I AM GLAD THAT THE TRUE NATURE OF TIBETAN'S STORY FINALLY COME OUT IN CNN. THIS TELLS THE WORLD HOW TIBETANS ARE NOT HAPPY UNDER THE COMMUNIST CHINESE.

TIBET INDEPENDENCE IS NOT FREEDOM ONLY FOR TIBET IT GIVES FREEDOM TO MANY OTHER PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.

WE ARE NOT HATRED TO CHINESE CITIZEN. WE ALL ASKING IS TO CHANGE THEIR POLICY AND RESPECT HUMAN RIGHT.

FREE TIBET.........

it is a pity
these people are a small portion of people who lived in tibet.
the people involved in this tumor were supported by india and us.
every chinese knows that.
this is so called "human right"
we chinese treat minor race too good.they are vips in china .they have more priviledge than normal people.
we treat they like brothers. luckly .99%of they appreciate that.
we are good friends.
should i treat they like us treat the "indian", then ,once for all. then no so called "human right" problem exist. of course not. we are brothers.
how can a strongest country do this kind of things.
provoke the brothers to fighting

the fact that the chinese are restricting media coverage on whats going on in Tibet right now is proof that the chinese govt do not want the world to know about the real situation in Tibet. if the chinese are indeed true about the progress of Tibet since their illegal occupation in Tibet then why not promptly show it to the world? Tibet was forcefully taken away from Tibetans in 1959 by the chinese. there are reports that rioters are beating up chinese people in Lhasa but how else are we Tibetans to react? Tibetans are becoming a minority in our own home country, our culture is on the verge of extinction and we are deprived of our freedom. Olympics signifies peace and prosperity among all the countries in the world and its ironic that it is being held in china this year. of all countries, china, who has time and again deprived not only tibetans but their own people of freedom and human rights, is hosting the Olympics. i am sure the Olympic committee had their reasons but i am guessing they didn't look beyond china's growing power. 5 months from now china will host the olympics, athletes will proudly represent their countries and we tibetans and the innocent chinese suffering under the chinese dictatorship will be left alone to face the harsh treatment of the chinese govt. i was born a refugee but i will not die as one. Tibet is not a part of china and will never be. "china lie, people die" FREE TIBET....I pray for all the brave tibetans all over the world fighting for freedom..

The trouble with Tibet is that the Tibetans once knew freedom and an independent existence from China, and having lost it the people do not forget what freedom means. The trouble with Tibet is countries like the US have not done much to help to restore at least Tibtean cultural and religious independence from Chinese repression, and now that the US owes China so much money it is unlikely the US will ever do so though it boasts of spreading democracy to places such as Iraq and Afghanistan and defending democracy in places like Kuwait. The trouble with Tibet is that the westernized world has grossly underestimated the resolve of the Tibetan people to restore "liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...",or the reverberating impact it will likely have on the world. China is a big and strong bully that decided to push its borders beyond the China Wall. This world doesn't have the courage to face down China so it ignores how many provinces China has conquored and re-named. It is a shame, but the long memory of the Tibetan people is a testimony to the human condition for which we are all judged. That is the trouble with Tibet.

Jaime,

Thank you so much for posting this blog about Tibet.
The world should be aware of exactly what is going on there and about those brave Tibetan hero's. As hard as the CCP tries to hide the truth about there human rights abuses, the truth will alway come out.

Looks like the Chinese Communist Government is up to the same old bloody history. They learned nothing from 1989, and remind me again why they are able to host the Olympic Games???????

They made human rights promises to the IOC, and the world in order to obtain those games. They have not kept any of their promises, as a matter of fact, things have only gotten worse.

God speed the Tibetan hero's that are fighting for THEIR country and fighting for THEIR heritage.

ONE WORLD ONE DREAM FREE TIBET. FREEDOM FOR ALL PEOPLE.

Tibet Belongs to Tibetans, China should get out of Tibet.

does the chinese leaderhip has any sense of conscience, any sense of shame and guilt? I wonder how they would feel if they were treated the same way they treat the tibetans in tibet.

What happaned in tibet is more of racial riot nothing more. Don't try to make up stories please

The picture presented in this article has been well cut in order to mislead people. Nice and brilliant -– and shamelss. Excellent sample for us to know what exactly the free and responsible western press is. Biased, reality-distorted, not better than some other countries they often criticie for
control of media, but the westerns make it in a more professional and bright way.

http://picture.talkcc.net/0,0803/6538_14184242.jpg

Chinese treatment of peaceful protest in Tibet is worse than what world had seen in Tiananmen Square. Chinese security forces repeatedly used lethal force to restore order in the Tibet and they have done it without the world knowing about it. Even today as we speak they have locked down whole of Tibet and blackout foreign news media covering Tibet protest. They have barred all foreigners from entering and leaving Tibet. They have cut off electricity so that no news can spread to the outside world by phone, TV, and internet.
China had occupied a peaceful country with brutal force (genocide in Tibet).Tibet can never be a part of China. We are totally different from the Chinese – language, culture and historically. 2008 is year of Tibetan independence.

Tibet has always been part of China. This fact can not be changed. If you look at the videos of the so called "peaceful" protest you will see violent MONKS. Aren't monks suppose to be non-violent and peaceful? Those monks are TERRORISTS. The Chinese government has every right to destory these terrorists groups.

No government is the world would torlerate this type of violence from a terrorist group.

The U.S. has also been sold down the river to China. The only real protest we can make as simple citizens is to boycott Chinese goods as completely as possible. The lack of safety of Chinese products is only one obvious flaw. It only proves how vulnerable the whole world has become in the eyes of a Chinese government that intends to seize, dominate, and enslave the rest of the world. The Bush government has financed its deficits with a huge debt to the Chinese. Our next president had better figure out a way to pay it off or we will be treated like the poor citizens of Tibet.

This comment is ungrounded and simply ridiculous.
1) How can you call a protest where protestants are armed with knives and gas, where they would attack banks and civilians, a PEACEFUL protest? If there is ANY chaos, anywhere in the world, the government has the obligation to secure its citizens' safety!
2) From what we heard, Tibet is NOT blocked out by phone, TV, internet. Please, please GROUND your arguments.
3) And for your information, Tibet is, has never been, HAD never been an individual country. For centuries it has been a rightful territory of China. Unlike you Americans who had no problem with yourselves driving away Natives and calling their land your own, in the whole of history, Tibet is always a part of China.

I saw monks turn over vehicles and setting fires. Thought they were suppose to be peaceful.

The world should stand against china. We must boycott Chinese products. The entire would must boycott china made products.

CNN.com runs "100 dead in Tibet" as its lead story, when the basis for the number is the exile community in India. With China taking direct control of Tibet, after the Buddhists' armed uprising of 1959, I don't know how many serfs were freed from forced labour. I don't know what's happened to infant mortality rates and average lifespan at birth. And I don't know what's going on now.
But I know that Beijing, Lhasa, and Dharamsala, all have views on the history and the current situation, and I know that CNN's obligation is unbiased reporting.
Tibetan Buddhism is unique among religious personality cults to get favourable treatment from our western press. I've returned from a trip to China to merely find opposite bias here.

After reading excerpts of blogs, I was apalled and disgusted. There is so much ignorance among people who are siding with the Chinese rule over Tibet. Read your history. Read the facts. Use your own intelligence to know truth from manipulated facts. The Chinese government has been manipulating information for decades making people believe in their brainwashing tactics over the Tibetan issue and His Holiness Dalai Lama. Obviously it has been working for so many to speak such ignorance. It's the same as when the Japanese government removed from their history books post World War II about the abuse of comfort women and brothels during the war that was backed by the government. Tibet was NEVER a part of China for centuries. That's as absurd as saying that India was always a part of Britain. That the Phillipines were always a part of the U.S. That Korea was always a part of Japan. That Mongolia was always a part of Russia. Learn about the historical relationship of these countries from true sources to understand the point here. Open your eyes! Stop living in the Matrix.

The Chinese shamelessly occupied Tibet nearly 50 years ago. Tibet IS and ought TO BE A SOVEREIGN COUNTRY AGAIN. They practise Buddhism which is as tolerant and peaceful as any other Indian Philosophy whether it is classical Hinduism,Sikhism or Jainism.

The Chinese rule and illegal occupation of Tibet is an outrageous and unacceptable act. Sadly the World does not have the moral courage to physically evict the Chinese from Tibet.

My prayers and the very best wishes to the brave Tibetans and the Dalai Lama.

Tibet is part of China whether America likes it or not. It has always been part of China and is going to stay that way. America should keep its big fat nose out of other countries's buisness especially when it has its own problems. America cannot even elect a president, they are facing financial troubles, mounting debts, so why should they care about other countries?
Tenzin: Beijing respects Buddists and allows them to practice their religion. And haven't you wondered how the only information the public recieves is through the biased views of Americans?

What allows Americans to run around yelling "Free Tibet" when they are still facing racial discriminations? How would America like it if the South decides to become its own country? Americans have no idea what its like it Tibet; most of them have never even been to China, so what do they know? And as for people who "deeply resent Chinese rule", Chinese rules don't affect the large majority of the people who live in Tibet, only those in major cities who feel like they have to make a fuss.

Americans have no right to go poking around in other people's buisness. Do you have any idea what kind of an image you give off to the rest of the world?

You know, its funny, CNN only seems to post comments that support their article. So chances are that I'm typing all this for nothing. But I don't care. There are always two sides to a story, and Americans aren't reading the second side.

tibet is part of china. anyone try to separete Tibet from China will be punish.please studie history.

Please keep reporting about Tibet. The whole world should know what is
going on there. Tibet is not an autonomous region. It is an invaded country. Tibetan people do not have any rights, they are second class to the Chinese. They cannot display their flags nor have a picture of The Dalai Lama. Moreover, you cannot find any postcard of their Spiritual Leader who had to leave his country. The Chinese read the emails and open the letters that Tibetans receive. I can continue, but you got the idea. We visited Tibet in 2006, we love the country and its very nice and compassionate people, to say the least about them.

Peaceful? Your so called peaceful protesters are burning up shops, cars and beating up scores of innocent individuals.

It's always amazing how Tibetans can keep claiming that they are peaceful even when they commit violence. I've been to Tibet, most Tibetans are a pretty rough crowd, they are uneducated and many are pretty violent.

I fear that the Chinese will overeact to the Tibetans protests.

-John
http://www.patrioticactivist.com

I hope CNN will put my reply:
1st anybody who reply here live in China ?
2ed Anybody know the real conditions in China?
If you don't know , please don't guess or assume that?
I was born and lived in China from more than 20 years, Tibet is part of China, those say tibetan independence will destroy the friendship of 1.4 billion chinese people. I lived in USA for many years, so i could make a conparison between China and USA. Our government has a lot of corruption, or control media, that's right. i don't deny that. But Overall Chinese government made such a big progress of improving the human rights, more people have health insurance which they don't have it before. our economy conditions are changing, we have food to feed on ourselves. At this crucile moment, we -Chinese people don't want anybody to destroy the progress we made for many years.
Tiananmen Squrare, my old professor now remind those things when he had done. he told me , it's a stupid genernations who make such a destroy to China. Now almost 20 years past , i have to say it's right to do for the tiananmen square. i support it. because it bring 20 years fast development for China, make our generation , for example like me, have a better live conditions.
If you want to know the real China, please go to visit China before you say anything about China.
I grew up in China, now study in USA , from my personal experience, i have to say some of american are too stupid , they didn't even have the basic knowledge about China. Your media doesn't tell all the truth. If you want to know the real truth, go to China, and say what you see before bringing any protest.
I hope CNN will publish my note!

One can never be sure how much to trust the press, but assuming that Jamie's reporting is accurate, there is nothing peaceful about burnt cars, looted shops, and the young woman beaten by Tibetan mobs.

It's not easy to debate, in a responsible manner, over the farewell of millions of people in a part of the world, where most readers, living in the western world, know so little about.

It is certainly fascinating to learn about a group of people accepting that leaders are reincarnated.

Personally, I find it tough to embrace a country ruled by religious dictators with absolutely no concept of the need for the separation between the church and the state, or in this case, the monastery and the government.

While most Hollywood celebrities may tell us that Tibet should be freed, I just feel that being ruled and governed by monks, lamas, nuns or priests will be the ultimate violation of human rights. Leaders should be elected or chosen based on ability and not religious spirituality and blind faith.

Law must be strictly enforced. Those violences are not allowed in U.S and anywhere else in the world. Political motivated protests must stopped. Those violators must be put in jail.
More control in Tibet. Tibet belongs to China like Hawaii belongs to U.S. No more argument

Dalai Lama will not earn my respect until the day he condemns the "cultral genocide" of Native Americans in the U.S. Sure, it happened several hundred years ago. But what if China controls Tibet for another serveral hundred years?

If you know Chinese, you can find out a lot of comments in Chinese forums. Obvously our Chinese are aware of the chaos in Tibet. It is intresting most of them are blaming the goverment not for freeing Tibet, but for why they responsed too late to crackdown the seperist and pretect the Han Chinese.

We built road and factories for them and give them better lifes. Fortunately, most of them appreicate it. Only the monks who were previleged under Dalai resent the central government. The slavery was abolished 49 year ago, they no longer have slaves for themselves in the morden Tibet. That is why they want Dalai to go back to restore their their master position. These people have nothing to do so called freedom.

This is China's version of LA Riot, with economically marginalized and socially corned people rise up against their perceived oppressors. These protesters deliberately sought any non-Tibetan people or structure to kill and pillage. If this were to happen in any Muslim land (IE. Iraq) targeting whites, they were surely being labeled "Islamo-Fascist" by the Western "free" media. Call this what it is : it's a racism based on Lamanic Fascism!

Free America.~~ you guys are from Europe, go back!! America belongs to natives !!

Tibet has always been part of China. The riot last week in Tibet has shown the true sinister color of the so-called "peaceful" monks who set cars on fire and kinnging innocent people on the street. They should be severly dealt by law. They are terrorists just the 9/11 bombers.

Tibet will never be independent. Dream on...

I got to know about the violence in Tibet through CNN, in my country, the media did't mention about this, it may be resulted from the sensitive relation between the two countries. Anyway, I do hope this won't go too far, no more violence, evrybody keeps calm down, memoir of Tiananmen Square massacre is still fresh in mind. I just don't like Chinese goverment for claiming all of our sea as theirs, and the way they did to our people and our teritorial waters.

Free Tibet?
Why does Spain NOT allow Basque and Catalonia to become independent countries while both regions have their unique culture, languages, music, flags?)
Free Tibet?
How about
Free Basque!
Free Catalonie!
Free Québec!
Free Corsia!
Free Brittany!
Free Scotland!
Free Wales!
"...the problem with Tibetan Buddhism resides in an obvious fact that many Western enthusiasts conveniently forget: the traditional political structure of Tibet is theocracy, with the Dalai Lama at the center. He unites religious and secular power — so when we are talking about the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, we are taking about choosing a head of state. It is strange to hear self-described democracy advocates who denounce Chinese persecution of followers of the Dalai Lama — a non-democratically elected leader if there ever was one. ” frow：“How China Got Religion” By SLAVOJ ZIZEK (nytimes)
Do google:Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth" by Michael Parenti
Thanks

1.2 million Tibetans and still counting. how many lives more, China? Put yourself into our shoes and you won't even feel your feet on the ground. China says it liberated Tibet, OK fine done! thank you for your great help, now go back. why are u still here?
Tibet is dying and the world is watching. Too shy to speak up.. too scared of losing business ties. In this huge world of globalisation and diplomacy, Tibet has no place to sit. If only Tibet had OIL, many countries would have come to its rescue.
For me, non-violence is not a choice but a lack of choice.. Frustration is killing me. I don't get shocks when I hear tibetans trying to immolate themselves by setting themselves on fire. I might also do it some day. and again, this is not a choice but mere lack of choice.
Thank you CNN for listening to us and for showing the truth to the world!

Until the day of my death... to my very last breath!

For Justice! and Freedom!
http://www.Meyul.com

Having visited Tibet twice in 1986 and 1987 I can say with conviction that no matter what happens, remember that the Chinese soldiers are armed, the Tibetan monks often carry nothing more than a slingshot which they use to pass the time (perhaps being mischevious young men/boys at times, they use their slingshots to shoot at passing birds. Yes, there was a spontaneous riot and protests, but the punishment of the Tibetans involved will be brutal, swift, and permanent. Public firing squads, torture, starvation, and rape are all common techniques used by the Chinese authorities on Tibetans.

Tibet has its own unique language and culture and political history as an independent country for centuries which is well documented.

The Communist Chinese invaded in the 1950's to exploit the vast mineral and natural resources and now seek to displace the overflow population of Han chinese from China. This is disastrous for the i.5 million Tibetans killed the over 6,000 monasteries that were detroyed and for peace in Asia and for the environmental degradation of the major rivers that flow from Tibet into China and India and the rest of Asia.

Chinese policy toward Tibet is cultural genocide. This is bad karma for China and the world to allow this to continue...

Peace

Also, this is an email sent from a Tibetan friend of mine, he talked about his view on the Tibet protest:

"I am absolutely disgusted at the rioters, they are shameful to our ethnic group. They don't know that the Chinese government has put more efforts and money into our ethnic group than the Han Chinese, I am glad now I have a chance to go to university, and not being a slave of the incompetent Dalai Lama, because of the Chinese. I want the world to know that we Tibetans have a better life now and that we are co-existing with the Han Chinese very well, in fact, Im very proud to be a part of China. I hope the West and the Dalai Lama would just leave us alone, we are happy to be with China."

Comments are moderated by CNN, in accordance with the CNN Comment Policy, and may not appear on this blog until they have been reviewed and deemed appropriate for posting.

This is the so-called human rights, do I have the right to speak ? Do I have the right to demonstrate my opinions??

I hope CNN will publish my note!

Tibet (Xi Zang) was, is and will always be part of China!

After cars have been burnt down and buildings set to fire, arsonists are named "peaceful demonstrators" by BBC and CNN.

If that logic applied, Osama bin Laden is one of the most peaceful demonstrators. Would you believe that?

Another “peaceful” Tibetan demonstrator was charged with Assaulting Police office in Australia, "A police officer was allegedly hit over the head with a placard before being punched and kicked," http://news.theage.com.au/protibet-protests-continue-in-australia/20080316-1zob.html
Having spent a month in Tibet, my opinion is that some tibetans are really nice, some are…, I saw both tibetan beggars and thiefs. , they are not divine, nor specially peaceful people…

I, Eddy , an American citizen, strongly support China against the Dala Lama and the Tibetan separatists. The Unites States all E.U. countries should keep their noses out of this matter. Tibet is China ! China should take all necessary measures to keep the country together.

CNN is a liar. It claims cnn=politics. and politics is dirty. then cnn is dirty.

cnn censor news network

Western opinions never change even there are clear evidences that violent protesters beat up and kill innocent citizen. Yes, in China there is communist ruling, and sure we the Han Chinese doesn’t feel happy about what the communist government do for its own people’s human right. But in matter of separatist, we all gang up against them and support the government to take action. Is it legit to crack down bloody violence only if China is democracy country and have Hilary Wang and Obama Lee are running for president?

Tibet is always part of China, don’t even listen to the year of 59 invasion BS. You may call it invasion when federal government sends riot control police to LA to stop the looter. Long before until Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet in 1959, his wonderland had below standard living condition and was a slavery society, let along lacking the human right and freedom. All sudden this liar becomes Nobel Prize human right fighter and wants freedom of this area? What the hell he and his exile government were doing when he was in crown? Although China today has limited human rights and freedom which can’t compare with the western level, but truly we have upgraded Tibet to better live since Dalai Lama gone.

I am an American, and I am not even Asian.

But, please, to all Chinese people: fight for your country… The United States and Europe is backing the people of Tibet against China. They want your country to be divided… it’s very simple.

I am ashamed to be a chinese !

FREE TIBET
FREE TIBET
FREE TIBET
FREE TIBET
FREE TIBET

Anyone who has watched news on TV recently, CNN or other news sources, can see how these so called "peace-loving" people in Tibet destroying shops or human lives in Tibet. So many of these "peace-loving" people attacking Chinese embassies in the US & Europe. Some of these people blatantly wore theie monk costumes. I am at a loss how people blame the Chinese government for using violence but at the same time say nothing about all these destruction that these "peace-loving" people have demonstrated on TV. The reason why Martin Luther King & Ghandi have our hearts is because of its non-violent nature. Have the world forgotten these great leaders? No more double standards please.

We cant keep always to tell them our history, we are not study history here with them!!! It is useless to them because they never look back their own blooding history: how to kill Asian, how to kill Indian......

http://bbs.top81.cn/top81bbs/uploads/2008/03/1205811700_36791.jpg

I highly recommend you to visit the site above, and you will have a better view and own judgment of the story.

If the red indians start to kill the whiteman in USA in the name of protests, are American going to stand by and watch the killings?
Please do not be double standard in human rights.

If this happen in your own country, can your government tolerate this.

You have seen from the CNN news, how these protesters act? Do you call it a peacefull demonstration.

How much you know about the history of Tibets before you make your comment.

What were the living conditions in Tibet under Dalai Lama?

If he is a true buddhist, he may not involve in all this issue. Remember Guatama Buddha own country was destroyed. It is the karma. Karma created by all the Lama in for the last few hundred years.

Cultural Genocide? Let see who is doing the cultural genocide. Chinese government are now promoting Buddism and include Tibetan buddhism. Many Hans also practice Tibetan buddhism.

Do you mean that only the Tibetan can practice Tibetan buddhism? What kind of Buddhists are these Tibetan?

The first forbidden law in Buddhism is NO KILLING. How can these Tibetan burn people to death.

China is a super power not because what china did in 50 years but because of Tibet. When china invaded Tibet in 1950's China was very poor but yes they had the millitary and man power. When they invaded Tibet first thing they attacked was the monasteries and take away tons and tons of gold back to China. These gold had been ccumulated in these holy monastaries for centuries which had come from offerings of religious Tibetan people. When the Chinese came to Tibet they not have enough food to feed the own people, we Tibetans supplied the food.

The communist party of China destroyed not only it culture and religion but also how the chinese live and behave. Anyone can go to China town find it yourself. China is trying to do the same to the Tibetans. Communist China is systematically destroying Tibets religion and culture.

I see so many Chinese outraged by Tibetans who attacked these Chinese migrants inside Lhasa, and rightfully so, I am angered by it as well, but where was this same anger by these people when Tibetan children were shot at and even killed (one as young as 17) at Nangpa la Pass? Weren’t those Tibetans Chinese nationals under the Chinese law? Where was the remorse or coverage for them in the Chinese media? It all seems like a lopsided outpouring of sympathy to me.

At least in this case, where Tibetans attacked innocent civilians, those perpetrators can be found and punished for their actions. However when the Chinese government attacks their own citizens do we see the same justice? At Nangpa la pass the soldiers, who shot and killed Tibetan Chinese nationals who were 500 yards away, were excused under the pretext that they “acted in defense”.

It all seems absurd to me.

Here’s something the Chinese government won’t show.

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd175/FreeTibetCampaignUK/6.jpg

Free Basque!
Free Catalonie!
Free Québec!
Free Corsia!
Free Brittany!
Free Scotland!
Free Walse!

“…the problem with Tibetan Buddhism resides in an obvious fact that many Western enthusiasts conveniently forget: the traditional political structure of Tibet is theocracy, with the Dalai Lama at the center. He unites religious and secular power — so when we are talking about the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, we are taking about choosing a head of state. It is strange to hear self-described democracy advocates who denounce Chinese persecution of followers of the Dalai Lama — a non-democratically elected leader if there ever was one. ”

Whether the Chinese agree or not, there is a big problem and thats why the situation in Tibet to begin with!

Younger generation Chinese who refuse to think beyond what they were taught in their history classes create more tension. Do they realize that there is a big big difference in being nationalistic and ignorant. Likewise, it doesn't come to me as a suprise to read in here that some see the most historic event in the Chinese history i.e of the Tiananmen Square as 'stupid'! The CCP has really accomplished something here, they have mastered the art of controlling the power of thinking. Shame!

And then the question, why are monks involved in these demonstrations? Monks are involved because CCP has been, for almost 6 decades now, suppressing every bit of religious freedom in Tibet and of Tibetans in there. Take example of Serta Monastery. Without any explaination, CCP got up and bulldozed housing complexes and left many homeless.

If China is so great, why don't they let the international media inside Tibet? What is there to hide? Oh wait, I think I can answer that. I know what they are hiding. They are hiding the truth, the truth that there is no geniune freedom in Tibet. Tibetans are not treated like the general Chinese public like the CCP say. Tibetans are treated like 2nd Class citizens in their own country.

Right now, emotions are going especially high on both the Tibetan and the Chinese side. Each side has its arguments to put forward their stand: Be it independence or a part of China. Since half a century, however, China has been stronger and so its view of things in Tibet had to be accepted.

It reminds me of a forced marriage – sleeping with the enemy, so to speak – where the husband is convinced he is benevolent and good to the wife, but forgets that – if he asked her – she may not want to be married to him in the first place. If she hints at anything in this regard, he beats her up. Yes, she thinks it’s great to live in the beautiful house he built for her, and she knows she’s better off than ever before – but with the wrong partner? A partner that tells you whether you are allowed to leave the house, where you may go and how far you may go, a guy who turns violent every time you do something that makes him angry? How can anybody be possibly happy in such a marriage?

As long as the relationship between the Chinese government and the Tibetan people has this forced marriage character, Tibetans will continue to harbour resentment.

If the Chinese government was smart, they would take up the Dalai Lama’s offer for a peaceful settlement where the interest of the Tibetan side are also taken into account, but without questioning the overall framework. The Chinese government should come to their senses and realise that he is not the problem. He is the solution to the problem.

I admire Abraham Lincoln's effort preserving, protecting and defending the United States, I will support what ever that is needed by President Hu Jingtao to preserve, protect and defend China. –From China.

A true Buddhist do not kill. Look at the monks in Burma, they rather let the police killed them and they did not kill the police.

What kind of buddhists are Tibetan. Buddha said "Lion die because of the worms in the Lion body".

Buddhist image will be destroyed by these Tibetans. These are 'wolves covered under a lamb sheets"

How can they killed innocence people? How can they burned people to death?

I hope CNN would respect all opinions including us, Han Chinese.

As a Han, I never thought Tibetans are foreign to us. They are just like Hui, Manchurian, Miao and many other ethnic minorities, who live with us but eat different food. Ethnic minorities enjoy more benefit than us, Han Chinese. It is for sure because I once wished myself a ethnic minority when I was younger.

I have a few friends sent by government to work in hospital in Lhasa. These young people who never left the east part went to the highland and work there because it is the responsibility of Han Chinese to help them. Tibetan didn't have their own schools or hospitals apart from monastries 50 years ago. Now they say Han people went to occupy their land.

As an overseas Chinese, I appreciate all culutures and I will try my best to keep my Chinese culture in a western country. Tibetans COULD do the same in Tibet. Isn't Tibet a free land for Han to go there and work there??? Just as the rest of China to Tibetans.

Han never tried to suppress their culture. We are just us.

Tibetans could keep their culture by learning and conveying in a civilised way, just many culutres do in the U. S,, canada, australia and many other countries.

Have anyone who made a lot of comments against China read the history of China?

Throughout the history of China, China nevers invade any country. China were invaded by Monggollian and invaded by the Ching but at the end of the days Monggol become part of China, Manchul becomes part of China.

If Japan were succesfull in conquered China, now Japan will be part of China.

IN THIS 21 CENTURY COMMUNIST IS ABOUT TO VANISH FROM THE WORLD BUT CHINESE GOVERNMENT IS FORCING THE CHINESE PEOPLE TO FOLLOW THEIR RULE WHICH MEAN EVEN CHINESE PEOPLE DONT HAVE ANY RIGHT TO EXPRESS THEIR FEELING AND THEY DONT HAVE ANY HUMAN RIGHT IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY. SO IT IS NOT ONLY MATTER OF TIBETAAN PEOPLE TO STAND AGAINST CHINESE GOVERNMENT.ALL THE WORLD SHOULD REACT AGAINST THEM.THE WAY THEY KILLED PEOPLE THE WAY THEY ATTACK THE TIBETAN CULTURE AND PEOPLE ,THEY BANNED BUDDHISM ETC IN TIBET .TIBET WHICH IS KNOWN AS THE LAND OF BUDDHISM IS NOW NO MORE LIKE IT DUE TO THE CHINESE .TIBETAN PEOPLE NEVER GIVE UP FOR THEIR RIGHT .TIBET IS A FREE COUNTRY ANG IT WILL BE FREE SOON .LONG LIVE HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA AND LONG LIVE TIBETAN PEOPLE ANG I WOULD LIKE TO SALUTE ALL THE TIBETAN HERO WHO ARE PROTESTING AGAINST CHINESE GOVERNMENT IN TIBET

I thinks some of many peoples are dont know about of history , culture and religion of tibet which is shows and profed that tibet is only belongs to tibetan not a china COMMUNIST or else.if you was studie in china it very normal to you say tibet is part of china because of you have no right to learn real and ture history of tibet in chinses COMMUNIST,I adviceing to todays youngs chinses.get out of little world of COMMUNIST and look around over the great world today with human right and much morethings and learn deeply about tibet and tibetans specially the youngs chinese who grown and studie in china in COMMUNIST,

this was waiting to happen for past few decades. and i am happy that it happened now.
and whoever enjoys FREEDOM, i request you to value the right to freedom of life of all tibetans also.

FREE TIBET
FREE TIBET
FREE TIBET

There has been a lot of discussion as to whether or not Tibet has or has not "always" been a part of China. The answer seems to depend on how far back the observer is willing to look. Suffice to say that Tibet is not behind China's Great Wall....but, perhaps that's taking too long of a political view....One would have to ask the common people of Tibet and of China if that is a fair comment. But, of course, one is precluded from talking to the common people in the "People's Republic".

It is hard for anyone to obtain an informed position as to what the current state of affairs is in Tibet when the Chinese government appears intent on keeping the world press out of Tibet, no matter the cost to its international reputation (of which it seems oblivious). Can anyone be surprised when such a controversial policy stirs controversy?

Free and democratic nations will, in all likelihood, sit back and not press the issue of true autonomy for the political and religious choices of Tibet's people in the suposedlu "Autonomous Region". This is, of course, likely due to economic self-interest on the part of western nations who are willing to turn a blind eye to this and other controversial issues with respect to China in order they retain access to and benefit from the unprecedented size of China's "market share".

Perhaps, it is time not to look back in history to determine whether or not Tibet belongs to China, but let history decide for itself. Just as Ghandi almost singlehandedly shamed the British into leaving India by his famous "walk to the sea" in defiance of British Law, maybe it is time for the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet. The Chnese leaders would be unable resist or stand up to world scrutiny of the events which then transpire.

Western-centric and Euro-centric, the ' liberal and democratic '
West love China bashing, the West can't face the fact that China
is recovering from her recent humilation by foreign imperialism !!
I appreciate good and umbiased journalism, unfortunately,
the West do love China bashing at this moment of time ....

What Tibetan culture? Serfs, slaves, fearful of the supernatural?

The elite lamas and feudal lords in Tibet have been brainwashing and repressing their people for years, through religion, on how the common Tibetan should completely obey them with no reservation. Under Tibetan law, the Dalai Lama (through inheritance!) legally owns the entire country and all the people living in it! What kind of a 'free' Tibet is this?

Politics and religion should never mix. If Tibet were to be independent, (I'm not saying it should at this stage) it should be governed by public servants chosen by the common freethinking citizen, and certainly not by the religious dictators.

It is fashionable to praise the Dalai Lama because of his western influence, but just because these lamas had unchallenged power in Tibet in the past doesn't mean they are the best leaders for the people at the moment.

My view on the Chinese occupation is that while it was a questionable move in the 50s, they have actually liberated the common Tibetan from religious tyranny improving the people's quality of life. Is it necessarily a bad thing for the average Tibetans to be educated, and to learn to make a living in the society, instead of blindly serving the elite lamas and lords as slaves, selling their children to work in the monasteries?

Using religion to rule the people is the ugliest form of governing. Lamas, monks, nuns, priests should all get out of politics.

Tenzin – Take a visit to China yourself and find in first hand what you said is all misinformation or complete lies. Don't forget to study the slavery serf systems and torture praticed in pre 1959 Tibet also.

In addition, to say that “Tibet is, and always has been a part of China”, is not only incorrect, but completely irrelevant to the argument for Tibetan independence or meaningful autonomy. Firstly, it is incorrect because Tibet was a sovereign kingdom and had no political relations with China until 1279 when the Mongol king Kublai Khan conquered China, founding the Yuan Dynasty. Likewise, the Mongols conquered Tibet, and this is when China first claims Tibet as part of China. However, this is disputed because technically, Tibet was conquered by the Mongols and not the Han Chinese, and China itself was under the rule of a foreign empire based in China. Even then, the Mongols allowed Tibet to be autonomous, while establishing a “priest-patron” relationship where the empire defended Tibet from invaders in times of need, and Tibetan Buddhist lamas became tutors to the emperors by request. When the Yuan dynasty was overthrown by the ethnically Chinese Ming dynasty, Tibetan-Chinese relations continued, but no administrative power was exerted upon it. Later centuries saw China’s increased involvement in Tibetan affairs, especially during the Qing dynasty, up until the turn of the 20th century when the British invaded Tibet in 1904 in order to establish trade agreements with it (independent of China). The Qing dynasty, almost on the brink of collapse, then took an interest once again in Tibet, paid Britain to get out of the region and reestablished strong administrative ties there. However, all this stopped when the Manchurian Qing dynasty was overthrown in 1911 during the reign of the 13th Dalai Lama. The 13th Dalai Lama effectively declared Tibet independent upon his return from exile in 1912. In 1913, the British attempted to create a treaty establishing Tibet as an autonomous region only nominally under Chinese rule. Between 1913 and 1933, Tibet considered itself completely independent and dispelled all Chinese officials and troops from the region. The 14th Dalai Lama maintained this independence until the PLA attacked Tibet and forced Tibetan officials to sign the 17-Point Agreement, which the Dalai Lama later renounced. The US funded a short Tibetan resistance to the Chinese occupation, and later the Dalai Lama escaped and fled into exile in India in 1959. The rest of the history of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) is pretty well known, and characterized by suppression of religious freedoms and civil rights. Later on began the successful attempt to overwhelm the Tibetan majority in Tibet with a Han Chinese majority, now rendering the Tibetans a minority in their own country. There is a short history of the Tibet Question (thanks Melvyn Goldstein).

Now, when considering the right for Tibet to declare itself autonomous and fight for independence, all of the above is completely irrelevant. As far as universal human rights are concerned, if a group of people with a common will to unilaterally declare itself a separate nation and secede from another state, it firmly has the right to do so. The Tibet nation is united in this endeavor, as proven by numerous uprisings against Chinese occupation, unified support for the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile (TGIE), and the establishment of an international campaign for the world to support Tibetan independence. By now, the TGIE has even established boundaries of what it considers to be Tibet, and so the movement for independence has all the necessary underpinnings for the establishment of a separate nation-state of Tibet. History has very little to do with the right for a group of people to create a new nation-state. For example, did it diminish the right of the colonies established in America by the British to fight for independence, just because they had previously been administrated by Britain? Did the former Soviet satellite states have any less right to national sovereignty just because they had previously been overlorded by the USSR? Of course not, it is absurd to think so, but this is the official rationale of the PRC for keeping Tibet a Chinese-controlled region. We must get beyond the commonly quoted political rhetoric of both sides, and look into what we international humanitarians hold dear, and how an independent Tibet could better uphold Tibetans’ civil liberties than China can (and has in the past).

Tenzin:
You need to stop daydreaming! China didn't even move into Tibet, Tibet surrendered under terms of treaty!!! And what does this have to do with boycotting the Olympics? Do you seriouly think that Americans can go without buying products at Walmart? Your just shooting your mouth off here because there is nothing else you can do.
What if not everybody wants "freedom"? What if, Americans should stick to their own buisnesses?
Besides, not all Americans are free and have equal rights to "liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..." There is still plenty of racial discrimination and hate crimes.
China is not oppresing the Tibetan people. Most of them live their lives happily without making a fuss. But no, some people have to get vilolent. Like those so called peaceful monks who set fires and damaged property, and actually killed people.
CNN is so not biased.

FREE TIBET!!!!!!!!!

FREE TIBET!!!

We (Tibetans) had enough of Chinese brutal rule. Yes we are peaceloving people but how would you react if outsiders come into your country forcefully, destroy monesteries, kill people for speaking out for freedom, anyone would fight back in the end. Does the world expect us to smile when our very existence is in danger, we are a minority in Tibet...Cultural Genocide is taking place in Tibet!! Free Tibet, Chinese go out of Tibet. Peace...

it occurred to me, this whole thing has been good thinking on the part of chinese government.

draw the separatists into the open. let them show the world their true color, that is, violence and terrorism, no different from those who your democratic american government is actively fighting against in afghanistan or mother russia in chechnya. it is easier to capture them on the street than in the mountain. this is a bargaining chip with western powers, just like the whole east turk separatism thing in xinjiang. ok, you wanna us help you in pakistan? now shut up. if you listen to missy candi, she is saying, dude, just don't make it too bloody when you shoot the monks, you know we get caught at gitmo. and the chinese government replies, of course not, ma'am. those use-restraint rhetoric just make me laugh silly.

force the old monk to give up the separatists. of course, his holyness is gonna continue do what he does, but he is gonna have to dissociate from his supporters. in turn, his supporters are gonna get disappointed when he does that.

i say nice work.

what is the use of all this?
we should all go deeply into our mind, becoming aware of all this suffering, both for tibetan and chinese people, and stop it, working for the benefit of all. we are able to do so if we really want and can give up our own interest. we don't have so much time anymore....

there will be a war between china and the united states, and very likely her allies, in particular, the japan empire, down the road. it is inevitable. it is gonna be a conventional war. it will be a wrestle for power and influence in the western pacific. all those separatist movements, whether in xinjiang, tibet, or taiwan, are getting support from the united states because she wishes to weaken china from many fronts, forcing china to spend her attention from building an ever stronger economy. there is no way china is gonna give up tibet so that india (and the united states) can move in there. i truly believe many of you westerners, regular joes and johns, are concerned about human rights in china. let me assure you, as much as we, regular chinese citizens, wish there was more improvement, we will not hesitate and stand behind our government on our national defense, even if that means shooting a few monks.

Chinese never burn Tibetans! you always say report the real Tibet, but do you think your media tell u the real situation in Tibet? all photoes and videos what i saw on the CNN and BBC just told me the same story that protestors commit violence to civilians!
do u really the history about China and Tibet? if u know a little, u will know you media tell u too much with prejudice! i feel sorry for u who believe they know the truth from their media.

all rubbishes! the people who said "free tibet" , do you know you don't have any rights to talk about the internal affairs of our country. you don't know anything,just echoed what other says!!! are you parrot?do you know Chinese history?why United States free Texas republic or just all pack up and go back to Europe??????

It's clear that those who think China did nothing wrong in Tibet (or even to it's own people) has never experienced living under the Communist regime – may be you should try it, there are still a couple of countries that can provide such an opportunity.
And the only reason the rest of the world does not support Tibet is because there's no financial interest involved – so what that if they killed a couple of monks!
We in the West know our rights so well, but that's us, right? WE deserve it but who are THEY to want the same? It's very sad and it's a shame on all who can make a difference.

lilly zhu, i think you are not chinese. the true chinese people can't any the same as waht you said!you are a swindler!!!!

This is for the first time i join and write blogs. the issue is very clear that Tibetan people do not want to live anymore under the chinese rules, whether tibet was free state or not in History. And this right to fight for their rights are guaranteed under Chinese own law. This is known by all free loving people that Tibetan is totally different from Culturally, Ethnically and Geographically from mainland China.

Hence it is wise of China if they respect Rights of Tibetan and give rightful genuine Self Rule to TIBETAN

It's true CNN=Politics. It's NOT true CNN=Facts.

We like to say "God bless America". Folks, we understand that many of our Americans have no knowledge about history at all. Many of us don't even know our own 300 year history. Sad isn't it? That's ok. We do know China has more than 5000 years of history even we don't know much about it. A country survived before Moses came along and before Jesus came along. If a country survived those many years for better for worse, she is blessed.

This riot is not all negative. Before it happened, no one paid any attention to the true history. Now it brings up people's curiosity to search for the true story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOhDBo6×2ZY&feature=related
http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html

I hear all these comment for Free Tibet and yet when you read the articles and view the pictures you wonder if they knew the term peaceful protest? Why would China want to engaged in this kinda news when it it near the Olympic? So, please read the article and view some of the pictures before you pass the blame to China. I'm don't agree with China's policy..but this time the Tibetian are out to make China look bad before the Olympic it's a shame to use this tactics. Peaceful protest doesn't include rock throwing and burning cars and what not.

Photographic evidence of the bloody crackdown on peaceful protesting Tibetans at Ngaba County, Sichuan Province, on 16 March 2008

WARNING: EXTREMELY DISTURBING PICTURES.

Viewer discretion is advised.

http://meyul.com/2008/03/18/photographic-evidence-of-the-bloody-crackdown/

I hope the world sees it..

For Freedom! For Justice!

http://www.MeYul.com

Monks are supposed to be peaceful. When they are seen doing violent acts then one should wonder what has caused them so much anger. It is time for world to find out what really goes on in Tibet.

Oh! sorry, they can't find out cos the doors have been closed now by the benevolent Communist thugs in Biejing.

Shame on you CNN. You moderated on my post for a whole day and deleted it. I was watching it.

Tibet is a part of China. Like Texas is a part of US.

China has a lot of problems. We are a developing country like most of the countries in the world. We have a painful history in the past 150 years. Chinese people will fight for our own democracy and own freedom. However, Chinese people will fight for the integrity of their motherland with the same passion, if not more.

No single country in the world would give up its land without a fight. No country in the world would tolerate such brutal violence without exerting force. My heart goes to those police officers and soldiers who fought the rioters with batons and shields. From our experience in China, in such kind of situations, they will not be allowed to carry guns. Even if they do, they are not given bullets.

I am outraged by the statements made by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. He is spreading unmitigated lies to the entire world. Do people know how untrue his words are? Do the Chinese people give this man credibility? How more obviously false can the Chinese government be? They violently repress a peaceful demonstration, then they seal off the area and toss out all foreigners so that the truth cannot be known. Then they make telling the truth a crime subject to harsh punishment further ensuring the truth will not be revealed.
The Premiers claim that the Dalai Lama is lying about his position on the violence in Tibet is ludicrous. The Premiers assertion that the Dalai Lama seeks to separate Tibet from China is further evidence of his delusion. To top it off he blatantly calls the Nobel Peace Laureate a liar.
I wonder if Wen Jiabao tells these fabrications for the benefit of his flock who will cling to his every word as gospel, or does he honestly believe that the international community will give him credence?
What is the best action that the international community can take to send a message to Wen Jiabao that we are on to his campaign of dissembling and lies.

"A lie repeated a hundred times becomes the truth."
-Chairman Mao

http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/article.php?id=425

far to long has the communist chinise goverment been occuping Tibet!!!!!!!!!!!! Let Tibet be filled in all directions with Tibetans!!!!!!!!!!
Let His Holyness the 14th Dalai Lama return home, as well as all his Tibetan brothers and sisters!!!!!!!!!!!
FREE TIBET-TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All you guys still call it peaceful protest?

Shame on you and you shameless Tibetans

Why do Americans always like everything and anything trendy and rightious for the moment. Do the readers on this blog related or ever born in Tibet, better yet, have you studied the history of CHina?

I oftern find it amusing the Free Tibet people often have no idea what Tibet means to them. Its like i call the USA-USI–United Staes of Indians, how about that? should you give the land back you took and let them for a sepearte state?

To Monan and Tazin:

Can you upload some pictures of Chinese store been burned into ashs, Chinese people were beaten, Chinese people were burned to death?Those are also EXTREMELY DISTURBING PICTURES , I hope the whole world will see it too. Where is Justice for Chinese?

"When the Chinese came to Tibet they not have enough food to feed the own people, we Tibetans supplied the food." Tenzin, can you tell me where this from? You guys supplied food? then where were you when 3 years starvation began in 50's in China. Thousands of people died in those terrible years. My mum still would not want to recall it everytime we talked about this. Where was Tibet food supply? What did you supply? When did you supply? How much did you supply?

Have you ever been to Tibet? Next time, if you travel to Tibet. Remember not to talk flight, because the airport was Chinese built to culture genocide you Tibetans. Dont take drive roads either, cause all roads are CPC built to dentroy your culture and religion. One more thing, dont take the railway too, thats corruption to your beautiful home. REMEMBER, if you want to be a REAL PATRIOTIC TIBETAN, WALK to TIBET, doesnt matter where you start.

interesting and knowledgeable comment from Demosthenes (political analyst), but seems the right can apply to the colonies of amercican but not native America. haaaaa

I am not surprised of the recent events unfolding in Tibet. Tibetans are marginalised in their own country, there is no freedom of expression, schools and clinics over Tibet are in deplorable state. Thousands of han Chinese are immigrating to Tibet every day and the new railway line made it much much easier for the Chinese. Chinese should get the hell out of Tibet and give it back to who it belongs.

There's a fine line between protesting peacefully and rioting. The Dalai Lama has only called his people to stop violence but not denying the very existence of violence of Tibetans against both the Han Chinese and Muslim Chinese. This has elevated to the level of TERRORISM. Killing innocent people does not solve the problem, and if the Han Chinese is causing the problems, killing innocent Muslims is only making it worse. No government in their right mind tolerates terrorism. To those with the pictures, have you seen pictures of people killed in other parts of the world? Does the FBI and CIA reveal them? Does the FSB allow everyone in the world see them?

Facts are:

- In 1653, Qing Emperor offically gave the title Dalai to the head of Gelug Schools of Buddhism in Tibet. Since then any reincarnation aka successor of Dalai has to be approved and confirmed by Chinese central government.

In 1940 XIV Dalai Lama was officiated by then Chinese central government.

- In 1954 current Dalai Lama became Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committe of the National People's Congress aka the parliment of PRC.

SO, if Tibet had been an independent country then, how came a "foreigner" like Dalai could hold such an important position in the parliment of PRC?

Why does Spain NOT allow Basque and Catalonia to become independent countries while both regions have their unique culture, languages, music, flags?

If the logic of someone above holds to be true, then we should all agree the followings:

Free Basque!
Free Catalonie!
Free Québec!
Free Corsia!
Free Brittany!
Free Scotland!
Free Walse!
Free Abkhazia!
Free South Ossetia!
Free Pridnestrovie!
Free Serb-dominated Northern Part of Kosovo!

Anyone who are really interested in Tibet and Dalai Lama should read:

- "Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth" by Michael Parenti

- The Shadow of the Dalai Lama – Contents
By Victor & Victoria Trimondi

- An Interview with Victor and Victoria Trimondi (Germany)[/B]
By James C. Stephens

-Behind Dalai Lama's holy cloak
By Michael Backman

it is always easy for this so-called spiritual leader in-exile, safely and comfortablly seated in India, to call for peace,non-violence, humanity, love, blah-blah-blah; while secretly instigate and worsen turmoil in Lhasa, leaving his dear people protesting, bleeding and dieing.
God bless all the people hurt and died in Tibet and involved elsewhere.

Tibetan people are not being treated as second-class citizen in china. Dalai lama's saying is rootless. in fact Tibetian people have been enjoying lots of priorities together with other ethnic minorities in china. For example, China's one child policy is only effect for majority han ethnic, Tibetan people can have more children as they want. Tibeten childern can go to university with much lower graduation exam score than other Han ethnic children. They have been granted special treatment to do business. Dalai lama should not blame that the chinese government don't want have dialogue with him as he is not a sincere person, I always wonder why he was awarded Noble peace price.

I have posted this comment in other CNN articles, this is my view on the Tibetan situation:

First, I have make it clear that I am 100% Chinese and I fully support any decisions / actions of theTibetan people as pertain to their indepenence. I am disgusted by the actions of the Chinese government in their treatment of my Tibetan neighbors whom I consider cousins. However, I also condemn unjust violence towards my Chinese brothers and sisters.
Having lived in the U.S., I deal with it everyday and I know to a much lesser degree of how it feels to be view as second class citizen, to be view as different and treated differently. Now to live in your own country and treated this way must be a hundred time worst.
At no point am I shock by the actions of the Chinese government. Basic freedoms of speech and religion have been all but abolished in China until recently. During the cultural revolution, my grandparents land and property were seized and my father force to reformation work camps where estimated millions had died and suffered.
I believed a majority of the Chinese community is in full support of the Tibet. Wheather Tibet wishes to annex or be separate from China should absolutely be the decision of its own people. I believe we have to within all our power to avoid another tragedy such that which bestowed upon Native Indian; on this very land in which Americans reside on.
In order to have kind of success / progress to be made in Tibet; we need the support from everyone. To start off, the UN have to sanction the Chinese Communist Government for their treatment of Tibetans. I was born and lived the first decade of my life in China. China have a very strong hold on the media and most people in China are unaware of any “negative” news happening elsewhere outside their own regions.
I am interested in hearing from all on how we can resolve this. Feel free to write to me at jayzhangpronto@yahoo.com.
FREE TIBET !!!

The legacy of Mao and his successors also includes Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the Maoists in Nepal, northern India, and affiliated infiltrators in independent Bhutan trying to destabilize the region, along with the New People's Army in the Philippines- each and all falsely promoting a "people's liberation." The facts reveal the truth of Chinese communist/Maoist propagandastic lies and the kind of brutality of action ordered by these leaders. If there ever will be purging to be done- may the purging begin with Chinese leaders, and restore the independence of Tibetan people, Uighur people, and other peoples in China, like what happened when the USSR finally collapsed under the weight of its own denial and arrogance.

If you want to see the result of communist controlled government, education & media, read the many comments under this CNN story. It is amazing the immediate knee-jerk reaction you get out of people that were raised under the current Chinese government: comparison of Tibet to the US & Native Americans; blame Western support, including many European countries, on the US; claim "Tibet always belonged to China", when in fact China was formed by many separate people groups being conquered by another; compare the Hawaii to Tibet, when Hawaii native people groups are not being bred out of existence and having their culture destoyed. Finally, think about this: there are posts on this web site that both support the Chinese government, and those that do not. Try doing the same thing on sina.com and see what happens to your comment.

Why isn't the chinese Govt. letting the foreign media get into Tibet and see what is happening rather than filtering everything that is appropriate for them. Isn't that something to be questioned if they think that they are not lying to the world. Why don't they show everything rather than censoring the International press and showing their own media coverage which is going to cover all the misdeeds done by the Govt. Saddens me that this world doesn't glorify humanity and stand for the truth.

I love Tibet and CNN!

No worries.

California was invaded by US Army about 150 years ago. The US flooded California with immigrants from allover the world with predominately white folks. The US is the world leading power and economic 150 years later. The Californians are happy today and Mexicans all want to move to California across the border.

Tibet was invaded by the Moguls and Hans, whatever you want to call it. 100 years from now, China will be the leading power and economic in the world. The Tibetans will be happy then. All the people from the neigboring countries all want to move to Tibet.

In the United States of America, you know what these "protesters" are called? They’re called TERRORISTS. Here, millions of tax dollars are put into tailing these people, bugging their homes, throwing them in jails, and DECLARING WARS ON THEIR COUNTRIES TO FIND THEIR CRIMINAL MASTERMIND IN CAVES IN AFGHANISTAN. Did you see the Chinese government telling Bush to NEGOTIATE with Osama Bin Laden?! Did you see Chinese Premier Hu raise international fervor when Iraq ignored the U.S.’s Ultimatum and the United States declared WAR?! So far the protesters ignored the Chinese deadline, and what. bloody. business does the U.S. State Department and Condoleeza Rice recommend "restraint" when they themselves went on to an invasion of a foreign country without the approval of the United Nations?!

When a region is under civil unrest, the government’s’ responsibilities are to ensure the safety and well-being of her citizens and STOP the violence through force, if needed. The rant continues: http://tinyurl.com/2juavj

No to monks in politics. No to inherited dictatorship. No to mixing religion with politics.

What's happenning there is sad and does not look good for the Tibetans, but on the other hand – the Soviet empire fell, ROME fell... My heart goes to all the peple who live in Tibet, regardless of thier ethnicity – after all their government is not the one you disagree with, regardless of who you are.
Just wish i could contribute more than writing and praying – any ideas anyone?

Do not comment with prejudice and arrogance before knowing the truth. I do not think it's "protest" while so many innocent people were being beaten and even killed, so many shops were destroyed and burned, by the so called "monks"! It's not just "protest", it was truly violence!

Violent crimes against non-Tibetan Chinese
==================================
The world should know the Tibetan rioters commit violent crimes against non-Tibetan Chinese, and should condemn these crimes. I saw the videos on youtube. These YouTube videos intentionally do not show the violent attack on non-Tibetan Chinese on motorcycle, the Tibetans setting fires and looting shops. I saw these videos on other websites. These are criminals !

China, U.S.A. etc do not condone independent or separatist moves by their citizens. Chinese reaction to these moves are
=============================
similar to those taken by U.S.A. against Puerto Ricans,
===========================================
Hawaiians and Indians, by United Kingdom against Irish etc..
=============================================
Only difference is the non-Chinese governments do it more covertly.

Many Tibetans do not learn how to read and write Chinese. You can not usually get good jobs without those skills unless
you have technical skills etc..
People who live in the United States of America who do not read and write English usually work in low paying menial jobs like washing dishes, landscaping, fast food restaurant cooks etc. This is the same in Europe.

China should send all the Tibetan criminals to the USA or Europe. Let these countries have the "freedom fighters" much like Fidel Castro send all the Cuban criminals to U.S.A.

The Dalai Lama opposes violence. The violence against non-Tibetan Chinese shows he has very little influence over the rioters.

Free America, Free scotland, Free Northern Ireland, Free Hawaii, Free Quebec!

Tibetans!!
Never forgive your dream!!

Chinese should give Tibetans what they want.
And freedom-loving nations in the world should support Tibetans.
If we stay in silence in this Tibetan's Independence and Freedom Movement, sometime our freedom also could be in danger.

This Tibetan's Movement reminds me of korea's 3.1independence movement in 1919.
At that time(when Japan had been conquerring Korea), there was no hope, but Korea's Independence was finally achieved.

So Tibetans!!
Never forgive your dream!!
We who love Independence and Freedom are always with you.
And your dream will finally come true like us.

As far as I know Tibetans are very nice people. China is consists of multple races while the tibetans are the most peaceful people becaseu they believe in Buddhism. However, this turmoil changed this idea totally in China. People are so surprised that some tibetans are so violent. Most people known to be killed so far are han people, victims of the turmoil. Although there are reports that some tibetans got killed by the goverment, no proof so far. I would not be surprised if some tibetans got killed because they attack stores, set fires, rob banks. However, I am do surprised that so far no such evidence revealed to support the death of tibetans. Except that, a new turmoil unknow to the outside world is occurring inside the han society of china. Extreme believers of nationalism are becomeing more and more active in the internet mediated virtual society. Relative to the more and more violent tibetans, this change indicates a more dangerous conflict is merging. Although most chinese still believes in the Chairman Mao's policy: we must unite all the minority nations of the country, and we are all sisters and brothers, this policy is thought as out of time by lots of extreme nationalists. Although most of these extreme nationalists are simply orally nationalists, they have no ball to put their nazi screams into action, they are spreading these nazi ideas on the internet, causing a severe conflict among chinese. The international society should notice that, a bloody confict between tibetans and chinese is a huge tragedy to chinese, to tibetan, to dalai lama, to the chinese goverment, and to the world. Please make all the effort to calm down the situation other than make it more hot. Please report the turmoil in tibet with a more impartial style, other than the picture shown in this post, which only displays the army vehicle buth hide out the stone throwing tibetans on the right side of the picture. This picture makes chinese very angry about the position of CNN, which have been believed to be professional and impartial, which is highly doubed by lots of chinese.

Second Attempt in posting this blog.

First, I have make it clear that I am 100% Chinese and I fully support any decisions / actions of theTibetan people as pertain to their indepenence. I am disgusted by the actions of the Chinese government in their treatment of my Tibetan neighbors whom I consider cousins. However, I also condemn unjust violence towards my Chinese brothers and sisters.
Having lived in the U.S. , I deal with it everyday and I know to a much lesser degree of how it feels to be view as second class citizen, to be view as different and treated differently. Now to live in your own country and treated this way must be a hundred time worst.
At no point am I shock by the actions of the Chinese government. Basic freedoms of speech and religion have been all but abolished in China until recently. During the cultural revolution, my grandparents land and property were seized and my father force to reformation work camps where estimated millions had died and suffered.
I believed a majority of the Chinese community is in full support of the Tibet . Wheather Tibet wishes to annex or be separate from China should absolutely be the decision of its own people. I believe we have to within all our power to avoid another tragedy such that which bestowed upon Native Indian; on this very land in which Americans reside on.
In order to have kind of success / progress to be made in Tibet ; we need the support from everyone. To start off, the UN have to sanction the Chinese Communist Government for their treatment of Tibetans. I was born and lived the first decade of my life in China . China have a very strong hold on the media and most people in China are unaware of any “negative” news happening elsewhere outside their own regions.

I am interested in hearing from all on how we can resolve this. Feel free to write to me at jayzhangpronto@yahoo.com.

FREE TIBET !!!

Please understand that China never occupied Tibet. There were civil war in China in the 40s and the communist party defeated the nationalist (democrat) to take control over China. The communist party united all parts in China again. Tibet was part of China before that and will always be part of China in the future.

Why no more say a word about IRAQ when Americans occupied their land for 5+ years?? Is there a double standard here? Just because a country label themselves as "communist" and they automatically be put into the axis of evil?? Anyone who studies China history or been to China knows the "communism" no longer exist anymore. If these people are crying for "Free Tibet", they should help cry for the "Free Iraq" slogan because there are literally thousands of people dying there every month. "FREE IRAQ" "FREE IRAQ" "FREE IRAQ"

Anyway, I think I am writing for nothing because the moderator will not post this message.... but hey, at least I send a message to the modertator to let him or her know that by eliminating my message, he/she is committing a crime for banning my free speech right....

Look at what happen to Kosovo? Are the people of Kosovo more happy before the Independence?

Only the West are allowed to say who can be Independent and who cannot?

Once you touch on their own country, the double standard comes out.

We should also boycott British Olympics. Let Ireland to be independent too? Let all the parties who demanded indepent from the Western Countries and let see whether all these western country can allow them or not?

TIBET was a free country in the past....untill the chinese took over in the 1950s....everybody has the right to freedom!!! m sure everyone knows how it feels to b FREE.....even the CHINESE!!!
give TIBET its freedom...let them breath the air of freedom for all times to come!!.. we r brothers....we belong to the same MONGOLOID race..why should brothers fight against eachother!!!!

PLEASE FREE TIBET.....

MY best wishes to the Dalai lama and all the tibetans in the world!!! MAY GOD BESTOW YOU WITH FREEDOM IN 2008!!

can't agree more with "It’s true CNN=Politics. It’s NOT true CNN=Facts"

Sir – even the picture you use here is edited – it's only the left-hand-side of the original picture. what a clown. talking about the role of media

i can't help wondering what perspective is this. it does look to me that CNN is trying very hard to make china look bad

not trying to say who's right who's wrong here. so do tibetans have rights to burn down shops / kill people? how is that so holy and china gvmt has no right to look into it? so US gvmt would do nothing when some people suddenly decided they are not treated fairly hence they have rights to beat up the so-called "winning side" and burn down their houses? remember what you guys did to the native americans?

and how much do you know about chinese history – do you even speak Chinese or Tibetan? do you know some lama used to have drums the surface of which is made of human skin of tibetan slaves?

all i can say is different parties have their agendas.

waiting to see whether this comment gets posted

The Chinese commentators here first of all, do not have the faintest idea of Tibet and Tibetans except the brainwashing education that they received from their atheist government. Evidence of this can be seen from the fact that they all say the same Communist concocted mumbo jumbo of how Tibet became part of China. This, by the way, is totally false historical representation of what took place. If we accept this logic, then I’m sad to say, China is part of Mongolia, since the Mongols ruled China.
What is amazing is that they don’t even know their own history, forget about Tibet! Slavery was practiced in China up until the early 1940s. China also considered women as inferior beings and slaves to their husbands, binding and deforming their feet so that they don’t run away. Then there is the issue of Japanese occupation of Manchuria. China makes a hue and cry about Japanese brutality and persecution, while doing the same to Tibetans. From your own documents it states that 1.2 million Tibetans were killed (considering communist governments habit of lying, the figures could be much higher).
Then there is the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, where thousands of your students died, your own leaders blatantly claimed that no one died.
China calls the invasion of Tibet in 1959 a “Peaceful Liberation”, yet there was nothing peaceful about it when you invade unarmed people with Tanks, cannons and war planes loaded with bombs. The indiscriminate use of bombs, artillery and tanks on unarmed women and children on March 10, 1959 in Lhasa was cowardly and totally inhuman act of savagery. Approximately, 8 thousand unarmed civilians were murdered that day!
And during your 49 years of illegal rule in Tibet, what have you done that China is so proud of. Tibetans are ten times worse of under Chinese rule than our own government.

"treat Tibetan as second class people?"
that is nonsense!
it is the globalization that do the "cultural genocide" of Tibet, not chinese goverment! culture is dying all around the world, including han's culture itself!

It is true that Tibet became a part of china in a relatively short time ago, which is about 2-300 years ago. At that time, california and texus and lots of other states are not a part of the united states yet. Now what, does the United States give your states the freedom of leaving the U.S.? No way, right? Don't tell me that your states do not wanna to separate, they tried, didn't they? They were crashed by extreme violent power of the U.S. army. It is true, right? So stop telling me that tibet has the freedome of being independent, any separation movement has their own reason, which does not necessary means it is a right thing to do, or feasible. The political reality of this world determines that tibet can only be indepdendent from china when china is too weak to keep it dependent.
However, China have the power to keep tibet with china doesnot necessary this relationship has tobe a cruel one. Being a part of china is supposed to be a good choice. I am very sorry that chinese goverment have not realize how to satisfy tibetans. they though a developing economy and an increasing salary can make tibetans happy. More or less it maybe true, lots of people told me that tibetans people are satisfied with this improvement. However, the very nature of tibetans is that they need region, they need to pray Dalai lama, as much as they need the air and water. Chinese goverment doesn't understand this desire, lots of chinese people doesn't understand this point. They are confused that why tibetans are still so unhappy and want to be independent after inland part of china has contribute huge amount of treasure to tibet. This is a huge misunderstanding which cost the lifes in this turmoil.

What defines "crackdown"? It seems that many are simply throwing buzzwords around and relying on the negative connotations instead of logic to do the arguing.

Because if a crackdown is what's needed to suppress a riot, then by all means crack down.

>>>>>>>
does the chinese leaderhip has any sense of conscience, any sense of shame and guilt? I wonder how they would feel if they were treated the same way they treat the tibetans in tibet.
>>>>>>>

Please substitute western contries for Chinese and Chinese for Tibetans.

We Chinese had been treated much worse than that for over 100 years. When you westerners consider to return those grabbed Chinese treasures, then we can talk about justice.

it is disheartening to read the comments that disparage the tibetan people. i, myself, am tibetan. many of my relatives died as a direct result of china's 'peaceful liberation' of tibet. tibetans are simply seeking the right to live in peace. tibetans have been silent for so long. too scared to do anything under chinese rule. in tibet it is illegal to own a picture of the dalai lama much less utter the hope of a 'free tibet'? is this any way to live? for anyone? tibetans have been doing it for too long. and tibetans are finally revolting against the repression. i pray for peace and freedom for tibetans and the chinese.

For those who have not been to China, my adice is that please go to
China yourself and see for yourself what is happening in China now.

Do not forced your value system on other people? Those who used the world Communist China, please go to China and see for yourself.

Show me which part of China look like communist?

Do you think it is easy to feed 13 billion people and turns billion to become middle class income group?

Look at your own country first. May be your country is more communist than China.

The problem with China now is they are more capitalist than capitalist.

Furthermore how much do you know about communism- if communist system can really work out. Why not? Communist system cannot work not because of the system, it is because of human greed and men are born to be selfish.

As a frequent visitor to Tibet living in Nepal, I would like to draw attention to the control that China exerts over Tibet and beyond. These recent demonstrations in Lhasa are unprecedented since 1989, not because the Tibetans are content with Chinese rule, but rather, that the control in the Tibetan regions of China is such that any minor, political incident is quickly and firmly quashed by the ever-present security forces. It is virtual suicide for Tibetans to demonstrate on the streets of Lhasa and elsewhere in the Tibetan regions of China. If this is not the case, why are the Chinese so determined to keep independent foreigner witnesses, in general, and journalists, in particular, out of the region? While the Chinese government constantly maintain that what goes on in Tibet is “the internal affair of China”, we have seen increasing interference outside China when it comes to controlling Tibetan demonstrations, or any other activities for that matter. The Greek police were flanked by Chinese officials while they arrested peaceful Tibetan demonstrators in Athens; here in Nepal, Chinese from the Embassy were practically ordering the Nepalese police to arrest the Tibetans on the 10th March. Furthermore, in their determination to show the world that China is a progressive, developed country and that the “minorities” are an integral, contented part of it, the Chinese have chosen Everest, the pinnacle of the world, which happens to be in Tibet, as the place to light the Olympic torch. In order to avoid any untoward political activities, in spite of insisting that the recent demonstrations were the work of a few, violent, Tibetan “splittists” from the “Dalai clique”, the Chinese authorities have taken the precaution to close not only Tibet but also Everest from the Nepalese side. If they have that much control of their neighbour, image how much control they have inside Tibet?
The control that the authorities have over the media in China, means that the Chinese people are unable to hear an-unbiased reports. As with the Soviet Uniion, one day the state control will come tumbling down and with it, all the lies. How many times does the Dalai Lama have to say: “I do not want full independence for Tibet”, only to be told by the Chinese that they won’t speak to him because he DOES want “full independence for Tibet”?

Why can't chinese give freedom and independence to Tibetans?
I think Tibetans want freedom to death.

Why can't USA and cnn tell the truth about Tibetan's Independence Movement?
I think USA and cnn tells and works for their benefit.

Recently, Especially about Tibetan's Independence Movement I can't believe YOUR(usa and cnn) conscience and report.

Many comments are simple, naive and even STUPID here - not only because they do not have any sense about the Chinese history, also because they don't have any idea about the US history. Minorities including Tibetans get the best policies from the Chinese government: from birth control to education entrance level etc. Never did China restrict the Tibetans in a small area which the Indians (the aboriginals of North America) suffered and are now suffering. So SHUT UP AND GO BACK WHERE YOUR ANTECEDENTS CAME FROM AND FREE THE INDIANS, NOW!!!

Why can't China just get out of Tibet?? Let Tibet belong to Tibetans. Linguistically and culturally they are very different. I've been to Tibet and witnessed firsthand the type of oppression that many of these Tibetans endure. They just want the right to practice their culture but cities like Lhasa are so populated by the Hans that Tibetans have become a minority in their own country. I am ashamed as a citizen of the world that we just sit back and watch as this goes on. Years, maybe a centuries from now, the future generation will think of us and judge us for our apathy. Let's stand up and actually do something worthwhile. Let's fight for Tibetans who've made it very clear that they need our support in attaining freedom.

The Tibet crisis is a testing time for world community. If they fail to support Tibet in it's struggle, it will be shameful, as it will show that the world community is not at all bothered about the suffering of those who believe in peace. To keep aloof from the happenings of
Tibet will imply tacit support to violent movements world over, because that will show only violence is noted by world community.

oh, asian, you are so modest that you just asked two why. Let me give you more:
why can't usa just give freedom and independence to the southern states in the civil war? I think red necks want freedom to death.
why so many goverments just refuse to give freedom and independence to any separation movement? Like north ireland?
Why can't CNN just be more professional so that to show your reader a more complete picuture in your article but not a modified one which is intentionally modified to make chinese goverment looks ugly and tibetans looks more innocent?
why, why, why, why the hell you know so little about tibet and what is happening and has so much to comment? Why can not you understand that no one like what happened, even dalai lama threaten to resign to keep his control over the separation movement in a desperate manner, and finanlly, why you, in such an positive manner, even believe that freedom and independence is something like a gift that can ge given away?

gyalpot – DON'T YOU DARE mention the japanese occupation of Manchuria – how about having some japanese people intruding your country for whatever holy reasons they think they have and rape your daughters/wives/moms then kill hundreds of thousands of your fellow countrymen? you would sit back emotionless and think about who rules who quoting histories as analogy? is that how you would react?

everyone's view is biased. there's hardly any truth, only interpretation from different perspectives

and I dare say lots of chinese people living in china don't give a da*n about whether or not tibet is independent. let them be if they think they can be better-off that way. there's only one thing most people care about – peace

at the end of the day it's all racism. so cnn-s alike – stop sitting on the high horse and accusing china of this and that. where were you people when the real human tragedies happened in rwanda?
give me a break

and those who think they know everything about china from reading news online. if you really want to learn about what is happening – learn chinese, go to china and see if for yourself. otherwise mind your own business might be a better idea

I find it tough to support the Dalai Lama. His rise to power among the elitist lamas is much questionable.

Ironically, the Chinese Prime Minister's rise to power is far more transparent than the what can be said of the Dalai Lama.

Inherited Holiness from reincarnation? Give me a break.

Very surprised so many people believing in democracy would support the lama cronies. I suppose its nice to befriend with Hollywood stars.

dechen：
nice talk and I think I understand you. I am a chinese and do not support tibet independence. However, I also believe that you definitely have the right to decide what to worship. I am sorry that our goverment (if it doesn't insult you so much, which I am hopping) made lots of mistakes on this issue. Please think in this way, in the culture revolution, they simply destroied almost the whole chinese history, not only tibet's, but also in the inland china. It was a hard time. I am really sorry that you suffered in those years, although we also suffered, and the goverment didn't do that specifically to tibet, I still feel sorry because you are new to the family and have no idea about the temper of the family head.
However, I also want to tell you that, tibet have had a very close relationhip with china since the qin dynasty, to be more frankly, tibet is actually governed by the qin dynasty, each dalai name have to be admitted by the emperor to be official. The biggest mistake that PRC made is not governing tibet, but do it in a wrong way. I even want to say that, they didn't make that mistake intentially. After the culture revolution, when the whole china inland are has more freedom, I do not know what happens in tibet. I guess more or less there are some improvement. However, the experience the goverment get from the inland china reform give them an idea that people will be easily satisfied with improved living quality. They simply didn't realized that dalai lama and religion is such an important thing to you. I know they are sturband. Just think about what they did in 1989 in Beijing. Shame on them. I do not know what happened there in tibet so have no comment. Anyway, my point is, PRC goverment is not a good one, however, it is the one that we have to live with at this time, and it is still posible to talk some sense into this goverment if you know the right way to do it. I do not think a separated tibet will do your people any good, I believe that is why dalai lama also agree to stay within china.
After all, I want you to know that most of chinese think you as a family, we all have a rough familiy head. We do not want to see your suffer. We want to understand you more so we can make things better. Please tell you people that do not think han chinese as your enemy, but some one want to be your family. We suffered together, and we will have a futuer together.

Over 90% of messegers writter are exiled Tibetans and the people who have no idea of the true story.
Have your eyes open and ears open, have you seen the picture that shown a Han Chinese was striked by more than 10 tibetans with stones and crabsticks. Is this called "human right"?
In the past 50 years, More than hundred thousands Han Chinese younths went to Tibet to build road and railway in the thousand meter high moutain,and built other society infrastructures for Tibetans and many of them died for this. What a tremduous sacrifice Han Chinese do give Tibetans in the past 50years ! For me , what give me a remarked impression is that every Tibetans can get subsidy without conditions in my univerisity ( China Nanjing).
For Tibet issue , it is China interior affair, no need any other third party to interfere it. I believe Chinese centre government can handle with it very well. From the history, every one in the world knows that Tibet is blong to China since Yuan Dynasty( A.D.1271).

Does any country allow their belonging -province which want to independent to free them to separate? If it is happening in your country , what is your idea?

I am from China and I have a my roommates back in university, he volunteered to go Xi Zang ( this is the real name of Tibet in Chinese) and taught students there for a whole year in 2004. From what he told me and the things I saw, the people there are getting along with each other very well – the students repect him very much and their parents are very supportive of teacher's job. And I can tell you that the number such graduate students going there are in thousands very year. Please do not label this as the culture colonize – they are teaching Math, English ( i think this is your culture ), Phisics.

You also need to know that the Chinese central government spend like billions of dollars tax money from inland provinces to support the welfare and economy developments there. The normal living standards are much more better than my hometown Gansu. I admit that they have their own spiritual pursuit, but i did not see any reason for them to riot.

Tibetan just like aborigines of Taiwan who they lived in their motherland but couldn't obtain the real respect in twenty or more than twenty years ago.I can totally understand the kind of feeling.
Also I can understand why Chinese so believed in the government told a lot of lies. News control is the very powerful tool. Chinese people need to open their eyes, open their mind.

Why Buddhist monks involve in politics and join in the protest???
How the Buddhist holy place toying with the idea of "independence"???
China history is Buddhist based culture. There are many different race groups and dialects groups in China as well as every other countries in the world!!!
Every family has issue, similarly every country has issue too, but some outsiders come to help and some come to add more fire that caused the current situation.
There is no real independence in this world.

China is NOT communist. It is socialist. And Americans need to let other countries run their government and get the heck out of it. Would you like it if there were dozens of international presses in America? What about the Spitzer scandal and the New Jersey governor? Part of Obama's campaign money came through illegal sources. So what gives Americans the right to criticize others?

Because some Holywood stars support the "Free Tibet" movement, it has become a fashion. It's more like a Versace or LV, everyone must own one. A lot of people join the bandwagon because they think it's cool... because they have hatred against the Chinese people.. because they have nothing better to do?? They hate Chinese because:
(1) China is the world factory and it has taken a lot of the blue collar jobs away from US, UK, France, Germany...etc. Is it the Chinese fault? Blame the greedy corporations!!
(2) China has a "communist" government. If I dress like a punk, people will see me as a gangster even though I always do charitable work. Don't mention you had been o China if your last trip was in the 70s or 80s. Nowadays, the big cities in China are comparable to NYC or London... Where do you see communism in China???
(3) Chinese immigrants tend to work harder in foreign nations than their domestic local people because second class citizens must work hard to earn a little respect from others. This always draw jealous from the locals and they wonder why Chinese live better house or drive better cars....
(4) In the Western media, Chinese are always portrait as slanted eyes, yellow skins, ugly hair and ugly mouth..... I don't know what to say, maybe these people are still living in the Vietname era....

One more, the Nazi killed millions of Jews and that was a big deal... how about the Nanjing massacre done by the Japanese?! We lost a million lives also, but do any Western countries care??

Anyway, in short, whatever the Western world say or do is always right. They always want to impose their will on others and tell others what to do. Since there are a lot of stubborn people here, it is a waste of breath to talk to them. Let's chant "FREE IRAQ!!! FREE IRAQ!!!"

For the exiled Tibetans (especially those who were brain washed), while you call for "free Tibet", let's be fair and also call for these:

Free the Iraqis from the Americans!
Free the Kurds from the Iraqis!
Free the Native Indians from the Americans!
Free the Aborigines from the Australians!
Free the North Ireland from English!
Free Serb-dominated Northern Part of Kosovo!
Free Basque!
Free Catalonie!
Free Québec!
Free Corsia!
Free Brittany!
Free Scotland!
Free Walse!
Free Abkhazia!
Free South Ossetia!
Free Pridnestrovie!

Or better yet, find an unclaim piece of land and start your own country!!

It's okay for a western country to occupy another country because she is fighting "Terrorism" or she thinks she is fighting terrorism....

China is trying to secure its country so the atheletes from around the world can enjoy a peaceful event in August. China should start using "terrorism" so the West can their big mouth right?!

I am sure in 2012, the British will use this "terrorism" excuse to fight any riot....

A Chinese supporter Jim said in one of the comments above 'I’ve been to Tibet, most Tibetans are a pretty rough crowd, they are uneducated and many are pretty violent.' But Chinese govt claims to have opened lots of schools in tibet and educated many tibetans. quite a contrast.

another chinese guy said that the conditions in china were very good for him and that he went to usa to study. ever heard of any tibetan in tibet being send abroad to study? and even after being send to a democratic country and being so highly educated, people dont realise that human rights is most important for the human spirit. chinese abroad have not been arrested or killed for carrying a picture of Mao or anyone they want to.

The protest is about the 50 years of torture the tibetans faced in tibet for china. its about tibet and china. so abusing USA or any other country here is pointless. this issue is to be solved by dialogue between the 2 countries. but since china fails to comply to do so sincerely, UN should intervene. but it seems the UN is to sissy to be of any use. they goofed off in iraq, this is a chance for them to redeem their stauts as peace makers. the time for condemning words is over, its time for some action.

What is the big picture here? Riots too close to the Beijing Olympics...

Is that so called "peaceful demostration"? Why the monks participated in the violence?
I will never believe whatever DaLai Lama said, he is an absolutely liar !
Damn these mobs! they are really terrorists!

If CNN=Politics and CNN=Facts, you would present this message. Otherwise, I know at lease one of our Americans was educated on history knowledge. One at a time is not bad either.

Tibet is located in an area that is about 4000 meters above sea level and is isolated before Chinese build roads. Because of these characteristics of the region, most of the people didn't want to get in there back in the days when the technology was not very advanced. Mongolians and Manchurians were very aggressive people in terms of expending their territory. When they took over the power, they did not fool around. Therefore, both of them threatened Tibet's authority. What did Tibetan Lamas do? They chose Mongolians to be their parents or political protector if you will, as well as Manchurians. It was the best choice in order to avoid military conflict, and they wouldn't lose anything back in the old days. They knew that people wouldn't want to get into their territory anyways because the land is difficult to grow food and it has enormous high altitude. Hadn't Tibetan Lamas chosen such political decision, game had been over long time ago. They knew that they would never be able to win a war. They played the same game when British came along. When Mao took over the power of China, things were changed. Mao was an aggressive Chinese political leader. He was a Chinese with Mongolian's and Manchurian's aggressive personality, and he was good at winning the battles. Remember the Korean War and Vietnam War? Americans lost both of the wars in his hands with even better weapons. He was not satisfied with the victory of the Civil War over Guomin Party; he wanted to rebuild the map of China that was built by early Qing emperors. Mao did as much as he could. Dalai Lama made miscalculated political decision. A, he chose a wrong parent, America and its CIA. B, he fled out of Tibet and betrayed Panchen Lama. He did follow what his ancestor's old political idea – choose a political parent as far as possible so that Tibet can be left alone. However, the world had been changed in a great deal by technology in the mid-twentieth century and he was dealing with a whole new different China. Do you think that China will give up Tibet? Fat chance!

For outsiders it’s easy to declare support or opposition toward independence of Tibet. But please be rational, folks, there are plenty of other regions in the world that deserve the same right of independence. Let’s not talk about history, but talk about about messing up the world order since the WWII. To put human rights on top of everything seems fair to everyone, but unrealistically naive. Even for all the Western nations who think they can look down the others in terms of human rights and a variety of other issues, they too have enormous numbers of problems. To put it in an ancient proverb from China, “people who ran 50 steps laugh at those who ran 100 steps after beaten by the enemy”. And the enemy, of course, is the egocentricity of the human kind, nobody, and no nation is exempt from that.
What the dirty politics plays in this kind of game, not surprisingly, is to beat China with such a stick that could potentially halt its development and force it to deal with this issue. Why? Because everybody in the Western world has been experiencing the rising of another great power, which also carries a totally different ideology from the Western countries and no one from this side wants to see what we are afraid of becomes a true reality.

This is my third attempt in trying to post on this forum. I hope CNN will respect my freedom of expression!

For some videos you wouldn't see on CNN, just google the following key words: "lhasa riots truth you never see uncut video".

It is very clear to me that the organized violence of this magnitude against civilians should never be supported. So western media, please stop using the phrase "peaceful protest", which implants the wrong impression in people's minds.

I don't think there is any legitimate religion that condones the use of violence to advance religious beliefs or freedoms. I think there are three possible justifications for religion-inspired violence:
1) The religion has low moral principles and is probably more of a cult;
2) There is something misinterpreted about the teachings of the religion; or
3) Religion is only used as an excuse for the violence.

To justify the images you see as efforts to strive for religious freedom is a way of beautifying it, but a weak one at best.

The truth of the matter is, world politics is not an easy issue. There are always two sides to a story. Do I believe that US-led, British supported invasion on Iraq was justified by the mysterious weapons of mass destruction? I don't know. Were innocent civilians killed as collateral damage? Should government be allowed to censor information or tap your phone line in the name of national security? Human rights seem to be a relative issue when you think about it. There is always trade-off between human rights and national security, no matter what country you're in. Consider this exaggerated scenario: If some rich Oil king purchase a piece of desert in Nevada, populate it with his people and decide to declare independence, would the US just respect that?

"West’s reaction to Tibet unrest reveals widespread hypocrisy"
from the Kentucky Kernel
Shame on your CNN, you've kept blocking my comments for days, dare you publish this?

Riot in Tibet, who is the biggest loser? The western media!
The Chinese officials dropped ball when they blocked report access to the
terrorist attack in Tibet. However, can you blame them?

Just check out the news coverage on CNN, BBC, Fox, MSNBC…what a joke!
Photos are edited, Nepal police are labeled Chinese army, ambulances are
called police vehicles, locals helped injured were called “being taken away
by plain clothed police”. As more footage becomes available, the world
will see just how “peaceful” these protesters are. It may not sound good
but the western media is just a brain washing machine as powerful as the
Chinese government.

There are numerous western literatures on Tibet research. Check out the
history research before your self righteous speech. The Chinese policy on
Tibet is far from perfect and what happened during Culture Revolution is a
tragedy for all Chinese, not only Tibetans. As Melvyn C Goldstein pointed
clearly in his book “The Snow Lion and The Dragon”, the Tibet problem is
not all about religion, not all about freedom, it’s ALL ABOUT TERRITORY!

I don’t believe Dalai Lama is firmly behind the violence. It’s those out
of his control young Tibetans who are born out side Tibet and had never been
to Tibet. Just imagine these violence happens in Dallas, Houston…carried
out by Mexicans who claim Texas was their land. It’s not that much
different…Or native Indians burn up a city and claim the land is theirs.

Why Chinese government doesn't allow foreign journalist go to Tibet?
Why all foreign tourists in China need to ask for special permitt to go to Tibet?
I don't trust the "western imperialists) and can any Chinese fellow answer my questions? Thank you!

I did believe in freedom, democracy and human rights before I came to Canada.

But now, I don't.

Do the Western society and people really care Tibetan pepole in Tibet (Xi Zang)?

No, I don't think so.

1, Some people in Europe and North American and in other areas of the world, such as high official, business men and enterprieuners, know the truth in Tibet and China. They just use Dalai Lama as a weapon to supress China, to get more interests from China. They are very bad.

2, Somp people, such as Richard Gere, are very shameless. They live a modern and very expensive life in Metropolitans, like Los Angeles, (such Beverley Hills). But they want Tibetan people to live in an old way, like monkeys. So they can travel to Tibet to see some "interesting things, culture and people". And they can send some money ( very little) to show their "love".

3, some people are very naive. They are living very bad lives in "developed" countries. The only thing they are proud of is that they speak English and their skin is lighter. They don't have any knowledge about China and Tibet. They know something about China and Tibet (Xizang) from News Media controlled by the goverments and rich business men of their own countries. They can't accpet some Chinese people are richer than them. They don't tolerate that China can do something without the permission from the "Western society".

4, some people, especially British, feel very uncomfortable that China is controlling Tibet, and takes Tibet as a part of China because Britain failed in the battle with China to get Tibet away. They are dreamming China will collapse and Britain, maybe USA, will control Tibet, even the whole land of China, in the future. They are daydreamers.

In conclusion, no body in China cares what you are saying now. Chinese did care the western society's opinion and comments in the past. but now, most Chinese people don't care. They have a better understanding of the current world.

For those condemning china here, are you ready to join a war against China, a war similar with Korea War, or Viet Nam war?

It seems Chinaman are "GOOD" on HISTORY as many of them making historical staments here.

Adam – You claim that Tibet is blong to China since Yuan Dynasty ( A.D.1271). I want to ask you who established Yuan Dynasty? Mongols or Han Chinese?

If it was Mongols, I dont' see the logic in your claim. Do you know what I mean? We Chinese are wiser than Tibetans and please don't make such illogical claims to "loose our Chinese face" infront of the CNN.

Jamie, how shamelss you are by intentionally modifying the picture to mislead the people. The western media, who boasted so-called justice, democracy, and candidness, is just as shamelss as you!

TO: ken
if your reading this which i hope you are, i really think you are an idiot... first of all lets say hollywood stars are supporting the Tibetans so what maybe they believe human rights issues are important. maybe they actually believe that lives are precious and are supporting the Tibetan People because they see the damages done to them, im not sure if you know but over 1 million Tibetans have died in their own country by the chinese govt. for expressing their religion and going on peaceful protests for their country. Ken you make the world seem bleak and selfish but infact maybe your just pestimistic and really need to try to learn the facts before calling other people brainwashed and stubborn

Tibetan protesters are peaceful for those who only saw violence in those videos, its because the chinese government are able to hide all their misdoings. The Tibetans have never hurt any chinese civilians, on every protest the deaths or injuries have all been on the Tibetan peoples side. i have friends in Tibet, the news in china claims only 13 people died, from what i heard from my friends are over 100 people have been killed.

“A lie repeated a hundred times becomes the truth.”
-Chairman Mao

http://www.studentsforafreetibet.org/article.php?id=425

http://www.MeYul.com for breaking news in Tibet

Tibetan may be rough looking but they are soft hearted, thats y they have rich culture & religion. Tibetans are peaceful in nature but this time they couldn't hold their pain. Its just starting point. You might have to see worst sense in near future if situation doesn't changes. Note: Protesters are not armed with bullets & guns but army has it. Hurting 10's is violent / crime, but hurting millions since 50 years are not VIOLENT ? Ask Tibetans young about their life story of ancestors – How they died – Pea fully or with blood on their body without single drop of water on their lips?

Tibetan in Tibet are uneducated because the ruling govt (Mao China – the bugler !) is bad. The condition of the people represents the work of the govt. If Chinese govt is so good then, why they aren't bringing up the Tibetan like Chinese.

Nathan u seems to be still in the world of orthodox.....wake up & brush up....hope u wouldn't be too late when u wake up. How can u still think that The blood shed in Tienanmen Square is justice? The giant uprising aren't the joke & foolishness. They are the YOUNG HEROES who stood & demand for the freedom – for the democracy! COME OUT FROM THE COCOON! see the beautiful world freely.

If Chinese govt is so true then – why they are not openly showing the live news about Tibet to the mainland China? Why they are keeping Tibet away from the world media?

You have not only taken the Tibet land but you exploited resources, people,etc. You want land, power, pride....what more? China shouldn't think they are so great.....There is saying.... "When USA catches cold, the world sneezes" so Mr. China don't think that u are on the top of world. You still have to walk long miles to reach near USA and other European countries including developing country like India.

Look at your own people Hong Kong refused to go back to you after getting freedom from Great Britain.......thats very much proof the status of your own govt. Now Hong Kong is so bright and flying so high. Look at Taiwan too!

Wake up! Wake up! people of China! Come out & see the world. Walk with them.....otherwise you will be all ALONE!!!

Free Tibet!!! Free China!!!

With the dominant western media as biased as this article has shown, Chinese government had enough reasons to block foreign media from visiting Tibet – the media could have taken pictures and made up stories. In any riots it's easy to find such pictures – like police shooting criminals... To Chinese government, blocking media sounds stupid but has less risks. The worst part is, people are now having second thoughts about western media, at least the Chinese...

Demosthenes,

The most of what you said about the history between China and Tibet is true. But when the 13th Dalai Lama declared independence in 1913, the Chinese government (Republic of China) did not accept the independence of Tibet. As a matter of fact, the government of the Republic of China protested the treaty between the British and Tibet. Unfortunately, China was in a civil war chaos. The government had no extra power to crack down the independence of Tibet until the Chinese communist party took over the power. Officially, Tibet is still included in the territory of Republic of China.

Here is a link by a US professor telling the other side of the story of Dala Lama:

http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html

This incident will be over soon, but too many unanswered questions. The world is full of greed, stubbornness, violence....Open your eyes and your heart so you can at least recognize how narrow minded we can be.

chinaeagles:
Yes, isn't the message of the Olympics to be together? "One world, one dream" 同一个世界，同一个梦想

As an Chinese I feel compelled to support my country. For those Americans who don't understand this feeling, its called nationalism, its called patriotism. You should stand by your motherland, your home, your birthplace. It is the right thing to do.

For those wanting to learn more about Tibetan culture, google:

Tibet serfs

http://www.google.ca/search?q=Tibet+serfs&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

I am a Chinese but I don't support Chinese government on the Dalai Lama.

Before accusing each other lier, let me ask you how many foreign jouralists have reported from Lhasa during the protest?

If we want to know truth about the protest in Lhasa, the Chinese government shouldn't stop foreign independent journalists to go to Tibet. It's simple as that.

If we want to prove the Dalai Lama as a lier, we should let him in Tibet to test his words. Otherwise, we are making fool out of ourselves to denouce him.

"Free Tibet" ? What a joke !

"Free Tibet' means you guys (5%) could go back to be Master again, and rest of 95% to be slaves ?

Go back to study history of Tibet if you are not come from Tibet Master family.

Thank you Monlam for distilling this down to the revelation of Mao's single statement- a habitual practice carried out before and during the Cultural Revolution, by Mao's successors today including China's premiere, and by contemporary Maoists in Asia and elsewhere.

A Lamp of the East
In the golden days of the East
Tibet was one of its lamp-bearers
and the lamp is waiting to be lighted once again
for the illumination of the East

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high,
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not broken up into fragment by domestic walls;
Where the words come out from the depth of the truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action – into that heaven of freedom, My Father Tibet, let my country awake!

from the poem for Korea by Rabindranath Tagore
in March 1th 1919 Independence Movement

Tibetans,
We who love freedom are always with you.
Never forgive your dream!

Americans,
You who love freedom are not seen around.
Where did you go?

I think God gives you Americans freedom and absolute power.
Come back freedom-loving Americans!
and Give lights to Tibetans who want freedom!

IT'S ABOUT TIME.. ..

FREE TIBET!!!

The photo in this blog is cropped!

http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20080317-cnn-accused-propaganda-tibet-riots

CNN deleted my previous post. Now I post an abridged version of it, and hope CNN will publish it.

To those who think that China illegally invaded and conquered Tibet in 1950s, I’d like to suggest you do some history study of Tibet. A fairly good source is Wikipedia at the following link,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet

After studying the history, you should realize that Tibet was conquered by Moguls and for the first time became a part of Chinese Yuan Dynasty during 1200s. Later in 1700s, the Chinese Qing Dynasty re-secured Tibet, and since then, Tibet has been undoubtedly a part of China and never gained legitimate and recognized independence. Yes, China did conquer Tibet, but not in 1950s! It was rather in early 1700s! About 60 years prior to that, even China herself was conquered by Manchu, and that’s how the Qing Dynasty came to being! Such things happened all the time in ancient history.

Keeping the unity of a country is always that country’s central government’s duty. Even for the United States herself, about 150 years ago, after the southern states declared independence through a democratic way, everybody knows what happened next. Given that the back then U.S. Constitution allowed individual states to secede from the union if they chose to, the U.S. federal government answered them with brutal military force, and some 600 thousand men were killed in the Civil War. Where was the law and order, where was the democracy, human rights and freedom of American southerners back then?

To those who still call China a communist country:

The definition of communism by Wikipedia is:
Communism is a socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of a classless, stateless society based on common ownership of the means of production.

And the definition of capitalism by Wikipedia is:
Capitalism refers to an economic and social system in which the means of production are predominantly privately owned, are operated for profit, and in which investments, distribution, income, production and pricing of goods and services are determined through the operation of a market economy.

Most of economies of today’s China are privately owned, and China is practicing a free-market economy. Therefore, according to the definitions of communism and capitalism, China should be considered as a capitalistic country.

What’s now happening in Tibet is just a regional ethnic riot; it’s not about so-called human rights or freedom. Human rights and freedom are two good terms that have already been exploited and misused too much and too often. If similar things happened in United States, there is no doubt that the U.S. government would have taken the same measures to put down the riot.

Somebody said, “Choice is Freedom”. Yes, choice is freedom. But this choice should be mutually-agreed choice or bilaterally-agreed choice, should not be unilateral. No kind of freedom and no kind of choice is unlimited. One party’s unlimited choice or freedom would mean no choice or no freedom for other parties. When the American South wanted to choose the choice of independence, the choice was not agreed by the Union. The freedom of the South would mean no freedom for the Union. Similarly, the free Tibet would mean no freedom for China.

For all those Tibetans who want freedom: please leave China and go to America, Australia or Great Britain!!! Every day there are a lot of liars pretend they were tortued by the Chinese government. And they will get accepted as refugees in these so-called freedom countries. Remember you HAVE TO lie that your were tortued "physically" or "mentally" by the Chinese government in order to get accepted. Go to these "freedom" countries and learn for yourself what is "Freedom"....

If I am the Chinese government, I will hand out plane tickets to all the brain-washed monks and send them to the Western world.... let them see how a catholic/christian society will treat them. Obviously Muslims around America get attacked by racists everyday. So I am sure these monks will be treated the same. If you think Americans are more tolerate about religion, THINK AGAIN!!!!

One more thing, if you don't know English, you probably cannot survive in these countries. Same as China, if you don't know chinese, you can't survive there either... Don't blame the Chinese government if the monks refuse to learn Chinese... You will never get a job in China without knowing Chinese. Money will not come to you for free if all you do is sitting in the monesteries all day long.... Please use some common sense here!!! The Globalization is killing all the cultures around the world, including the Chinese culture. So don't blame the Chinese government for cultural genocide. It's the Globalization and Modernization!!!!!

Dear Kenneth,

You reminds me of two chinese words.

賊反荷杖 (A buglar blames a victim)
厚顔無恥 (A man feels no shame because he has no conscience)

and If I am the Tibetan government, I will hand out plane tickets to all HAH people to where they were from.

I dont get why people get so upset when police is "cracking down" (Peace keeping) on the riots, they are burning shops and houses! they are lucky chinese citizens dont have have the right to bear arms.

if the anti-war protesters came anywhere near my house, no matter how much i agree with them, if they try to light my cars on fire or burn my house, i would exercise my second amendment rights to the max, my land, my property, my fort and i have the right to defend it... I mean seriously we can get arrested by just blocking traffic or trespassing into the IRS, if you burn properties or attack people, you should be shot

im all for peaceful demonstrations but this deserves a real crackdown

Asian, apparently you’re a Korean. You know that there were three kingdoms (Goguryeo, Silla, and Baekje) in the nowadays Korea Peninsular about 1500 years ago, and in the late 7th century, Silla conquered the other two kingdoms with the help of China (Tang Dynasty). Let me ask you a question, if the descendants of Goguryeo and Baekje would have up-risen today and demanded for the restoration of their own nations of Goguryeo and Baekje, would you like to stand up for their independence from Korea, as you support Tibetan independence from China?

Even nowadays Korea Peninsular is divided into North Korea and South Korea. I’m pretty sure that most Koreans want the two Koreas to be reunited one day. But I’m also pretty sure, when that day does come, there must be some North Koreans who don’t want the North Korea to be reunited with the South Korea. Would you like to stand up for those North Koreans and keep the North Korea from being reunited with the South Korea?

Yes, some Tibetans want Tibet to be independent from China, but how much percentage do they count in the total Tibetan population? Do you know that much more Tibetan people would like Tibet to stay in China? Even Dalai Lama himself claims that he does not seek Tibetan independence.

How can one give what they do not have?
How can one understand another's desire for freedom,
when they themselves have never had it,
nor dare think it without dire consequences.
Only those with a brave, sincere heart dare.

actually im chienese. still i cant believe that wat they did with poor tibetans im so sad.,this is not fare.u know we should give there country back as soon as we can..., this is request to all chinese memmber...., and please world help these tibetan poor tibet.....,

FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET FREE TIBET

LONG LIVE H.H DALAI LAMA AND TIBETAN PEOPLE
LONG LIVE H.H DALAI LAMA AND TIBETAN PEOPLE
LONG LIVE H.H DALAI LAMA AND TIBETAN PEOPLE
LONG LIVE H.H DALAI LAMA AND TIBETAN PEOPLE
LONG LIVE H.H DALAI LAMA AND TIBETAN PEOPLE
LONG LIVE H.H DALAI LAMA AND TIBETAN PEOPLE
LONG LIVE H.H DALAI LAMA AND TIBETAN PEOPLE
LONG LIVE H.H DALAI LAMA AND TIBETAN PEOPLE
LONG LIVE H.H DALAI LAMA AND TIBETAN PEOPLE
LONG LIVE H.H DALAI LAMA AND TIBETAN PEOPLE

It's unfortunate the Tibetans are so brainwashed in their native tradition and religion.

How can anyone with any ability of reasoning accept a leader who got his power from inheritance?

They're born and raised to be used. Very much similar to the cult victims and religious fanatics.

"Asian",

Since you can write Chinese, I assume you are either from Taiwan or from the South East Asian countries; Or you are someone without an identity. Yeah, American/Aussie will always see you as a Chinese (doesn't matter if you are Japanese/Koreans), but you can't accept yourself as Chinese, right?! Foreign people usually can't tell if you are Japanese, Koreans or Chinese, etc. If you hate the "Han" (Chinese) people so much, then you should NOT even write Chinese here. You should only communicate in Japanese, English, Spanish or German, etc. And if you are a Taiwanese, then you should ask your government to start a new language and abandon using the Chinese characters.

It's a shame that you are trying to break up China. Remember, if you are a Taiwanese, then you should ask your government to give back its land to its aborigines. And if you are not in Asian descent, then you must be a foreign spy that trying to spur problems to destablize China... Whatever your view on Tibet, it will not change the reality. Tibet is part of China now and in the future. Are you praying for a World War III?? I bet Americans would love the idea of wiping all Asians on this planet.

I agreed totally with Eric except one point. Dalai Lama is not from inheritance. Tibetan Buddhists hold the Dalai Lama to be one of innumerable incarnations of Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion.

If Dalai Lama pass away today, they will search for a BABY BOY that is born on the same day... The incarnation is basically pick by the high ranking monks. Why pick only the BOY?? Can someone prove incarnation exists?? Anyway, then this little baby boy will start to be brain-washed by these monks. By the way, the Dalai Lama will be treated like a king.

China government provide free education to the Tibetans but a lot of them prefer to spend their lives in the monestaries to study something that is not science or something supernatural... China didn't stop them from going there...... Now everyone is blaming China for the cultural genocide in Tibet. I guess we should tell the Americans to stop all the science research, and go back to live like a caveman??

"Eric"

I think It’s unfortunate the Tibetans has been brainwashed by han people since 1950.
I don't agree han people's tradition and religion is better than Tibetans.

"Kenneth"

Tibet was not part of China before 1950.
It's a shame that you are trying to rationalize China's conquest.
I want china to give Tibetans what they want.
I want asian people to respect each other and to live peaceful and prosperous life.

Who broke or tried to break the peaceful and prosperous life in Asia???

Look at these things that the Americans committed:

(1) Broke up Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam... selling tons of arms to the South Vietnam... at that time, they used "Fighting Communism" as an excuse to kill and to make money....... Nowaday, they used "Terrorism" to do the same. Sound familiar?? Once the Americans squeezed all the money out of Iraq, they will look for another way to make money for its corporations. I guess the easiest is to cause problems within China again, right?! The next may be "Free Tibet. Fight Chinism"??

(2) Broke up Korea into North Korea and South Korea... selling tons of arms to the South Korea... Again, they used "Fighting Communism" as an excuse to kill and to make money...... US already caused so much problems around the world... there will always be "terrorism"... it takes 10 good deeds to cover 1 bad deed...

(3) Instigated Taiwan to go for independence. In return, Taiwan bought billions and billions of out-dated arms from USA every year. Taiwanese bought all these obsolete parts from USA (Of course, US always claims those are new parts / refurbished parts). Remember US will not make money if there are peace in the Asia area.

(4) Americans also instigated the Japanese to go with its Space defense system... asking Japanese for billions and billions of dollars again. Yeah, China is scary, and everyone needs to join their SPACE program. The USA always use the "Fear" card to get what it wants.

(5) Secretly supported the Pakistanians to fight with Indians... this is nothing new....

(9) the 1989 Tianenman Square demonstration was also rumored to be orchastrated by the CIAs...

The list will go on and on....... please tell me how can we have a peaceful and prosperous life when there is an outside force trying to cause problem?? Especially when everyone see this outside force as the Saints?? I guess there are a lot of people here who are so narrow minded and just can't accept to hear the truths....

I wonder if there have been studies done on what causes people to become Uncle Toms.

"A lie repeated a hundred times" does indeed become truth. Namely, the lie of Tibet as some Shangri-La and the lie of a historical basis for Tibet being an independent country.

We never "invaded" Tibet – you kinda can't "invade" your own land. There was never a "Tibetan genocide". Great Leap forward – mismanagement due to communism sucking. Cultural Revolution – was not aimed at Tibet but affected everyone NOT GENOCIDE. Read moar history.

Not to mention the CCP sees the above events as disasters that should never be allowed to happen again. If Mao was alive, the grotesque deviation from communism that is modern China would give him aneurysms.

西藏過去，現在，將來，永遠都是中國的領土！！
Tibet WAS, IS, and ALWAYS WILL BE a part of China!!
チベットは過去、現在、これからの将来、永遠に中国の領土であり!
티베트는 과거,현재,아프로 영원히 중국의 땅이다!!!
Tibet war, ist und wird immer ein Teil von China!!
Tibet était, est, et sera toujours une partie inséparable de la Chine!
N'importe d'avant,aujourd'hui ou future,Tibet est toujour une partie de chine.

西藏过去，现在，将来，永远都是中国的领土!!

西藏過去，現在，將來，永遠都是中國的領土!！

Tibet WAS, IS, and ALWAYS WILL BE a part of China!!

チベットは過去、現在、これからの将来、永遠に中国の領土であり!

티베트는 과거,현재,앞으로 영원히 중국의 땅이다!!!

Tibet war, ist und wird immer ein Teil von China!!

Tibet était, est, et sera toujours une partie inséparable de la Chine!

N'importe d'avant,aujourd'hui ou future,Tibet est toujour une partie de chine.

Θιβετ ηταν, ειναι και θα ειναι παντα ενα μερος της Κινας!

التبت ، هو ، والى الأبد ستكون جزءا من الصين!

Тибет был, есть и всегда будет частью Китая!

Tibete foi, é e sempre será uma parte da China!

Tíbet fue, es y siempre será parte de China!

Tibet was, is, en zal altijd een deel van China!

Tibet var, er og skal heletiden være en del av Kina!

Tibet var, är och skall alltid vara en del av Kina!!

Tibet ay dating isang lugar at mananatiling parte nang china!!

You guys want free Tibet? No Problem

But you have to kill all of us.

WE ARE CHINESE. COME ON !!!

I heard that the CCP has 邊疆史地硏究中心(a branch of china' administration for distorting tibet's and uighur's history).

Stop distorting history and lying!!

I don't think a lie repeated a hundred times become truth.
History and Truth can't be changed, unless we human who want to know the truth and have a freedom-loving spirit are all gone.

And it is obvious that Tibet was an INDEPENDENT nation before an invasion of the CCP in 1950.
Tibetans show it by their tears and blood.

When something repeated a hundred times, a perception is already created. This perception becomes the so-called "truth" or "standard of thinking", doesn't matter if it is right or wrong. When all these ignorant Holywood stars (Robert Thurman, Richard Gere, Jean-Jacques Annaud and Jon Avnet) repeat their voice on the "Free Tibet" stance, the Americans become attached to them. Since Americans were worst in World History (by public exam results), they perceived China as the monster in addition to their fear of communism.

Another example is the Weapons of mass destructions (WMAs) in Iraq. There were hundreds and hundreds of reports stating there were WMAs in Iraq. Now, have Americans find any WMAs?? This proved the CIAs are totally flawed. All their reports were based on what people said. These people just told them what they wanted to hear or basically lied to get the money/food for their interviews.... You can't trust journalist because their views are all biased, especially the CNN reporters. They always think Americans are the greatest race and are the saviors of the world.

Anyway, the Dalai Lama might had tortured a lot of people before his exile in 1950s. That did not matter anymore because people are focusing China as the evil and not the Dalai Lama himself.

I suggest the China government should start making friends with the Holywood stars to create a better image; otherwise, the entire world will always perceive China as the evil even when she did so many good things to enhance lives in Tibet.

If the chinese do not take up the offer of peace, while this Dalai Lama lives, they will earn their fruit of violence for decades to come, when this Dalai Lama has passed away. The chinese should not be afraid because of the tibetans alone. There are the mongols, the turcmene and last but not least their own farmers who are not better treated than slaves. Either they will use the extraordinary power of peace of the Dalai Lama or they will have to build a second great wall.

These tebetan exile indepandance protesters are fed on the fund donations by those polician hostile to China, certain money came from innocent tax payer's money, certain came from these kind- hearted people's donations who doesn't know the truth. their job is to do anti-china activities, protest for their indepandance, to destablise china and even destroy china. If they stop doing these, they won't receive these funds and they will die of hunger as they don't know how to earn their living by work with their hands. Do you think these people can manage a indepandant country? it is going to be a big burden and trouble for you financially and politically. If you are a kind peace loving people , pls Help them by educate them with the living skills, offer them jobs, buy their products, go to admire their historical monuments....not encourage them go on street to riot.

From past history China never invade any single country, but other countries invaded China and humiliate you even now.
The current situation is caused by outsiders to add fire for the coming Olympic game.
Buddhist monks to involve politics and join in the protest go against the Buddha teaching.
If you do not love yourself, other will not respect you. Do not think that the grass outside China is greener.

I do not know much about American history so much. But I am confident about Tibetan history as it is our neighbour and we had a long trade relation with the place. Tibetans and real Chinese are as different as Albenians of Kosovo and Serbs of Serbia. If Kosovo has right to be a separate nation then Tibetans also has a right to fight for a separate nation.

"Asian"

The Chinese government does not promote religion.

The elite lamas do, to promote the Tibetans' fear for the supernatural, to ensure the lamas will stay in power.

I cannot take someone who claims that he has dialog with the Buddha himself, as well as the 5th Dalai Lama who died many years ago, seriously.

After this 14th Dalai Lama dies, the crony lamas will elect another one.

Why do I side with "Kenneth" and others on this blog? Because I also feel that the Chinese government is enlightening, liberating, educating the Tibetans, doing them a good deed – teaching them to make a meaningful and independent life in this world, away from superstition.

Chinese people are blinded by their own leaders..

Chinese people are blinded by their own leaders, because the communist party (the only allowed party) is sencering the informations, media is totally governed by the state.
The foundation of Journalism is upon unbiased, free report of the actual event..... HAHAh... not yet in China.....Chinese government fool their own people because they don'r want to admit, the invasion over Tibet....one out every six Tibetan being killed, in so call the "Chinese liberation army's peace"..
Muslim minorities are killed in abundance, by the chinese gov...Labour unions are not allowed to be formed in China....The list can go on........................
China is not a normal state like it seems to be,,,,, Its governement is playing a foolish role,,,, It is sick....................
Free people of the world,,, should Support Tibet,,, and also help Chinese people to see what really is doing by their,,, Government,,,,,,,

Free Chinese people from blindness,,, Free suffering Tibetan People

While a lot of ppl talking about history here. I d like to focus on the facts.
1, what happened in tibet last week is not a crackdown, it is a racial riot. Han chinese and muslium chinese were stabed and burnt to death by tibetan mobbers. It is a social disaster. They break into banks and shops and takes what ever they can and burnt the building afterwards.
2, monks are supposed to be a group of peace-loving people which I respect the most as spirital guiders. And still the majority of the monks are praying for the good, whereas a group of monk in the tibet area used the trust of ordinary civilians and fostered such a riot and taking away ppl's lives on street. When ppl shows sympathy to the tibetans, who cares about the Han chinese and muslium chinese's right to live. There is a video on youtube shows clearly monks in red in a group of tibetans trying to break in a commercial bank in lhasa.
3.I criticized the chinese government a few days ago on blocking the journalists going into tibet. Now I understand why, simply on everything I read through these few days, BBC, CNN, Washington post are all biased on their reports. Lots of report focused on the historical debates on whether tibet is a part of china while ignoring innocent people killed by racists in lhasa. Journalists are color blinded on this sensitive area, hence I question them for a report based on FACTS rather than their slant interpretations.
4. There is another video on youtube taken in front of UN, how NYPD slapping FREE TIBET protesters while Rice asking the chinese government to restraint their actions. I really suggests that the chinese police and army come to NYPD for anti-terririst training. It will effectively reduce the death on lhasa street.

hey, if you cnn or free-tibeters have balls, please launch a war to free tibetans. Especially those americans and europeans. Please do that!
If you don't, please just shut up.

We chinese will be well prepared.

As someone who has lived in communism I am sick and tired of these old, twisted, heinous regimes. Communism doesn't work moreover NO MATTER WHERE IT IS it will ALWAYS create human rights issues believe me I know I've been there.

TIbet was NOT always a part of CHINA you poor brainwashed souls. The western media isn't the best but it is inarguably better than a centralized media. Furthermore with new technology the only neccesity is becoming access for the citizens. Pictures and videos come out in profusion these days when there is a conflict and allow the people to see and decide for themselves. China is afraid of what the world will see and so they stop any access into Tibet. Those who argue otherwise are fools if this were not true then WE WOULD ACTUALLY HAVE TONS MORE INFORMATION ON TIBET, we do not, the chinese regime is corrupt as was mine. Get rid of these communist crack pots they've done nothing but hold the world back.

This is sad and shameful.

I am sympathetic to the Tibetan people. The claim that it has always been a Chinese province is bogus. Tibet and China have had a history of each of them controlling some of the other's territory at different times throughout history. There is no justification to say "it has always been Chinese".

In my opinion, all you need to know about who has the moral high ground in this moment is looking at the grievances of the Tibetans, and how the Chinese government has reacted. Blacking out and keeping out foreign media, locking down the provinces so no one can know what is going on, and continued repression of free flow of information and only allowing their government controlled media to deliver "the facts" as to what is going on. What are they trying to hide?

Tibetans may not be perfect, but I think it is clear the Chinese have behaved far worse in the history of this conflict. How would you feel if you were the Tibetans?

To people such as SUDAN SHRESTHA,
Please stop repeatedly copying and pasting “Free Tibet” and “Long Live Dalai Lama” or similar empty slogans but without providing any meaningful and logical supporting points. Such doings won’t do you any good in defending your stance, and would only show to the world that you have been brain-washed, and have a narrow and empty mind. Do you really think if you emptily chant “Free Tibet” for one hundred times, it would become truth?

To “Asian”,
You repeatedly said that “it is obvious that Tibet was an INDEPENDENT nation before an invasion of the CCP in 1950.” Please show me the proof, and give me the link to the credible, reputable and well-accepted history sources which show that Tibet was legitimately an independent nation and was recognized as an independent nation by the world before 1950s. You keep repeating your claim but without providing supporting materials. Such doings won’t do you any good in defending your stance, and would only show to the world that you have been brain-washed, and have a narrow mind. Do you really think if you simply repeat “Tibet was obviously independent before 1950s” for one hundred times, it would become truth?

Why Dala Lamai is powerless to stop the violant protect????!!!!

He is the spiritual leader and he should come out and strongly denounce the violance, just as Gahdi did in India.

Why you guys are so blind: please go to youtube and search tibet.

Peaceful protest in Tibet, China, filmed by western tourists,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8zrILo7CF0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhjCX4KIz4Q

As Chinese police have done almost nothing (not armed, without guns) in Tibet to those mobs, US and other european country police have been doing very well against peaceful protest. So what's wrong there? You guys haven't seen such a scene on screen by CNN or BBC? Oh, pity on you...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGbaJN4j-DE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7NUNwq2MGc

For those who said we Americans have "no desire to occupy Tibet, because it would gain nothing. Tibet has nothing we need..." Bravo. Not only you said that, but the former CIA Executive Assistant, Sam Halpern, also said "I think the basic the whole idea was to keep Chinese occupied somehow, keep them annoyed, keep them disturbed. No body wanted to go to war over Tibet. That's pretty clear. We did go to war over Korea. We did go to war over Indochina. We won't go to war over Tibet. And so, it was nuisance operation, basically nothing more. And I'll think it's American point of view, it wouldn't cost very much, even money or manpower. Anyway it was not manpower, it was Tibetan manpower. We were willing to help Tibetans from becoming a running sore and a nuisance to the Chinese" . Watch the video clip at time mark 05'28",

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDBriDq4LRI

BTW, according to those ppl's logic, Ameircans lunched a war in Iraq, in Afghaniastan because you guys had "desire to occupy those countries, because it would gain something. Iraq/Afghaniastan has something we need...oil".

Hopefully this time CNN will let me post. I have tried several times. People have the right to know the truth!

Q:Why Dala Lamai is powerless to stop the violant protect????!!!!

A: Situation now is good for him. Simple people like hollywood stars will view Dalai lama as a holy man. Nothing wrong. But please be aware: Dalai is requesting his political power. What thehell does his holiness needsthe secular power? Does theBuddha teach Dalai to pursue political power? Buddha said :"Desire is a sin". Dalai should have known it very clearly. If Dalai is his holiness, he must have been struggling between politician and lama. If he is not, then what he is doing now is reasonable and logical.

We should pay attention: nowadays only several Islamic countries have their political leaders as same as regilous leader. It is very dangerous as the power of religion can push ppl very much to the extreme.

Just make it simple: Look at the fact here:

Will the US government let the Native Indians proclaim independence? NO
Will the US government let any of its 50 states to proclaim independence? NO
Will the Australian government let the Native Aborigines proclaim independence? NO
Will Russia let Chechen proclaim independence? NO

Don't tell me that China is different than any of the above countries!!!

Dalai Lama has obviously lost control with its younger followers. These foreign born exiles have obviously turned into extremists and would rather see blood than peace. It is their goal to cause chaos in 2008 so everyone can start critizing and pressuring the Chinese government. We, as Chinese people, are all loving people. However, that does not mean we will tolerate other foreign countries to get into our internal business.

If US wants to interfere, I think China is ready for it. In today's world, China and Japan are the two major US bond buyers. If China decide to stop buying the US debts, ..... well, things can just get real messy under "Globalization". How can US repay money to China??

Please google Kadfly. This is probably the ONLY accurate and honest news report over Tibetan Riot so far.
http://kadfly.blogspot.com/2008/03/more-from-lhasa.html
http://kadfly.blogspot.com/2008/03/safe-and-sound-in-kathmandu.html
http://kadfly.blogspot.com/2008/03/lhasa-burning.html

Kenneth said "well, things can just get real messy under “Globalization”. How can US repay money to China??"

Dunn worry my friday. Amercan has 100+1 ways to repay the debt. A simply and easy solution: Fed can print more money or depreciate the greenback. As one of my American friends told me "debt? we Americans can simply print those useless papers to you guys..." And he is a Professor in Economics in one of top US schools. Shocked? That's the reality. Keep your eyes wide open.

George Washington knew whole lot better than George W Bush. The first amendment of the US Constitutions already clearly defined the Separation of Church and State. That means religion should be separate from politics. How can a monk who represents the god/budda became a god himself?? He wants total control and political power?? Isn't that against the US constitutions???

Also, if you think American media is not biased, then look at the following issues:
(1) Iraq war
(2) Hillary Clinton's primary

There were a lot more but since the topic is about Tibet, not US media, I will stop here for now.

I would like to comment on what is said by "want truth".

I think it is side tracked the issue by more emphasizing how much Dalai Lama is power hungry. But the real issue is Tibetan people, how much their rights are protected and how they are feeling. Its not about how much Dalai Lama is desiring power. Eevrybody can simply quote that "Desire is sin" but one should really understand the innermost meaning of it and context of how it applies in day-to-day real life. The truth is every government, every race is power hungry. Every one wants to prove their dominance. That is actually the worst desire.. to dominate and suppress the rights of other human beings..whoever it is..

It looks like the western media is trying to claim India and Nepal are also part of China. Should China take them over? It's your chance China! LOL
http://news.wenxuecity.com/messages/200803/news-gb2312-546438.html

Someone said the US media and US government is not biased. Let me tell you the truth.

All my comments are censored and a lot of them didn't get published by CNN.

Voice of America increased their boardcasting by 2 hours into Tibet to spread more rumors and stir up more riots.

What the Voice of America should do is to increase their boardcasting by 10 hours and strongly denounce the violence and tell these rioters to restrain from violence, IF the US government is really for the world peace.

I think my tax dollar is wasted by the US government on this propongates. Do I have the right to refuse to pay the tax? NO.

The Chinese are treating the Tibetans just like the US government is treating the American Indian: Giving them more money, better education, more jobs than their ordinary citizens. American Indians also wants to be independence. Do they dare to vow to violence in the US? No. The US government will put them down and send them to jail in NO TIME! If the police is not enough, the US government will send in National Guard for them. National Guard is just another name of US army.

This is nothing wrong for the Chinese Army to be sent in and for the Chinese government to send these rioters to jail.

From what I saw those videos and pictures, CNN is very biased. This was a riot in tibet, and innocent people were killed, this is NOT a peaceful protest. In ANY country this should be cracked down and those so called peaceful protesters should be punished.

"Forrest"

Han people repeattedly say tibet is always a part of china.
Please show me the proof, and give me the link to the credible, reputable and well-accepted history sources which show that Tibet is always a part of china.

And I don't think Western media and Western government are not biased.
But I think Chinese media and Chinese government are more biased than Westerns'

Communists sometimes say religion is people's opium.
but to Tibetans and Uighurs, religion is their's life.
I have no religion. But I respect Christianity, Islam and Buddism.
I want chinese to respect Buddism/Islam and Tibet/Uighur people who believe religion.

Those Tibetans/Monks DID NOT behave like demonstrators, What they had done looked more like a goup of brutal TERRORISTS. They killed 10+ innocent people, robbed & burnt many stors/buildings.

Many reports from CNN regarding Tibet were either bias or unjust.

Shame on you CNN!

To “Asian”,

One point needs to be clarified first – we Chinese people never said Tibet is always a part of China, if this word “always” refers to the entire history of human being. But because of the inaccuracy of human language, when people want to express a time period which is very long, say some 500 years or 1000 years, it doesn’t hurt to use the word “always”. By the way, I’m not a Han Chinese, I am a Manchurian Chinese.

I already listed a link to the credible, reputable and well-accepted sources which talks about Tibetan history in my first post on this blog. It’s Wikipedia, and I put down the link again below,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet

On that website, you would learn that Tibet was invaded by Mongols and submitted to the Yuan Dynasty in mid 1200s. Then it was the first time for Tibet to become a part of China. And in early 1700s, after a new and last Chinese dynasty, the Qing or Ching Dynasty, was founded, China re-secured Tibet, and since then, Tibet has been undoubtedly a part of China and never gained legitimate and recognized independence.

Some other links to Tibetan history I happened to found are as follows and they basically tell the same history:
http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9380726
http://www.reference.com/search?q=tibet
http://cc.purdue.edu/~wtv/tibet/history.html
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Tibet.html
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0861546.html
http://www.bartleby.com/65/ti/Tibet.html
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/tibet.htm
http://www.tibettravel.info/tibet-history/
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Tibet
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Xizang

How many years can some people exist before they're allowed to be free? How many times can a man turn his head, pretending he just doesn't see?

The cycle is intensifying. In times of great distress it is helpful to look at the horizon, not down at the ants biting one’s legs.

We’re trying to establish a Transcendent Nation. This is about realizing that fighting over pieces of earth and dominating other people’s belief systems is outmoded. This is a chance to see through duality in a most practical way. This is not about Chinese and Tibetans, old and young, but a unified humanity.

In order for healing to occur, there is an intensification of feeling ill at ease. That is the critical time to be still. This leads to purification of the energy and ultimately realization of emptiness. With the restoration of Shambhala on Earth, there is going to be a process of purification.

As Vajrayana Buddhists, we need to ride the currents with our bodhisattva intent. The young people need to orient to the elders and respect the values of the elders. These are time-tested truths.

All the lamas who have spent their entire lives, generations upon generations, will not be destroyed by a few thrown stones. Compassion is the only alternative.

Have you forgotten that all beings are your mothers? How many lives do you want to spend in the hell-realms?

Change is here. Hold steady. As a great sage asked, “How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky?”

http://www.timemachinetantra.com

"Free Tibet" is an organization with strong backing of the Western imperialism. As the common practice of the Western imperialism, they will took procession of any territory whereever they can by any means. If they can take the procession, then they will encourage splitism and encourage the local to fight for independent. And then they will come in to control the new small nation if the local had grant their wish.

why the chinese government don't let the foreign media to go to the site ? I can understand very well,
The most of the journalists have their conscience of profession while some of them don't have. they intend to make up the story for all kinds of reasons. Some of them at this moment may have other intention or mission out of their profession. So at this extreme situation, if let these foreign journalist go there may means ' pour oil on the fire', which will complicate and worsen the situation. the chinese government want to control the situation quickly, it's better to do so. It's more important to act for the benifit of controling the riots,save the people's lives and properties than listening to condemnation.

Wangyao, thx for your concern; I am a outspoken and happy person. If the radical Tibetan exiles are allowed to protest violently everywhere around the world, I think I am allowed to post my comments here, right?!

The UN is a complete joke. Israeli soldiers could stormed into Gaza and killed hundreds of innocent people without any condemns by the West or by the UN. Now, China is trying to restore order within its own country and is receiving so many criticism and boycotts from around the World???? Why Israel always get special treatment by the West???

Anyway, Dalai Lama is smart. He simply let his radical followers to do all the dirty work. Let them spur chaos in China. At the same time, he told the world that he is powerless to do all the violence.... Wow, I can see his "Holiness"!!!! George W. Bush has Holiness because he indirectly killed over a million of innocent Iraqis and made millions and millions still suffering in Iraq.

He knows he has the upper hand because the Olympics is coming up and the Western world may boycott the Olympics to support him. Dalai Lama should be ashame of himself to mix religion into Politics as well as into sports.

There has difintely been some BIAS in the Western media coverage of the issue, e.g. depicting 'crackdown' in Tibet but showing pictures of Nepalese police hitting protestors (on various media); picture of a Chinese ambulance vehicle with the description "heavy military presence" (BBC) etc. etc. Having said that the Chinese media is no less biased either, and the lack of transparency is really bad PR.

Do some reasearch and reading (from a variaty of reliable sources) on the history of that part of the world and you will find the issue is very COMPLICATED and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

Tibet should never be independent in my books. Why? Because monks (or any religious heads) make terrible political and economic leaders as they gain their power from promoting superstition.

The lamas and monks promote a class system giving gross power to the religious heads with no equality among the common people.

So what if they used to dictate the country before the 50s? Should we bring back slavery and witchcraft, or the church owning all the land in a country? Or the British owning America? It was a poor and abusive social system maintained by the elite lamas and it is better for all the world put a stop to it.

Why should we support leaders that are not freely elected? Why should we support governments that promote violence? Why should we support theocracy instead of democracy?

The best part about the USA is our founding fathers' insight insisting on the separation between the church from the state.

At the expense of containing China, we lose sight in this important guiding principle which our freedom is based upon. We throw our support over any government regardless of its merits, simply because it'll give us influence over China.

Similar to the war on Iraq, we do it just

to all the chinese who belived that tibetans are well off after china invaded tibet, please use your common sense. will people uprise? will monks become violet for nothing? if your parents are killed infront of you, will u be peaceful or violent? it is not so simple and easy! wake up and stop being brainwashed from your heartless government!!!

Similar to the war on Iraq, we do it just out of our desperate situation, not good.

so called western peace-loving people , open your eyes please, not only han chinese got beaten by tibetan rioters but also the local tibetans were killed and beaten by dalai's crazy followers!!!!

Does China' s fast growth & development make all of you westerners uncomfortable so all of you start blaming on China just because you got jealous of China's progress?

Tibet is ours, it belongs to CHINA ever and forever !!!

TIBET BELONGS TO CHINA !!!

ALL YOU PEOPLE ARE BLIND ON THE SIMPLEST TRUTH !!!

When someone resorts by force to occupy a territory, it is because he is forcing a situation in opposition to the inhabitants of this territory. Do you think that if in the year 1950 they had asked all the tibetans their opinion about a possible Chinese invasion of Tibet, the majority would have agreed?. Nobody in his healthy judgment will think that they should answer affirmatively.

The occupation of a territory based on the use of the force and in opposition to their inhabitants it can never have either the reason or the justice of his part.
I have been two times in Tibet and know first hand the treatment that the Chinese authorities give to the Tibetans. Really they are citizens of the second category. All the business are directed by Chinese, except very little exceptions. The tourists have prohibited to move for free and – theoretically – to relate to Tibetans, out of the perimeter of Lhasa and few populations more. Why?.

Under the international law there is no way of justifying the Chinese invasion of 1950. Only the apathy of the big powers after the second world war and the self-isolation of Tibet, allowed that China should occupy and remaining in Tibet in 1950.
But it can never it nor will be able to justify the above mentioned invasion and the current permanency of the Chinese in Tibet. The current protests show clearly that the Tibetans have never accepted the above mentioned situation.

I have been two times in Tibet and know first hand the treatment that the Chinese authorities give to the Tibetans. Really they are citizens of the second category. All the business are directed by Chinese, except very little exceptions. The tourists have prohibited to move for free and – theoretically – to relate to Tibetans, out of the perimeter of Lhasa and few populations more. Why?.

Under the international law there is no way of justifying the Chinese invasion of 1950. Only the apathy of the big powers after the second world war and the self-isolation of Tibet, allowed that China should occupy and remaining in Tibet in 1950.
But it can never it nor will be able to justify the above mentioned invasion and the current permanency of the Chinese in Tibet. The current protests show clearly that the Tibetans have never accepted the above mentioned situation.

Why Chinese authorities have expelled all the foreign journalists of Tibet?, Why prevent the tibetans the access to Internet or to speaking for telephone?, what do they want to avoid with it?. It is clear, they want to prevent at any expense the rest of the world from finding out about the real situation that exists just now there. And why want to prevent the rest of the world from knowing of the real situation in Tibet?, so because we all would find out about the treatment that they are giving to the demonstrators and of the real number of dead men that have exist in Tibet. There is the well-read one someone the book " Buda's mountains " of Javier Moro. I recommend it to all those who want to know that it happened in Tibet in 1989 and since they were treating the arrested.

Can Arabs be going to Spain to claim all his territory because they were from the year 710 until the year 1492 there?. Might they occupy it pacifically today?.

some people here gave malicious comments on CHINA with manipulated chinese names pretending they are genuine chinese citizens! I completely look down on these fakes!!!

FREE TIBET ?

I THINK IT IS THE TIME TO FREE WHOLE WORLD !

COME ON!!!!

the chinese are being greedy by being in tibet
this was never their land
and it is not their people

the chinese have no right being there
and yes they do lie
check out radio free asia
there are more stories there
and on cnn
you can see the blacked out version of one story
and then the real story that was actually covered

give me a break
this is a NO BRAINER

FREE TIBET

Certainly there are many other things that I hate: the Nazi over Jewish genocide, the war of Vietnam, the invasion of Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq; but also I believe that the artificial establishment of a land for a Jewish state in Palestine has been one of the major mistakes of the history of foreign policy after the second world war. It is the origin of an immense hatred between Jews and Palestinians and a wound that difficultly it will heal. Perhaps other kind of solution it was necessary.
Of any form, to expel all the foreign journalists of Tibet, some zones of Sichuan and Gansu it is never going to prevent from knowing the treatment that the Chinese are doing of the situation. With this expulsion, nobody can believe the Chinese version of the conflict; what are they trying to conceal?, why are they trying to conceal it?, of what are they afraid if the world finds out?. They are questions that quite civil of the world should be done.

TO THE HAN CHINESE INSIDE THE PRC.
It is remarkable to hear that about 100 Han Chinese students demonstrated outside their University in Beijing a few days ago in favour of the Tibetans. I believe that they have all been arrested. Is this true?
If yes, it was very brave of them.
However, my sympathies are also with the majority of Han Chinese for their complete lack of understanding of the situation in Tibet and other minority areas. Not only is it extremely difficult for them to obtain accurate information, they are also blinded by Han Chauvinism. This chauvinism can best be understood in terms of 19th century white colonialism. Europeans, some with the best intentions, set out to build schools, roads, hospitals and Christian churches to bring progress and development to backward populations. They also sustained their presence and their Empire extracting valuable minerals and prime materials which were sent to their "motherlands". For all the material progress that the colonialists bring, they inevitably attack and erode the values and culture of the indigenous population.
If anything is to be understood by these recent demonstrations in Tibet (including the areas that were part of historic Tibet) it is that the Tibetans are not content under Chinese rule. The continuous oppression felt by the ordinary Tibetans was like a pressure cooker, building up and building up before exploding. There are many ways to rule: the total control, iron-fist approach or a middle way in which the Tibetans could have control of their internal affairs, tend their fragile environment, practice their religion with qualified teachers etc etc. Lets hope the future leadership of the PRC, backed by one billion inhabitants opt for the later.

I wanna clear one thing that many people think Tibetans do not have religion rights in China. This is not true.

The monks need to file report to government agencies before any religion activities or events. You may think this is the not free part.
But the truth is all the temples, monstaries and their religion events are funded by the Chinese Government. And even more, the government paid for the monks' salaries.

If you are a scholar and you want apply for research grant from some angencies, you have to file report and proposal right? Does that affect your freedom in academic research? I believe the answer is NO.

Similar situtaion in Tibet.

Kenneth:
I think I understand your point and we all know UN is joke when America started war on Iraq a few years back.

I don't know what would happen if a group of people carry photos of Bil Ladin to show their support to him in New York. One's freedom fighter is the other's terrorist. I told you all the government is the SAME.

I know – Democracy, UN and Justice – all these are joke in practice and therefore we are talking about resistance shown by Tibetans to unjustice. What do you think?

Enough of peaceful methods. Who ever said independence was won with non violence. Tibetans pick up arms and fight force with force. Be ready to sacrifice your life but hit the Chinese Government where it hurts. Force them to listen to you. Don't depend on any support from the west or others, they are only interested in their own profits. Fight your own fight. The greed of the west has made China this powerfull.

Eric:
All the 56 ethnicity including Han Chinese would happy if China could change into democratic political system. Look what is going on in China. China is run by a single political party and that is why there are so many problems in China. There is no room for different point of views other than the Chinese Communist Party. Why China can't be open to foreign journalist to report about the protest in Tibet? Why they can't transparant on many other issues in all over China – including AIDs, Falung Gong and other things. I would like to know what makes you happy about the Communist Party's rule in China (including Tibet).

John:
I am a Chinese from P.R China and I think what you said is reasonable. China has never experienced "democracy" and it's understandable that many are ignorant about wishes of other ethnic minorities. You only see these ethnic minorities on Chinese state run TVs singing and dancing to praise the Party policies. I don't blame on ordinary Chinese citizens including some young Chinese who are posting – "Tibet was, is, and will be part of China"- this sort of thing. They are "Made in China" products and what you can expect from them. There is no "independent" media in China and all students in China are studying unified school text books edited by the state. Media and education are political tools used by the state to produce cheap and plastic "Made in China" mass- "products".

china is destroying the culture of Tibetians which is worthess. They are the innocent people who has a great heritage and spritualty.
stop china
stop china
please save tibet
dont kill innocent people

Kenneth, Eric, John,

If China is filled with these cheap "made in China" "mass-products", we will have little chance to see China compete against the USA to win the cold war – let along to develop Tibet.

Eric:

I totally agree with you.

Western people are blind to what Tibet was under The lamas and monks's rule. And they don't want to know the truth about Tibet.

WHAT THEY WANT IS TO WEAKEN CHINA AND THEY DON'T WANT CHINA TO BE STRONG AND POWERFUL TO CHALLENGE THEIR ROLE S IN THE WORLD. SO THEY WILL DO WHATEVER TO ACHIEVE THEIR GOAL.

DO NOT DREAM THAT THERE ARE ANY democratic AND JUSTICE BETWEEN COUNTRIES.

They are terrorists. It is necessary to protect innocent people by using force.

if chinese govt is right then they should not be afraid to let the world see what is going on in tibet. they should let all the news channels into tibet with free access to any part of tibet. they should also allow a referendum to be held in tibet to get the true feeling of the tibetans whether they are happy under the chinese rule or they want independence. if the situation is as the chinese government claims then they should be confident of the result.
if the same situation persists then the only alternative for the tibetans is to turn to violence in the true sense and not just riot

They are “Made in China” products and what you can expect from them.

Pls take it back. It make you silly. Do not just judge people by where they are from rather than their content.

I admire what they are doing. Stating the fact, this has nothing to do with CCP. just my point of view.

Wangyao, it's obvious that you are not from PRC!!! STOP pretending that you are from PRC. Are you trying to start a propaganda here?? What do you mean by Cold War?! Did anyone mention Cold War here?? Cold war is a term that US used in the last century. China does not give a damn about the cold war. Only US always assume there is an evil country always going against them. The previous one was USSR and Japan. Now it is China. So the US government always see China is the Evil force.

Anyway, if you refer the students in China as "Made in China" products, then you dead wrong because they are not a product. They all have own thinking. Majority of them love their country and will stand by their country. Do you know how many foreign people applying for teaching jobs in China every year??? Do you know how many private schools in China?? Do you know how the officials get elected to the communist body?? If you don't know, then you should shut up and stop spreading propaganda against China.

If you are here for a debate, I am very welcomed. But by all the information that you posted, I think you are more of an instigator. Please show me your intelligence because I cannot debate with someone who does not have a brain.

Wangyao:
Also, I just found out that the guy who made the video has moved to a western country when he is 15 with the whole family. He is currently a undergrad students in that country. The language he used most frequently is english. I do think he is far away from the chinese propaganda.

"if chinese govt is right then they should not be afraid to let the world see what is going on in tibet"......

Do you know how many CIAs, MI6, KGBs pose as reporters/journalists in this world??? How can China keep track of these people once they are inside that region? They could be fueling more fire and making the situation worst. What happen if these so-called reporters get hurt or get killed by the radical Tibetans?? Does China has to take responsibility??

Anyway, if China lets the foreign media go into the region, information will get twisted. The media will only the pictures/videos that the West wants to see/hear; that is China is the devil. If China bans them from going in, information will still get twisted and China will be criticized. No matter what it is a NO-WIN situation for China. I think there is really a lot of narrow minded and simple-minded people here in this blog.

In wertern media, there are full of biases & double standards to all things happening in China.

How come you regard those behaviors of Tibetan TERRORIST as legal things in China and support such TERRORISM?

Ethnic minorities(including ethnic Tibetan, Hui, Man...) usually have more privileges than ethnic Han Chinese in China. Ethnic Han Chinese are actually treated as second class citizen in China. If anyone did go to China and did look into it, he should know about this.

I think CNN report is not fair. they support to let the world know the truth, but they Distortion fact.

So, now I think youtube normal people can do better job them cnn report.

go youtube and find fact for yourself, don't wait time on this wetsite

The delebrately modified photo indicates the professional moral of such CNN reporter. It is straightforward that his objective is nothing related to the freedom of Tibet.

Those protester monk are slave owners. They simply hate to lose their slaves during chinese rule. Dalai Lama is the bigger slave onwer , he established his respectful yet fearful image among tibetans by demostrating his collection of human skull and pealing of children skin.
The chinese brought in too many things don't belong to tibet, polution, trains, factory. Average tibetans just want to live simple lifes.
But if Dalai lama were to return to tibetan and bringing back his bloody goverment, i'd rather kill myself before that.

[...] Quoting Wikipedia, "Tibet was once an independent kingdom, which later became a part of China. The government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of Tibet in Exile, however, disagree over when Tibet became a part of China, and whether this incorporation into China is legitimate according to international law." [...]

Kenneth,

从你的性格我明白你为什么支持中国共产党。 你想控制人，难道不？ 记得有多少学生被中国共产党谋杀在北京6.4事件期间？
我是中国人我爱我的国家! 我为什么要请你接受我？

Off you go to be wild about supporting the Chinese Communist Party. The world is watching the CCP telling lie about many issues in China. I don't need to tell you what these issues are and you will learn them during the Olympic Game. How would the Chinese Communist Party win anything? The protest in Lhasa, Labrang (Gansu), Ngaba (Sichuan) is good example of the Chinese Communist Party's failure in winning Tibetan's heart and mind.

The video footage we see on this blog is what happend on 14th March in Lhasa and this is not all about the protest took place all over Tibet. I condem what they did to the motorcyclist but we shouldn't miss the bigger picture. The Chinese Communist Party should replaced by a democratic party led by Wejing Shen and Wangden and so on!

I am a deep lover of chinese and tibetan cultures, and I would like to leave here first the facts, and then a few opinions on hidden political phaenomena.
Facts.:
1.-China invaded Tibet , October 1950.
2.-Human rights of tibetan population have been violated sistematically since then.
3.-The Dalai Lama is not even asking for independance for Tibet.
4.- The ethnical violence of rioters is easily understandable since inmigration is making ethnic tibetans a minority in their own country, and the subsequent repression of the authorities is and will be, by far ,more brutal .

My opinions:
This is only the beginning, no matter how powerful a state is, there is a point of maturity in the minds of the people, and they don´t want to be treated like kids anymore, one party, controlled media, absence of freedom of speech and association... The worst nightmare of the chinese government would be that democracy comes along with simultaneous dismembrance of the state, former soviet union style.
Some young han nationalists have stated here that western powers are jealous and even affraid of China´s economic success and are playing some kind of secret cold war, well, in international politics and macroeconomy most paranoids are right.
PEACE AND LOVE

Oh deep mountain forest, man does not know you.
Wang Wei

p.s.: Tibetan kings used to campaign militarly around China for centuries, the wheel of fortune never stops...

Quotations of Wikipedia:
(Mongols) entered the country with military force in 1240. A second invasion led to the submission of almost all Tibetan states.

In 1751, the Manchurian (Qing) government, ..., established the Dalai Lama as both the spiritual leader and political leader of Tibet.
...
A second, larger, expedition sent by Emperor Kangxi expelled the Dzungars from Tibet in 1720 and the troops were hailed as liberators. They brought Kelzang Gyatso with them from Kumbum to Lhasa and he was installed as the seventh Dalai Lama in 1721.
...
The Qing put Amdo under their rule in 1724, and incorporated eastern Kham into neighbouring Chinese provinces in 1728.
...

Quotation of Encyclopedia Britannica:
It (Tibet) came under the control of the Mongols in the 13th century and the Qing (Manchu) dynasty in the 18th century.

erickh,

If the Chinese Communist Party has got nothing to hide, why did they block youtube in China? It shows they are not confident to run the country – let alone Tibet. Is Youtube run by CNN?

Wangyao, nice try!!! You can translate a few words! I know a lot of word processing program can do translation, but they can never translate into the daily words that we use.

You can keep pretend that you are from PRC or pretending that you are a Chinese. When you said "you will learn during the Olympics game...", does it mean you know there will be more riots happen during those time?? If so, you are obviously a member of those Separatists. Are you part of the "Falun Gong"?? By the way, if the FG group starts in US, it will be considered a cult and will be banned. In fact it is a cult. Since it starts in China, US sees it as a religion and China is criticized for banning their practices.... this always amazes me....

In my opinion, the real reason for the Dalai Lama’s ‘Middle Way’ policy has not been announced as part of that policy. I believe His Holiness knows full well that the determination of the Tibetan people for complete independence would not allow them to accept only the ‘Middle Way’ freedoms, were they to be given by the Chinese government. If the Tibetans were given all the freedoms the ‘Middle Way’ policy states, they will continue to push the envelope of those until they return to complete freedom and independence. He also understands that China will never allow even the ‘Middle Way’ freedoms anyway, and seeks to let the actions of the Chinese government speak to the lie of their policy statements. If one charts the positions of the respective sides, I believe you will see that while the positions of His Holiness have moved closer to the Chinese side, the Chinese have retreated from earlier positions they have stated towards the Tibetan people. By allowing the world to see the positions of China retreat as His own have advanced closer to the Chinese, He is teaching the world that the actions of China today are not matching the words of China decades ago. In other words, China lies. Most of us know this already, just look at their refrain even now that they will talk to His Holiness only when he renounces independence, which He did years ago. But China still won’t talk to him. The argument can always be made that ‘this Chinese leader will be different, so we need to give him the benefit of the doubt.’ His Holiness is allowing those who are somewhat naïve in this sense to learn from China’s actions. Of course, His Holiness can never say this out loud, because the ‘game will be up’, and China will likely retreat even more.

THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL OF THE UNITED STATES'
Occasional Paper
Tibet, China and the United States: Reflections on the Tibet Question.
by Melvyn C. Goldstein
John Reynolds Harkness Professor
Chair, Department of Anthropology
Director, Center for Research on Tibet
Case Western Reserve University

--------------------------–

Foreword
Executive Summary
Introduction
The Qing Dynasty Period
The Emergence of the Qing Hegemony
The British Enter the Picture
The Chinese Reaction
The Period of Defacto Independence, 1913-1951
The Simla Convention
Tibetan Attempts to Modernize
The Initial Period of Chinese Communist Rule:
1951-1978
The 17 Point Agreement
Coexistence Under the Terms of the 17 Point Agreement: 1951-1959
Post-Mao Tibet: 1978 to Present
Dharamsala's New Initiative
The First Riot on October 1, 1987
Etiology of the Riots
Beijing's Shift to a Hard-line Strategy in Tibet
The Future
China
The Dalai Lama and Dharamsala
The United States and the Tibet Question
Endnotes

Foreword

Ethnic and sectarian conflicts throughout the world have emerged in the post-Cold War world as perhaps the most dangerous and durable threats to peace, prosperity, stability, democratic institutions and human rights. Recognizing these dangers, the Atlantic Council of the United States launched a policy project in 1993 on "Individual Rights, Group Rights, National Sovereignty and International Law." An interdisciplinary Working Group composed of experts on ethnic questions, practitioners in conflict resolution, regional specialists and policy-makers was formed under the leadership of Ambassador Max Kampelman.
The objectives of the policy project are practical: to identify U.S. interests in specific conflicts and potential conflicts; and to identify appropriate methodologies and techniques, as well as multilateral and bilateral instruments that might be used to mitigate ethnic tensions before they become violent.

The current work program is composed of three components:

five case studies, the policy paper and a seminar for emerging leaders. Working papers by specialists have been commissioned – and the majority have now been published – on "International Law and Self-Determination;" "Hungarian Minorities in East-Central Europe;" and "Tibet, China, and the United States Policy;" "International Implications of the Civil War in Tajikistan and United States Policy;" and "Tibet, China, and the United States: Reflections on the Tibet Question." The case studies are reviewed by the Working Group, and appropriate experts on the topic are invited to join the Working Group's discussion. A rapporteur has been appointed to draft a policy paper, and, after thorough review by the Working Group, the policy paper will be published in 1995 as a Working Group report; it will be addressed to the U.S. administration and Congress and appropriate international institutions with recommendations to be initiated and implemented to mitigate or resolve conflicts.

A selection of the working papers served as the focus of discussion for a Young Leaders Seminar held in Romania in October 1994. This seminar was the 22nd Young Leaders Seminar since the Council initiated the program in 1981.

Tibet was selected as a component of this project because of the nature of the challenge and its importance to U.S. relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC). The future of Tibet is admittedly a controversial complex of issues. When the Atlantic Council and the national Committee on United States-China Relations published a policy paper in February 1993, the report commented, "Beijing's human rights practices have become powerful issues in the United States, as well as in many other Western nations. Tibet, for instance, has been a recurring point of friction in Sino-American relations, with the Chinese crackdown in 1987 only one pre-Tiananmen example."

Tibetan-PRC relations today are tense and unpredictable. The question appears to be not whether violence will erupt again, but when – unless there are major efforts aimed at conciliation by the leadership of both parties. At the same time, Tibet remains a point of friction between the United States and the PRC, and Tibet-PRC relations are hotly disputed between the United States and the PRC, and Tibet-PRC relations are hotly disputed in the United States. Those who champion Tibetan human rights and self-determination disagree over tactics with those who favor policies pursuing human rights within a broader context of the overall U.S. strategic relationship with the PRC. Almost any statement assessing and recommending changes in Tibet-PRC relations is likely to be perceived and denounced as unbalanced. Is it possible to encourage a reasoned dialogue in pursuit of a pragmatic, viable compromise?

Dr. Melvyn Goldstein, a distinguished professor of anthropology at Case Western Reserve University and a longtime analyst of Tibet, the PRC, and their relations, has attempted to do so in this Atlantic Council Occasional Paper. Given the passions and emotions attached to Tibetan issues, it is unlikely everyone will agree with everything he says. Yet his thoughtful suggestions describing a pragmatic, middle way to avoid violent confrontation and preserve Tibetan culture certainly deserve careful consideration by all parties, including the U.S. policy makers. As he notes, the United State "appears clearly to have a major, albeit negative, strategic interest in Tibet – namely, preventing the conflict from turning violent."

On behalf of the Atlantic Council, it is a pleasant duty to thank The Pew Charitable Trusts for their forward-looking support of this project on ethnic and sectarian conflict. In accordance with our practice, the views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Atlantic Council or the Pew Charitable Trusts.

David C. Acheson

President

The Atlantic Council of the United States

--------------------------–

Executive Summary
The "Tibet Question"-the political status of Tibet vis-a-vis China-is an intractable nationalistic conflict that has become a volatile component of Sino-American relations and a contentious issue in the American political arena. It is also a conflict that appears to have reached a critical juncture in its long history. This essay explores the nature of this conflict, examining its historical background and explicating recent developments with the aim of informing policy.
The roots of the conflict can be traced back hundreds of years, but in modern times the Tibet Question entered the international arena at the turn of the 19th century when British attempts to open relations with Tibet culminated in the 1903-04 invasion and conquest of Lhasa. The Qing China, which considered Tibet politically subordinate, countered this perceived threat to its hegemony by taking measures to increase its control over Tibet's administration. These actions ended in 1911 when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown in China. Tibetans then expelled all Chinese troops and officials and the 13th Dalai Lama triumphantly returned from exile in India, immediately issuing a proclamation that is considered by many Tibetans to be a declaration of independence.

From 1911-1951, Tibet functioned as a defacto independent nation, conducting all governmental functions without interference from China or any other country. Nevertheless, its international status was ambivalent since China continued to claim Tibet as part of its state and the relevant Western countries like Britain and the United States refused to recognize Tibetan independence. The current dispute over the political status of Tibet is to no small extent an artifact of the Western democracies' decision to publicly acknowledge Chinese suzerainty over Tibet throughout this period, even though Beijing had no direct influence there.

The founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 quickly ended Tibet's defacto independence. The Communists, like the Nationalists of Chiang Kaishek, claimed Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, and invaded Tibet's eastern province in October 1950 to force the Tibetan government to commence negotiations to accept such a status. They quickly vanquished the Tibetan forces, and when neither the Western democracies, India, nor the U.N. responded positively to Tibet's pleas for help, the 14th Dalai Lama sent a negotiating team to Beijing. It signed the 17 Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet in May of 1951. This agreement recognized Chinese sovereignty over Tibet for the first time in Tibetan history, but also recognized the right of the Dalai Lama's government to continue to administer Tibet, at least until the Tibetan people and leaders wanted reforms.

This agreement, however, proved difficult to operationalize, and after an eight year period of coexistence, a Tibetan uprising occurred in Lhasa in 1959. The Dalai Lama then fled to exile in India, followed by about 80,000 Tibetans. China now set aside the agreement and established a people's government in Tibet. The Dalai Lama, in India, similarly denounced the agreement, claiming Tibet's right to self determination and independence. The political status of Tibet vis-a-vis China reemerged as a contested issue.

During the two decades after the 1959 uprising, China ended the feudal estate system in Tibet and gradually implemented a system of pervasive communes. It also destroyed the vast monastic system and, during the Cultural Revolution, vigorously attacked traditional Tibetan culture and prohibited all religious activities.

During the same period, the exiles criticized Chinese actions in Tibet and made their case for self-determination and independence. They won sympathy and some support in the West, but were unable to exert any influence on Chinese policies in Tibet. Negotiations between China and the Dalai Lama to resolve the conflict, moreover, did not occur during this period.

Sino-Tibetan relations entered a new phase in 1978 when China embarked on a more liberal trajectory under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping. Beijing shifted its Tibet policy away from the assimilationist/class struggle policy of the Cultural Revolution, instituting in its place a policy that emphasized meeting the ethnic sensibilities of Tibetans while improving their economic situation. At the same time, Beijing and the Tibetan exiles began secret talks to resolve their dispute. The Dalai Lama formally sent negotiating delegations to Beijing in 1982 and 1984.

These talks, however, proved fruitless. The Chinese were unwilling to consider real political autonomy in Tibet, i.e., a political system different than the rest of China and run by Tibetans. Conversely, the exiles were unwilling to accept a solution that addressed only cultural, religious and linguistic issues and did not give them political control over Tibet. Complicating the situation was the exile's demand for creation of a "Greater Tibet" that would include not only political Tibet (the Tibet Autonomous Region) but also the ethnic Tibetan areas in Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces.

This failure left the Dalai Lama and his leaders in a difficult position politically. On the one hand, they did not have the means to compel Beijing to accede to their demands, while on the other, they saw China moving ahead with its internal reform program without them. In 1986/87, therefore, the exiles countered by launching a new strategic initiative whose aim was to secure increased political support from the U.S. and Europe in order to exert new and effective leverage on China.

A key element in this new strategy was that the Dalai Lama for the first time would make political speeches in the West. In September 1987, he initiated this strategy in Washington, D.C. with a major speech before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. The following June, he made a another important address at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. In the latter speech he laid out publicly for the first time his willingness to accept something less than independence for Tibet, namely, complete political autonomy.

Several days after the Dalai Lama's speech in Washington, a small group of monks in Lhasa demonstrated in support of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan independence. They were arrested without incident, but a few days later when more monks demonstrated to demand the release of the first monks, a full-scale riot erupted. During the succeeding two years, three other riots occurred in Lhasa, the last compelling Beijing to declare martial law in Tibet for one year.

Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama's initiative achieved considerable success internationally and in the U.S.. The U.S. Congress passed legislation supporting Tibet, the Dalai Lama and his envoys gained access to top leaders in the U.S., and in 1989, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.

China's Tibet policy was now in shambles.

Beijing reacted predictably by shifting to a more hard-line strategy. This policy developed new and effective security measures to prevent further political demonstrations from turning into riots, and is accelerating a program of rapid economic development that is increasing Tibet's integration with the rest of China and, over time, is hoped to create more "modern" Tibetans who will be less influenced by religion and lamas. The economic strategy, however, pulled in large numbers of Chinese entrepreneurs/laborers to Tibet to work, increasing the size of the non-Tibetan population in Tibet. Beijing's refusal to reverse this influx is the core issue creating the current crisis.

As a result of this new Chinese strategy in Tibet, the Dalai Lama again finds himself relegated to the sidelines watching events unfold that from his point of view are tragic. For well over a thousand years of recorded history, through wars and conquest, famines and other natural disasters, Tibet remained the exclusive home of a people. Now Tibetans in Tibet and in exile see this being lost right under their eyes and are unable to stop it. Beijing, therefore, has, in a sense, turned the tables on Dharamsala, and the triumphs won by the Dalai Lama's international campaign look more and more like pyrrhic victories. The international initiative won significant symbolic gains for the exiles in the West but did not compel China to yield to its demands and played a major role in precipitating the new hard-line policy that is changing the nature of Tibet. Ironically, by threatening China's political hold over Tibet, Dharamsala and its Western supporters provided the advocates of a hard-line Tibet policy the leverage they needed to shift Beijing's Tibet policy away from the more ethnically sensitive one of the early 1980s.

How is this conflict likely to play out in the coming years? Is there any common ground upon which reconciliation between the Dalai Lama and China can be constructed? Does the United States have a role to play?

1. China-Beijing now has little interest in holding discussions with the Dalai Lama because it feels he is still unwilling to accept rapprochement without political power, and, in any case, feels its rapid modernization policy is working well.

2. The Tibetan exiles-The situation in the exile community also is not conducive for a negotiated resolution to the current impasse. The Dalai Lama and his top officials are anxious to stop the influx of non-Tibetans into Tibet, and they hold deep convictions that Tibet should be a predominately Tibetan area whether independent or part of China. However, the fundamental impasse is the same as it was in the early 1980s-China is unwilling to give the Dalai Lama real political autonomy, and the Dalai Lama is unwilling to accept less than that. What is new, however, is China's current Tibet policy. It is exerting tremendous pressure on the Dalai Lama and his leaders either to quickly resolve the conflict or to develop effective counter-measures that will prevent the influx of non-Tibetans from changing the ethnic character of Tibet.

The Dalai Lama and his officials appear to have three-not mutually exclusive-main options.

i. to maintain the status quo by continuing the current campaign to enhance their international support.

The Dalai Lama and his officials appear to understand the current limitations of Western support so do not expect the West to force China out of Tibet. Consequently, implicit in this strategy is the hope that the flow of history will provide them the victory they desire but can not attain on their own. Ideally, they hope that China will soon disintegrate like the Qing Dynasty did in 1911 (and the U.S.S.R. more recently), and that this will afford them the opportunity to regain control over Tibet. But even if this does not occur, they hope that the supreme leader who replaces Deng Xiaoping will be more sympathetic to giving Tibetans real political autonomy. Thus, while waiting for history to solve their dilemma in a satisfactory manner, they are trying to induce Western nations to renounce their acceptance of Chinese sovereignty over Tibet and to pressure China to make concessions.

ii. to escalate by encouraging (or organizing) violent opposition in Tibet .

Such a campaign of violence would seek to disrupt Beijing's hard-line policy and prevent China from pursuing business as usual in Tibet. It's goal would be to persuade China to adopt a more conciliatory line, not militarily drive it from Tibet. However, if China began to disintegrate in the coming years, this strategy would be used to try to wrest actual control.

This option would be difficult for the Dalai Lama to accept even tacitly given his commitment to non-violence, but may begin even without his sanction.

iii. to compromise by sending Beijing a clear message that the Dalai Lama is ready to scale down his political demands in order to preserve an ethnically homogeneous Tibetan homeland.

A compromise for less than real political autonomy will be difficult for the Dalai Lama to accept. However, it might occur if the leadership change in Beijing brings no significant shift in Beijing's attitude toward Tibet and the Dalai Lama concludes as a result of this that a major compromise is the only way to preserve an ethnically homogeneous Tibetan homeland.

3. The United States

U.S. policy toward Tibet has vacillated over the past 45 years, but at present is based on the assumption that the U.S. has no vital strategic interests in Tibet. The executive branch and State Department are pursuing a policy that seeks to avoid allowing the Tibet issue to create unnecessary complications and irritants in U.S. relations with China. It appears willing to urge both parties to resolve the conflict peacefully, to occasionally mention human rights violations in Tibet, and perhaps to privately encourage China to meet with the Dalai Lama for a new round of talks, but no more.

As currently defined, U.S. interests in the area are satisfied if the Sino-Tibetan conflict continues at its present level, i.e., if it does not degenerate into serious violence. However, if a shift to violence occurs, this would likely impact U.S. strategic interests negatively:

(i) if it remained localized in Tibet:

Serious violence would likely result in a heavy-handed Chinese response that would create powerful pressures in the U.S. domestic political arena for America to support Tibetans' "struggle for freedom." Any such steps, of course, would be perceived in Beijing as a threat to Chinese core strategic interests and would worsen the already fragile relations between China and the United States, potentially complicating the U.S's entire Asia policy.

(ii) if it spilled outside of Tibet

Serious violence could impact on the internal stability of China itself. It might, for example, precipitate a chain of events that would destabilize China at this very important juncture in its history. Or it might significantly exacerbate forces of disintegration that started elsewhere in China. One of Beijing's worst case scenarios, in fact, is for serious disturbances in Tibet to spread to other minority areas such as Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and the Muslim (Hui) areas in Gansu.

But is a descent into serious violence a reasonable assumption? Unfortunately, the answer appears to be affirmative. Tibetans are unlikely to stand on the sidelines for much longer watching Beijing transform the demography and economy of their homeland with impunity. Nationalistic emotions coupled with desperation and anger make a powerful brew, and there are Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet who are intoxicated with the idea of beginning such a campaign of focused violence-in their view a "war of conscience," a Tibetan-style intifada.

Moreover, given that the exiles and their supporters in the West and in Tibet see Soviet-like disintegration in China as their greatest hope, they are likely to leap in with alacrity at any sign of major economic or political instability in order to exacerbate and accelerate this instability. The experience of the previous (13th) Dalai Lama offers a powerful model to Tibetan leaders. When the Qing Dynasty fell in 1911, he organized military action in Tibet from exile in India, quickly expelled all Chinese officials and troops from Tibet, and ushered in a golden period of 40 years of (defacto) independence.

Consequently, the U.S. appears to have a major, albeit negative, strategic interest in Tibet-namely, preventing the conflict from turning violent. The current U.S. approach to Tibet is seriously flawed since it can neither bring about a peaceful resolution of the conflict nor can it prevent the exiles (and/or Tibetans in Tibet) from launching a new tactic of large-scale violence. Even in the unlikely event that U.S. prodding persuades China to resume talks with the Dalai Lama and his leaders, since they appear unwilling under current conditions to agree to a settlement that does not include political control in Tibet, this will be an empty exercise certain to fail. Such a failure, moreover, could actually be counter-productive by increasing the anger and frustration in Dharamsala (and Tibet) and thereby push the existing momentum further towards violence (which would likely include "terrorist" type attacks).

Of course, it can be argued that Tibetans will not be able to organize and sustain a program of violent attacks against Chinese targets (and nationals), but it seems shortsighted for the U.S. to allow the situation to deteriorate to a state where this will be tested empirically. The current U.S. policy is deficient, therefore, because it is allowing a dangerously volatile situation to develop according to its own momentum when its most likely outcome is clearly not in its strategic interests. It seems prudent, therefore, for the U.S. to reassess the role of Tibet in its China and Asia policy and strive in a quiet, non-public fashion to facilitate a speedy resolution of the conflict.

However, is there a reasonable compromise solution that could meet the needs of both parties to this conflict, and if so, what would it entail?

The following terms are suggested as a possible compromise solution. On the Chinese side, a number of important concessions would be necessary:

1. In the political sphere, a "new" Tibet Autonomous Region would retain its current political system but Beijing would move in stages to appoint Tibetans to head all its party and government offices. All positions of real power would be placed in the hands of ethnic Tibetans, e.g., the position of First Secretary of the Party would for the first time be given to a Tibetan, and by the end of a ten year phase-in period, the percent of Tibetan officials would increase substantially from its current 60-70% to as high as 85-90%.

2. In the cultural sphere, a variety of measures would have to be implemented to enhance the degree to which Tibetan culture predominates. One of the most critical of these would be to phase in Tibetan language as the basic operating language of government. Although all Tibetan officials would have to be bilingual in Chinese, and the education system would continue to teach Chinese along with Tibetan, restoring written Tibetan as the language of the government of Tibet would enable Tibetan culture to grow and modernize to a degree not possible now. Other cultural measures such as allowing the number of monks in monasteries to increase and permitting Buddhist clerics from abroad to give religious teachings, could be worked out by the parties.

3. In the critical demographic and economic spheres, Beijing would have to take measures to decrease substantially the number of non-Tibetans in Tibet and to reduce outside economic competition so that Tibetans become the main beneficiaries of economic development there. Tibet would continue to modernize rapidly, but the rate would be adjusted to the realities of the Tibetan situation. Since the overwhelming majority of non-Tibetans in Tibet are not legal residents (colonists), Beijing has no responsibility for their resettlement and re-employment, and could accomplish this, although not without difficulty.

4. With regard to the exile's demand for creation of a "Greater Tibet," Beijing would agree to enact parallel changes in policy in ethnographic Tibet and both sides would agree to delay addressing the "reunification" issue until the new program has been in operation for five or ten years. i.e., until new relations of trust and respect are established.

The end result of such a process would be a Tibet that was predominately Tibetan in culture, language and demographic composition. It would continue to modernize and would be run by Tibetans, albeit by "communist" Tibetans under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. However, if China in time evolves more democratic institutions such as multiple political parties, the political leadership in Tibet would similarly broaden its base. The underlying premise of this compromise solution is that transforming Tibet into a "modern" society is perfectly compatible with preserving its rich language, culture and religion, and that it is in the interests of both sides to facilitate such a development.

To secure these concessions from China, however, will not be simple. Beijing considers that even an "ethnic" solution such as this would be a potential threat to its position in Tibet given the strong anti-Chinese and pro-separatist feelings of Tibetans, particularly those associated with religion and traditional culture. Consequently, a compromise plan such as this would have to include components that greatly enhanced Beijing's de jure control over Tibet and ended the internal and external attacks on its position there.

Only the Dalai Lama can provide this for Beijing. He, therefore, would have to make a major compromise that would involve two main areas:

(1) return to China/Tibet and publicly accept Chinese sovereignty over Tibet.

(2) work actively to create cooperative and harmonious relations between Tibetans and non-Tibetans, persuading Tibetans in Lhasa to stop disturbances and accept that a truly Tibetan Tibet is not incompatible with being a part of China or with becoming a "modern" society. This would include deflecting any international criticism of the agreement.

He would, therefore, have to use his enormous prestige and stature to change the attitude of Tibetans (in Tibet) toward being part of China. He could certainly do that if he tried and if Beijing supported his efforts by promptly phasing in the changes outlined above.

However, this kind of compromise is unlikely to occur without external encouragement. If progress is to be made, a "catalyst-facilitator" is needed, and this is where the U.S. could play a constructive role, either directly through private diplomacy, or through a proxy country such as Norway or Mongolia. It would be injudicious to specify further the nature of such a U.S. role, but suffice to say that such an effort might well be the deciding factor in determining the direction the Tibet Question takes in the coming decade.

In conclusion, the Tibet Question has currently reached a dangerous turning point in its turbulent history. The Chinese are pursuing a policy that the Dalai Lama knows is changing Tibet, perhaps irretrievably, and that the situation will only worsen in time. At age 60, he must be thinking about how best to preserve his people and their way of life in his remaining years. He may decide to continue to sit on the sidelines, hoping that external forces will destroy his enemy, but it is more likely that he will soon feel compelled adopt a proactive approach-either moving to preserve Tibet by accepting a major compromise such as that outlined above, or more likely by tacitly and reluctantly accepting a new tactic of countering Chinese policies in Tibet through organized violence. It seems clearly in the interests of the United States to develop a strategy that will ensure that he and his leaders choose the former over the latter.

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The Qing Dynasty Period
The Emergence of the Qing Hegemony
Although the current manifestation of the Tibet Question involves the People's Republic of China with its communist, autocratic-style government, the Tibet Question is not about communism per se and predates the creation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Throughout the Twentieth Century, in fact, different Chinese and Tibetan governments have sparred over this issue, each shifting positions and strategies, gaining advantages at specific points in time, but not being able to achieve the ultimate, but very elusive, goal both sought and seek a permanent, mutually agreeable solution to what should be the political status of Tibet.

The current conflict over the Tibet Question, therefore, is being contested by players who carry a heavy load of historical baggage to the field of battle. Consequently, it is important to begin this discussion with an overview of the history of the Tibet Question in modern times.

The origin of today's Tibet Question is rooted in Qing (Manchu)-Tibetan relations in the late 17th and 18th cen- turies, in particular, during the period between 1720-1792. During that time the Qing Dynasty sent armies into Tibet on four occasions, reorganized the administration of Tibet and established a loose protectorate. The Qing Emperors' motives at this time were primarily geo-political, they sought on the one hand to prevent Tibetans from using their religious leverage to unify the Mongols(5) in a common front against them, and on the other hand, to oust their main rivals, the Dzungar Mongols, from Lhasa, which they had conquered in 1717. Nevertheless, even at the height of its power in Tibet, the Qing Dynasty made no attempt to absorb Tibet into China as a province. Tibet, therefore, maintained its own language, officials, legal system, and army and paid no taxes/tribute to China. The Qing Dynasty sought to influence the decision-making of the Tibetan government on issues that affected its interests rather than directly administer Tibet. It sought to do this after 1720 by reforming the administrative structure (e.g., doing away with the office of regent) and stationing Imperial Commissioners (amban) and a garrison of troops in Lhasa.

The precise authority of these amban is somewhat unclear, and in actuality, their power appears to have varied in accordance with many factors such as their personality and competence vis-a-vis that of the leaders of Tibet, and the nature of the political situation in China and Tibet. In general, however, it is clear that the degree of Qing power and authority in Tibet waned as China itself faced more pressing threats in the 19th century. For example, the Tibeto-Nepalese War of 1855-56 was conducted by Tibet without any involvement from China, and the 13th Dalai Lama was chosen in 1877 without recourse to the "golden urn" lottery that the Qing Emperor Qian Long had ordered in 1792 as part of his "Twenty-nine Regulations for Better Government in Tibet." By the turn of the 20th century, therefore, the Qing hegemony over Tibet was more symbolic than real, and the Tibet Question was, in a sense, latent. Tibet did not explicitly try to sever its ties to Beijing, but also did not defer to the Emperor's amban in Lhasa.

That laissez faire arrangement was permanently transformed when a third party entered the scene and set in motion a series of events that altered the status quo dramatically.

The British Enter the Picture

By the mid-19th century, British influence on the Indian sub-continent had extended right to the border of Tibet as the string of Himalayan states and principalities fell under British influence. British India then tried to establish direct relations with Tibet, but the Tibetan government declined to discuss such matters with them, let alone permit them travel and trade. British India, therefore, turned to China, the nominal (and recognized) overlord of Tibet and in 1890 and 1893 obtained a variety of concessions regarding Tibet from Beijing. However, the 13th Dalai Lama refused to acknowledge them and would not agree to face-to-face talks with British Indian officials. Since it was now apparent that China had no practical control over events in Tibet, in 1903 London permitted Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, to send an expedition to Tibet to open negotiations. The Tibetans again refused to negotiate with this expedition, so its British officers and officials led their Indian troops deeper and deeper into Tibet, ostensibly to induce the Tibetans to negotiate. Defeating the Tibetan forces that attempted to block their advance, on 3 August 1904, they entered Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. They were the first Western troops ever to conquer Tibet.

Throughout this period the Chinese government (through its amban) urged the 13th Dalai Lama to negotiate with the British expeditionary force, and then when it was about to enter Lhasa, to meet with Younghusband, its leader. But China had no control over the Dalai Lama who ignored these admonitions and fled to exile in Mongolia, presumably to seek Russian support against Britain.

In order to secure the withdrawal of the British, the Tibetan government reluctantly agreed to British terms which were codified in an agreement known as the Anglo-Tibet Convention of 1904. Signed by only Tibet and the British head of the expeditionary force D the Manchu amban refused to place his signature on it D it gave India (Britain) the right to establish Trade Marts in Tibet and maintain British Trade Officials in three Tibetan towns [Gyantse, Gartok and Yadung]. It also excluded any other foreign power from exercising political influence in Tibet, a clause which was vague enough to exclude China as well as more obvious countries such as Russia. A large indemnity was levied and British troops were to occupy a part of Tibet contiguous with Sikkim until this was paid. By virtue of these terms, British India virtually converted Tibet into another of its "native-state" protectorates.

However, news of the fighting in Tibet and the seizure of Lhasa shocked many in London who had not authorized Curzon to conquer Tibet. Britain's interests transcended those of India, and considerations of Hong Kong and Russia led the Foreign Office to repudiate some of the political advantages secured via the Anglo-Tibetan Convention of 1904. London also promptly assuaged China by entering into negotiations with it to obtain its acceptance of the convention Younghus- band had signed with Tibet. The resultant 1906 Anglo-Chinese Convention reaffirmed the Chinese overlord position in Tibet and restricted the British role primarily to commercial affairs. In 1907, an Anglo-Russian treaty internationalized this.

The Chinese Reaction

The invasion of Tibet and the Lhasa Convention of 1904 dramatically altered Chinese policy toward Tibet. Until then, the Qing Dynasty had evinced no interest in directly administering or Sinicizing Tibet. The British thrusts now suggested to Beijing that unless it took prompt action its position as overlord in Tibet might be lost and Tibet could fall under the British sphere of influence. The Qing Dynasty, although enfeebled and on the brink of collapse, responded with surprising vigor. Beijing got the British troops to leave Tibetan soil quickly by itself paying the 2.5 million rupee indemnity to Britain, and began to take a more active role in day-to-day affairs in Tibet. Britain's casual invasion of Tibet, therefore, stimulated China to protect what it felt were its national interests in Tibet by beginning a program to integrate Tibet culturally, economically, and politically more closely with the rest of China.

The position of the Dalai Lama during all this is important. He was languishing in exile, spending time first in Outer Mongolia and then the ethnic Tibetan areas of what is now Qinghai Province. His overture to the Russian Czar proved futile and his position in exile was somewhat precarious since he had been "deposed" by the Chinese Government in 1904 because of his flight. Although Tibetans never questioned his legitimacy as their ruler, the increased domination of affairs in Lhasa by the ambans after his departure made him unwilling to return to Lhasa without first achieving some accommodation with the Qing Dynasty that would guarantee his control of Tibet. In 1908, he went to Beijing to visit the Emperor and Court. Arguing that the amban did not faithfully transmit his views to Beijing, the Dalai Lama requested permission to petition the throne directly (i.e., to bypass the amban). Beijing, however, was in no mood to loosen its control over the unpredictable and independent 13th Dalai Lama, and rudely refused.

Ultimately, however, China agreed that the Dalai Lama could return to Tibet to rule, but since they did not trust him to follow their instructions, unbeknownst to him, they sent an army of several thousand troops from Sichuan province to support the amban and ensure that the Dalai Lama was compliant. Thus, when the 13th Dalai Lama arrived in Lhasa in late December 1909, five years after he had fled from the Younghusband Expedition, he learned that a Chinese army was on its way. As that army entered Lhasa in February 1910, he again decided to flee to exile, this time south to his former enemies in British India.

China again deposed the Dalai Lama and expanded its efforts to expand its real control in Tibet, its officials assuming more direct command of administration. A Chinese postal service was established and Tibet's first stamps were produced (with Chinese and Tibetan scripts). Tibet seemed set on a trajectory that would have ended in Tibet's incorporation into China proper. This, however, did not occur. The process was abruptly halted when the Qing dynasty was overthrown in China in 1911.(6)

The Period of Defacto Independence, 1913-1951
The Simla Convention

The fall of the Qing dynasty was a stroke of good fortune for the 13th Dalai Lama, and he immediately capitalized on it. From exile in India he organized a military force to regain his power, and with the help of Nepalese mediation, quickly succeeded in expelling all Chinese officials and troops from Tibet. The 13th Dalai Lama triumphantly returned to Lhasa in 1913 and at once unequivocally declared himself the ruler of Tibet, no longer paying even symbolic subordination to China. Many interpret this announcement as the equivalent of a declaration of independence. For the Tibetan political elite, the idea of Tibet as a modern nation state had now gained prominence.

The Tibet Question, however, was far from settled since the new Chinese Republican government continued to claim Tibet as a part of China. In fact, since one of the fundamental nationalistic goals of the Chinese revolution against the Qing was to restore China to its former greatness, control of Tibet took on great symbolic significance. Given the disputed international status of Tibet at the time, Tibet had to reach some accommodation with China regarding its political status or be prepared to defend its territory and newly declared "independence." As we shall see, it turned out to be unable to do the former and unwilling to take the steps needed to do the latter.

With no effective army at its disposal, Tibet sought to reach an agreement with China's new rulers and received support in this from a new friend D British India. The Government of British India had found China a bad neighbor during the 1905-11 period of direct Chinese power in Tibet and wanted to prevent any recurrence of such direct control. It sought therefore to create a buffer area in Tibet, i.e., a territory in which Chinese officials would not be in direct control. In 1913, with the intent of achieving that end, it pressured the new Chinese government to participate in a conference with itself and Tibet in Simla, India. The Simla negotiations produced a draft convention in 1914 that set the background for the Tibet Question during the next four decades.

Tibet initially wanted the conference to declare it independent. The Tibetan plenipotentiary expressed this in his opening statement when he said:

Tibet and China have never been under each other and
will never associate with each other in future. It
is decided that Tibet is an independent State and
that the precious Protector, the Dalai Lama, is the
ruler of Tibet in all temporal as well as in
spiritual affairs.(7)

China, on the other hand, forcefully claimed the opposite in its initial Simla statement:

Tibet forms an integral part of the territory of the
Republic of China, that no attempts shall be made by
Tibet or by Great Britain to interrupt the con-
tinuity of this territorial integrity, and that
China's rights of every description which have
existed in consequence of this territorial integrity
shall be respected by Tibet and recognized by Great
Britain. (8)

Tibet's only hope of achieving its aim was for Great Britain to act as its champion. British strategic aims, however, were not congruent with those of Lhasa. As in 1904-05, London did not want to support an independent Tibet or convert Tibet into an Indian protectorate (as had been done in the case of Sikkim and Bhutan). London was still unwilling to face the international criticism that support for Tibet's claim to independence would engender and also was fearful of negatively impacting British trade interests in China and Hong Kong. So Britain proposed that Tibet be accepted as a self-governing dominion nominally under China but with Chinese influence and power severely limited. With China excluded from a position of influence and power in Tibet, Britain would have created a harmless buffer-zone along India's northern border in which its political interests were fulfilled and its commercial interests could develop. Here we see the beginnings of what we can think of as the "Bad Friend Syndrome" D Western powers professing friendship for Tibet but refusing to support it in its real objective D political independence.
The final draft of the Simla Convention illustrates this. While declaring that Tibet would be completely autonomous from China, it acknowledged Chinese suzerainty over Tibet. Tibetans would administrate Tibet with its own officials in accordance with its own customs and laws, and China would not be permitted to station large numbers of troops or officials in Tibet D but China could maintain an amban and his escort of 300 men there. This compromise was not the independence Tibet wanted, but nonetheless was acceptable to the Tibetan elite because it met their nationalistic sensibilities by guaranteeing that they would retain complete control over Tibet's affairs, including the army, currency and so forth. It would also legitimize Tibet's international identity and allow it to avoid having to prepare for possible military conflict with China. The Tibetan and Chinese Plenipotentiaries at Simla agreed to this political compromise.

The political dimension of the Tibet Question, however, turned out to be easier to accommodate at Simla than the territorial one. Tibet and China found it impossible to agree on where to draw the boundary between political Tibet and China. At issue was a belt of semi-autonomous ethnic Tibetan areas in Eastern Tibet/ Western Sichuan (the "ethnographic Tibet" mentioned in footnote 1). British mediation produced a number of compromises, but in the end the new Chinese government repudiated these and refused to ratify the entire Simla Convention.

Younghusband, however, did not drop the issue as British India had clear strategic goals it needed to secure. He sought permission from London to achieve these by signing the Simla Convention directly with Tibet. London, however, denied this, feeling it would be tantamount to recognition of Tibetan independence. Nevertheless, British India finally achieved its goals by taking an unusual action. It signed a bilateral note with Tibet binding each to the terms of the unsigned Simla Convention. British India then felt justified in pursuing its relations with Tibet in accordance with the "autonomy" stipulated in the terms of Simla, and continued to do so for the next 35 years. However, since China did not agree to the convention, for Tibet, the "Tibet Question" remained in essence unresolved. Great Britain had achieved all its goals, including Tibet's ceding of a vast territory east of Bhutan (today's Indian province of Arunachal Pradesh), but Tibet still had no de jure status accepted by China. And it had no guarantees that the new Anglo-Tibetan note meant that the British would militarily defend the rights specified in the Simla Convention if China sought to enforce its claims to sovereignty or suzerainty over Tibet.

Tibetan Attempts to Modernize

The failure of Simla meant Tibet had to face the possibility of future hostilities with China. This prompted a clique of young Tibetan aristocratic officials to urge modernization in Tibet, especially the creation of a strong military able to defend Tibet's interests. The 13th Dalai Lama agreed. In rapid succession, new troops were levied, officers were sent to India for training, plans were made to join the International Postal Union, and a British school master was hired to open an English language school in Tibet. Tibet was taking its first steps to join the modern world.

All of this, however, sent shock waves reverberating through the monastic and aristocratic feudal elites who held most of the land in Tibet in the form of manorial estates. Modernization was expensive and they now found themselves facing large levies to support the military buildup. Modernization, moreover, was perceived by the religious leadership as an ideological threat to the dominance of Buddhism in Tibet, and thus to what they felt was the unique character of the Tibetan theocratic state. They equated modernization with Western atheism and secularism, and over time believed it would diminish the power and importance of Buddhism. Consequently, they campaigned to convince the Dalai Lama that these officers were a threat to Buddhism and to his own power and authority. By the mid 1920s, they succeeded, and in one of the pivotal policy decisions of modern Tibetan history, the 13th Dalai Lama gutted the heart of the reform program by acts such as demoting the entire group of pro-modernization officers and closing the English school. Overnight, Tibet lost its best chance to create a modern polity capable of coordinating international support for its independent status and defending its territory. Maintaining its de facto independence now became dependent on external forces D British/Indian diplomatic support and weakness in China.

Nevertheless, from the fall of the Qing Dynasty (in Tibet) in 1913, to the death of the 13th Dalai Lama in 1933, no Chinese officials were permitted to reside in Tibet. China continued to assert its claim that Tibet was and had always been an integral part of China, but had no role whatsoever in Tibetan affairs.

Chinese fortunes in Tibet improved slightly after the death of the 13th Dalai Lama when Tibet allowed a Chinese "condolence mission" to visit Lhasa in 1934, and then permitted it to open an office to facilitate negotiations aimed at reconciling the Tibet Question. These talks proved futile, but the office was allowed to remain until 1949. China, however, still exercised no authority or influence over the Tibetan government during this period.

The Initial Period of Chinese Communist Rule: 1951-1978
When the Kuomintang (KMT) Government of Chiang Kaishek fell to the communists in 1949, the settlement of the Tibetan Question was no closer than it had been at the time of the fall of the Qing dynasty. Tibet was operating as a defacto independent polity but both communist and KMT leaders were insisting that it was part of China. Tibet, moreover, not only was militarily weak because of the late 13th Dalai Lama's decision regarding modernization, but it was also internally disunified as a consequence of a bitter war between the Sera Monastery and the Lhasa government. And internationally, Tibet had failed to secure support for its assertion of independence. Britain and India (and later the United States) dealt directly with Tibet as if it were an independent state, but at the same time continually acknowledged de jure Chinese suzerainty over Tibet. Much of the current confusion over Tibet's previous political status derives from this double-standard on the part of the concerned Western nations.

One example of this occurred in 1943 during World War II when the U.S. wanted to send two Office of Strategic Services (OSS) officers to Tibet. Since China had no control over Tibet, they were forced to secure permission directly from the Tibetan Government through British/Indian intercession. The two U.S. officers entered Tibet from India carrying presents and a letter from President Franklin Roosevelt to the young 14th Dalai Lama asking him to assist them. Although this must have looked like government-to-government relations to officials in Lhasa, in Washington, Secretary of State C. Hull carefully informed President Roosevelt that this letter was addressed to the Dalai Lama in his religious capacity, "rather than in his capacity of secular leader of Tibet, so as not to offend the Chinese Government which includes Tibet in the territory of the Republic of China." However, neither the Tibetan Government nor the Dalai Lama were informed of this subtlety. Tibetans, therefore, had no reason to assume the letter was not sent to the Dalai Lama as head of Tibet, nor that it did not demonstrate U.S. recognition of Tibet's independence.(9)

A more blatant incident occurred in 1948 when the Tibetan government sent a Trade Mission to the U.S. and Britain using its own passports. British officials in Hong Kong stamped these with entry visas valid for three months. These visas, however, expired while the Tibetans were in the U.S., and when the Tibetans went for what they thought were routine new visas, their request was denied. The Chinese Government (of Chiang Kaishek) in the meantime had asked the British Government how it could accept Tibetan passports when according to its official position it did not accept that Tibet was independent. The British Foreign office then reversed itself and assured the Chinese that a mistake had been made, promising that in the future they would issue no more visas on Tibetan passports. The Tibetans were, therefore, advised to accept entry visas on a separate piece of paper called an "Affidavit of Identity." Surprised and indignant, the delegation refused, saying they would rather not visit Britain than accept this. The British Foreign Office then devised an ingenious solution which truly typifies the double standards rampant at this time. They carefully crossed out the words "three months" on the expired visa stamp and neatly wrote in pen above it, "nine months." This allowed them to keep their promise to the Chinese government not to issue the Tibetans new visas on their passports since this was still the original visa. At the same time they also were able to welcome the Tibetans to Britain on their Tibetan Government issued passports.

Consequently, despite the Wilsonian commitment to self-determination(10) and later reaffirmations such as those in the Atlantic Charter(11), the involved Western countries (and India after independence in 1947), refused to recognize Tibetan independence although they dealt with the government of Tibet directly without reference to China. It is interesting to note that the USSR took a totally different position with regard to Mongolia (the former Mongolian People's Republic), which had a political status parallel to that of Tibet at the time of the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. Stalin actively fought to secure international recognition of Mongolia's defacto independence, persuading Roosevelt at Yalta to agree to a plebiscite for independence, and then together with the U.S., persuading Chiang Kaishek to accept the results of the plebiscite which, of course, unanimously favored independence from China.

Tibet's political subordination to China, therefore, was repeatedly validated by the West throughout the first half of the 20th century, and particularly in the critical years during and immediately following World War II. Despite lofty rhetoric about freedom and self-determination, Western democracies maintained a consistent policy of bowing to Chinese sensibilities and accepting that Tibet was not independent.

The 17 Point Agreement

The victory of the Chinese Communists over Chiang Kaishek and the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) on 1 October 1949 set in motion events which two years later broke the post-1911 Sino-Tibetan deadlock regarding the Tibet Question. Like the KMT and the Qing Dynasty, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949 considered Tibet a part of China.

In its early years, the CCP followed the Soviet Union's lead and advocated a model of nationality affiliation wherein ethnic territories would be autonomous republics and would have the right of secession. By the end of World War II, however, its nationality policy had shifted towards political centralism D the new communist nation would be an indivisibly multi-ethnic state with nationality areas considered only autonomous regions. In late 1949, therefore, the new Chinese communist government proclaimed that Tibet, like Hainan Island and Taiwan, was an integral part of China, and set its liberation as a major goal for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in 1950.

The Tibetan government now found itself in a very difficult situation. The fortuitous events that had prevented China from dealing with Tibet D including the Japanese invasion and the bitter civil war D were over and the communists had unified the country under their rule. The earlier concern of the Tibetan pro-modernization clique that Tibet would some day have to defend its independence had now come to pass, and Tibet's military was poorly led and armed, with no effective plan to combat an invasion. Moreover, Tibet's main international supporter, Britain, no longer had interests in Tibet. Once it granted independence to India in 1947, it saw its role as supporting India's foreign policy, which at this time was centered on establishing close and friendly relations with the PRC.

The Tibetan government responded to the communist's victory in the Chinese civil war by sending appeals to the U.S. and Great Britain requesting civil and military assistance in the face of the communist threat. The letter to Britain said:

The Chinese Communist troops have invaded the
Chinese Provinces of Lanchow, Chinghai and Sinkiang;
and as these Provinces are situated on the border of
Tibet, we have sent an official letter to Mr. Maut-
setung leader of the Chinese Communist Government,
asking him to respect the territorial integrity of
Tibet.(12)

We enclose herewith the true copy of the letter
which our Government has sent to the leader of
Chinese Communist Government, thinking that he may
duly consider the matter. But in case the Chinese
communist leader ignores our letter, and takes an
aggressive attitude and sends his troops toward
Tibet, then the Government of Tibet will be
obligated to defend her own country by all possible
means. Therefore the Government of Tibet would
earnestly desire to request every possible help from
your Government.

We would be most grateful if you would please con-
sider extensive aid in respect of requirements for
Civil and military purposes, and kindly let us have
a favourable reply at your earliest opportunity.

From,
The Tibetan Foreign Bureau, Lhasa [4 November
1949](13)

The Americans were sent a similar appeal. Neither Britain nor America, however, had any interest in encouraging the Tibetans. The U.S. told the British "they were going to send a reply that would discourage Tibetans from expecting any aid."(14) The receipt of these noncommittal replies from the Western democracies who were the main enemy of communism was extremely disappointing. But with its options limited, the Tibetan Government decided to send missions to the U.S. and Great Britain (and also China and Nepal) in the hope that face-to-face contact would generate support. On 22 December 1949, the Tibetan Foreign Bureau sent the following letter to President Truman and Secretary of State Dean Acheson:

Though Tibet has remained an Independent Country for
about thirty years without any trouble, but recently
the Chinese Communist leaders have announced over
their Radio claiming Tibet as a part of Chinese
territory and many other remarks about Tibet which
are absolutely baseless and misleading. Besides the
Chinese Communists have already occupied the border
Provinces of Sinkiang, Sining (the Capital of Chin-
ghai), and also Shikang [province created in 1927 of
the ethnic Tibetan areas now in Sichuan Province].

Therefore it is impossible for us to remain indif-
ferent at such a critical time. Hence we are
deputing soon Lachag Khenchung Thupten Sanghe and
Rimshi Dingja to lead a special Mission to your
country for the purpose of obtaining aid from your
government.

We would therefore be most grateful to your honour
if you would kindly render every possible assistance
to our Mission on their arrival in Washington.(15)

The new communist government protested loudly on learning of this plan, but its concerns were misplaced since the Western democracies were not interested in encouraging Tibetans, in part because they believed that this would make a Chinese invasion of Tibet more likely. They refused, therefore, to accept the proposed missions. The U.S. government feared that even answering the Tibetans in writing might "be considered by the Tibetans as recognition of their independent status," so Washington instructed its Embassy in New Delhi to pass on a verbal reply dissuading the Tibetans from sending the mission.(16) Britain did likewise.

Meanwhile, in China, Mao Zedung was planning a strategy for "liberating" Tibet. He understood clearly that Tibet had an international status that set it apart from every other nationality group in China and was unique in that there were no Chinese living there. Tibet, as we have seen, dealt with foreign nations directly, signed international agreements and regulated entry to its territory. Liberating Tibet, therefore, could have serious international ramifications, and could even draw in enemies of China such as the United States. Consequently, Mao Zedung decided that the best strategy was to "liberate" Tibet peacefully, i.e., with the agreement of the government of Tibet. This would eliminate the possibility of a long drawn out guerrilla war in the mountains of Tibet, and reduce the potential for international intervention. The problem with this strategy was that the Tibetan government was unlikely to renounce its defacto independence voluntarily to become part of his communist state. Mao, therefore, believed that military action would be needed to force Tibet to the negotiating table (as the British had done in 1903-04), but that ultimately the goal should be to secure a peaceful liberation via an agreement. Mao, consequently, in December of 1949, ordered preparations for an invasion of Tibet's eastern province (centered at Chamdo), and by early 1950, the Southwest Military and Civil Bureau(17) in Qongqing was designated to lead the attack. If the Tibetan government did not quickly agree to peaceful liberation, Mao wanted the attack to start as early as the summer of 1950. He feared that postponing action until 1951 would give the Tibetans more time to muster international support, and was worried that waiting until fall to start the attack could inadvertently lead to such a delay if the troops encountered early snow.

The Chinese communists, therefore, tried to persuade the Tibetan government to begin negotiations for "peaceful liberation" by having well known religious leaders from Chinese-controlled Qinghai and Sichuan Provinces give assurances about religious freedom and so forth. When the Tibetan government vacillated on whether to send a delegation to Beijing and missed a Chinese-issued deadline, Mao ordered the PLA's 18th army to launch the attack on Chamdo. It began on 7 October 1950 with the clear military goal of disabling D encircling and capturing or destroying as a fighting force D the entire Tibetan army stationed in Chamdo D roughly 10,000 troops.

The Tibetan forces were poorly led and organized. Appointment as a general in the Tibetan army, for example, was simply another work rotation for government officials that required no special training. Consequently, when the People's Liberation Army (PLA) crossed the Upper Yangtse River it confronted Tibetan troops strung out in small units all along the river. These were quickly encircled and captured, opening the road to Lhasa. However, in accordance with Mao's basic political strategy, the PLA force stopped its advance and again called for Lhasa to commence negotiations.

The Tibetan government now saw its worst fear realized D it was under a military attack that it had no obvious means to counter. There was not even a plan for the Chamdo army to shift to a guerrilla strategy to harass the PLA. Consequently, Tibet turned for help to the world community, sending appeals to the United Nations (UN), the U.S., India and Britain.

The Tibetan appeal to the UN led to new examinations of the Tibet Question, in particular, whether Tibet was qualified to bring an issue before the UN since it was not a member. Article 35, Section 2, of the UN Charter said that, "A state which is not a member may bring to the attention of the Security Council or the General Assembly any dispute to which it is a party if it accepts in advance, for the purposes of the dispute, the obligations of pacific settlement provided in the present Charter."(18) But was Tibet a "state?" The British Foreign Office examined the issue and concluded that it could qualify as a state,(19) and so could bring an issue before the UN, but the British Foreign Office also felt that India had the primary responsibility for issues dealing with Tibet, and that Britain should follow the lead of the Government of India. London also did not want to see the UN demand that China withdraw its forces from Tibet because it felt the UN could not enforce this and such a failure would weaken the UN's stature. India, moreover, was intent on not letting Tibet hamper the development of close and friendly relations between itself and China, so was opposed to allowing the UN to discuss the issue.(20) Consequently, when the question was raised in the UN by El Salvador, the British and Indian representatives were the first speakers and both recommended that El Salvador's proposal should be adjourned. And so it was.

The Tibetan Government, disheartened and isolated, then sent a negotiating delegation to Beijing in Spring of 1951. Much as they had been forced to do in 1904 after the British capture of Lhasa, these delegates reluctantly signed an agreement on 23 May 1951 D the "Seventeen Point Agreement For The Peaceful Liberation of Tibet."(21)

The 17 Point Agreement was a new chapter in Sino-Tibetan relations since it officially

To "Wangyao",
Apparently you're faking to appear as a Chinese. You said:"从你的性格我明白你为什么支持中国共产党。 你想控制人，难道不？记得有多少学生被中国共产党谋杀在北京6.4事件期间？" It sounds like a foreigner speaking Chinese, even not a foreigner, but a machine speaking Chinese. Real Chinese don't use words and sentence structures in that way as you did. Shame on you! You're lying on your identity, and all of your words are then unreliable!

Kenneth:
Why are you so concerned about my ID? I am anti-Chinese Communist Party but I love my fellow Chinese people(炎黄子孙). I am a Chinese Buddhist and the Chinese Communist Party committed unprecedented crime against all religious believers in China during the Cultural Revolution.

I am not surprised to see why Tibetans are protest against the Chinese Communist Party. It's joke that the CCP showed their interest in selecting the reincarnation of the 15th Dalai Lama a month ago. Do you think it is appropriate for the Chinese Communist Party to do so? Earlier you said the Dalai Lama should shame of himself mixing religion with politics. What about the Chinese Communist Party mixing religion with politics?

No one in China dispute that 藏人文化网 (http://www.tibetcul.com) is the most popular Tibetan webiste in Chinese published by some Tibetans. If anyone who reads Chinese please visit this website and you will read nothing about the protests took place in Utsang (Tibet Autonomous Region), Amdo (Qinghai, Gansu), Kham (Sichual, Yunnan). Why is this? The CCP controls too much in China and particularly in Tibet.

Tell me why Youtube is blocked in China. If you don't I will tell you more...

Forrest:

What makes someone "Chinese"?

Your quotations from Wikipedia clear states that only Mongols (蒙古) and Manchurians (满族) claimed rule over Tibet. Are Mongols and Machurians are Chinese? If they are, don't fuss about my identity. Not all ethnic minorities (少数民族) in China speak Chinese. The prejudice you Han people impose unpon ethnic minorities is a partial cause of the riot in Tibet. Both Chinese and English are not my mother tongue but no one laughed at my English in my entire life but here you go making all sorts of comments ...

It's simple as that.

It is funny watching the US House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi to be with Dala Lamai asking all Nations to denounce Chinese government for executing its authority to arrest Tibetan rioters. Why she didn't denounce the violence of these Tibetan rioters?

Nancy Pelosi should go to Palestine to be with Hama's leader and ask all Nations to denounce Israel's Siege of Gaza and to denounce Israel's army's bombing and killing of innocent Palestine people. Israel has taken the Arabic land for 50 years and made the Palestine people 2nd class citizens in their own land and made them to live in poverty for 50 years.

But Nancy Pelosi and the US government wouldn't do that because US is Israel's friend. The US government claims Israel is the only "democracy" in middle east and that is the reason why it is with Israelis.

However, Palestines hold a free election and Hama won the election last year. The US government and European nations immediately cut off the aids to Palestines and refused to recognize the free elected Hama's government because Hama vows to use violence against Israelis.

The truth is "OIL" and "CONTROLLING THE WORLD", nothing to do with "democracy" or "freedom-loving" or "human-right" or "peaceful demonstactions". The US and European governments want to control the WORLD and use the world's resource to their wishes. Even the US Federal Reserve Chairman (Chairman of the US Central Bank) said publicly that G.W. Bush started the Iraqi war for "OIL".

To freedom-loving people all over the world, don't listen to these westerners' bull-shitting.

To Chinese government, do whatever you can and protect your national and your peaceful citizens.

If Tibet is separated from China, it would be easier for US, UK and European governments to control the world. The rest of the world are all split into small pieces. That is the reason why the Western countries are supporting the independence of Kosovo, George, etc.

By the way, when Israeli army bombed the Gaza, Israelis also sealed off the Gaza to protect the safety of western journalists. Gaza was not re-opened until the bombing site is cleaned off. Why the US government didn't want to go to Gaza to get a first hand truth immediately.

Don't worry, the Chinese are sealing off the Tibet to protect these western journalists' safety. Tibet will be re-opened later once the riot clams down.

To those Tibetans want to be independent, be careful with what you are asking for.

The Western countries just want Tibet to be separated so they can control Tibet easier. Initial, the Western countries may give you some financial aids but not for long. Eventually, a poor Tibetan economy will be too big a bag to carry. Tibetans may end up with no food to eat and live in poorer conditions than they have today without the annual injections of funds from Chinese central government. It is most likely better off for the Tibetans to live peacefully with their neighbors and being part of an integrated economy which is growing.

Most of those Tibetans-in-exile or living in Western countries are from the elite groups who used to be Tibetan slave-owners or their off-springs. Of course they want an independent Tibet so they can return to their old glory.

Why don't the Chinese just pull out of Tibet? There's nothing there for them, and much there, culturally and historically, for Tibetans. It is not rich in resources of the type that the Chinese want–capitalist resources–and its people do not want Chinese occupation. So pull out! Go back into China, where people are much more docile, and where like lambs they tolerate the fact that they have no rights and live in a totalitarian state–a state, by the way, which calls itself "Communist" but has become one of the most brutal, unfeeling Capitalist regimes in history. China can do all it wants to "clean up" its environmental act before the Olympics, but their dirty underwear is showing now, thanks to their response to Tibetan protests. Nations of the world should be embarrassed to hold the Olympics in China. They should pull out unless Tibet is given its full autonomy. Europe, which represents itself to have a liberal, humanistic stance, needs to stand up and walk away. Nations that do not pull out of the Olympics are complicit in the violence China visits upon both its people and the people of Tibet.

To those supporter of the Chinese Communist Party.

Please rember that your claim for killing Tibetan protesters is lawful would be a justification for killing Chinese pro-democracy students in Beijing in June 1989.

David,

Thanks for your warning but you are wrong on a few points.

Why you guys so keen on making comparison between USA and China.America does not block Youtube to censor information

To “Wangyao”,
In one of my previous posts, I already stated that "I'm not a Han Chinese, I am a Manchurian Chinese". I am also an ethnic minority Chinese.

Manchu was not Chinese, or was Chinese. It depends on how you look at it. Before Manchu conquered China, it was once an ethnic minority group in China. Later it became more powerful and became independent. And later Manchu took advantage of Chinese civil war and conquered China. This is the way of history – conquering and being conquered, and huge empires were always created this way. The Manchurian Qing Dynasty is considered the legitimate successor of the previous Chinese Ming Dynasty. After Manchu conquered China, the Manchurian people accepted and learned Chinese culture and language, and were eventually assimilated into Chinese people. So when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown in 1911, there was essentially no difference between Manchurian Chinese and the majority Han Chinese (even the Han Chinese are not ethnically pure, they are the result of mixing many different ethnic groups in 5000 years of Chinese history). And there is no doubt that Manchurian people are also Chinese now and for the past several hundred years. The Qing Dynasty also conquered Mongolia before conquering Tibet, so Mongolia also became a part of China, and Mongols became an ethnic minority group in China. Though the Outer Mongolia became independent in 1940s, the Inner Mongolia still remains in China, and there are more Mongolian people living in China now than in the country of Mongolia.

If you’re really an ethnic minority Chinese who doesn’t speak good Chinese, I apologize for mistaking you as a non-Chinese in my previous post. Then what I want to say to you is, no government in this world is perfect, including the U.S. government and the Chinese government. I’m sure that the Chinese government has mistreated some ethnic minorities on some issues, and also has mistreated the majority Chinese on some issues, but the solution to that should not be to riot and seek independence. There is a Western saying, Rome was not built in one day. It takes time for China to correct mistakes, and to develop and improve, and we’ve seen tremendous improvements and developments in China through the last 30 years. But it will still take more time for China to solve more problems. It’s basically the same for all countries in this world. The U.S. also didn’t develop to today’s level in one day. When the U.S. was founded about 250 years ago, it was written in the U.S. Constitution that every man was born equal. But it took this country about 100 years to abolish slavery, and it took this country another 100 years to abolish laws of racial discrimination and segregation. However, even nowadays, the black people and other colored people are still being discriminated in this country. Also in the U.S., American women were not allowed to vote until 1910s.

To “Wangyao”,
Since you admit you’re Chinese, I hope you really love China as you claimed, by helping to improve and develop her, by helping to strengthen the relations between different ethnic groups of Chinese people, by accepting and learning Chinese culture and language and keeping your own culture and traditions as well at the same time, etc., but not by talking down of China in front of the world, not by instigating intensities or instabilities in China.

Accepting another culture does not necessarily mean to kill your own culture. Cultures are always evolving, influencing, being influenced, and merging. Even today’s Chinese culture is quite different from what it was 100 years ago, and has quite some western influence. I have been living in the U.S. for more than 10 years, and accepted a lot of American culture, and am quite Americanized. But I’m still proud of being a Chinese and keeping most of my Chinese culture.

David, in short, vivisit Youtube and search for Nangpa la, you will know you are wrong about your comments on Tibetan population in exile.

Wangyao,

You are wrong to accuse everyone pro-china to be pro-communist party. Don't mix up China with Chinese Communist Party.

No one said it is correct for China government to block the Youtube. But the violent riot is not right neither. There may be 4 Tibetans injured by the Chinese police, but there are more innocent people burned to death by the rioters. You should come out denounce that.

For the 4 Tibetans injured by the Chinese policemen, the policemen should be put into trial by a court under the law. Depending on the circumstances, the policemen may be guilty of injurying innocent Tibetans or may be not guilty if their lives were threathened by the rioters. There are a lot of times a policeman injured someone on street but the policeman walked away freely if their lives are threathened. Don't assume there 4 tibetans injured by policemen were peaceful.

The point is that these Tibetans want " indepedence" are just wishful. The reality may not be that pretty even if Tibet is independent.

Forrest:

I accept your apology and pleased to read your reasonable posts in this blog. There are not many open minded people like you who support China. I believe I am doing a good job for China here to correct some baseless claims made by people like David. I don't want to see China is being criticised for no good reason. I want China to become more prosperious and strong and I believe this could be done through changing current political system into democratic one.

I told Kenneth that "America dropped bom on Japan and Japan mascarred many Chinese. Again China have been killing many Tibetans. If you are talking about who is better than the other, it is complicated."

I know racial prejudice is a problem in the West, but it also exist in China. “Orientalists” are everywhere including Tibet.

I am telling you my own experience of being as an ethnic minority in China. As you have seen that I am more articulate in English than Chinese. The reason why my Chinese written is sounded like "a machine speaking Chinese" is a direct result of Chinese education policy in ethnic minority areas.

Uradyn E. Bulag is one of my favourite ethincic minority scholars from China and he knows all the problems faced by ethnic minorities under the Chinese Communist Party rules. Dr Bulag is a Mongolian brought up in China and he works at the USC US-China Institute (南加州大学美中学院). In 2003, he wrote a book titled "The Mongols at China's Edge: History and the Politics of National Unity". In this book he provides keen insights into majority-minority relationships in China's Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region (IMAR).

To be honest I love Chinese people, musics and movies produced by the Fifth Generation. But I have to say I am against the Chinese Communist Party and its dictating rules on the Chinese citizens including Tibetans. If we want the world to see the true nature of the Dalai Lama, we Chinese should let him into Tibet to taste his words. Deploying military force in Tibet will take us nowhere except increasing their resentment. What is the use of prohibiting Tibetans to display the Dalai Lama's photos at their home. This brings shame on China and it shows China is struggling to win the heart and mind of Tibetan people.

The Chinese Communist Party is started admitting their use of force onto Tibet protesters and Xinghua news agency confirmed killing 4 Tibetan protesters. Only option the Chinese Communist Party has got now is to say "Tibet is none of your business" to the international community. Look what happened in England, the English priminister is going to meet the Dalai Lama in May. I am worried about loosing Chinese face in fron the world due to the Chinese Communist Party's injustice rules. We all know that Tibet is not the problem of China. What will be the next? Let see!

Forrest:

You may have already seen this but I want to tell you that when you visit China next time, please visit Buddhist temples (e.g. Yonghe Gong) in Beijing and you can imagine what can the Dalai Lama contribute to the Great China. If the empror Qian Long can spend hours talking about welfare of China with Tibetan Lamas, why Hujing to can't do this in 21st century? Doesn't he talk about "Social Harmony"? I am sure you know that how much the 10th Panchen Lama suffered in hands of the Chinese Communist Party. He was imprisoned before the Cultural Revolution and if the Dalai Lama remained in Lhasa in 1959, it's quite obvious he would have imprisoned too. So, as far as the Dalai Lama himself is concerned, taking refuge in India is not a bad choice and we should understand this from a human point of view.

David, I am not here to argue about superiority of China or Chinese over any other nations or nationalities. I am from China and I know the difference between China and the Chinese Communist Party. You should also distinguish "thugs" and peaceful demonstrators in Tibet this time. Not all protestors in Tibet and other Tibetan areas this time are anti-China. Didn't you hear some of the protestors in Labrang (Ch: Xiahe, Gansu) demanding for the return of the Dalai Lama from exile.

The Dalai Lama is not only the religious leader of Tibetan people. Many other ethnic minorities in China worship him and the name Dalai Lama itself is not a Tibetan name and its a Mongolian name. If you don't trust me, you can ask Forrest. I am sure he can give you more information on this. There are many Han Buddhists in China too and if you visit Wutai Shan in Shanxi, you will know more about historical relationship between Chinese and Tibetan.

Tibet is not all about what the Chinese Communist Party says. Tibetans own the most extensive archive on Buddhism and their intellectual capability is known to all. The Chinese Communist Party does't know the significant of this. When the British troops invaded Tibet in 1904, British scholars went along with army to Tibet searching for Buddhist texts and it's claimed that piles of Buddhist texts in Tibetan are archieved in the British Library in London.

Some of the young Chinese are claiming that Tibet was, is and will be part of China. I think we Chinese are shamed of making this statment. Did we defend Tibet against the British invasion in 1904. Watch the film titled <>, produced in China and you will learn more about this. David, I hope all these information can be a bit of use for you to rethink about TIBET and the Chinese Communist Party. The last thing I want to do here is to make anti Han Chinese statements. I hope you can understand my resentment towards the CCP. One party rulling a state is unhealthy! Cheers! – for the development of all 56 ethnic groups in China including Tibetans.

David:

The film title is 红河谷.

Wangyao,

I know you are not against Han people. Nor am I in favor of CCP.

All I want people, including Tibetans, to know is that be careful with what the Western Countries want. It is not just as simple as "indepedence", "freedom of speech", "freedom-loving". These Western Countries have their own agenda.

Look at Gerogia, Albernia, Kosovo, Ukrine, no country is really doing that great after being independent.

I do want democracy, not only for Tibet, but for all China too. Tibetan dream of freedom should come as part of bigger China's dream of free elected demoracratic China.

Look at which countries are doing well: Singapore, Korean, even Taiwan!

The way to go around is to do peaceful demonstration, obeying the law, slow changing the CCP like India's Gahdi did. 50 years from now, China could have free elections, at least could be like Singapore.

To “Wangyao”,
It’s good to see you’ve calmed down a little! And I’m also glad to see that you’ve kind of moved away from supporting Tibetan independence. I’d still like to repeat what I said in my previous post, Rome was not built in one day, it takes time for China to improve and develop. Please be patient, and give China time. Progresses must be made one step by one step.

You said you think China could become more prosperous and stronger by changing current political system into a democratic one. If you think the political system of China should be changed to democracy today, then I do not agree with you. I once also thought this way, but not any more. However, if you think the long term goal for China is to have a democratic system in the future, then I agree with you with no doubt, and I believe China is gradually going toward that way now. We should realize that different countries have different situations, traditions, cultures, people mindsets, etc. Some political systems and policies may work great in some countries, but the very same political systems and policies may be disastrous in other countries if those countries are not ready. We have seen what happened to the former Soviet Union in early 1990s. When the Soviet Union suddenly abandoned communism and adopted capitalism and democracy, the nation of Soviet Union basically collapsed overnight, the country was split into many countries, the economy plunged to the bottom, and the common people suffered tremendously. There was a Russian joke talking about that harsh time, Russian people said, under communism, we had everything but no freedom, however, now under capitalism and democracy, we have freedom but nothing else.

When I was in China, and even for the first couple of years after I came to the U.S., I was quite anti-Chinese-government. However, after I studied in the U.S. for some years, and gained more knowledge and knowledge of history, did a lot of thinking and became spiritually mature, I was surprised to find out that I actually became pro-Chinese-government. Surely the Chinese government is not perfect and makes a lot of mistakes, and wrong doings, or even evil doings, but I believe most of what they did and what they are doing is correct – to develop and to improve China. The things (including human rights, freedom, economy, living standards, etc) in China are no doubt constantly improving during the past 30 years. China is progressing toward the direction of democracy, though still far behind the level of democracy in the U.S. But the current level of freedom and democracy in China suits the situations in China, and can sustain and keep China’s development on track. If the U.S. democracy is transplanted to China today, what’s going to happen will be disastrous, like what happened in the Soviet Union. And for Tibet, it could be like what happened in Chechnya, when Chechen people used military force to seek independence, Russia also answered with military force. Very many Chechen people were killed and Chechnya still couldn’t get independence.

Wangyao:
"There are not many open minded people like you who support China. "
You are wrong.
Most of educated chinese is open minded.
Apology if there is any agitated people may use some strong words.
However, from your words, I think you are the group of people who join the Chinese pro-democracy students in Beijing in June 1989.
Do you still believe you are clear about the event.
As I experienced, 20 years ago, there is some shadiness about it. How do I know? It's a long story. If you want to hear, I may tell you later.
Not everyone can learn the truth, even they saw it. Do not trust yourself so much.

What I want to say is that do not blam or judge people who tent to defend for their country. They have their position to do that, and the reason is that they know well about the problems with the party, but the other they know better is that China is becoming better than before. Their manage may not be the best, but still better than most of other countries. Some people say if the KMT is still in power, it will be better.
Do you believe that? Just have a look what TW is like now. Is it better than 50 years ago? Hard to say.
Compare today's China with 50 years ago, you will understand why Chinese people support CCP.
Because at least China is developing peacefully. Compare to the people in those Mideast countries. Do they have a chance to say any thing?
By they Way, do not identify me as on of the not open minded person. I do, but I can see more then you do.

Wangyao:
"There are not many open minded people like you who support China. "
You are wrong.
Most of educated chinese is open minded.
Apology if there is any agitated people may use some strong words.
However, from your words, I think you are the group of people who join the Chinese pro-democracy students in Beijing in June 1989.
Do you still believe you are clear about the event.
As I experienced, 20 years ago, there is some shadiness about it. How do I know? It's a long story. If you want to hear, I may tell you later.
Not everyone can learn the truth, even they saw it. Do not trust yourself so much.

What I want to say is that do not blam or judge people who tent to defend for their country. They have their position to do that, and the reason is that they know well about the problems with the party, but the other they know better is that China is becoming better than before. Their manage may not be the best, but still better than most of other countries. Some people say if the KMT is still in power, it will be better.
Do you believe that? Just have a look what TW is like now. Is it better than 50 years ago? Hard to say.
Compare today's China with 50 years ago, you will understand why Chinese people support CCP.
Because at least China is developing peacefully. Compare to the people in those Mideast countries. Do they have a chance to say any thing?
By they Way, do not identify me as one of the not open minded person. I do, but I can see more then you do.

agree with Forrest

Tibet has chosen to stay and live for hundred nay thousand of years in the most remote and harhest region in the world in order to be able to live in peace and practise their relion without or with least of China's and other parts of the world's interference. For hundred of years they avoided the dynamic and conquering chinese dynasties one after the other. Only to be fallen in the 20th century to the most atrocious chinese dynasty of all. The chinese communist dynasty.

Have the chinese been rightious after five decades of rule, the people of Tibet would not have revolted. But they were indeed inposing and atrocious. Reports of annahilation and destruction of the very core of Tibetan culture and religion.

Tibet shoud be set free. And left alone.

To “Wangyao”,
It takes time for the Chinese government to change, and we’ve seen that the Chinese government is changing toward the good direction in the past 30 years. You mentioned that the 10th Panchen Lama suffered in hands of the Chinese Communist Party and was imprisoned before the Cultural Revolution. I totally agree with you, and think CCP definitely did wrong on that thing and mistreated the Panchen Lama. But I also hope you realize that, during that time period including the Cultural Revolution, not only Tibetan people, but also most other Chinese people suffered greatly, even the former Chairman of Chinese government (Liu, Shaoqi) was persecuted to death. I hope you understand that those wrong doings of the CCP were not targeting on only Tibetan people, but on all Chinese people. But I fully understand how Tibetan people felt for being mistreated. Anyway, the past has passed, and we’ve seen that after the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese government had been going through reformations, and trying to correct those wrong doings and the effects of those wrong doings.

You also mentioned that Chinese didn’t defend Tibet against the British invasion in 1904. I feel sorry for that, but also hope you understand that it was not because Chinese didn’t want to defend Tibet, but because the Qing Dynasty was too weak at that time. During that time period, China (Qing Dynasty) suffered many invasions in many parts of China by the western powers (British, Russian, French, Germans, etc.) and Japan. Qing Dynasty was so weak that she couldn’t defend herself against foreign invasions, and also suffered from great internal turmoil and instabilities, and eventually came to the end when a revolution occurred in 1911. From this part of history, we should learn that we Chinese must help to develop and improve our nation, and make her stronger, more powerful and more prosperous, otherwise, our mother country could be invaded by foreign powers, and our people could be slaughtered like pigs by foreign armies. I haven’t watched the movie, 红河谷, but I read on Wikipedia that the British army slaughtered thousands of Tibetan soldiers and civilians in the invasion of 1904.

Wangyao, based on your analogy of the June 4th crackdown, all CCP officials who involved should be jailed, right?! ... if this logic applies, then for those US officials that started the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Iraq war... should also be punished including George W Bush? The Israeli government should step down? The Russia government should step down?

I never said CCP is right or I agree everything with the CCP government. Each generation of the Chinese government committed some mistakes.

If you love China, you should clear your mind and ask yourself does Democracy really helps China now?? Will democracy brings more corruptions and inbalance into China??? Remember I am saying "NOW". Democracy requires a balance society, a group of people with good understanding of what is democracy and a good infrastructure that monitors democracy. None of these exists in China now.

Remember China has been the most rapidly growing economy in the world over the past 25 years. This growth has fueled a remarkable increase in per capita income and a decline in the poverty rate from 64 percent at the beginning of reform to 10 percent in 2004. China's Gross Domestic Product has grown at nearly ten percent annually in recent decades. The total literacy rate in China was 90.8% based on 2002 estimates. These are remarkable achievements. However, there are still over several hundred millions of people living in poverty!!! How long does a US government take to pass a bill?? How long does a bill translate into action?? If we base on how US government functions, then China will never achieve all these results in the past few decades. You can simply look at India as an example.

If you want democracy now, I am sure big corporations will control the government body in China. A lot of interest groups will fund their candidates into the China congress. The US/UK will make sure China elects someone they can control. There will be more and more inbalance within China. Resources will be selling to the West for nothing. Is that what everyone is hoping for?? I am sure that is what the West pray for, but not me. I wish everyone has a good life in China.

Anyway, I admired the 6/4 students but only to those who stayed back in China. For those fled to the West, they don't deserve to be Chinese because they always sit with their big fat ass criticizing China "these" or "that". Critizing a country will not help its growth. You need actions. You need to become an official to make changes. The 6/4 incident already pushed back the Chinese government at least a decade in reform. For the Western world, they always hope to see the dragon will not rise to power.

President Hu Jintao already said that he does not rule out there will be democracy in China someday. These people has been politicians and civil servants for their whole life. They understand a whole lot better what Chinese needs than the foreign people.

Wangyao: fortunately, China is not a democratic country now; otherwise, I am really afraid what you will do when you are in power. When someone give you what you want, you call them good people – that's a selfish act. You should look at the big picture of what the whole group wants. At the current stage, China needs stability and steady development!!! The market reform will lead to democracy when the time is right.

Dear Wangyao

The following items are different animals.
1. The structure of a government
2. Perfection of a political party
3. How do people consider Dalai Lama's role?
4. Separate Tibet from China
5. Western media's honesty
The entire incident touched all issues, although you can't put all these different animals in the same cage. An imperfect government structure and its political party cannot be the good reason for the people of the country to lose part of their land and their dignity as a nation. Any media has to keep its ethical attitude to present truthful news to people, at least not too far off. What the western media has done this time is just unbelievably and sadly too awful.

Furthermore, as for 1904 British invasion to Tibet, we all know China was towards the end of Qing Dynasty. The country was so weak and it was in the chaos. British, as well as many other countries, cut off many pieces of land off China. How can you even blame that Chinese people did not help Tibetans out during that period of time. Tibetans are actually so happy that the British invasion happened to them. They've been showing the world with that piece of shameful treaty that was signed by previous Lama with British in order to convince the whole world that this piece of shameful paper is an evidence of the legitimacy that Tibet was an independent country one time. In reality, it was a piece of shameful document to claim that Tibet is part of British colony. Finally the British Empire fell apart, then that piece of shameful paper expired.

To “Wangyao”,
I guess you’re either a Tibetan Chinese, or a Mongolian Chinese. You complained that you don’t speak perfect Chinese because of the Chinese education policy in ethnic minority areas. I hope you understand that the goal of Chinese education policy is definitely to teach all ethnic minorities to be able to speak perfect Chinese; otherwise, the Chinese government wouldn’t want the schools in ethnic minority areas to teach Chinese – but that policy would definitely harm the unity of the country and encourage ethnic minorities to go for independence. I think there are a few reasons for why some ethnic minorities can’t speak perfect Chinese:
1. There are not enough Han teachers in schools in ethnic minority areas;
2. Some ethnic minority areas are remote, almost all population is minorities, and they don’t use Chinese in their daily life, and they also don’t have opportunity to interact with Han people on a daily basis.

I think there are a few possible solutions to that problem, although even I myself don’t think they are very good solutions:
1. More Han teachers would like to go to teach in schools in ethnic minority areas;
2. More minorities go to live in Han areas for some years, or move to Han areas, but I understand there are difficulties in doing so – these minorities don’t speak perfect Chinese, and often are not highly educated, so it’s hard for them to make a good living in Han areas, and that could lead to racial problems.

3. More Han people move to ethnic minority areas, so ethnic minorities could interact with Han people and speak Chinese everyday – This would definitely cause problems if not handled well, because ethnic minorities would feel like that Han people come and stay in their home, as how some Tibetans feel and that partly caused the incident in Lhasa of last week.

Anyway, for these specific problems of ethnic minority areas and the corresponding policies of Chinese government, they are often quite complex and I think they are beyond the scope of our talk here. However, I do want to make a point here, it is not that the Chinese government on principle doesn’t want to treat ethnic minorities good, satisfy their needs, and solve their problems, like the problem I talked about above, it is often that the problems are so complex that it is very hard to find perfect solutions that can satisfy all parties involved at the same time and also don’t create new problems.

TIBET WAS, IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE PART OF CHINA. NO MATTER YOU LIKE OR NOT, THAT IS THE FACT! People, weak up!!!

CNN, Report the truth, let the world know that Tibet is belong to China. That is what western media should do now instead of blaming China.

Wangyao:

"Eric: I would like to know what makes you happy about the Communist Party’s rule in China (including Tibet)."

It's all relative. I simply dislike the Dalai Lama and the western influence in Tibet more than what the Chinese government has achieved.

I'm happier to see Tibet ruled by the current Atheist Chinese government than a bunch of corrupted lamas feeding the naive people fear and superstition.

Religious leaders should have no place in the world to legislate and/or enforce laws, they feed ignorance and irrationality to the common people.

rong7777777:

I agree with your points as well. It's obvious those supporting Tibet only do so for their own political gain.

Most people supporting the Dalai Lama don't even care that he never was democratically elected. They don't care about all the damage the lamas had done creating the slave and serf system all these undreds of years.

The reality is that many people do not have the wisdom and reasoning power to make better judgment. I bet these people who blindly follow Dalai Lama thinking that he was really indeed truly "Holy".

But then, people believe in evangelism, creationism, Falun Gong, too.

I hope CNN posts my comment... unlike last time .
i wrote a long one and it wasn't posted. i will keep this one short.

TIBET belongs to TIBETANS !!!! Its so obvious.........not china not han chinese !!!

For the Tibetans, having a theist such as Dalai Lama with unchallenged power, together with US political and financial backing may not be the best outcome. Let's face it, the US is getting involved to influence China and not for the betterment of the Tibetans.

The Chinese government probably wants more stability and prosperity in the region more than anyone else. I am not convinced they are as evil as most tend to believe. The Chinese government is at war with the elite lamas who can challenge their control over the region, but have nothing to gain to see the average Tibetan suffer.

If “cultural genocide” means teaching the people to be less superstitious, then I would welcome the move. Despite what we hate about a totalitarian government, the end result of China’s involvement is actually the liberation of the blind Tibetans to better emerge with the rest of the world. I do not think teaching the Tibetans to look beyond the self-proclaimed King, Holiness, and endless worshipping is a bad thing. For those who genuinely care about the Tibetans, they should think about the people’s standard of living, which has drastically improved under China’s rule; less people are starved to death in Tibet compared to the times under the lamas’ rule, believing it or not.

The situation is not as simple as we like to think, millions of people from outside of Tibet already migrated to the area all contributing to its economic growth, do we really want a puppet government headed by a spiritual leader with no experience in governing to rule the 10 million plus people?

Very well said Kenneth, david, Forrest, 874xiaoxin.

With the police and military coming in Tibet, normal people feel safer now.
The tibetan "protester"are really too cruel. They attacked the Han people shops and Han people.
tibet is a part of china sind 1271 AD.
The important condition that china and US made diplomatic relation is that US accept that Tibet and Taiwan is a nonseperated part of China!
All the countries who have diplomatic relations with china are under this condition.
Your Government leaders know more about China history than you !

"Forrest"

You said "Tibet is always a part of china" and asked me why I said "Tibet was INDEPENDENT before the invasion of the CCP in 1950."

I will answer by quoting Wangyao's saying.
"Forrest's quotations from Wikipedia clearly states that only Mongols and Manchurians(满族) claimed rule over Tibet. Are Mongols and Machurians are Han people?"
(I deliberately omitted 蒙古(Mongo) because it means foolish. I heard that the word Mongo is made by han people for humiliating Mongolian people.)
And I heard that in yeon dynasty and ching dynasty, Tibet's culture and religion was more respected by Mongols and Manchurians than in the CCP by Han people.
I think Tibet was Independent Culturally Linguistically and Religiously before the invasion of the CCP in 1950.

Someone said "Please be patient, and give China time."
Time for what?
For making Tibetans Tibetan Chinese by brainwashing?
For growing of han people by using Tibet's natural resources?

Someone said "we do it just out of our desperate situation."
I understand han people's situation. And I think han people with common sense could understand Tibetans' situation. Because Tibetans show their situation by their tears and bloods.
And I am certain that freedom-loving people worldwide (not chinese and not tibetans) cannot help feeling sympathy for Tibetans the Weaker.

Kenneth, David and Forrest,

If you admit the Chinese Communist Party's wrong doings in China and Tibet, that is good enough for me. The rest lets wait and see. Free China from the Communist Party!

Erik,

I support your freedom of speech but you sound bit dull and your comments are boring, foolish and disgraceful to Chinese people.

Asian:

There are so many people like "Eric" in China and what they are thinking and saying is this:

"Religious leaders should have no place in the world to legislate and/or enforce laws, they feed ignorance and irrationality to the common people."

I call the "Eric" type as "Made in China" "plastic products".

Forrest is right when he says China needs time. "Eric" type is as dangerous as the radical protersters in Lhasa streets on 14th March.
Until China stop producing "Made in China" 'Eric products', we have to be patient, as Forrest says.

Generally speaking Forrest is alright but he is another kind of "Made in China" cultural products which produced pre-1911. I don't blame him for his assimilation into Han Chinese but I don't think I will let this happen to myself. I believe many peaceful protesters in Tibet are partially fighting against the Chinese Communist Party for protecting their Tibetan identity. Tibetans are more tough than other ethnic minorities in China and the more vulnerable ethnic minorities like me are grateful to the Tibetans to raise the voice of the disadvantaged people.

All the ethnic minorities were happier with the Yuan and Qing dynasties and they were also happy under the National Party rule (国民党政策). But the Chinese Communist Party is different, as Forrest says, they made all of us including Han Chinese suffer too much.

I understand why stronger ethnic groups like Tibet doesn't want to put their fortune into hands the Chinese Communist Party. Hongkong doesn't show much hospitality to them, does she?

Actually the Chinese Communist Party is not really what they claim to be, as we in the West understand the terms "Communism" or "Socialism". They are the same versions of the fake DVDs from China on sale in the New York streets.

To “Asian”,
Please read one of my previous posts to “Wangyao”, in which I explained why the Manchurian Qing Dynasty was also China, and why Manchurian people are also Chinese people. I also stated multiple times in my previous posts that “I am a Manchurian Chinese”. You need realize that not only Han people are Chinese, the Chinese people consists of 56 ethnic groups.

Although I also agree that Tibet was, and even now still is culturally, linguistically and religiously different from other parts of China, that doesn’t mean or equal to that Tibet was an independent country legitimately, or that Tibet should go for independence today. Politics don’t play this way. For huge countries, it is very common and usual that different parts are culturally and linguistically different. Also for the U.S., the North, the Southeast, the Mid West, the Southwest, the West Coast are also culturally different, have different accents linguistically, but that does not mean that they should go for independence. Even for the Han areas of China, the Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest also have different cultures and dialects, some dialects like Cantonese are so different that the Han people from other areas could not understand or speak it. But that also doesn’t mean that those different Han areas should go for independence.

You said, “Someone said “Please be patient, and give China time.” Time for what? For making Tibetans Tibetan Chinese by brainwashing? For growing of han people by using Tibet’s natural resources?”

Please stop fooling around like that. You already implied that you agreed that Tibet was not an independent country. So you should realize that those Tibetans are already Tibetan Chinese, even “Wangyao” admitted that he is Chinese. What’s wrong for Tibetan natural resources being used for China if Tibet is a part of China? Do you think that those natural resources are used only for the goodness of Han people? Do you think the Tibetans don’t get benefits for mining and selling natural resources to other parts of China and for using those resources in Tibet? China is a huge importer of many natural resources from many countries (e.g., Australia, Brazil, Russia, Saudi, etc.), you don’t hear those countries complaining about China taking their natural resources. They’re actually happy about that and are making tons of money off it.

David:

I support what you said: "I do want democracy, not only for Tibet, but for all China too. Tibetan dream of freedom should come as part of bigger China’s dream of free elected demoracratic China."

I believe China needs more "David" and less "Eric".

I wish you all the best David!
祝你好运！

I don;t think the world knows the truth at all. CNN used a chopped picture, which cuts out those criminal activities for mislading public.

It is sad that there are still a lot of people brainwashed by media, even if the truth is out there. But no one is willing to take a different look from the other side of story, in this case it is from China's side. The actual truth in the whole Tibet issue is that it was created for causing the unstability in china 50 years ago, CIA's involvment in this:

read the BOOK CIA's Secret War in Tibet

and this: http://www.timbomb.net/buddha/archive/msg00087.html

Here is some comment I found is very fair and worth reading:
1.
Many ordinary Tibetans want the Dalai Lama back in their country, but it appears that relatively few want a return to the social order he represented. A 1999 story in the Washington Post notes that the Dalai Lama continues to be revered in Tibet, but

. . . few Tibetans would welcome a return of the corrupt aristocratic clans that fled with him in 1959 and that comprise the bulk of his advisers. Many Tibetan farmers, for example, have no interest in surrendering the land they gained during China’s land reform to the clans. Tibet’s former slaves say they, too, don’t want their former masters to return to power. “I’ve already lived that life once before,” said Wangchuk, a 67-year-old former slave who was wearing his best clothes for his yearly pilgrimage to Shigatse, one of the holiest sites of Tibetan Buddhism. He said he worshipped the Dalai Lama, but added, “I may not be free under Chinese communism, but I am better off than when I was a slave.”57

It should be noted that the Dalai Lama is not the only highly placed lama chosen in childhood as a reincarnation. One or another reincarnate lama or tulku–a spiritual teacher of special purity elected to be reborn again and again–can be found presiding over most major monasteries. The tulku system is unique to Tibetan Buddhism. Scores of Tibetan lamas claim to be reincarnate tulkus.

2.
Not all Tibetan exiles are enamoured of the old Shangri-La theocracy. Kim Lewis, who studied healing methods with a Buddhist monk in Berkeley, California, had occasion to talk at length with more than a dozen Tibetan women who lived in the monk’s building. When she asked how they felt about returning to their homeland, the sentiment was unanimously negative. At first, Lewis assumed that their reluctance had to do with the Chinese occupation, but they quickly informed her otherwise. They said they were extremely grateful “not to have to marry 4 or 5 men, be pregnant almost all the time,” or deal with sexually transmitted diseases contacted from a straying husband. The younger women “were delighted to be getting an education, wanted absolutely nothing to do with any religion, and wondered why Americans were so naïve [about Tibet].”

from http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html

This news itself is biased.
The orignal picture is cut in half to show only the 2 military trucks with 2 rioter in front here. But orignal picture is wider where there are a group of rioter to the right side throwing rocks at the trucks . Just look closely at this picture u ll see rock is flying towards the truck from the right edge of the picture. The orignal picture is here:
http://photos.chinesenewsnet.com/Duowei/2008/03/Duowei_2008_3_14_12_41_24_919_221.jpg

Seriously, CNN/western media has been doing this kinda stuff all the time when it concerns other countries bussiness. All the news are crafted to blaming China when the obvious evidence those "protester" are robbing shops,hurting people commiting crimes. Like what country in teh world would tolerate this kind of "protester"? They are mobs, they dont even have banner or anything to show what they want to protest about, they are just simply smashing. Free tibet my ass.

wangyao, you are shamless! Do you think that China can count on you!

Forrest:
I had feeling that you are a bit cunning from the beginning.

Don't paly with words! I am Mongolian from China and there are Mongolians from Mongolia too. I believe people have no problems with understanding terms such as African Amerian, Tibetan Indians and Tibetan Nepalis.

Do you know what BBC stands for in English literature? British Born Chinese! What are you trying to make something out from the identity politics. The Chinese Communist Party "constructed" all these 56 ethnic groups in China during its project of "making ethnic group" in 1960s.

Don't try to twist history and racial issues here. Lets talk about 中华人民 instead of 中华民族. Alright!

To “Wangyao”,
It’s great to see you’ve basically moved away from supporting Tibetan independence! That is good enough for me.

Regarding to the issues of CCP and the changes for China to make, they are totally different topics, so I won’t talk too much about those topics here. My basic point is still my point in my previous post which you agreed on, China needs time.

You’re right when you said “Actually the Chinese Communist Party is not really what they claim to be”.

I hope you’ve realized that China is not really a communist country any more.

The definition of communism by Wikipedia is:
Communism is a socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of a classless, stateless society based on common ownership of the means of production.

And the definition of capitalism by Wikipedia is:
Capitalism refers to an economic and social system in which the means of production are predominantly privately owned, are operated for profit, and in which investments, distribution, income, production and pricing of goods and services are determined through the operation of a market economy.

Most of economies of today’s China are privately owned, and China is practicing a free-market economy. Therefore, according to the definitions of communism and capitalism, China should be considered as a capitalistic country.

China is basically a capitalistic country now, apparently, the CCP is also not really a communist party any more. We’ve seen the changes in the past 30 years, and the changes are still going on.

In your previous post, you expressed your concern about being assimilated into Han people. I fully understand it. But I don’t think you really need worry about being assimilated into Han people for yourself. If you grew up in your own ethnic minority culture, you’ll never be really and completely assimilated into another culture. But this might not be the case for your children. I suppose you’re living in the U.S. Do you plan to stay in the U.S. for the rest of your life? If so, you don’t need to worry about you and your children being assimilated into Han people at all, but should worry about your children being assimilated into Americans. Actually, I don’t think that we should worry about such things. Our children have their own life and time. If I decide to stay in the U.S. for the rest of my life, my children would probably be assimilated into American people and American culture. I would have no problem with that, although I myself would never be really assimilated into Americans.

Forrest:

Why is it so important for you to classify people whey you even don't speak your Muchurian language? It doesn't do any good for unity of China. The Chinese Communist Part has talked about Unity of Natioanlity (民族团结) for last 50 years but the result is what we have witnessed in Tibet last week.

Without equaly there will be no unity and the Chinese Communist Party should learn this lesson from their "mistakes".

To “Wangyao”,
Those 56 ethnic groups in China were not constructed, or created by the CCP. They were already there, such as Han Chinese, Tibetan Chinese, Mongolian Chinese, Manchurian Chinese, Korean Chinese, Miao Chinese, Hui Chinese, etc. They were already there for hundreds or even thousands of years. The Chinese government just officially classified and recognized these ethnic groups in 1960s. I hope you understand that there is nothing wrong in doing that, and also the Chinese government did that mainly for the better benefits of ethnic minority groups. You know that the One-Child-Policy in China only applies to the majority Han people, and the ethnic minorities can have more than one child per family, and the ethnic minorities also have better opportunities in getting higher educations and getting government jobs, etc. I hope you understand that the classification of ethnic groups is not for the discrimination of ethnic minorities, but on the contrary, it’s for the ethnic minorities to have better benefits than the majority Han people. Actually, it is kind of an inequality in favor of ethnic minorities, but against the majority Han people. You know the U.S. government also classifies the American people into ethnic groups like Caucasians, Native Americans, African Americans, Hispanic, Asian and Islanders, etc.

Forrest:

Double assimilation would be a joke indeed! But I have to say what you said is a bit practical and realistic.

Lets move onto next step:

If you pleased to know that I am against Tibet Independence, why you and the Chinese Communist Party (中国共产党) are unhappy about the Dalai Lama. He has repeadly announced that he is not seeking independence, hasn't he?

Today, I had a conversation with my Han Chinese girl friend about this question and she thinks the Dalai Lama will go to Tibet not alone, he takes old memories, Tibetan nationalism and his Kashag to Tibetans in Tibet and with the Chinese government wouldn't dare to take this risk. What do you think?

There are few people like Kenneth, Forest, david,eric.....seems like paid by Chinese govt for full time job to brain wash on the net. hahhahahh...interesting job for jobless – least paid man. Talking in so confused way which is not realistic in this present world. Wat you guys want? Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii- the selfish......trying so hard to proof China CCP is the best and harldy agrees. If Communist is the best then whole world might have applied for their own country or u can say majority in the world might have accept it for the betterment of thier own nation. So, there is no use arguing on this.

Sooner or later CCP will come to end once world get liberates from orthodox-selfish thoughts. Come out from China and live for a year ul know the difference.

On the issue of Tibet unrest i think its all cause of long lived under oppression & frustration! 49 years is not a joke! China couldn't bear these few days protest and doing every possible voilent action to cease it......but Tibetans with a heart of buddha atlast raise thier voice after 2 decades.

Tibetans doesnt have any problem with chinese people as Dalai Lama always advice compassion & Ahimsa, happiness for all sentient beings including Chinese. But Tibetans in Tibet & other part of world cant tolerate this CCP opperession anymore. In emotion of anger they might have few hurt chinese civilians. One or two attacks cant be concluded that hatered for civilians. M sure this can be resolve if Tibet issue resolves.

Its his holiness Dalai Lama's greatness that he is seeking autonomy thinking for happiness for both the side. If there is other leader no one will think about other side, they will think about their own nation which is their rights. Thats why his holiness is different cause he is living buddha in this world – thinking for the happiness of all sentient beings. China has greatiest opportunity to grab & solve the Tibet issue during 14th Dalai Lama otherwise China will see worst situation in near future.

Young Tibetans are educated, more open & straightforward with full of energy......Tibet voices will never end until justice is given.

Forrest:
I don't want to go into deatails about "Identity Construction" and social benefits here. Because, in my class in University in China, about ten Han Chinese students were holding ethnic minority residential cards (户口本). Who is benifiting from whom is bit complicated and the riot in Tibet is also partialy related to the corruption of administration in the government run by mainly Han Chinese. Why I say Han domination here is because it's claimed that from 1959 till now, the head of Party secretry in Tibet has never been an ethnic Tibetan. This shows the central government don't trust Tibetans.

Earlier someone posted an entire article written by Melvyn C. Goldstein from Case Western Reserve University in USA. I encourage you guys to read his latest book "A Tibetan Revolutionary -biography of Baba Phuntsok Wangyal. In this book Goldestein talks about how Phuntsok Wangyal was dismissed by the central government even before 1959. He was the key man from Tibetan side helping the Chinese Communist Party to "liberate" Tibet in 1950 and he was the official translator of signing the 17 point agreement, You know what happened to him? 17 years imprisonmnet in the prison where Liu shao Qi was imprisoned and died.

I am not an expert on Tibet politics but we Mongolians are quite well informed what has happened in other ethnic minority areas. "The Chinese Communist Party" excludes non party members to take part in politics and they want to solve any kinds of social and political issues by force. I don't think anyone including radicle Tibetans and the Party dictators who want to use force will get anywhere but ending up in blood.

This is what happened to the Chinese students in Tianan Men Square in 1989 and again there was bloody crackdown in Tibet a week ago.

Yangchen:

Don't mess around here if you really think Tibetans haven't got problem with Han Chinese in PRC.

It's good that you are trying to say that the CCP should grab the golden chance talking to the Dalai Lama to solve Tibet issue.

But a few of us including David think that unless China get free, Tibet will never get free. Don't expect anything from the CCP. They are not ready yet to solve Tibet issue.

To “Wangyao”,
I believe that we’ve moved too far and away from the original topic of this blog. But I’d still like to talk a little more. The issue of Dalai Lama is a part of the whole political problems about Tibet. Political problems are very complicated as I mentioned in one of my previous posts. Both you and I are not political experts, so I really don’t think we can completely clarify all these political problems and find perfect political solutions, and I even don’t think political experts can do that, otherwise, such problems would have already been solved by now.

But I do want to say a few of my opinions about Dalai Lama. Although Dalai Lama claims that he doesn’t seek Tibetan independence, he does seek to have political power over Tibet and Tibetan people, as the former Dalai Lamas did in the Qing Dynasty. If the Chinese government agreed and granted such political power to him, it’s possible for him to declare Tibetan independence later, so the Chinese government couldn’t risk it. In addition, we know that we’re living in a modern world now, the world and the form of governments have changed. Even in the central Chinese government there has not been an emperor for one hundred years. So is it a good and right thing to restore a Dalai Lama like a king in Tibet as it was a hundred years ago? It is kind of similar to that someone wants to restore an Emperor in today’s Chinese government, or that for the western countries to abandon democracy and restore the ancient kings. Time has changed, and the history must move on.

"Forrest"

I think you have heard about 邊疆史地硏究中心(a China's administrative organization for distorting 56 races' history) and it's processes (西北工程(process for distorting Uighur's history), 西南工程(process for distorting Tibet's history), 北疆工程, 海疆工程, 東北工程 etc.)

You said "China is a huge importer of many natural resources from many countries (e.g., Australia, Brazil, Russia, Saudi, etc.), you don’t hear those countries complaining about China taking their natural resources. They’re actually happy about that and are making tons of money off it."

You compared Tibet which is not an independent country recently with Australia, Russia etc which are independent countries.
PLEASE STOP FOOLING AROUND LIKE THAT!

I don't think Tibetans are making tons of money off it and happy. Maybe it seems more reasonalbe to say that han people are making tons of money off it and happy.

And you said repeatedlly "China needs time"
I think China needs time for the completion of distorting 56 races' history and for brainwashing Tibetans, Uighurs, etc to make them han people who speak chinese and have no religion.

And you said repeatedlly "tibetan chinese" instead of Tibetans.
Don't use that word "tibetan chinese" unless TIBETANS are willing to use and accept that word.
and Don't push Tibetans to give up their language, religion and culture craftily unless Tibetans are willing to do it.

And you said "I(Asian) agreed that Tibet was not an independent country."
PLEASE STOP FOOLING AROUND LIKE THAT! You already implied that Tibet was not conquered by Han people before 1950.

I heard that Tibet thought of Mongols and Manchurians as friends in the Yuan and Qing dynasties.
But I heared that Tibet and Uighur have been thinking of han people as ENEMY since the CCP's invasion. Why?

It is difficult to talk about history when commenting on today's Tibet violence and we have to see the fact: Tibetan people now lead a good life which they have never experienced before and the Chinese government is the soley legal govenor of the land. The so-called cultural genocide is the only excuse that Dalai Lama and his followers use to try to reverse the history: coming back to his rule as a religious dictator. It is very unfortunate that the 'impartial' Western media, including CNN, is so biased in reporting the violence. Dalai wants to have an independent international invistigation and so does the law maker Nancy. This is a brilliant idea; however, Nancy continues to say that Dalai seeks for the midway and is not involved in mastminding the violence. This seems rediculious! How does she know for sure that this man is not involved before an independent organization comes into existence? She must be a shame of Amercians.
Dalai is not a reliable person but an unscrupulous monk. He can be powerful to make violence and powerless in not bearing responsiblities at the same time. He is cheating the Westerners for more benefits.

Forrest:

Although I don't agree with what you said, I still want to thank you to share your opinion on the Dalai Lama's return to Tibet.

Why Tibet Autonomous Region hasn't had an ethinc Tibetan Party secretry so far? All the chief party secretary in Tibet has been ethnic Chinese except one who happened to be an ethnic minorities but not Tibetan.

Forrest:

Tibet should be ruled by Tibetans if Tibet is really an autonomous region, as the Chinese gavernment claims! Hujing Tao used to rule Tibet as party secretry in Tibet and this colonial rule of the Chinese Communist Party in Tibet forced Tibetans to protest against the Chinese Government. Actually we should blame for the Chinese Communist Party for the cause of violent.

A brief biography of Tibetan Communist who was dismissed by the Chinese Communist Party and imprisoned for 18 years. He is still in China and he encourages the Chinese Communist party to continue its dialogue with the Dalai Lama.

This is quoted from Wikipedia:

Phuntsok Wangyal

Phuntsok Wangyal or Bapa Phuntsok Wangyal or Phünwang is a Tibetan born in 1922 in Bathang, in the province of Kham (eastern Tibet). He is famous for having established the Tibetan Communist Party and was one of the leading Tibetan communist leaders, but spend 18 years in Chinese prisons.

[Edit] Biography
Phünwang born in 1922 in Bathang (Batang County), in the province of Kham (eastern Tibet). Phünwang began his activism in school, where he founded the Tibetan Communist Party in secret in 1939. Until 1949, he worked to organize a guerrilla uprising against the Chinese who controlled his homeland. The strategy of Tibetan Communist Party under his leadership during the years 1940 was twofold: to prevail over progressive elements among students and the aristocracy of Tibet policy to put in place a programme of modernization and democratic reform, while supporting one guerrilla struggle to overthrow the regime Kham Liu Wenhui, a warlords aligned with the Chinese Kuomintang. Its ultimate goal was a united independent Tibet and the fundamental transformation of its feudal social structure. He was expelled from Lhasa in 1949 by the Government of Tibet.

In 1949, to join the guerrilla Chinese communists, Phünwang had merged his Tibetan Communist Party with the Chinese Communist Party of Mao Zedong at the request of the Chinese military, and thus give up its project for a communist Tibet independent self-governed. He played an administrative role in organizing the party in Lhasa, and was the translator of the young 14th Dalai Lama during his famous meetings with Mao Zedong in 1954-55.

In 1950, Phünwang was the official Tibetan highest-ranking Tibetan Communist Party. Although he spoke fluent Chinese, accustomed to Chinese culture, and devoted to socialism and the Communist Party, the deep commitment of Phünwang for the well-being of Tibetans made him soupçonnable in the eyes of its powerful colleagues. In 1958 he was placed in solitary confinement, 3 years later, he was imprisoned in solitary confinement in the equivalent of the Bastille in Beijing for 18 years. He has published a biography in English, which he insists on the need to raise the interests of the Tibetan people.
Phuntsok Wangyal was rehabilitated and will be long in Beijing without outside contact

Recently, he said that Hu Jintao is expected to welcome the return of the Dalai Lama in Tibet suggèrant as it is "... much to stabilize Tibet." In a 3rd letter dated August 1, 2006, he wrote: "If the problem inherited with Tibet continues to be delayed, it is quite probable that it follows the creation of a Vatican Oriental Tibetan Buddhism next to the Tibetan government-in éxil. Then the problem of Tibet, nationally or internationally, become more complicated and more painful.

ONE DREAM
ONE COUNTRY
TOGETHER WE STAND STILL

Wangyao,

"Erick: ...your comments are boring, foolish and disgraceful to Chinese people."

"I call the “Eric” type as “Made in China” “plastic products”.

“Eric” type is as dangerous as the radical protersters in Lhasa streets on 14th March."

"I believe China needs... less “Eric”."

Wangyao, there is no need to resort to meaningless personal attacks on public blogs boring all the readers, just because we don't share common political views.

Enjoy your nice long weekend too.

CNN-Please publish my note.You cant behave like Chinese media.The last time I wrote sth u didnt post it.
Anyways Im a Tibetan.I know tht there are many angry Han Chinese in this blog and worldwide who are mad at Tibetans for their behavior.Frankly I dont support their behavior too.This is not the way to attain a free tibet.I dont think Tibetans are ready yet.Let's clear up history.Tibet was not a part of China.Whatever they might have taught you in schools is propaganda.You may have read history but my ancestors lived the history.And during Songtsen Gampo's rule (Tibetan King who annexed large parts of China,and in exchange Chinese emperor gave his daughter in marriage to prevent further annexation) it was the Chinese that were under Tibet.Later Tibet got weak and China has always acted as a big brother to Tibet,as tibet has limited resources.Yes tibetans are a wild nomadic mountainous race perhaps blinded by religion,so what?And the reason you see monks acting violently is perhaps because most become monks non-voluntarily but the families are too poor to feed another mouth.Han Chinese and Tibetans are 2 totally different races.Someone said sth abt culture,that we are a rough uneducated tribe.What you see now is the remains of the cultural revolution and previously Tibet was shut off from the rest of the world and relied on religion and His holiness for guidance.I lived in Tibet for a while.We do have culture.But I think His holiness saying "cultural genocide" is far fetched.Even Chinese culture is changing these days,like the Tibetan culture.But what the govt can do is to improve education in Tibet.We have only one university in the whole of Tibet.That is almost the size of 25% of China.Education should be free of cost.People are too poor to pay for education.China gives a lot of minority preference to tibetans which i deeply appreciate.China should encourage Tibetans to have more children,so that we do not disappear like Native Americans.People fleeing from Tibet and migrating to other countries does not help.And a lot of people who flee from there make up stories to gain sympathy from foreigners. TO ALL THE HAN CHINESE-I WOULD LIKE TO SAY IM SORRY FOR THE ACTIONS OF MY FELLOW BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN TIBET. I TRULY MEAN IT! I can only imagine what it must have been for parents to lose their children,partners and life savings.But one thing I don't understand is why monasteries and homes are not allowed to have pictures of his Holiness, because Tibetans are allowed to display pictures publicly in tibetan towns outside the autonomous region.But I sincerely hope that all the families of Tibetan protestors will not be punished for a lifetime(or imprisoned and tortured for decades).Even Han Chinese know that Chinese methods of punishments are extremely brutal, you may have seen videos of some being shot instantly,a public trial and scare to future offenders. We are human,we deserve chances, not a one time trial. Another thing is that if China is behaving morally,it should not be afraid to show the world wats happening and not censor everything.Thats why people become so close-minded about issues like this,because the people can only have the choice to believe what the govt.wants them to believe.They can blog about stuff like this.and they dont know wat the outside world thinks of the issue.. and this is for keystone; its apparent that u are angered by wat happened,but its not an issue of westerners or tibetans wanting to come kill all han chinese..it may be that we have heard only one side of the story and ppl in the mainland china have only heard govt.reports.Its all upto Chinese govt to remove censors and let truths become known.If independence is to come,it will come and till then we should pray for the souls of our Han brothers and sisters and of course the tibetan protesters facing trial.For a moment of excitement and showing off they may have to pay for it with their lives.Not one of us was there experiencing what those tibetans were experiencing and all the frustrations the mob was feeling, so please dont just make comments..Lets be more open minded!

For many reasons under many different circumstances that include geo-politics, Tibet alway been part of China except when Imperialism came to China and tried to split China into pieces, water to 1.3 billions people's thrist, China demography that compose of hundred of ethnic, China external enemy... the Tibetan will never get their wishes to go back to live thier unproductive live under the absolute power of a religious figure. Dream on!

Instead on dream on,why not face the reality that they are in China. Why not be productive and make contribution to their motherland? Why not try to improve themselves and make use of themselves to compete just like other ethnic minorities in China. And to Westerner who in the name of what-so-ever to fullfill thier self-fish intentions , why not show them the righteous path to live in these modern society instead of wanting them to live in their old cultural way which is unproductive.

CNN-please publish this too..
If China gives autonomy to Tibet like it has, to hongkong and macau, then it may solve all their problems.Maybe not democracy,but the least bargain is a system similar to hongkong.We can still use Chinese RMB money, use Putonghua in schools and teach a curriculum according to Mainland.We should have more tibetans in the govt.Obviously most chinese officials do not like living in harsh tibetan climate,so mainland should stop sending so many chinese officials that are paid higher than if they would have stayed in mainland.But we want to be more free and have the ability to move in and out of the country as we please.It takes around 5-10 years to get a passport,if you are extremely lucky and have the connections and have money to bribe officials.And Beijing should not offer incentives to mainland chinese people to move to tibet.thats why in the city,only a small section actually looks tibetan,all the rest of the city is too concrete and too fake.All houses are about ready to collapse with only a shiny exterior.Im not suggesting ethnic cleansing,but we need to save what is left of our race(and tibetans should be encouraged to have more than 2 children,at least the govt allows 2,but there should not be a limit).

To “Asian”,
I already answered your question for me, and gave you the links to the sources of history that I believe in. But you never answered my three questions for you.

I didn’t compare Tibet with other countries from which China imports natural resources. You misunderstood my point. In my previous post to you, in the part related to Tibet, I already stated that “What’s wrong for Tibetan natural resources being used for China if Tibet is a part of China?” It’s already complete. I brought up the issue of China importing natural resources from other countries for another point which I didn’t clarify in the post – there is nothing wrong for China taking natural resources and China should not be blamed for doing that, even if those resources are from other countries, I brought up this point because some western media have started blaming China for importing so many natural resources and causing their prices to soar.

For the邊疆史地硏究中心 that you mentioned, although it’s not relevant to the topic of this blog, I’d still like to talk a little bit about it with you. To be honest, I don’t know much about it. It may be distorting history as you said, or may be doing serious history research and trying to restore the real history of the past. No matter what it is doing, I’m sure its work will be judged by the history scholars and experts all over the world in order to be accepted and justified. Otherwise, it won’t be accepted as a credible and reputable history source worldwide, and no people will seriously believe what it says. If it is distorting history, I would really doubt that the history scholars and experts worldwide would justify its work and accept it as a credible history source. However, no matter whether it is distorting history as you said, or doing real history research, I can guarantee you one thing, even if it is doing real history research and is accepted and justified by the history scholars and experts worldwide as a reputable history source, I still won’t use it as a history source for the discussions in this blog or other similar discussions, in order to avoid the conflict of interest. In the list of the links to history sources that I gave you earlier, I deliberately avoided those many Chinese sources in order to avoid the conflict of interest, although they basically tell the same history as the links that I gave to you.

I’m glad to see that you’re basically similar to “Wangyao” and kind of changed your stance. For those political problems of Chinese ethnic minorities that you mentioned, I agree that they’re real problems, and even serious problems. But they are the specific and detailed problems for the Chinese government to solve, and they are beyond the scope of our discussion here. As I said to “Wangyao” earlier, we’re not political experts, and even political experts cannot find perfect solutions to these problems right now.

Wangyao,

First of all, I am not for CCP. No one likes what CCP did in the Cultural Revoluiton. But I do like what CCP did for the economy for the past 20 years.

Second, I am not paid by CCP. I am living in a western country. I guess I am about 300 miles from where you are living assuming you are living in L.A. near UCLA.

Living in a western country, you know the discrimination and glass ceiling. In the bottom of their hearts, even the ordinary citizens don't want a powerful China. The western politicians want China to be in pieces.

To copy the western political systems, Tibet could be a state of China just like any other states. The head of Tibet can be freely elected. Whoever can develop Tibet better will be elected. Just look at Taiwan's election. The guys playing all independence cards lost because the live of ordinary Taiwanese was not improved for the past eight years.

Dala Lamai can come back to Tibet, but only as an religious leader. He should not have any influence on governing, just like the Pope in Vactican. History has proven again and again that when religious leaders mixed up the governing with their religious idealogies, it is a diaster. I think Dala Lamai should strongly denounce the violence, denounce the separatists, and keep his mouth shut on governing. I think the Chinese government should be ok if Dala does these. Just like the Pope never comments on the politics of Itaily government. Let the democractic process runs its course in China.

You may not agree to what I proposed. That is just an ideal case copying-exact from the western political system. I am not sure it is going to play out this way.

But don't believe what UK/US/Canada/Germany governments want China to do.

Like at Poland, they want you to separate from Soviet Union then they want to install missel defense system on your land. Of course they are going to pay you $xx dollars for that. Your economy is still in bad shape and you are desprate for that $xx dollars.

My personal view is for China, together with Tibet, to develop its own economy and political systems. We can learn/copy from the western. I believe China has been doing that already, although slowly or not up to the speed some people like. China should be strong and be prosprous on the world stage. Otherwise, everyone will look down at China.

I worked three years in Shanghai from 2002 to 2005 for a foreign owned company. China is no old China back in 60s and 70s. The influence of CCP is no-exist in a lot of private and foreign owned companies. Of course there is room to improve, specially in the area of anti-corruption and free elections. But you could be surprised, these changes are on the way and coming as Taiwan has free election and Hong Kong will have free election 10 years from now. Sorry you cannot have free election in China today. You may get it in 20 years, at least to a limited degree.

Response to Teresa Johnson March 15th, 2008 1645 GMT
Please keep reporting about Tibet. The whole world should know what is
going on there. Tibet is not an autonomous region. It is an invaded country. Tibetan people do not have any rights, they are second class to the Chinese. They cannot display their flags nor have a picture of The Dalai Lama. Moreover, you cannot find any postcard of their Spiritual Leader who had to leave his country. The Chinese read the emails and open the letters that Tibetans receive. I can continue, but you got the idea. We visited Tibet in 2006, we love the country and its very nice and compassionate people, to say the least about them.

Regarding your post, very typical western thought, worth to reply,

1. I 100% agree "Please keep reporting about Tibet. The whole world should know what is going on there. "
since you are quite interested in what happened in Tibet, I guess you should already watched those
"peace protest" video and even read the news reported by "the times" regarding how Tibetan gangster
beat those innocent "Han Chinese" looking civilian to death report. Those tourist are from New Zealand,
British, and most likely Caucasian, since you are from the similar civilization, I guess you believe what they say more than what I say. Here is my strategy, I put the link here for your reference:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3578941.ece

Tourists speak of shock and fear at Tibet riots

Could you explain me that HOW do you expect any efficient and responsible government to take NO action for those brutal crime action, like those 5 sales girls who get burned to death alive and that Han civilian family also get burned to death alive including a baby? Shame on you, do you have any conscious? Currently Chinese government’s action to the western media actually helps the Tibetan to cover up those crimes, so unwise. But china government is not smart, or they are too smart to consider the chain reaction of open the media might expand to the other part of the country that might cause the legitimacy of the government get challenged. I have no idea regarding what is in their mind.

2. Tibet is not an autonomous region. It is an invaded country.

I would only agree that Tibet WAS an independent country that that all ends about 8 hundred years ago, when Mongol invaded the whole world, it finished Tibet before it finished up Song China ruled by Han Chinese. Since then, Tibet almost never ever gains back its independence again.

Talking about invade, I also like to condemn that action but who cares Mongol's invasion about 800 years ago now anyway (correct me if you can, probably Russia is still hating Mongol for that last time I heard).

There are tons of official materials by Chinese government now to prove Tibet belongs to CHINA for how many years, some have point other does not. I personally do not believe their stuff, because I cannot agree on Chinese government’s definition of china, it has nothing to do with our topic here.

If you would like to hear the short story, I would like to ask you go any library or just do google, find any world map between 1800 and 2000 that marks Tibet a country. If you have more time, let us see the history everyone can agree, I normally do not read china version history so what you read here is my personal summon which is quite far away from china government version.

a) Tibet was occupied by Mongol, take for 100 years, after a while CHINA is occupied by Mongol as well so at Mongol regime Tibet and CHINA are under one government.

b) Then Mongol is driven out of china, the start of the Ming CHINA did not actually took control of Tibet directly as the Mongol ruler had done. Instead, Tibet surrendered as a kingdom under the Ming empire, more like the relationship between Korean/Vietnam with Ming China Empire, the king need to be authorized by CHINA but the kingdom actually keeps its independent inside as far as Ming China is happy.

c) Then Manchu came and occupied CHINA again, Manchu seek for much more tight control of Tibet and
had its office in Lasha and maintain the army there. Over the Manchu occupation, Tibet, Mongolia and China, Korea, Vietnam are all the colonies under Manchu empire.

d) Korea get its independence from Manchu sometime between 1904 but till 1911, Manchu Empire’s most part (South Manchu, Han China, Tibet, XingJiang, Mongolia) still efficiently under control, including Tibet.
After 1911, CHINA get its long seek independence from Manchu, that is the pivotal time for Mongol and Tibet as well, Both declare independence and failed at that time Since Han Chinese try to re-unite the country and as a matter of fact, the whole world at that time acknowledge that R.P.C (Not Taiwan but has some relations), has the heritage of the Manchu government so why not just KEEP those land. But R.P.C seems never bother to send any military to Tibet during its 38 years in Mainland china (Probably office and some very small army, I would have to go back to history book).

e) Mao and his Communist friends starts the P.R.C, and Tibet and Dalai lama his monks and landlords was kept untouched for 10 years, Remember P.R.C is a communist regime, it would not tolerate any slavery society under it. Within the 10 years given to dalai lama to reform, very little is done to correct the slavery system over there. You know what happens next.

Let us talk a little more of the slavery and Tibet Buddhism, I personally believe Tibet Buddhism is the poison to manipulate those 1 million Tibet slave, to keep them obey, to keep their kids be slave and go on and on again. You probably try to avoid the slavery issue on purpose, let me put you as a simple westerner, how can you consciously ok to support slavery system in 20 century? Shame on you again.
You can image those slave owner, big land load and monk, would not be very happy for communist to end up their continent system. Here comes the struggle in the 1959, communist china took over Tibet totally and freed all 1 million Tibetan slaves.
After a few generations, the youngster Tibetan starts to forget they are the son and grandson communist freed as slave and starts to seek for their independence and challenge the central government.

Regarding the slavery statement I made here, Please go check any British or American version of Tibet history, it would tell you the truth.

Personally I think Tibet's independence is acceptable to me as far as Dalai lama agree to not impose the slavery system back to their people and abolish the punishment like "dig eye" and "peal skin down" and his promise has to be observed by international observer, hopefully not CIA picked.
Actually with today's Dalai lama's image, I did not expect him would make such promise since he might simply deny all his behavior before 1959 or simply say he was a child then. Still suggest you go read the history book of Tibet if you willing to see through the whole deal, British or American version please.

But most Chinese is not as open as I do, I would expect much severe response from them especially after you read my response to your point 3, you probably can understand most Han Chinese's view about Tibetan.

3. Tibetan people do not have any rights, they are second class to the Chinese. They cannot display their flags nor have a picture of The Dalai Lama.

I guess you are either never be to china or lie here. Every Han Chinese knows Tibetan people are "Untouchable", they kill us, probably sentenced to a few years in prison if not just released on site, Han Chinese kill Tibetan, death sentence immediately execute after sentence; the robbery and theft by Tibetan at big Chinese city like shanghai is normally ignored or negotiated by the police with the victim for not prosecuting. They are actually the VIPs in china, has the right to steal and robbery without consequence, and killing with minimum consequences. There is no one child policy for minorities like Tibetan.

Every Han Chinese would tell you their version of the story regarding not involves in the conflict with any Tibetan otherwise you got beaten or worse and no police would dear to help you. I really feel sorry that you feel completely the oppose way, please show me some proof. Not equal right for different ethnic group and even between Chinese and foreigner are big topic and spark from time to time (like the case of American teens armed robbery at Hongqiao area in shanghai, local police does not even have jurisdiction over armed robbery if the robber is foreigner, local Shanghainess really fell some kind of desperate here). We Han Chinese feel not fair to us but as most Chinese are QUIET majorities, we only complain at our dinner table and forget the whole deal tomorrow morning and that is it.

Regarding the picture of Dalai Lama, it is allowed inside temple, I visit the area in year 2002, so I remember it vividly. The snow lion flag though is truly not allowed, since it is considered as a direct challenge to the government to maintain its sovereignty. I do understand American can even allowed to burn their national flag, but china does not allow that, I can hardly say which way is better, different people has different view and feeling regarding the flag issue, that is my understanding. Note that there is no city flag or province flag thing in CHINA, which is different from most European and North America countries.

4. Moreover, you cannot find any postcard of their Spiritual Leader who had to leave his country. The Chinese read the emails and open the letters that Tibetans receive.

Let me put this into two aspects,
1. Dalai Lama is considered the black hand of all terrorist behavior happened in Tibet, which I personally not agree. But for central government of china, Dalai lama is more like Ben Laden's image in the US government, I am pretty sure you won't find Ben La Den postcard over congress mountain.

2. I did not search for the post card with the Dalai lama's picture on it, but neither did I saw any postcard with Banchan lama's picture on it as well. I guess even one day, Dalai lama come back to Tibet peacefully, probably Tibetan would not happy to see his picture on the postcard on which you might write and put stamp on.

People needs to understand each other, their country through contact not imagination, imagination is good, to keep your interest in the unknown area is the nature of the human being, but condemn other people purely through your imagination is something not deserving encourage.

For example, before I came to the United States, I hold a general view of America as a shanghainess, Rural but rich, people are nice and educated, but can be very dangerous as well for the gun crime and robbery.
After staying here for 7 years, I think I do have a more clear idea of the united states, more rural than I thought, so almost no night life for ordinary people and mostly American are very bad dresser; majority of people are nice and good people, but illiterate rate is high due to poor education, social security is bad and quite high crime rate epically violent crime (violent crime is vary rare in shanghai, so every time it happens, it would be big news and be remembered for decades, while here at Bay area, it happens everyday and seems very rarely remembered at all). Money is much easier to earn but that might not last for very long simply for what I did is about 20% of my colleagues working at CHINA and I get about 10 times their salary, how can such system last forever? I am planning for myself NOW). You can see, without first hand experience, there might never be such precise understanding for the difference between those two countries.

American law enforcement in L.A. Riots of 1992

During Los Angeles riots of 1992, eight people shot by law enforcement and two by National Guardsmen.

British law enforcement in Bradford Riots of 2001

"There were 297 arrests in total; 187 people were charged with riot, 45 with violent disorder and 200 jail sentences totalling 604 years were handed down."

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford_Riots)

French riots of 2005

Nicolas Sarkozy, interior minister of the time, declared a "zero tolerance" policy towards urban violence after the fourth night of riots and announced that 17 companies of riot police (C.R.S.) and seven mobile police squadrons (escadrons de gendarmerie mobile) would be stationed in contentious Paris neighborhoods. President Jacques Chirac announced a national state of emergency on 8 November. An extra 2,600 police were drafted on 6 November. On 7 November, French premier Dominique de Villepin announced on the TF1 television channel the deployment of 18,000 policemen, supported by a 1,500 strong reserve.

""until modern times, It has endured long periods of either Chinese control, Chinese influence, or effective autonomy"" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/guides/456900/456954/html/nn1page1.stm Quote from BBC for those who don't believe Chinese statements, In terms of sovereignty, I believe there are times Tibet had been a self claimed independent state for example from 1911 till 1940, however, was not recognized by any country. Many problems such as human rights and religious rights and etc, I believe it is not a problem in Tibet, It is also occurring in other parts of China too, such as 1.3 million killed in Tibet during 1951 (more than half the population? I think the statistic from the US UK etc are more accurate at 10,000), same period of time more than 23 million non-Tibetans killed in other part of China (from Western statistic). And also human rights violations and religious freedom (such as the Christian problem). All these things are not just affecting Tibetans. Now, here is my point, If everyone else in China were able to stay as one for the prosperity of China, and when those issues are improving (not resolved) at an rate that no other country was able to compare (more 200 hundred years for the local Indians in US, Africans in US and aborigines in Australia etc etc), do those Tibetan rights group have to do these stuff now. Protesting should be simply protesting not burning and killing! Don’t bother looking in the Chinese released footage if you don’t believe it, look in Western released footage, I C violence, don’t think that would be tolerated in any part of the world. I used to study in western China and many of my mates are Tibetans, we call ourselves as one. I don’t think Tibet’s issue is an racism issue, for those who tries to separate us and those rights group who call them “heros”, what you are doing is not going to destroy your intended target, the Han Chinese, but the accentual peace and prosperity in Tibet. If you say there aren’t any development in Tibet, you’re blind. Finally, I really believe reporters should be allowed inside Tibet, just to make sure no one is doing anything harmful to Tibetan locals. The 2008 Olympic advertisement had the temples in Lasah and the Himalaya, the first time I saw it, I never had the impression such as, “This Land is part of China” etc, but, “These are some of the most beautiful places in the world, visit their gloriesness.” I love China, I love Tibet, Beijing belongs to Tibetans and all Chinese. Those who what to screw up China “F U”

http://military.china.com/zh_cn/top01/11053246/20080323/14742180.html
The editor just use part of the photo. Shame about CNN.

David and Forrest,

Wikipedia seems one of your reliable sources as you quoted it several times in your earlier posts.

Wikipedia clearly states that Phuntsok Wangyal wrote to Hu Jingtao in 2006 : “If the problem inherited with Tibet continues to be delayed, it is quite probable that it follows the creation of a Vatican Oriental Tibetan Buddhism next to the Tibetan government-in éxil. Then the problem of Tibet, nationally or internationally, become more complicated and more painful."

It's obvious that Tibetan learders in China warned Hu Jintao 2 years ago that if the Party doesn't try to solve Tibetan problems, there will be a painful consequence.

Look what happened in Tibet now. Instead of lecturing here on topics you have no expertise knowledge, I strongly request you to appeal for the Chinese Communist Party to rethink Tibet issue. Han ethnic intellectuals including Wei Jingshen and Wang Lixiong have started doing this since 1979.

If you guys want China to become stronger, why don't you start to get serious about finding what are the reall problems in Tibet.

My message was completed washed out and moderated off by CNN
censorship, I posted on the 17th of March, how long it normally take to moderate a message ?

My point was CNN was not blacked out in Beijing on 17th while I was watching it alomost whole day, and I read the lip of CNN reporter saying "CNN is currently blasked out by Chinese gevernment".

Kenneth:

You said you admired the 6/4 students but only to those who stayed back in China.

Wang Lixiong is a pro-democracy activist Chinese writer who choose remain in PR China and he and some other Chinese intelectuals urged the Chinese government to invite UN investigators to Tibet to change the international community's distrust of China.

They also suggested allowing credible domestic and foreign journalists to independently report from the predominantly Buddhist region and said those arrested should be given an open and fair trial.

The dissidents said they hoped the government would produce evidence to substantiate accusations that the Dalai Lama premeditated the unrest. The Dalai Lama has denied the charge.

They know better than us in terms of what is happening in Tibet/China and we should listen these people who live next to the central government in Beijng to influence the CCP.

I'm not surprised this is happening. The poor Tibetans have been oppressed for more than 50 years. It's about time they started fighting back!

I'm sick of the Chinese pretending they are innocent because a few Tibetans attacked a few Han Chinese. When the Chinese invaded Tibet, they raped nuns & women (some in front of their children), they burned & buried Tibetans alive and killed so many.

I'm ashamed to be American due to the fact that we have done NOTHING to help the Tibetans over the years. Thank God Pelosi and others have at least made comments. Shame on Bush for staying silent on this matter.

ONE DREAM
ONE COUNTRY
TOGETHER WE STAND STILL

During Tian An meng square time, i was a college student and actively participated in democracy movement. I trusted so much on West media such as VOA by then because I feel i cann't get truth from China Media.

Now I work for a UK bank and have free access to CNN and BBC. However now I feel so disgusting of them.

I feel so sorry for what i have done to my country in 1989.

free Tibet what a dream of idiot!

why should we pay any attention for those idiots

This is the third time I try to post and I wish it is not to be deleted again. what is the principle on this site of removing or keeping a comment? I don't hide my thought that minimal force may have to be used to restore order in tibet. I am against overly use of force by the government against its own citizens. I think it is clear from some of the videos that some of the protesters are fairly violent against civilians, although this is with a deep root of dissatisfaction against a rude ruling party. But it doesn't justify the violence. I don't understand what is wrong with this comment and it was deleted. In the past, China had overthrown the Qing dynasty and the Republic of China using violence for their inefficient governing. The consequence for each of that is another violent government that only understands the language of violence. Do we need another one? No. China needs to change, but we need to change in a sustainable way without calling for another revolution with loss of millions of lives. I support any appeals for freedom and democracy in China in general, but the way some Tibetans displayed on the videos of burning shops, attacking civilians and killing innocent Han ethnics is not right.

On the other hand, I can't help saying that this government is dealing with the Tibet issue in a very bad way. It indicated inefficiency and a total policy failure. I respect Dalai Lama as a spiritual leader and a wise man, but disguised by his past history as a slave master before he left Tibet. He should stand out and condemn all the violence applied by both the Tibetan protesters and Chinese security forces. He shouldn't just defend himself and say he is not behind the violence. Why is that more important to clear himself than to try to stop the violence occurring in Tibet costing human lives? Why under the name for free Tibet peaceful civlians need to be killed on the street? I also personally support the recent letter signed and released by the 30 Chinese intellectuals. It hits a lot of points that I also felt for. This government must take actions to look at its own policies. The key is to allow media freedom and democracy in China. I long for that.

If CNN finds it so hard to get reporters into Tibet, maybe CNN should consider MOVING OUT OF CHINA. It seems wrong for a "news" organization to locate in a country so completely hostile to accurate news reporting. Also, with a major office in Hong Kong CHINA, how much pressure is CNN under from Chinese? I think CNN's integrity is significantly questioned when it tries to report on China WHEN CNN IS LOCATED IN CHINA ! Move to Singapore, maybe, to escape the heavy hand of China on CNN's neck. What the heck was CNN thinking by establishing a major bureau in China of all evil places?

BTW, I got into Tibet twice as a tourist and traveled where ever I wanted to go. CNN reporters lack basic knowledge of how to get a story under difficult circumstances OR MAYBE CNN DOES NOT WANT TO GET IN BECAUSE THEN CNN WOULD HAVE TO REPORT THE TRUTH ON ITS CHINESE FRIENDS? Sad situation.

Western Media has the right of freedom to bias in their "news" reporting. The world know their bias's right and do not take seriously of their "news" anyway.

Western Countries are uneasy to see a more stronger and independence China because they should be on class above the non-white people in the world including "banana" people (inside white, outside yellow).

Even an idiot can understand that "Free Tibet" movement and "Anti-Chinese" riot (west use 'protest') to sabotage the coming Beijing Olympic.

Fire has started successfully, its time to run away from the big fire – I need excuse to resign – I am powerless to stop the violence.

US House Speaker visiting is sending message to the world that Anti-Chinese riot is OK and Tibet independence is OK at the expense of the peace loving CHINESE people. This is disastrous PR for America again to the world.

I think most Chinese people hold these beliefs below:
Religion and Politics should always be separate. Mix the two together is never going to bring anything good. XiZhang is like this, Middle East is like this, and most of the western countries including United States is like this and look where we are today? Not only we have wars all the time everywhere, but our economy is a mess globally. Freedom can not be taken away from anybody in the world if people really believe in it. Let me ask these questions. Why XiZhang or so called Tibet not free? Is it because people can’t speak out? Is it because Tibetan can’t practice their religion? Or is it because the fact that the Chinese government run DaLai Lama out of the country and won’t let he go back? Talking about freedom and human right, how about you guys give us Chinese people an apology for the abuse we had to endure before 1949. I know I know, we should not concentrate on the past, but why do you have to concentrate on the past of Tibet. What did Chinese people do wrong to them? We, regular Chinese people born after 1980s, move into that part of China and try to make it better. Are we wrong to do it? Do we deserve to be beaten, stabbed, burned and killed? We build railroad to this so called impossible to reach place. Did we not suppose to do it? Why is it wrong for China to try to rise up so that nobody can bully us? People, who want to free Tibet, free Taiwan, and free XiJiang needs their rights to be protected, what about the other 1.3 billion Chinese people’s right? We didn’t want our country to be separated; especially their effect to do so involve foreign influences because we are tired other countries trying to control our nation. It might be OK for foreign countries to do it 150 years ago, but not today. Not today.

As a CNN fan, I am really disappointed this time. I saw the real video, pictures.

CNN made some fake breaking news, and copied and cut the pictures to distort the truth.

I am not sure if CNN intended to do it, but I can say CNN will lose its reputation .. hope CNN can correct its mistakes ASAP.

Cannot find mine.

Said being moderated, and now gone.

To CNN:
Stop reporting fake news about Tibet!!
We only want to see the real stuff!!
Just STOP LIBELING by copying pictures from another country,becasue it makes you stupid!

We never have such kind of Police fource in the history!!!!!! Using your head, making it more like" truth" neext time!!!!!!!

"Michael & Charlie"

You said "Beijing belongs to Tibetans"
To me, it sounds like "Tibetans will never get freedom from Beijing"
I will quot Wangyao' statement.
"Why Tibet Autonomous Region hasn’t had an ethinc Tibetan Party secretray so far? All the chief party secretary in Tibet has been ethnic Chinese(including Hujing Tao).
Tibet should be ruled by tibetans if Tibet is really an autonomous region, as the Chinese gavernment claims!"

I heard that Han people in tibet had not only Political power but also Economic power since 1950's invasion.

I heard that in Lasa(the capital of tibet) there are more han people than tibetans.

When they(han people) came from? Where they came from? for what?

Some han people's statements remind me of a chinese phrase.
許由洗耳 (I will wash my ears because I heard a complete nonsense.)

Hi, Asian,

Do you know why China got so much progress in the last thirty years?

The answer is welcome everyone that wants to interact with China. This interaction brings in many more good things than bad things, and China has progressed extraordinarily faster.

Do you mean you want to keep Xizang people shut within Xizang only? I think more interactions will bring more benefits. More Xizang people should go to other parts of China and Xizang should welcome more people of other ethnic groups.

Let's encourage more interactions rather than shut anyone out of them.

Hi, Julius.

I mean :
Political and Economic power have been gotten by han people in tibet.
and Han people in tibet have come from mainland since CCP's invasion in 1950.
so GIVE BACK their political and economic power to Tibetans if Tibet is really an autonomous region as the Chinese gavernment claims.

and relations between Han people and Tibetans, Exploitation seems more reasonable than Interaction.

Please, don't say nonsense any more!

Hi, Asian,

What do you mean by "exploitation"? Could you give some evidence?

So far as I know, Xizang does not give a cent to the central government. The central government give them money instead. Xizang people do not pay for hospital services. Xizang has the highest percentage of monks in the population in the world, 2% while Thailand has only 0.5% of its total population. The lamas are supported by the government.

Another figure (do not know whether you have heard of):

The population in the last 300 years before 1951 was dropping, and it came to about 1 million by then. Researchers say that once the monks made up 26% of the population. They were all male, but did not produce nor give birth.

Now the population is 2.4 million.

Han people intend to help. The problem is that they have to examine carefully again how they can help successfully. They have to take into consideration what the locals want and their religions.

Please, don't give judgment only. Give figures.

Please, don't say what others have said is nonsense because you may get it back.

Please do not use nasty words like "nonsense", "lies" to try to silence others.

As a Tibetan, we have nothing against the Chinese people. We want to live in harmony and peace. But the Chinese government is not allowing journalists and reporters to report what is happening in Tibet. That is bad.

Hi, Julius,

You said "Tibet does not give a cent to the central government. The central government give them money instead."
(I deliberately use the word "Tibet" instead of "Xizang(西藏)" because I think Tibet is more proper word.)
I guess you mistakenly omitted natural resources.

As far as I know, Han people in tibet and in china reaps more benefit of CCPC's invasion in 1950 and 西部大開發(a process for developing(?) Tibet) and 靑藏鐵道(a railroad connecting Tibet to China, completion in 2006).

and As you said, if Han people really intend to help Tibetans,
Give them what they want. Freedom.
Give them political, economic power which has been gotten by han people in tibet since 1950's invasion.

and I am sorry to say "nonsense", "lies" (at that time I thought han people repeatedly said the same things to brainwash people worldwide.)

Hey Asian,
Han people or Tibetan people, we are all Chinese. We don't discriminates against each other, at least not majority of the people. If the western journalists can go in Tibet with no prejudice opinion against current Chinese government, they probably can go in there and do their report. That is not going to happen. They will also see China behind their colored glasses. They will always trying to lead the report down the road that Chinese government kill people and they are bad because that sells in western world. The would is saying give Tibetans what they wanted, how many are these? What about the needs of some Tibetans that actually want the Chinese rules? What about the other 1.3 billion Chinese people? We didn't want our country to be divided. Do you want yours to be divided?

First of all, I would just like to say that the worst rationalization that I've seen in support for the evident violence is to suggest that something horrific has happened to push the normally peaceful monks and Tibetans over the edge causing the violence. Somehow, I don't picture any of Bush's advisors saying that when you-know-what happened. To me, there is no justification for organized violence against civilians whatsoever, especially from a religious group.

On the other hand, whether Tibet was part of China depends on how far you look in history. If you look far enough, anywhere in the world was once independent. Considering human rights, whether a region became part of country by defeat in a war or colonization or a vote, should any of the above have any bearing on the current generation's desire and right to declare independence? Even if a region became a part of a state by a written contract that is unanimously agreed by the region's people several hundred years ago, does this mean that the current generation of descendants have to bear whatever rule imposed by the controlling state? The human rights issue at hand is whether people of a region should have the right to declare independence as Kosovo just recently did?

For me, it is human rights versus national security. To have an independent state that will likely be influenced by foreign interests right next to the current governing state is just NOT going to happen IF the governing state has a say in it, regardless of which part of the world you look at. It will not happen in a democratic nation, and neither will it happen in Tibet.

"Free Tibet" has a nice ring to it and people love to support "free (anything)" because everything should be freed from everything else and have its individual basic freedoms. But there are people's livelihoods at stake. In general, most people from a democratic society assume that "freed" people are free to pursue their personal interests, as long as they are free. There is no doubt that China has lots of room towards the free end of the free spectrum. However, "freeing" Tibetans from China does NOT guarantee them true freedom.

And looking at human rights purely, not with mal-intention or other secret agendas, the human rights activists should really be concerned at the overall rights of Tibetans under the Dalai Lama regime or current Chinese rule? Sure will the Tibetans have a flood of pictures and postcards with the image of Dalai Lama everywhere (to constantly remind the people that "His Holiness" has supreme, supernatural power over them). How is that supportive of human rights? Talk about propaganda. What about property rights of people under Dalai Lama? Or freedom of Tibetans to worship a religion other than Tibetan Buddhism under Dalai Lama regime?

I agree with the view that religion should be separated from politics. The ability to run a country does not automatically come with being the spiritual leader unless there is really some divine power instilled in the Dalai Lama.

Wrong Logic!

If you don't support Tibetan Independence ==> you are not supporting human right and you are support oppression.

If you don't support Tibetan Independence ==> you are supporting CCP.

Please separate the Tibetan Independence issue from Human Right. When Dala Lamai was in power 50 years ago, he didn't want human right for the slaves. Now he wants human rights? For whom?

The US wants the Tibet to be independent so they can install a missle defense system in Tibet and shot down the Intercontinental Missles launched in Western China.

Missing note!

Dear all,

Where is Forrest? He is missing! Was he arrested by the CCP for what he said? I hope not.

Asian, don't waste of your time on these "Made in China" "One child policy" "products". What do you expect from these brainwashed kids?

They are the same versions of plastic Toys and fake DVDs from China in the streets of New York, Paris and London. No quality, cheap and noisy

Forrest is different. At least he knows what he is talking about.

The rest, I am not bothered.

But if you want to play with the "Made in China" plastic "Toys", it's fun some times.

Representatives of leading countries cannot turn their head away from what the Chinese are doing which is tantamount to Genocide. Why does the Chinese government want to flush Tibet with the Han people? Why are they so against the Dalai Lama who is put into this awful situation only because of the behaviour of the Chinese in the first place? Why do the Chinese wish to grab more land from her neighbours? The Chinese with their cheap goods are tightening the noose of ordinary people in many countries. This is bound to backfire soon. Indeed Pride goes before a Fall. Wen's statements all reveal tremendous pride. Before you know I predict that China will become the number one "Axis of Evil" for more than just America. They will become the enemy of all nations that wish to preserve their identity and their freedom. As they say in Sanskrit VINAASHA KALEY VIPAREETA BUDDHI !
I love my motherland India and the land of my karma the States but I am truly ashamed of the stance that both these countries have taken with regard to the peaceful nation of Tibet.
Lobsang Dechen. BHOD GYALO! @ china! Almighty God is watching!
The Westerns Should not only Boycott the game but also boycott TRADE with china, westerns are partly to be blamed to boost china's economy power. Please wake up before it makes you sleep for ever under it's brutal rule!!!!!!!

CNN,
I am deeply worried about Forrest's safety. He is from China and he admits that there is a problem with Chinese policy in Tibet.

In his last post he said to Asian that:

"I’m glad to see that you’re basically similar to “Wangyao” and kind of changed your stance. For those political problems of Chinese ethnic minorities that you mentioned, I agree that they’re real problems, and even serious problems. But they are the specific and detailed problems for the Chinese government to solve, and they are beyond the scope of our discussion here. As I said to “Wangyao” earlier, we’re not political experts, and even political experts cannot find perfect solutions to these problems right now."

He posted this March 23rd, 2008 044 GMT and since then we heard nothing from him.

In China, if you criticize the Chinese Communist Party openly, you would get into trouble. Why they are so worried about criticism? Are they not confident to rule the country or are they still constrained by victim mentality of invaders? If it's the latter, lets get ride of the wall (長城). Out of site is out of mind! Shall we?

To “Wangyao”,

Don't worry! I'm doing perfectly fine! I’m in the U.S. anyway. If I were in China, I might have already got a prize or some bonus money from the government for defending their stance.

I stopped posting basically because I think I've basically said all that I want to say in my previous posts. I have my own job to do to make a living. I cannot spend much time on this blog, it's not my job.

Again, let me end here with what is similar to what I ended my previous post with:
Given that Tibet is an integral part of China and Tibetans should not seek independence, those problems related to issues of Tibetans and other Chinese ethnic minorities are specific and detailed problems of the Chinese internal affairs, the solutions to those complex problems are beyond the scope of our discussions in this blog. We are not political experts, and even political experts cannot find perfect solutions to those complicated problems right now. I don’t think our discussions will go and end anywhere if we continue to be entangled with those specific and detailed problems.

To Wangyao,

Name calling can not solve anything even if you know you are losing the argument. True, I am the "product" of one child policy, but I have been punished over and over for that I have problem with the rules I face in school, in society. Most of my teachers didn't liked me, they even said I would never graduate from middle school. Guess what, I did and I got higher points than most of the "good" students. I don't like some of the rules under Chinese government, but I still love the land that I was born. For all the freedom fighters, grow a spin and learn from the ancient Chinese, they fought for their new dynasties. You should fight for what you want heads on and stop barking. If the people of China had enough of CCP, they would answer your call. Think about it.

Copied from other web site:

To know how Tibet looked like under Dalai Lama's rule, please visit website: http://newschecker.blogspot.com/ ... -western-world.html, to argue Tibet not part of China, please visit website: http://newschecker.blogspot.com/ ; to see hidden side of Dalai Lama, please visit website: http://www.newspiritualbible.com/index2 ; to verify the truth of Tibet uprise, please visit website: http://newschecker.blogspot.com/ ... t-violence-and.html, then welcome make your comments after visiting the above websites..........................

reply to SONAM.

Do You Understand what is a country?? Tibet is a part of China. You don't have any right to say Chinese Policy!!!

Forrest:

Good to hear that you are safe and sound.

I appreciated your good sense of humour and hope you got my joke too. I will let you along with your life and it's funny that sometimes you sound like the People's Daily (人民日报). You repeat what the party wants you to and I am sure you will be rewarded for this.

中国人民向 Forrest 同志学习!

Anyway, America is more safer than China for the people who holds different political views from the state. No need to be self sensoring too much!

Hi，Asian,

Thanks for not using those nasty words.

Actually many Chinese people are so well-read that they know much more than many Westerners. There is so much literature to read about Xizang. They are records of the history.
Unfortunately many of them do not know English and much of the lit is not in English.

On many western media, "brainwash" is a term used very often to deny what seems to be written by Chinese or what is different from what they know. To me it is really arrogant of them. In fact, they are denying that Chinese are their equals.

Chinese people are really truth seekers. None can stop that. That's why China never stops progressing. Many westerners expect China to collapse but they were shamed by their mis-prediction. Why? Because they refuse to believe that Chinese are also reading and thinking. With the practice of Opening to the Outside, they have many more opportunities to see things from different angles. They have their own conclusions. Fortunately at least on the issue of Xizang, their conclusion is much reflected in the policy of the government.

(I really doubt the intention of the first user of the word brainwash. John Marks found out it was first used by a CIA agent.)

I understand Tibet are Xizang are used to refer to what is now Xizang Autonomous Region.

Tibet is an old name and has its derivation from "Tubo", a powerful kingdom around the time of the Tang Dynasty. (The king asked the emperor of the Tang to let him marry a princess. Then Princess Wencheng was married to him and a temple was built in her name, and also the Potala Palace was originally built for her.)

Dalai Lama preferred to use Tibet or that similarly pronounced and it is clear what he has in his mind.

Xizang has been used for the last 400 hundred years at least in the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China, and People's Republic of China.

About the Development of the West, I would like to support it, including in Tibet. The railway is a link for that effort.

Isn't it miserable to see people in the same country have different life? People in the east part lead a much much much much better life than those in the west.

Xizang has a very different history and religion. This must be taken into consideration in the development.

Its geographical limitations made it difficult to people to develop on their own.

I believe the problem is more of the development of economy.

I am an American Buddhist and I don't like what I saw on the news on Tibet. Mob stoning passersby, hitting motorists(men, women, girls) and dragging them off their bikes, setting fire to bikes, turning over trucks and lighting them on fire, smashing stores and setting them ablaze. I saw charred remains of 5 store clerks who were trapped in their store when it was looted and torched. THESE ARE VIOLENT, NOT PEACEFUL ACTS. FREEDOM OF SPEECH COMES WITH RULE OF LAW. THESE ACTS ARE NOT COMPASSION PREACHED IN BUDDHISM. WHOEVER BEHIND THESE ACTS ARE ANTI-BUDDHA, ANTI-CHRIST AND GO AGAINST ALL HUMAN DECENCY.
DALAI AND R GERE, you have broken the vow of PANCHA SILA or FIVE PRECEPTS:
#1 Thou shall not kill
#2 Thou shall not take what is not given
#3 Thou shall not distort facts
#4 Thou shall refrain from misuse of the senses
#5 Thou shall refrain from self-intoxication through alcohol or drugs

As a Chinese citizen, I am really disappointed some of the post -1979 kids. You guys worse than the Red Guard Army 红卫兵! If another Cultural Revolution (文革) broke in China now, it seems Hu Jingtao doesn't have to worry about looking for political weapons. Very disappointing! 太失望了！

China is not only waging war in the streets of Lasa, but also electronically against Tibet support groups worldwide. The washington post reported on Friday about some research done by the Internet Storm Center (see isc.sans.org). Virus e-mails have been used for years to spy on various Chinese opposition groups.

I am a Chinese, born in China, living in usa now. It's true that Chinese government did a lot of stupid and bad things; no doubt they are still doing that. Many times I dislike what they did. But no matter you like or not, in general, China is getting better. I have no doubt that China will have democracy one day. It just needs time to be there.
Many American criticize China, I would say if you have never been in China, please talked to someone who has been there before you say something. Your media may not tell you the whole story about China. In general I don’t trust American media when they report something about developing countries, especially when it’s related with politics, religions.

I am not arguing here that whether Tibet is part of China or not, I am telling the truth. Unless China is weak like a hundred years ago, there is no way Tibet split from China. It’s same with that Native American will never be able to get their land back. And I know American will not return America to them. It is what happened and is what is happening.
When people is saying free here, free there, please ask yourself, should you free the land you are living to the original owner.

Please let your present generation leaders develop China into a stronger country in this century, naturally democracy and human rigth will follow when society progress. A stronger China will be prouder CHINESE so that other people(western) will not bully you or look down on you.

From past history China has been bully by other countries(western). Do you want this to happen again to your country???

Red Guard Army and Cultural Revolution belong to the past generation leaders and the SITUATION at that time, look to the future with a confidence CHINESE that people will respect you.

Of course if you sing the same song as the Westerner, they will love you and kiss you. You are make as a HERO (attack your country!!!).

Your present leader need your co-operation to keep peace and stability so to develop into a stronger China. Do not punish China because of past unhappiness.

Five young ladies who worked for a clothes shop were found dead after their shop was set on fire in this riot, including a Tibetan girl. There were six of them before the fire broke out.

The police have got three Tibetan women who set the fire and these women admitted on TV that they set the fire.

The three women are not residents in the city of Lasah. Two are from two counties of Shigatze and one is from a country of the Lasah City. They were 20-23.

The shop had been broken in by other mobs before the three women came in. They used a lighter three times to set on fire the jeans and other clothes in the shop. They left after they shut the door. One managed to escape from a small opening on the door. The other five were burned to death. The escaped one told on TV that those who set fire were not from Lasah. She could not understand what they were talking.

Chen Jia, one of the girls and 18 years old, left a message 10 minutes before the fire to her father asking him and the other family members not to go outside. She even did not forget to tell her father not to worry about her. That's was her last word in this world.

Now, who turned these three women into murderers? Who murdered the five young ladies?

I really don't understand your western people why you care so much about Tibet and hope it separate from China though it has been part of china for centuries. Being china citizen, tibet are treated quite well since they were liberated from Lamas as slaves in middle of 20th century. You support Dalai Lamah because your government say he is the