The ****trait of a Terrorizing "Olympic Host" -- China terrorizes Tibet /
IHT
International Herald Tribune
China terrorizes Tibet
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
It was impossible not to notice that the United States removed China
from its list of top 10 human rights violators just as the biggest
anti-China protests in 20 years erupted in Tibet. Even when handed that
undeserved dispensation, the Beijing government cannot control its
authoritarian nature.
A week of protests in Tibet turned violent on Friday as Chinese security
forces clashed with hundreds of Buddhist monks and other ethnic
Tibetans. Information was hard to verify, but news re****ts said a market
in the capital was burned; at least 16, and perhaps many more, people
were killed; and paramilitary police and troops were deployed. Over the
weekend, rioting spread to neighboring provinces, and demonstrations
even reached Beijing.
The protests began March 10, the anniversary of a failed 1959 Tibetan
uprising against Chinese rule. The Chinese took Tibet by force in 1951,
and the region has been a source of tension ever since.
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama has urged greater
religious and cultural freedom for Tibet. But talks with Beijing have
gone nowhere.
To earn the right to play host to this summer's Olympics, Beijing
promised to improve its human rights record. As its behavior in Tibet
demonstrates, China does not take that commitment seriously.
In its annual human rights re****t on 190 countries, the State Department
conceded that Beijing's overall performance remained poor. But in what
looked like a political payoff to a government whose help America
desperately needs on difficult problems, the department dropped China
from its list of 10 worst violators.
Whatever gain China may have gotten from being elevated above the likes
of North Korea, Myanmar, Iran and Sudan was lost by the crackdown on
Tibet. China had a chance to ****ne for its Olympic coming-out party and
is blowing it. Its leaders will continue to have to battle protests and
unrest until they ensure more freedom for all their citizens, including
greater religious tolerance and freedom for Tibet.
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