Epiphany in Beijing: ‘we screwed up in Tibet’
Posted by stuart on Jan 28th, 2010
2010
Jan 28
http://www.istockphoto.com/
Newsweek reports that Beijing has come to a self-evident realisation that the rest of us have been aware of for years (and Tibetans since 1949): you can’t win the hearts and minds of an entire and distinct ethnicity by bending them to your will with a ‘take our candy or get punished’ policy.
The CCP’s proposed final solution to the problem?
Send more candy. (credibility warning: that’s a Chinese government propaganda website).
January 28th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
[...] this article: Epiphany in Beijing: 'we screwed up in Tibet' | Foundinchina.com Filed under Tibet Tags: beyond-the-middle, china, from-beyond, middle, Tibet ← NYT: [...]
January 30th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Limited dialogue with the Dharamsala government-in-exile has been going on intermittently for a while, hasn’t it? But with what tangible results?
I think reopening the dialogue could be a positive step, but I’m not persuaded that it signals a major change in the CCP’s attitude. Let’s see how tightly they lock things down when the anniversary of the riots rolls around again in six weeks’ time.
I think the author of that article is being wildly over-optimistic to suggest there’s any immediate prospect of opening direct talks with the Dalai Lama, much less that Hu might meet with him one day. I fear there’s just too much of a “loss of face” involved in such a complete U-turn in policy. Realising that they screwed something up has never yet been a sufficient reason for the CCP to stop screwing it up.
January 30th, 2010 at 10:53 pm
The dialog was actually suspended by Beijing for fifteen months. The politubureau may be less “united” about how to approach the issue as it seems from outside. Their opera (“splittist”, “jackal”, etc.) is as noisy as tradition demands, but many leaders may actually be aware that to find solutions for Tibet would be easier with, than without the jackal.
January 30th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
That said, I agree that the Newsweek article is extremely optimistic. It probably wouldn’t sell if it was written in a more rational way. Has to be NEWS.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:06 am
Froog – I, too, do not foresee Hu going anywhere near a meeting with the DL, much less envisage the CCP give any real ground on their ‘we own you so do as we say’ policy in Tibet. They aren’t blessed with enough imagination or compassion for that.
I suspect China is just posturing with the talks to give the appearance of keeping their end of the bargain in a deal made during Obama’s visit. But they do now seemingly realise that what they’ve done to date isn’t working.
It must have come as a real shock to the boys in Beijing that murdering, torturing, disappearing, and marginalising an entire culture and their beliefs didn’t succeed in winning over the Tibetan people.
January 31st, 2010 at 10:12 am
“…but many leaders may actually be aware that to find solutions for Tibet would be easier with, than without the jackal.”
That’s a good point, justrecently; in which case they might want to revise their petty inclination to use insulting monikers.
February 3rd, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Oh yes, we’re immediately seeing the new maturity in the CCP’s attitude in their response to the possibility that Obama may meet with the Dalai Lama. Pardon my sarcasm.
I hope Obama does meet him, and Rebiya Kadeer, and approve many more arms sales to Taiwan; and when the CCP whinges about it, the State Department should publicly chastise them for being bloody childish.
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Relax, Froog. The meeting is a done deal:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8494533.stm
And he’s not doing it to piss China off, but because it’s the right thing to do.
February 4th, 2010 at 11:52 am
Although “pissing China off” is in itself the right thing to do….