Author Topic: Tibet struggle's slow slide off the global radar as Dalai Lama ages  (Read 4790 times)

PrajNa

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In this article, one of the analysts highlighted that economic growth in Tibet Autonomous Region significantly helps to curb a mass movement to rise and it is also a cause to attract Tibetan in exiles to return to Tibet.

Another point highlighted is that the oppression of Uighurs in Xinjiang has overtaken Tibet as the focus of China's human rights critics. This can be seen when Germany's top human rights official Barbel Kofler asked to visit Xinjiang last year, "she was taken instead to Tibet -- an indication of how much Beijing feels secure about the situation there".

This just shows that China has Tibet under control and is comfortable to bring even foreign human rights officials like Kofler, who are critical of China, to Tibet now to 'show off'.





Tibet struggle's slow slide off the global radar as Dalai Lama ages
AFP News   
Ammu KANNAMPILLY
15 March 2019


It has been 60 years since the Dalai Lama fled Tibet for exile in India



Sixty years after the Dalai Lama fled into permanent Indian exile, the cause of Tibetan freedom that earned him a Nobel prize and a celebrity-studded international following has lost much of its momentum -- neutralised, analysts say, by the passage of time and China's rising global power.

Inside Tibet, Beijing has effectively wiped out any organised opposition to its iron-clad rule, while outside, the once-vocal support of sympathetic governments and world leaders has dwindled to near-silence in recent years despite the 14th Dalai Lama's enduring personal popularity.

"The fate of Tibet is in the hands of the Chinese state... Tibetans outside the region are not very relevant to the fate of Tibet, and this includes the Dalai Lama" , said Nathan Hill, convener of Tibetan studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London.

In 2007, the Buddhist spiritual leader said his homeland was facing its "darkest period in 2,000 years". The following year, with the world's eyes on China in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics, protests unfurled across Tibet, sparking a furious response from Beijing.

"You don't see protests like that anymore," said Kate Saunders of the US-based International Campaign for Tibet, attributing the shift in part to Tibetans abiding by the Dalai Lama's message of non-violence and to massive Chinese state surveillance.

Although the Dalai Lama's campaign largely focused on autonomy rather than independence, negotiations with China stalled in 2010, amid suspicion that Beijing was intentionally dragging on pointless talks, hoping international pressure would ease with his eventual death.

The 83-year-old has sought to pre-empt any attempt by Beijing to name his reincarnated successor, even announcing in 2011 that he may be the last in the lineage.

The officially atheist Communist Party has already shown it will intervene in the reincarnation of important figures in Tibetan Buddhism, such as the Panchen Lama who traditionally plays a significant role in choosing the Dalai Lama's successor.

The boy chosen by the Dalai Lama to serve as the Panchen Lama was detained by Chinese authorities at the age of six and has not been seen since, with Beijing appointing its own candidate in 1995.

Although the exiled leader remains a hugely popular speaker, he has cut back on his global engagements and has not met a world leader since 2016 -- while governments have been wary of extending invitations to him for fear of angering Beijing.

"The craze for Tibet among Westerners in the 1980s and the following decades has decreased significantly", said Katia Buffetrille, a Tibetologist at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris.

Even India, which offered asylum to the Dalai Lama in 1959 when he made a daring escape across the Himalayas dressed as a soldier, has turned its back, with the government reportedly warning officials against attending events featuring him, citing diplomatic sensitivities.

- Buying freedom -

As the exile-led movement loses momentum, Tibetans at home are struggling to keep their traditions alive.

"Tibetans live in a totalitarian police state -- if they challenge restrictions, they face the consequences," said Gray Tuttle, a professor of modern Tibetan studies at Columbia University.

"Previous protests from the 1980s on... have yielded no tangible benefits, rather they have generated a worse political outcome and further clampdown."

At least 150 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since 2009 in protest against Beijing, most of whom have died from their injuries. But the frequency of self-immolations has lessened.

China's investment in the region includes a huge outlay on security to build a surveillance state that makes it harder to organise protests. Rights groups say that a government campaign targeting the family and friends of protesters has also helped suppress dissent.

Beijing insists that Tibetans enjoy extensive freedoms and argues it has brought economic growth to the mountainous region.

The oppression of Uighurs in Xinjiang has also overtaken Tibet as the focus of China's human rights critics.

When Germany's top human rights official Barbel Kofler asked to visit Xinjiang last year, she was taken instead to Tibet -- an indication of how much Beijing feels secure about the situation there, even though foreign journalists are still barred from reporting independently in the region.

Many locals accuse Beijing of repressing their religion and diluting their culture, but nonetheless the economic growth -- boosted by government subsidies -- has even seen Tibetan exiles return to the region.

Tibetologist Francoise Robin, who visits the region every year, told AFP that Beijing had effectively sidelined any talk of freedom by pumping money into Tibet.

"This is what is paradoxical in the case of Tibet, compared to other similar situations, because China is a country... that is on the rise. Often, in order for a rebellion, for a mass movement to rise, you need economic despair."

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/tibet-struggles-slow-slide-off-global-radar-dalai-074037636.html


DharmaSpace

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Re: Tibet struggle's slow slide off the global radar as Dalai Lama ages
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2019, 09:45:14 AM »
Its trend that the US latches onto any hot news about China, whenever it can do so. Zooming into the 'worst' spots of China's human right violation.

US only looks at US being number one, it is only serving itself no other.

Still its good Tibet now is no longer a hotbed for human rights violations and becoming a place where tourist can be and enjoy.

Drolma

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Re: Tibet struggle's slow slide off the global radar as Dalai Lama ages
« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2019, 09:51:50 AM »
The Chinese government has successfully brought progress and improved the lives of the Tibetans. Not only that, but the Chinese government has also allocated a lot of funds to restore important monasteries and heritage sites in Tibet. This definitely has helped the Chinese government to earn the trust and respect from the Tibetans.

Indeed it was a good sign that the Chinese government was taking Germany's top human rights official Barbel Kofler to visit Tibet. This is because there are many tangible things to show Barbel Kofler that the Chinese government has not been ill-treating the Tibetans as what others have said. It also shows that the Tibetans have completely integrated and not thinking they are not part of China.

It seems like the influence of the Dalai Lama is getting weaker. Otherwise, Tibet won't be considered as a safe zone. Whatever ideology the Dalai Lama or CTA have does not matter to the Tibetans in Tibet anymore. They are happier and comfortable now, why would anyone want to change that? Very soon, the CTA will lose its supports from Tibetans in Tibet and in exile, they will collapse soon!

Joo Won

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Re: Tibet struggle's slow slide off the global radar as Dalai Lama ages
« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2019, 10:03:54 AM »
This shows Beijing is successful in their approach to develop TAR - when you have a decent job, a roof above your head, money in your pocket and food on your dinner table, you won't think so much of going to self immolate or to become a terrorist to kill people around you. 

The fact that Beijing brave enough to show the German human rights officer to Tibet, apart from they have put on some measurements, but bottom line is they are more confidence and comfortable as you have said.

The more developed TAR is, the less Tibetan leaders are able to ignite the hatred among Tibetans, and lure them to escape from TAR and become a refugee with no money, no status, no passport, no house, no job in INDIA. Time for CTA to close shop. 

Jushri

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Re: Tibet struggle's slow slide off the global radar as Dalai Lama ages
« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2019, 10:10:00 AM »
Sounds like the Tibetan Cause is dying a natural death. Hardly surprised cos CTA has done nothing tangible for Tibetans except condemn China's human rights issues. A good example of how the cause is a lost cost is the 97% drop of Tibetan refugees arrival in India. From 3000 in 2008 to a pathetic 80 in 2017.

Read more: ‘97% drop in Tibetan refugees arrival to India from Tibet’
>> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/67566650.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

China has really stepped up on developing Tibet and the world can see this. To be able to bring Barbel Kofler to visit Tibet shows how much confidence China has in Tibet and perhaps there is no major human rights issues as claimed by CTA.

HH Dalai Lama is the only thing that CTA has for Tibetans. Without HHDL, CTA is as good as nothing.



Jushri

Tracy

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Re: Tibet struggle's slow slide off the global radar as Dalai Lama ages
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2019, 10:36:16 AM »
This is actually a piece of fantastic news, it shows that the CTA and the Dalai Lama are losing support from the millions of Tibetans in Tibet. China has gained the trust and respect from the Tibetans by providing more opportunities in life. The Chinese government is very successful in integrating the Tibetans.

The Chinese government does not promise the sun or the moon to the Tibetans. They just do what they think it's important which are to improve the standard of living of the Tibetans, to reduce the poverty rate and to preserve the Tibetan culture and tradition. Over the years, China has delivered the above to the Tibetans with positive results. The poverty rate in Tibet has gone down from 37% to 7.9% in 2018. The Chinese government has proven itself to be a better leader as compared to the CTA.

With so much improvement in their lives, it is not surprising that the Tibetans in Tibet are not interested in having an independent Tibet. It will be stupid to leave all the comfort behind and be a refugee in India and wait for the CTA to fulfill the promise they have not been able to for the past 60 years. However, I do hope the Dalai Lama will be able to go back to Tibet one day and the CTA should dissolve soon because they cause more harm to the Tibetans than bringing benefits to them.

Lawrence L

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Re: Tibet struggle's slow slide off the global radar as Dalai Lama ages
« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2019, 01:51:28 PM »
Everyone sees the Tibetan Cause is going nowhere, but it would be politically incorrect to say so, but truth is truth.

How can the Tibetan Cause gets to somewhere because the people Tibetan government in exile office, now known as Central Tibetan Administration are not doing things to benefit the people but to just use that position to take money for themselves?!

Don't even have to go into discussion of how whether the Tibetan Cause is good or bad, valid or invalid, the people running the government, managing the people are total failure, making the Tibetan Cause a total failure as well. Too too bad.


If I am Tibetan in India, I will just ask the people in the government to step down, or just follow His Holiness the Dalai Lama's wishes fully to try to negotiate with China, not keep irritating China or being two-faced with China.

China is way too powerful compared to the Tibetans exiled in India. The United States and the rest of the western countries aren't going to do anything to help Dalai Lama wins Tibet back. This is the truth even though it sounds politically incorrect.

Drolma

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Re: Tibet struggle's slow slide off the global radar as Dalai Lama ages
« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2019, 11:39:11 AM »
Well, if after 60 years there is still no progress, we can conclude that the cause is a failure. It should not be pursued anymore. CTA is still pursuing because this is their source of income. The western countries are still giving CTA donations because most of them just want to make use of the Tibet issue to irk China.

But this won't last too long. The economy of the western countries is getting worse by day. They have a negative economic growth, their budget to support the Tibet cause will reduce, some might even stop supporting. The US has already reduced its financial aid given to the CTA.

Many Tibetans have realised CTA will never be able to fulfill its promise of bringing them back to Tibet. They have finally accepted the fact. Thus, many of them choose to leave the exiled community. Some of them migrate to the western countries, some of them become Indian citizens and some choose to go back to China. The decline in the population of Tibetans in India is a clear indication CTA has lost its support from the Tibetans.


Alex

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Re: Tibet struggle's slow slide off the global radar as Dalai Lama ages
« Reply #9 on: March 17, 2019, 08:19:20 PM »
The Tibetan cause is not going to progress for another 50 years no matter what Lobsang Sangay said. It has been 60 years since Tibetans fled their country and the fight for Tibet's independence has been ongoing for that long as well. Tibetans in exile receive millions in donation annually and not to mention resources and aids from India.

There is no reason for the community of Tibetan in Exile to stay stagnant and have no progress at all. The Tibetan leadership is really doing a bad job in fighting for their country back. Everyone can see that the Tibet cause is not going anywhere with that kind of leadership especially His Holiness the Dalai Lama is growing old. He will no longer have the energy and time to support the cause.

Once His Holiness the Dalai Lama passes into clear light, there will be no one that can unite the Tibetans and fight for the Tibet cause like His Holiness. The movement will die down and soon be forgotten. Tibet will not be independent once again and they will have to accept the fact that it belongs to China now.