Chinese Won’t Leave Dalai Lama Alone – Maintain Hold on Tibet

Tibetans, chafing at Chinese rule to a greater extent of late, have found the Chinese government cracking down to a much greater extent than in the recent past, with paramilitary police toting riot shields and batons taking up posts on the main street of Xiahe on Monday and generally disrupting Buddhist pilgrims in the area. The move was apparently made by the Chinese government to maintain stricter control over the area and is likely a response to anti-government protests that occurred last March, the largest such protests in the country in almost 50 years. Police checkpoints have been placed, dismantled and placed again seemingly at random in the area, most likely another move to keep the populace guessing and wary of the more determined exertion of the government’s will.

Said a monk who has studied in the town’s Labrang monastery for 15 years, "We are in the grip of the Communist Party. Tibet is occupied. The Dalai Lama has fled to India. My heart is sad." The monk refused to give his name, wary of government harassment or even imprisonment. Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama, in exile now for 50 years, recently ended a series of meetings called to discuss reconciling with China and remained pessimistic about any serious progress being made. He referred to the next 20 years as a period of "great danger" for Tibet, warning that native Tibetans’ will to continue might eventually be destroyed by continued Chinese hostility.

In response to the situation, a Chinese writer and Buddhist who lives in Beijing notes, "Tibet’s traditions and culture are weakening rapidly. Can the exiles survive for another 20 years if their policies fail and if the Chinese government continues to resist a compromise? The current Chinese government is not going to solve the Tibet problem. Under one-party rule, power is crucial, and they are the power-holders."