Chinese - land mines??

Once considered only a problem in Western and Saharan (troubled) regions, Tibet has had a problem with land mines since the 1950 invasion. While China, like the United States, continues to defy the Ottawa Convention (Mine Ban Treaty), it did vote in the UN General Assembly to make the ban universal. It seems China is willing to stop using mines just as long as everyone else does.
On a side note, it is interesting that the United States not only continues to defy the treaty, but was one of just 17 nations in the UN General Assembly to vote against making the ban universal. Citing the Bush Administration's policy, “The United States will not join the Ottawa Convention because its terms would have required us to give up a needed military capability.” The new policy also states, “Landmines still have a valid and essential role protecting United States forces in military operations.... No other weapon currently exists that provides all the capabilities provided by landmines.” Pardon me, but I do not think the point of the treaty is to find a different technology that "provides all the capabilities provided by landmines." That seems to imply the point of the treaty is to find a technology with an even greater capacity for murder!
Anyway, back to the point of this entry. Unlike the Bush administrations blunt f*** you to the nations who have signed the treaty, the Chinese government cares about what other countries think of it and shows a lot of finesse in its apologetic tone regarding the mines. China has said, “Though China is not a party to the Ottawa Convention, it endorses the humanitarian purposes and objectives of the Convention and has been constantly strengthening exchanges and communication with State Parties.” China has even gone so far as to clean up some of its minefields along the Vietnamese border. The fact that Tibet continues to possess minefields implies that China has its own motives for clearing the mines on the Vietnamese border (rather than out of the kindness of their hearts). Nonetheless, this is merely speculation.
In fairness, Chinese landmines in Tibet are consolidated to the uninhabited mountainous regions of the Indian border. However, the landmines remain a threat and are further evidence of the Chinese deterrence of Tibetan emigration. According to the Landmine Monitor 2001 report, the mines kill wildlife such as snow leopards, blue sheep, Tibetan gazelle, alpine musk deer, and my own personal favorite, "Tibetan wild ass." Many of these landmines are leftovers from the Sino-Indian war as well as the Tibetan occupation. China needs to remove these landmines for it is unknown how many Tibetan refugees are killed each year. If they can remove them along the Vietnamese border, surely they can remove them in Tibet.

Rural Reconstruction Project

It's another day in China and another day of hypocrisy in the Chinese government. The brilliant economists in the government have decided to act on the long stated goal of "developing Tibet". This development includes Tibetans being forced to move from their rural homes to main roads where they can build a home in the "modern style". Of course this modern style does not include running water or electricity. The houses also do not have courtyards for livestock like a typical Tibetan home so Tibetans must get rid of a significant portion of their livelihood: their animals. This program is centrally designed but funds that have come to the region have been embezzled by local government officials. Tibetans only receive US$1200 to build $5000-6000 homes. Tibetans must take out loans to build the houses.

Tibetans who refuse this terrible practice get their houses bulldozed. Simply because you desire to live the way you want does not keep the Chinese from mining and stealing the resources under your home.

The Chinese are actually forcing urbanization. They figured out that wealth accumulates in urban areas while the rural areas are left poor. Let's simply create an urban population out of a people living in one of the most (if not, the most) sparsely occupied regions in the country. The way the Chinese government discusses the program seems insane to people growing up in a free market. It says these are where the four urban centers will be. These will be the industries that will magically flourish out of nothing. Here's the Chinese government front.

Human Rights Watch has called for the program to end immediately, so we'll see if the Chinese government listens to them for once.

Photo credit: Jeff Gao who has some beautiful pictures on his website. I hope he does not mind me borrowing one! Jeff's trips to Tibet

Murder at the Border

Though this is not recent news, I feel I should report on the traumatizing video that came out in late September. According to the BBC, it is now understood that a Tibetan nun was shot on the Nepalese border by Chinese soldiers. The nun was part of a group of 25 fleeing Tibet through the Himalayas. An English policeman along with several other mountaineers caught sight of the soldiers rushing to a place where they could make a shot at the refugees.
In case you are unaware, some 2000-3000 refugees per year flee to Tibet-in-exile in India. Nepal passes the refugees on to India and taking a very low bow towards Beijing (I feel as though I have to point out that I was just kidding about the latter).
How can "legitimate" democracies go on dealing with a barbaric authoritarian regime as if they were just one of the club. We have VIDEO (top right corner of BBC site) of this murder, and how can the Western powers deny the similarity between Soviet soldiers shooting dead East Germans trying to cross over the wall? We obviously did not deal with the USSR. How long before we must call on the Chinese government for regime change? How long will we continue our greed at the expense of over a billion people? They need us as much as we need them and certainly we have enough political (maybe not since Iraq) and economic capital to call them on their terrible injustice. Murdering people trying to leave suggests a lot about the conditions in which people are living. North Korea does the same thing with refugees leaving that totalitarian regime.
Now I'm rambling about how much I deplore the treatment of this nonviolent, religious people. It'll probably happen after every blog post so I apologize in advance.

The Railroad

I just read my first comment. I previously overlooked him/her figuring it was my roommate telling me to get busy on the blog. I'd like to post the link to where he's selling t-shirts in honor of him being my first comment! Free Tibet T-Shirts

I wish I had this blog months ago so that I could write about the Qinghai - xizang (青藏鐵路 for those of you with Chinese characters) railway. Instead, I think I'll write about it as if it's July 1st, 2006 and just opened.

For years the Chinese government has been trying to build this railroad. Prior to its construction, people going in and out of Tibet would have to utilize either the small air traffic or the Qingzang highway. This isn't like driving to Wisconsin to see your family for Thanksgiving. From what I understand, it is a real adventure to drive up to the Tibetan plateau. Even flying can be dangerous - many people have been killed of asphyxiation as soon as they step off of the plane (real high elevation, less oxygen - yea you get it).

So enough of the background - this new railroad is going to set Tibetans back a great deal. According to the Chinese government website (which declares the opening of the railroad a glorious day) it would cost 400 yuan (50 USD) to take a bus along the qingzang highway. A flight could cost $1650 (206 USD). But now, a train ticket only costs 300 yuan or (37.5 USD). This is a huge problem for Tibetans. The difficult transportation to the area helped isolate the Tibetans even after their brutal annexation to China. Now, China is going to have no difficulty "bringing development" to the poorer western regions. In other words, China will have no difficulty aiding their own population problems by relocating Han farmers (largest Chinese ethnicity belonging to East and Southeast of China) to Tibet. Tibetans are already relegated to second-class citizens.

Not only is the further immigration of Chinese at stake, but the Chinese government now has much greater capacity to move soldiers in and out of Tibet. After murdering 1.2 million Tibetans, soldiers have grown tired and desire to go home. They will finally be able to return with the help of this new railroad. To supplant these murderers will be another huge batch of anxious young Chinese with itchy trigger fingers and brainwashed intolerance for the Tibetan way of life.

This railroad is devastating. I hope the perseverance of the Tibetan people has not grown tired.

住在火上的人，你会逍遥。

Hello World

Hello Everyone,
This blog is devoted to telling the story of the Tibetan people. The history, the art, the religion, the culture are all unmatched in their beauty. As we all know, since 1951, the Tibetan people have been subjugated against their will under the guise of liberation. The PRC's propaganda onslaught has helped create a consensus among the Western powers against the Tibetan people's right of self-determination. This has left Tibet with little hope of support among western powers. Of course, I need not explain the issue in my first post as the rest of this blog will be updated often. Thank you to all my future readers and supporters of the Tibetan cause.