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Tibet is a problem that will never go away
I have recently been thinking about the problems that are happening in Tibet, and comparing them with the situation in Taiwan. Of course, I am not the only one who is comparing the two – the Kuomintang presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou has said that Taiwan is different from Tibet because it is a sovereign nation. This may be true, but I don’t think that’s where the core difference lies. I think the core problem with Tibet is a cultural one – Tibet has its own culture and language, and when two cultures are in close-proximity, they tend to butt heads. Of course, there are political dimensions to the Tibetan problem, but they aren’t the core problem.
The core problem at the heart of the Taiwan issue, however, is political. Taiwan is a product of the Cold War, when two different political ideologies butted heads against each. Taiwan and China have the same language and culture, but they have different political systems. I think the good thing about politics is that a lot of it is bullshit – leaders can compromise and renege, which means conflict can be avoided. Cultural differences though, are a different kettle of fish. You can’t compromise on what you believe in.
It is for this reason that Tibet is a problem that will never go away. Imagethief recently wrote a good post about how the Chinese government has been getting its message across in regards to the Tibetan riots, pointing out that recent Chinese media coverage has actually inflamed ethnic tensions. The gap in cultures is there, and it is not going to be solved by vilifying the Dalai Lama, who is a spiritual leader to a large number of Tibetans. A more understanding and conciliatory tone may have been better, e.g. we know you are angry, but we are working together to make a more prosperous China and Tibet.
A similar thing happened with the attempted Xinjiang plane hijacking – the Chinese media clearly pointed the finger at the Uyghur ethnicity and a few days later I received a text message that warned of Uyghur people having bombs strapped to their bodies. This is a clear case of fear mongering against a particular ethnicity and reminded me of the Cronulla riots in Sydney, where text messages played a major part.
Ethnic tension is something that is not easy to solve – ask Israel and Palestine. It also might be worth asking East Timor what it thinks about the Tibetan issue. Like China in Tibet, Indonesia was heavy-handed in East Timor and the East Timorese were very keen to realise independence. However, where is East Timor now? It is one of the poorest countries in the world and its President was nearly assassinated. The world must think about whether Tibet is really better off without China. China though, must find a way to treat its ethnic groups better. It needs to stop being so superficial and dressing minority groups in traditional clothing and sending them off to the CPPCC. It needs to engage, understand and then engage some more. |
Posted: 5:08 PM, 22/3/2008 in ChinaShare on Facebook |
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| You are quite wrong. The Tibet problem for China will go away as soon as all Tibetans are gone. Gone where ? That is not a problem for China. The rest of the world may have that problem, thanks. |
Posted by Anonymous at 12:37 AM, 24/3/2008 |
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