March 28, 2008 ... Tibet/Xizang province and the Dalai Lama. Beyond the well enough established historical record of the cruel life in Tibet/Xizang prior to the 1951 takeover from the feudal serfdom which Tibetans had to endure, life for many Tibetans has improved immeasurably. As of today, Tibetans can enjoy travel on the advanced Golmud-Lhasa/Qingzang railway. So advanced, that its construction was deemed next to impossible and controversially moot, for technical and financial reasons by engineers and economists in the west.  In addition, Tibetans are now able to travel on first class quality roads which never existed prior to Chinese intervention. Nor would Tibetans have the modern convenience of electricity and modern agricultural methods that have improved the quality of life and longevity of life in Tibet/Xizang.
Most recently there has been the possibility of new wealth for China because of possible oil reserves discovered in the northern region of Xizang province. In addition to the undoubted engineering expertise of China, this natural resource can only become wealth with the investment of technology and billions of Dollars and Euros. This would be hopelessly risky without political and social stability backed up by effective security, to provide the necessary long-term confidence, without which, everyone would be worse off. With that in mind, the west's repeated calls for talks with the Dalai Lama do seem reasonable. After all, this is what the west would do in a similar situation, with the benefit of experience gained from centuries of conflict. However, like Burma/Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, the Dalai Lama is little better than a proxy spearhead for a multitude of interest groups determined to establish an influential presence in Burma/Myanmar and/or China as a means to reinforce particular ideologies in the west. If this were to be successful, it would create an endless dependence on the west, and it would also impoverish the citizens of the west because of the need to sacrifice their property and earnings to fund the necessary interventions to control the impact of the conflicts which would arise. The Chinese would also be badly impacted in their ambition to get in excess of 200-million of its own citizens above the poverty line. Given that the Dalai Lama does not represent a terrorist organisation similar to the Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel has to contend with, it is possible that the Dalai Lama and his followers could be prevailed upon to sign a declaration and appropriate contract of conduct with the Chinese authorities. Even so---and as per the above---since the Dalai Lama's influence is really very limited, such agreements would encourage demands from other activist groups within China. A particularly prominent example is Falun Gong/Falun Dafa with tens of millions of followers, led by spiritual leader Li Hongzhi, a resident-in-exile of the United States, whose activities are becoming a serious concern to the United States' authorities. China, unlike the west, accounts for 25% of the world's population under a single, nation-state authority. Thus, what applies in the west and its many nation-state authorities, may not be applicable to China. Unlike before 1951, the Dalai Lama and his followers are not limited to Potola Palace. So, with a world stage upon which to operate at others' expense, he and his followers should be more than content. |