China’s laughable “proof”

After a long silence, the Chinese government has finally come out with its “proof” that His Holiness the Dalai Lama was somehow the sole culprit behind the massive, Tibet-wide protests.  The “proof” is laughable.

From the NY Times:

Xinhua, the state-run news agency, said the Chinese police had a confession written by an unidentified monk who they said received orders from supporters of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner. [...]

The Chinese government has not held a news conference to identify the monk or explain the circumstances of the confession, so it was not possible to verify either the existence of the monk or of such a statement.

Is that it?  We’re asked to take the Chinese government’s word that they have a nameless Tibetan monk who “confessed?”  Even if this monk exists, we’re supposed to believe a “confession” extracted under torture? 

The Chinese government has taken over a thousand Tibetans into custody.  Even if 999 of them resist excruciating torture, if one cracks under the pressure and agrees to a false confession simply to make the horrible pain stop, are we supposed to accept that as “proof?”

How about this explanation instead: Tibetans – inspired by news of other Tibetans protesting passed along by radio, cell phones, and the internet – rose up because they are fed up with five decades of the brutal Chinese occupation of their country.