ADVOCATING VIOLENCE CAN ONLY HASTEN THE DESTRUCTION OF THE DALAI LAMA CLIQUE

 

Since the beginning of this year, a number of incidents of self-immolation and vandalism have occurred in a few Tibetan areas in some provinces. The Dalai Lama clique became even more excited and exaggerated matters in Tibetan areas by calling the situation tense. On February 8, it instigated “worldwide evening candlelight activities in “support” of the propagators. Then the Dalai Lama threateningly advised all Tibetans to not celebrate the Tibetan New Year and lobbied Western countries to send teams of observers to investigate the situation in Tibetan areas. Beginning in early March, the Dalai Lama clique began advocating a “Tibetan people’s uprising” as it does every year at this time in the hope of inciting more bloody incidents in Tibetan areas. Even though there was nothing new in this series of actions and they received only scattered responses at home and abroad, they reveal that the Dalai Lama clique’s separatist stance has become more extreme and violent, and this fact deserves our attention and vigilance.

 

The advocacy of self-immolation highlights

the desperation of the “Tibet independence” stance

 

The Dalai Lama clique’s tactic of inciting self-immolation has a long history. In 2001, security organs of the Chinese government uncovered a plot of the Dalai Lama clique to send people to Tibet to immolate themselves. This was reported in a story carried by Xinhua News Agency, which also reported that a monk from Qinghai Province illegally went abroad, after which the Dalai Lama clique lured him into agreeing to immolate himself and drew up a detailed plan for carrying it out. The Dalai Lama clique’s “Information and International Relations Department” immediately issued a press release stating, “The credibility of all the activities we carry out in Tibet is premised on the principle of nonviolence that the Dalai Lama advocates. Buddhism believes that killing any living thing, and especially suicide, is very wrong.” The statement further “confessed” that in 1998 a Tibetan immolated himself in New Delhi, and “The Dalai Lama strongly opposed this action and urged all Tibetans not to do so in the future.”

However, ten years later in 2011, when a number of self-immolations again occurred in a few Tibetan areas, the attitude of the Dalai Lama and his clique had changed completely. The Dalai Lama not only didn’t express his disapproval of them, but also held a special Buddhist ceremony and took the lead in fasting for a day to express his support for the incidents. The Tibetan “government in exile” and heads of various “Tibet independence” organizations all issued statements calling those who immolated themselves “national heroes,” calling self-immolation a way to “accumulate spiritual merit for future lives,” and claiming that those who immolate themselves will “be living Buddhas in their next life.” Recently, the “Free Tibet Students Movement” held a meeting at which it stated “Sacrificing oneself for a greater cause is a basic doctrine of Buddhism.” A number of self-immolations have occurred at Kirti Monastery in Aba County, Sichuan. Its living Buddha has fled abroad, and on November 11, he declared to the media in the United States, “Choosing self-immolation is a form of altruism that Buddhism advocates.” The Kirti Monastery News Liaison Group” overseas made the preposterous claim to the media, “The tide of self-immolation cannot be turned back,” and boasted, “Tibetans in exile will make sure that the sacrifice those who immolated themselves made will not be in vain.”

I have stated before that for more than 50 years, the Dalai Lama has alternately used violent and nonviolent means to achieve his goal of “Tibet independence.” Today the Dalai Lama clique has abandoned its position of ten years ago to avoid inciting violence, and it now openly calls for violence and has no misgivings about turning Tibetan Buddhism into a “self-immolation religion.” This does not show that the clique is becoming stronger; rather it shows that its “nonviolence” is ineffective and it has no alternative but to resort to violence again.

 

Publicity stunts promoting “Tibet independence”

 

On February 4, the Dalai Lama clique’s overseas news outlets such as the “Voice of Tibet” and “Radio Free Asia” located in Norway fabricated a self-immolation report asserting, “Three Tibetans from Seda County, Sichuan immolated themselves. They were 60-year-old Cacai Ciren from Xuesang village, 30-year-old Jiari from Benxu village, and a third unidentified person. One of them is dead and the other two were seriously injured.” Subsequently the Dalai Lama clique’s “Information and International Relations Department” held a press conference to “express its sympathy” concerning the situation and declared, “It is necessary to use an international platform to transmit the grievances of the Tibetans who immolated themselves to the world.” On February 7, the main “spokesman” of the Dalai Lama clique fanned the flames in an online article entitled “We Grieve for the Three Tibetans from Seda County Who Immolated Themselves on February 3,” in which he claimed the assertions were corroborated by Tibetans in China. Then on February 16, when others pursued the issue further, the Dalai Lama clique’s media had no alternative but to dejectedly and meekly admit “this incident cannot be confirmed” and it is just “hearsay.” The Dalai Lama clique’s spokesman tried to keep his hooks in his readers by asking rhetorically, “Did the three Tibetans from Seda County actually immolate themselves or merely prepare to do so?” This large question mark reveals the rumormongers’ despicable nature and their desire to stir up trouble, and warns every good-natured person not to expect to hear the truth from the Dalai Lama clique.

 

The new head of the “government in exile” takes

the path of inciting violence

 

Last year, the Dalai Lama declared he would “retire” from “political activities” and turn power over to an “elected” “government in exile” in order to more freely manipulate behind the scenes and seek international support. This move immediately set off a power struggle within the Dalai Lama clique, and some factions rushed to instigate incidents within China for the purpose of ingratiating themselves with the Dalai Lama and consolidating their position, with the result that separatist activities became more extreme and more violent. The new head of the “government in exile” is very ambitious but of limited talent. Shortly after assuming his new position he revealed the Dalai Lama’s position to the world in a speech, saying “’Tibet independence’ is our principled objective; ‘Tibetan autonomy’ is our practical objective.” This left the Dalai Lama with no room to maneuver. In an interview with news media on January 21, he further claimed, “After the Dalai Lama turns political power over to me, I will be the political leader of the Tibetan people,” as if he already completely disregarded everyone else in the clique. In order to show off his political accomplishments, this individual made political statements in the name of the “government in exile” on numerous occasions, held Buddhist ceremonies to bless the so-called victims, made a public statement on the first day of the Tibetan New Year, asked Tibetans in China and abroad “not to celebrate Tibetan New Year this year, but instead go to temples to pray for the victims in China,” and took every opportunity available to encourage Tibetans to immolate themselves. He also asserted “self-immolation will make the outside world aware of the Tibetan people’s suffering”; “Tibetans want a more direct, faster and more effective method”; and “We need to remember the aspirations of the people who immolated themselves, and take bringing their aspirations to reality as our goal in a lifelong struggle.”

It is interesting that in an interview with the Associated Press on February 14, this individual candidly revealed his delusions, saying “It’s quite possible that on February 22, Tibetan New Year, Tibetans will take to the streets and launch a rebellion on the scale of the March 10, 1959, rebellion.” February 22 has already come and gone, and I don’t know if this Harvard graduate is still indulging in this fantasy.

 

Some Western forces openly support

the Dalai Lama clique’s inclination to violence

 

The Dalai Lama fled abroad several decades ago, and ever since he has relied on the support of forces in the United States and other Western countries. If he did not provide a pretext for them to undermine the stability of Tibet, interfere in China’s internal affairs and hinder China’s development, they would not give him any money and the Dalai Lama clique would have no means to survive. For this reason, the Dalai Lama clique has recently intensified its lobbying to get the West to “pay more attention to the tense situation in Tibet.” The new head of the Tibetan “government in exile” made an impassioned plea during an interview with Australian media for “the Australian government or the American government to send a delegation to Tibet to investigate the situation there.” In its Tibetan New Year’s statement, the “government in exile” set forth “seven urgent appeals,” the first two of which were for “China to remove its troops from Tibetan areas” and “to allow independent individuals to go to Tibetan regions to investigate the situation.”

Some Western forces and media seemingly forget the lesson that their distorted reports on the March 14 Incident in Lhasa infuriated all the people of China, and they still constantly issue sensational reports to the effect that “chaos is intensifying in Tibetan areas of China” and “Tibetans are celebrating Tibetan New Year under martial law,” and on some occasions, distortion has bordered on total fabrication. A report in the January 28 New York Times under the heading “Han Chinese Suppress and Confine Ethnic Riots” was accompanied by a color photo with the caption “Fully armed Chinese soldiers patrolling Chengdu.” In fact, the photo wasn’t shot in Chengdu at all. The French newspaper La Croix published an interview with the founder of a French organization devoted to supporting the political struggle of the Dalai Lama on the eve of the Tibetan New Year. This Westerner spoke of self-immolation as if it were a kind of holy light. He went on to say that it could “become a signpost that could lead human beings from ignorance and purify themselves so that could take the path of wisdom and enlightenment.” He also said, “For Tibetans, self-immolation is an act of love and peace.” I can’t help but asking, If self-immolation is so wonderful why don’t you and the head of the “government in exile” immolate yourselves? Of course, my purpose is not to encourage this individual to immolate himself, and I just want to point out that to cherish one’s own life while encouraging others to immolate themselves is contemptible.

At the same time, very many people abroad have questioned the Dalai Lama clique’s inclination to violence. On February 3, Chinese Media Net, Inc. published an article stating, “The Tibetan ‘government in exile’ presently takes the attitude of conniving at the extreme action of self-immolation, which intentionally or unintentionally lets this kind of violent protest get out of control. If this goes on unchecked some Tibetans in exile will inevitably take the path of terrorism, and if they do they will gradually lose the support they have in the international community.” It goes on to say that the new head of the “government in exile” “seemingly is deliberately inciting incidents to create momentum to increase the pressure on the government in Beijing. Western politicians fear that if the present situation heats up and the violence increases, it could lead to terrorism and tarnish their reputation, so they want to cool things down.”

The Dalai Lama flaunts his profession of nonviolence in the international arena to attract sympathy, but an examination of his separatist activities reveals that in 1959 he instigated an armed rebellion, and afterwards he carried out armed border raids for more than ten years. He was behind the riots in Lhasa in 1987 and 1989 and the March 14 incident in 2008. All of them involved violence. The Dalai Lama is already 77 years old, and his separatist activities haven’t achieved any success whatsoever. In order to escape its present political difficulties, the Dalai Lama clique again began clamoring for “Tibet independence,” and has increasingly relied on extremist and violent methods in the effort to attract international sympathy and support and increase the pressure on the Chinese government. However, in the past the Dalai Lama’s violence has never succeeded in achieving his aims, and it won’t succeed this time either. Today, openly resorting to violence would result in political suicide. At present Tibet and the Tibetan areas in four other provinces are undergoing economic development and are enjoying political stability. The people have good jobs and live a satisfying life. Both clergy and lay persons loathe the violent actions of the Dalai Lama clique and firmly oppose them. The Dalai Lama’s posturing will not achieve any of the results he fantasizes about; all it does is strip off his façade and expose his true nature to the international community.