Most Western observers of the pro-Tibetan protests leading up to the Beijing Olympics, which begin August 8, have concluded that the Chinese are in the midst of a huge public relations failure. But considering that these protests have spurred massive pro-China demonstrations in China and Chinese communities abroad, they may end up playing right into the hands of the Chinese conservative elites and their cohorts in the international business community. The primary goal of the Chinese leadership is to stay in political and economic control within China, and like the United States, they can afford a certain moral antagonism from the international press.
“Nationalism with Chinese Characteristics”
What the Chinese government fears more than rebukes from outside its borders are rumblings from within. As China’s state socialism makes its transition to autocratic capitalism (euphemistically dubbed “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics”), Tibetans are not the only discontents. The dismantling of state owned enterprises, the seizure of peasants’ land for factories and urban expansion, the internal migration of hundreds of millions (think the Okies times 100), and persistent pollution of air and water has led to nearly 100,000 mass protests in China per year. Chinese nationalism, like the American version, is designed to distract folks from these troubles at home, and get them to band together against a common foe (the Japanese, the Western Media, the Dalai Lama).
I was reminded of the fervent nature of Chinese nationalism looking at the cover article of the New York Times on Thursday, which featured a picture of incensed pro-China protesters in North Carolina closing in on 20-year-old Duke Freshman Grace Wang. Wang’s attempts to mediate between the pro-China and Tibetan rights protestors elicited a sort of online pogrom:
… a photo appeared on an Internet forum for Chinese students with a photo of Ms. Wang and the words “traitor to your country” emblazoned in Chinese across her forehead. Ms. Wang’s Chinese name, identification number and contact information were posted, along with directions to her parents’ apartment in Qingdao, a Chinese port city. … One person wrote in an e-mail message to Ms. Wang, “If you return to China, your dead corpse will be chopped into 10,000 pieces.”
Why such a violent response? Isn’t this a time for the Chinese to reflect on their violent repression of Tibetan protesters and come to the view in the international press of the Dalai Lama as a benevolent, Yoda-like figure?
One China, One Family! (One Party)
It would seem the opposite is true.
In Chinese media coverage of the violence in
Tibet, the rabblerousing Tibetans are portrayed as terrorists
à la Al Qaeda (suicide bombings are just around the corner!) and the Dalai Lama their Osama bin Darth Vader.
Anti-western protests have sprung up all over
China and in Chinese communities abroad, clamoring the slogan “One China, One Family!”
For those looking for further parallels with the 1936 Olympics in
Berlin may recall the Nazi’s slogan of the day: “
Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer.” (The Chinese should get credit, however, for promoting a multi-ethnic national identity.)
But branding the Chinese as fascists ignores the U.S. nationalist administration, its open use of torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo, the U.S. legacy of expansionist wars in the Americas and the Pacific, and U.S. corporations’ complicity in labor abuses in China. The real competition here is who the bigger bully is, and what country’s media spouts the bigger load of crap. The first contest, I believe, still goes to the Americans (let’s not forget the illegal war in Iraq) and for the latter, I would give the gold to the Chinese, who haven’t mastered all the subtleties of “spin.” (For example: “… the Dalai Lama has been spreading various kinds of lies in order to disguise the real purpose of seeking "Tibet independence" and restoring the feudal serf system…”) [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2008-04/18/content_6625946.htm]
Making China Safe -- for U.S. Corporations
While coordination between the Chinese left and the US left has been minimal, the Chinese capitalist-right maintains close political and business connections with transnational corporations, who hold considerable sway over the Chinese political system. For example, when moderate elements of the Chinese Communist Party began to develop the more humane labor laws passed in 2008, the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, the U.S.-China Business Council, and the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China -- representing Wal-Mart, Google, Nike, and 1000s of other corporations -- threatened a major pullout of China if the laws were to be enacted. Foreign corporations still enjoy a privileged status in China, paying about one-third the taxes as private Chinese and state-owned enterprises. (See Dale Wen article: http://www.ifg.org/store.htm)
Note that in American condemnations of the Chinese there is never mention of economic sanctions. For their part, the Chinese government mouthpieces have reciprocated by coming to the defense of the French retailer Carrefour, which pro-China activists claimed to have given aid to the Dalai Lama, and is facing calls for a boycott (See the article “Experts say patriotism understandable, but urge people to be rational” http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-04/20/content_6629725.htm). “We had better not turn extreme," said one professor, referring to the boycott. There is an odd reasoning at work here: the military’s killing of somewhere between 10 and 140 Tibetan protesters is not viewed as extreme, but boycott is. Evidently, for both sides, US-China business relations are sacrosanct.
Let A Thousand Protests Bloom
Unfortunately resistance within China to authoritarian rule is heavily fractured, even within the Tibetan community. While living in a Tibetan region of YunnanProvince in 2005-6, I noted many of the region’s community leaders were party members and despite a strong pride in their ethnic heritage, their politics never veered far from the official line. The Tibetans have no common language other than Mandarin, in which many Tibetans have limited fluency, and the long repressed Lhasa dialect of Tibetan, which many ethnically Tibetan Chinese do not speak or read, and broadcasts of which are limited and highly censored. Tibetans have little contact or collaboration with other restive groups, such as the Uyghurs in the Northwest or unemployed industrial workers in the Northeast. Further complicating matters, the targets of the Tibetans rioting in Lhasa were largely Chinese Hui Muslim shopkeepers, many of who have their own gripes with CCP policies. This is a situation somewhat analogous to black rioters in the US targeting Asian and Latino shopkeepers. The old ‘divide and conquer’ trick never gets old.
So what to do? I propose that the Chinese and U.S. left need to dialogue and coordinate efforts, while recognizing that our conceptions of what it means to be on the ‘left’ is very different in China and the US. (See article on Chinese Activist Wang Hui 10/15/06 NYT) In order to counteract both our nations’ nationalists, we should develop greater human-to-human (rather than purely ideological) solidarity by building a broad coalition that demands human rights, labor rights and respect for the environment in both countries.
Comments
The Dalai Lama is little more the a construct of the bourgeois capitalist dogs like George W. Bush, Richard Gere, and Kobe Bryant. Chinese nationalist ideology represents the pure left, and there need be no conception otherwise. Close all doors, open all minds. Power to the workers!
thejonesyreport.blogspot.com
The writer does not attempt to delve into the intricate factions within the Chinese Communist Party, while only scratching the surface of China's multi-ethnic society. The capitalist won the cultural revolution and the current Chinese regime is what we get. So we get the worst of ubber capitalism with the lingering vestiges of authoritarian communism. I think the author also soft pedals the Dali Lama - a Yoda like figure for the writer (Jeremy Thal). The Lama is long a paid informer for the CIA and says the craziest things about flood ravaged American cities. Apart from that he is a totally disconnected leader for the Tibetan people. Just my two cents.
April 26, 2008
In Shift, China Offers to Meet With Dalai Lama Envoys
By JIM YARDLEY
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/26/world/asia/26china.html?hp
BEIJING — China appeared to bend to international pressure on Friday as the government announced it would meet with envoys of the Dalai Lama, an unexpected shift that comes as violent Tibetan demonstrations in western China have threatened to cast a pall over the Beijing Olympics in August.
China’s announcement, made through the country’s official news agency, provided few details about the shape or substance of the talks but said the new discussions would commence “in the coming days.” The breakthrough comes as Chinese officials have pivoted this week and moved to tamp down the domestic nationalist anger unleashed by the Tibetan crisis and by the protests at the international Olympic torch relay.
“In view of the requests repeatedly made by the Dalai side for resuming talks, the relevant department of the central government will have contact and consultation with Dalai’s private representative in the coming days,” said an unidentified Chinese official, according to Xinhua, the official news agency.
The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, was returning to India from the United States on Friday. He has repeatedly called for renewed talks with Chinese officials and last month sent a letter to China’s president, Hu Jintao. Earlier this month, he hinted in Seattle that a back-channel discussion was already under way. On Friday, his spokesman, Tenzin Taklha, said, “Since His Holiness is committed to dialogue, we would welcome this.”
The spokesman added that the Dalai Lama had not yet received any official communication from China. “We also have to look at when the offer does officially arrive,” he said from Dharamsala, India, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. “We have to look at conditions they are talking about.”
For weeks, Chinese officials have castigated the Dalai Lama in harsh language and blamed him for orchestrating the violent Tibetan protests that erupted March 14 in Lhasa and then spread across other Tibetan regions of western China. The Dalai Lama has denied any involvement in the demonstrations and denounced the violence, if also criticizing China for its crackdown against protesters.
China’s tough stance came as international leaders, including President Bush, have described the Dalai Lama as a man of peace and called on China to resume a dialogue with his envoys that began in 2002 but then broke off last summer after six rounds of talks. Those talks, focused on the future status of Tibet and whether the Dalai Lama will be allowed to return there, never made significant progress.
The timing of China’s announcement suggests that party leaders hope to defuse the international criticism that has steadily mounted since the Tibetan protests began. In Europe, criticism is particularly strong as several government leaders have announced they will not attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Anti-China protesters caused violent disruptions to the Olympic torch relay in London and Paris, forcing relay organizers to change the route in other cities out of security concerns. China’s supporters have responded by flooding to the relay route.
“I believe the important question is whether China is doing this as a public relations maneuver to respond to international pressure before the Olympic Games,” said Wang Lixiong, a scholar in Beijing who has criticized government policy in Tibet. “They want the Dalai Lama to help them relieve pressure before the Olympics. But is it a sincere move, or just a public relations move?”
Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at People’s University in Beijing, said the Chinese government does not want the talks to be “interpreted as a concession under duress.” He predicted that any discussions would be unlikely to bring meaningful breakthroughs.
“I doubt that both sides will change their fundamental positions,” Mr. Shi said. “If there is dialogue, this is dialogue for the sake of dialogue. Maybe both sides only want to impress the Western audience.”
This week, high-level talks aimed at repairing damaged relations have been under way between China and European leaders, notably the French. In recent days, China and France have been working assiduously to defuse the public anger and mutual accusations that began with the Tibetan protests. The Chinese have been enraged by the protests during the Paris leg of the torch relay and also by threats from President Nicolas Sarkozy that he might boycott the Olympic opening ceremony.
On Thursday, President Hu Jintao met in Beijing with the president of the French Senate, Christian Poncelet, and emphasized the value that China places on Sino-French relations, even as he repeated Chinese complaints about the torch. Also on Thursday, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao met with France’s prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, in another effort to smooth out the strained ties.
On Friday, hours before the government announced the new talks with the Dalai Lama, Mr. Wen discussed Tibet in a meeting with José Manual Barroso, president of the European Union Commission. The two men also announced a new trade and economic dialogue. State media gave heavy prominence to the meetings as what appeared to be part of a broader effort to defuse public anger and possibly dilute plans for boycotts of French stores in China next month.
China has long condemned the Dalai Lama as a “splittist” who is pursuing Tibetan independence, even as the Dalai Lama long ago disavowed Tibetan independence and has instead called for “genuine autonomy” within China. Chinese spokesmen often say the government would be willing to resume dialogue with the Tibetan spiritual leader but only if he shows “sincerity” in renouncing separatism and on other issues.
“It is hoped that through contact and consultation, the Dalai side will take credible moves to stop activities aimed at splitting China, stop plotting and inciting violence and stop disrupting and sabotaging the Beijing Olympic Games so as to create conditions for talks,” the unidentified Chinese official said in Friday’s official announcement.
Mr. Taklha, the Tibetan spokesman, denounced these conditions as “basically baseless,” noting that the Dalai Lama has not sought independence since 1974 and supported holding the Olympics in Beijing, even after the violence erupted last month. “We have no preconditions,” he said. “We’re not saying these are conditions to talk. It’s a cause of concern for us to see repression is still continuing inside Tibet.”
Somini Sengupta contributed reporting from New Delhi, and Jake Hooker reporting from Beijing. Huang Yuanxi contributed research from Beijing.
In regards to some of the posts above, wouldn't put too much faith in all these Tibetans-in-exile-as-CIA-stooges arguments. Tim Johnson takes these apart fairly thoroughly on his blog: http://washingtonbureau.typepad.com/china/2008/04/where-the-tibet.html. An occupation is an occupation is an occupation.
There may be many different historical interpretations of China's right to rule Tibet and many possible resolutions, including greater autonomy for Tibetans, but brushing over the nastier parts of Chinese rule does not solve anything.
I do agree that the Chinese left and U.S. left need to communicate much, much more. For too long, progressives have relied on rather cheap stereotypes of China.
My website: http://oldtalesretold.blogspot.com
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