the suffering that the Tibetan people have gone through, the Dalai Lama has been able to keep the Tibet movement remarkably nonviolent. Certainly we do not see suicide bombers like with the Tamils and Palestinians.

Given this background, it is a hopeful sign that some Chinese are asking their government to re-evaluate its policy in Tibet.

The Washington Post’s report is here:

A group of 30 Chinese intellectuals appealed to the Chinese government on Saturday to admit that its policy of crushing dissent in Tibet and blaming the ensuing violence on the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, was failing.

“The one-sided propaganda of the official Chinese media is having the effect of stirring up inter-ethnic animosity and aggravating an already tense situation,” the group said in an open letter posted on Boxun.com, a Web site for overseas Chinese. It was the first time a Chinese group had publicly urged the country’s leaders to re-think their response to two weeks of deadly protests in Tibetan areas across western China. [...]

The Web petition offers 12 suggestions for ways to handle the situation, including allowing independent media access to conflict areas. “Only by adopting an open attitude can we turn around the international community’s distrust of our government,” it said.

The petition asks the government to protect freedom of speech and worship, “thereby allowing the Tibetan people fully to express their grievances and hopes, and permitting citizens of all nationalities freely to criticize and make suggestions regarding the government’s nationality policies.”

It also urges the government to open a new dialogue with the Dalai Lama or otherwise reveal the evidence it has to back up charges that the violence was a plot by him to split Tibet from China.