TIBETAN INDEPENDENCE IS HARMFUL TO THE NATION AND A MENACE TO THE STATE

　　The Dalai Lama's Lies: Fallacies

　　That Ignore Facts and Confuse Black and White

　　In recent years, the Dalai Lama has talked a lot about “peace talks” and the so-called “middle way”. At the same time, in an attempt to occupy the moral high ground, he has attacked the central government’s policies on Tibet, and made a number of false assertions, including that “Tibet’s environment is being destroyed”, “Tibet’s religion and traditional culture are facing extinction”, “Tibetans have become an ethnic minority in Tibet”, and “Tibetans’ human rights are not being protected”. The Dalai Lama is attempting to transform himself from a theocratic feudal lord into a defender of human rights、environmentalist and protector of traditional culture. But fact after fact and conclusive evidence have shown that these statements by the Dalai Lama are simply aimed at discrediting the Party and government, winning the support of foreign forces, manipulating the international community’s sympathies, and spreading scurrilous rumors.

　　1. The So-Called “Middle Way”

　　As previously mentioned, at the core of the Dalai Lama clique’s separatist theory is the so-called “middle way”. There are two elements to the Dalai Lama clique’s core concept of the middle way: a “Greater Tibet” and a “high degree of autonomy”, which are closely linked. “Greater Tibet” constitutes the Dalai Lama clique’s territorial claim, and a “high degree of autonomy”, their political demand. The region the Dalai Lama claims as “Greater Tibet” has a total area of more than 2.4 million square kilometers. Looking at China’s historical administrative divisions, one can see that this “Greater Tibet” has never actually existed and has no historical、geographical、or cultural basis. From a religious perspective, the Dalai Lama is only one of the two great tulku (living Buddhas) of the Gelug Sect. Not only do the other sects, including the Nyingma、Sakya、Kagyu、Kadampa and Bon, not fall under his command, the areas formerly governed by the Panchen Lama do not come under his jurisdiction. From an ethnic perspective, there are over 20 ethnic groups living on the Tibetan plateau other than Tibetans, including people of the Han、Hui、Mongolian、Tu、Monba and Lhoba ethnic groups. As such, the concept of a “Greater Tibet” is pure nonsense and essentially about “Tibetan independence”. The so-called “high degree of autonomy” the Dalai Lama keeps harping on about is completely different from the system of ethnic regional autonomy, and its basic requirements are that “Tibetans should be responsible for all Tibetan affairs other than diplomacy and defense”, and should enjoy independent and unsupervised “legislative powers” and have the right to supervise their own religious affairs. These requirements attempt to alter China’s state and political systems so as to restore the system of feudal serfdom, which is a form of theocracy that puts religion above all else, in Tibet, and deprive the Tibetan people of their hard-won democratic rights that make them the masters of their country.

　　2. So-Called “Peace and Non-Violence”

　　For a while now, some Western politicians and media outlets have portrayed the Dalai Lama as a “peaceful monk” and “messenger of peace”. Every time the Dalai Lama attends a public event in the West he claims that, “For more than 50 years, I have adhered to the path of peace and opposed all acts of violence”. Over the past several decades, the Dalai Lama has constantly instilled in overseas Tibetans the notion that the 1959 armed rebellion was a “peaceful protest”. But documents declassified by the US government many years ago confirm that the Dalai Lama sought the US government’s help to attack China, that rebels received military training at several US secret bases and were given various kinds of weapons by the US, and that the rebels were then secretly returned to Tibet in US aircraft to wage guerrilla warfare. Recalling the separatist activities of the Dalai Lama clique, the Dalai Lama has never renounced the use of extreme and violent means. From launching the armed rebellion in 1959 to manufacturing the riots in Lhasa in 1987 and 1989 and the “March 14 incident” in 2008, as well as encouraging self-immolations in recent years, the Dalai Lama clique has constantly and deliberately provoked incidents、planned riots and created a bandwagon effect in order to put pressure on the central government, and despite the camouflage of “non-violence” he wears abroad to win sympathy for his cause, the true colors of the Dalai Lama’s cruel、vicious and despicable behavior still shine through.

　　3. So-called “Tibetan-Chinese Friendship” and “Tibetans Becoming an Ethnic Minority in Tibet”

　　In recent years, the Dalai Lama has talked on several occasions about “Tibetan-Chinese friendship” and claimed that there is “absolutely no conspiracy to manufacture contradictions”, and that he “want(s) to strengthen mutual understanding between Tibetan and Chinese people”. He has also claimed to have personally engaged in “discussions” with Chinese people online. But in reality, this is just a change in the direction of the Dalai Lama clique’s “Tibetan independence” activities, and is still aimed at stirring up Tibetan-Chinese relations and creating ethnic divisions.

　　The Dalai Lama has repeatedly claimed that “large numbers of Han Chinese have migrated to Tibet”, “that there is already more Han Chinese than Tibetans in Tibet, that Tibetans have become an ethnic minority in their own home”, and “that they are suffering from assimilation”. He has also accused the central government of “implementing policies that discriminate ethnically”, suggested that “Han Chinese have a different social status to Tibetans”, and claimed that “Tibetans have little or no say over how their own affairs are managed”. However, these remarks are deceptive. During the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951, the local government did not have any accurate population statistics. In 1953, when China conducted its first national consensus, the Tibetan local government reported having a population of one million people. According to the results of China’s sixth national census, Tibet’s population already exceeds three million, of which 90.48% are Tibetan, 8.17% are Han Chinese, and 1.35% belong to other ethnic groups. In today’s Tibet, ethnic discrimination is not only unheard of but exchanges and cooperation between the various ethnic groups have never been closer. The Tibetan people’s right to autonomously manage Tibet and their ethnic affairs is protected by the system of regional ethnic autonomy, which has allowed them to achieve ethnic equality and led to great unity among all ethnic groups, and the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet have truly become masters of the country. This solidarity among ethnic groups has helped promote the rapid development of Tibet’s economy and culture, and greatly improved Tibet’s economic development and cultural prosperity.

　　4. So-called Protection of “Human Rights in Tibet”

　　The Dalai Lama has often said he wants to “protect human rights in Tibet”, and constantly boasted that before reform Tibet was “free” and full of human rights、equality and freedom. Moreover, every year, he publishes the so-called White Paper on Human Rights Violations in Tibet, claiming the central government is denying and abusing people’s human rights. In fact, the Dalai Lama was the leader of the old theocratic regime which denied and abused people’s human rights. Prior to 1959, under the system of theocratic feudal serfdom, 95% of the population were serfs and slaves with no means of production, and were deprived of personal freedom, had no political、economic or cultural rights, and could be beaten、punished、sold、given away and even imprisoned or killed at any time according to their master’s will. As the American Tibetologist, A. Tom Grunfield has pointed out, though some people claim that before 1959 ordinary Tibetans enjoyed lots of milk tea、meat and various vegetables, a survey in Eastern Tibet in 1940 showed that 38% of households had never drunk tea, 51% could not afford butter, and 75% were sometimes forced to eat weeds boiled with ox bones and oat or bean flour. “Therefore, there was no evidence to prove that Tibet was a utopian Shangri-La”.

　　In stark contrast to this, prior to the democratic reforms of 1959, the Dalai Lama personally owned 160,000 taels of gold, 95 million taels of silver, 20,000 pieces of jade jewelry, and 10,000 pieces of silk、satin and rare fur clothing. His family owned 27 estates、30 pastures and more than 6,000 serfs. In old Tibet, many monasteries and aristocrats had private courts and jails as well as their own instruments of torture to punish serfs and slaves. The penal code in old Tibet even divided people into three classes and nine grades. It stipulated that the compensation to be paid for killing someone from the upper class was “the weight of the corpse in gold”, and the price for killing women、vagrant beggars、blacksmiths and butchers was a “length of straw rope”. Although the Dalai Lama clique has tried hard to idealize feudal serfdom as a paradise in which people lived in harmony with nature, they cannot gloss over the brutal oppression of serfs by Tibetan serf-owners, which is the Tibetan people’s true memory of life under the rule of the Dalai Lamas.

　　5. The So-called Need to Protect “Tibet’s Unique Cultural and Religious Traditions” and “Tibet’s Unique Ecological Environment”

　　Over the years, in order to win over the support of Western forces, the Dalai Lama has created a multi-layered veil of hypocrisy, the most striking layers of which have been the so-called need to protect “Tibet’s unique cultural and religious traditions from impending ruin” and “Tibet’s unique ecological environment”. In interviews with Western media, the Dalai Lama has often stated, “The Chinese want to eliminate our language and culture, and Tibet’s religion、culture、language and national identity are on the brink of extinction.”

　　In fact, this statement is absurd. In old Tibet education was restricted to aristocrats and monasteries. As an ordinary Tibetan, unless you became a monk, you had no chance of gaining even a basic education. After the peaceful liberation of Tibet, especially since reform and opening up, Tibet’s educational and traditional cultural undertakings have been extensively developed and protected. School education in Tibet has gone from non-existent prior to liberation to today’s complete system of tertiary education, with unprecedented levels of Tibetan language used. In terms of cultural heritage, the Potala Palace、Jokhang Temple and Norbulingka have been designated UNESCO World Heritage sites; Tibetan opera and the Epic of King Gesar have been added to the list of the World’s Intangible Cultural Heritage; and there are now plenty Tibetan language films and television programs as well as book and periodicals. All of this points to the fact that Tibetan Buddhism is being effectively preserved and protected. These are irrefutable historical facts. Moreover, the Dalai Lama’s demand for the protection of “Tibet’s unique ecological environment” is even less worth mentioning. The central government attaches great importance to environmental and ecological protection in Tibet and, since reform and opening up, has promulgated more than 30 ecological and environmental protection laws and regulations in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and created a relatively systematic body of local environmental laws. Remarkable success has been achieved in bringing soil erosion under control in Tibet; desertification has been kept in check; significant progress has been made in protecting biodiversity; nature reserves have been effectively set up and managed; and some animals close to extinction have returned. Taking the Qinghai-Tibet railway as an example, during the design stage relevant departments invested a great deal of money to conduct meticulous research on the railways potential environmental impacts. The railway has been in operation for a few years, and there have been no adverse affects on the ecological environment of Tibet.

　　6. The Biggest Promulgator of Lies—the misleading propaganda of Western media

　　In an article titled “How Impressions of Tibet are Distorted”, Lisa Carducci stated, “Only a few people are honest enough to publish their views on Tibet having been there personally and come to understand the facts, while others choose to hear only the views they want to that do not contradict their stereotypes about Tibet.” Some Westerners have a clear、long-standing bias in terms of their views on China’s national conditions and the history of and current situation in Tibet, which has created a number of lies and fallacies that deviate from history and reality and provide an ideological hotbed for the Dalai Lama clique.

　　The cause of this situation is connected to the Western media’s deliberate attempts to mislead people in their reports on China. In Western countries that call themselves “democratic” and “free”, the news media is considered the “uncrowned king”. The Western mainstream media, including CNN、BBC、The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, claim to strictly maintain an attitude of rigorous reporting、neutrality and seeking out the truth. However, when covering stories on China, this so-called “truthful” media invariably distort the truth through careful editing and by deliberately ignoring key facts. For example, in their reporting on the “March 14 incident” in Lhasa in 2008, CNN removed footage of lawbreakers throwing stones at passing vehicles and instead fiercely criticized the Chinese government in one of its reports, thus blatantly giving a false account of the facts. The Washington Post, meanwhile, ran a story about the “Chinese government” and “Lhasa” accompanied with photos of Nepalese police clashing with protesters. In Germany, which is supposedly known for rigorous reporting, a television station also broadcast images of Lamas clashing with police in Nepal during a story about Tibet with the headline “New Protests in Tibet”. These instances of the Western media distorting the facts are about seizing and taking advantage of Western people’s prejudices against China to enhance their own influence.

　　An expose titled “Tibet—Truth Test” by a Russian news agency stated, “Many NGOs carry out ideological indoctrination on people who know little about China、Tibet or Lamaism. These people do not understand the situation but call for Tibet to be freed….This is a ‘color revolution’ directed by Americans.” Under the powerful media war waged by the West, the misunderstandings about the Chinese government of foreign people who do not know the truth are deepened further, which leads them to believe the lies of the Dalai Lama clique and support “Tibetan independence” activities in the name of “justice” and “human rights”.

　　“Tibetan Independence” is Harmful

　　to the Nation and a Menace to the State

　　From the above comprehensive analysis and expose of the Dalai Lama clique’s separatist behavior and lies, we can clearly see that the Dalai Lama is the leader of a separatist political group seeking “Tibetan independence”, a loyal tool of international anti-China forces, the main source of social unrest in Tibet, and the greatest obstacle to achieving order in Tibetan Buddhism. “Tibetan independence” activities are not only harmful to the nation, but a menace to the state, and they severely damage national sovereignty and undermine national unity and social stability, as well as seriously affect the development of Tibetan Buddhism and disrespect Buddhist traditions and its spirit of patriotism.

　　1. Attempting in Vain to Split the Motherland and Endangering National Sovereignty

　　“Tibetan independence” has always been a political demand of the Dalai Lama clique. Looking at the words and actions of the Dalai Lama clique, whether it is their stance on “Greater Tibet” and having “a high degree of autonomy”, or their insistence on the “middle way” and their theory that “Tibet’s status is undecided”, and whether it is their advocacy of a path of “peace and non-violence”, or the various acts of violence they plan and incite, they are always doing something to impinge on China’s national territory and sovereignty. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama often attends international events, and wherever he goes he spares no effort to attack the CPC and the central government, to discredit the central government’s policies, as well as to internationalize the “Tibet issue”, which is China’s internal affair, in order to encourage Western countries to apply pressure on and contain China. The Dalai Lama clique also colludes with various separatist forces and tries to undermine social stability in China, tarnish the country’s image, disrupt international visits by Chinese national leaders, and harm China’s national interests and sovereignty. Furthermore, in order to gain support from his foreign masters, the 14th Dalai Lama has actually claimed that the Sixth Dalai Lama’s hometown of Moindawang is in India. This is a gross violation of China’s territorial integrity、sovereignty and national fundamental interests. As Hu Jintao commented during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2008, “Tibetan affairs are China’s internal affairs. The disagreement between us and the Dalai Lama is not a problem of nationality、religion or human rights, but rather a problem over the preservation of unity or the splitting up of the motherland.”

　　2. Engineering Ethnic Conflicts and Undermining National Unity

　　The Dalai Lama clique often makes up ethnic separatist rumors to create tension between ethnic groups, especially between Tibetans and other ethnic groups, and deliberately provoke ethnic conflicts so that people in the West will criticize China’s ethnic and religious policies. On the one hand, a few people who do not know the truth believe the lies of the Dalai Lama clique, which deepens their misunderstanding of the central government’s policies and of their compatriots and damages ethnic relations. On the other hand, it leads members of other ethnic groups to misunderstand Tibetans, which creates a sense of mistrust. This erodes and destroys the long-term achievements China has made through its policy towards nationalities in ethnic minority areas.

　　3. Inciting Violent Clashes and Undermine Social Stability

　　Since his defection in 1959, in order to restore his lost power and status, the Dalai Lama has tried everything possible at the expense of the Tibetan people’s “joy and happiness” to undermine Tibet’s stability and to incite trouble and manufacture violent incidents, including using “evil means” to “create suffering for” the Tibetan people. In the late 1950s, the Dalai Lama clique launched a full-scale armed rebellion, during which rebels burned and looted property、raped women and committed other atrocities. In the late 1980s, the Dalai Lama clique manufactured successive large-scale riots and disturbances in Lhasa, which caused pandemonium across the city and greatly harmed local people’s interests. The serious vandalism and arson attacks that took place during the “March 14 incident”, which were planned and instigated by the Dalai Lama clique, once again led to significant losses to the lives and property of the people of Tibet and seriously undermined the stability and unity of Tibet. Moreover, the recent self-immolation incidents planned and instigated by the Dalai Lama clique, which violate Buddhist morals and are simply acts of terrorism, have once and for all torn off their veil of non-violence and come to represent their degeneration to the point of directly and flagrantly imposing violence on innocent people.

　　4. Being a Pawn for Anti-China Forces by Interfering in China’s Internal Affairs and Damaging China’s International Development Environment

　　Internationalizing the “Tibet issue” with the help of foreign forces in order to put pressure on the Chinese government and ultimately achieve Tibetan independence has been the Dalai Lama’s intention throughout his 50 years in exile. A number of cast-iron facts show that the Dalai Lama has always had access to the financial resources and support of anti-China forces, that his activities aimed at “Tibetan independence” have been closely coordinated with the international strategies of anti-China forces to “Westernize” and “split” China, and that behind the Dalai Lama lies the lingering shadows of Western hostile forces. Specifically, separatist activities aimed at “Tibetan independence” have had the following two effects on China’s international development environment: First, Western forces have used the “Tibet issue” to put pressure on the Chinese government and contain China’s development. Due to the Dalai Lama clique planning and organizing “Tibetan separatist” activities under the guises of religious and human rights events, some Western countries have used “the pretext of human rights” to heavily criticize China’s domestic and foreign policies. For example, in its Country Reports on Human Rights, the US has repeatedly cited “Tibetan independence” activities in its criticism of China’s human rights situation and ethnic and religious policies to damage China’s international image. Second, the US and other Western countries have considered the impact “Tibetan independence” activities have on China and used attitudes toward “Tibetan independence” and the Dalai Lama clique as a counterweight to pursue their diplomatic interests.

　　5. Spreading Rumors to Thwart Attempts to Establish Order in Tibetan Buddhism

　　The Dalai Lama clique uses Tibetan Buddhism as a political tool to split the motherland, and has formulated a policy for carrying out religious infiltration focused on Tibet’s large monasteries. They are constantly trying to stir up religious fanaticism among the people in Tibetan areas and develop underground organizations, as well as incite the masses to oppose the government in an attempt to achieve “Tibetan independence using the power of religion”. This has now become the greatest obstacle to establishing order in Tibetan Buddhism. This is particularly apparent in the following areas: First, they fabricate rumors in order to confuse religious workers and religious believers and wantonly encourage uninformed monks and nuns to engage in activities aimed at splitting the motherland. Being based in a foreign country, it is not easy for the Dalai Lama clique to directly control the thinking of people in Tibet, so they broadcast Tibetan language programs via foreign radio stations, such as “Voice of America” and “All India Radio”, in order to influence public opinion. Typically, the Dalai Lama clique uses Tibetan presenters to broadcast in Lhasa、Amdo and Kham dialects, and they broadcast more than 10 hours of programming a day to Tibetan areas. The majority of the content is about the West’s support for the Dalai Lama clique、the Dalai Lama’s events and speeches in countries around the world, and attacks on the central government’s Tibet policy. Second, they flagrantly violate historical conventions and religious rituals、and manipulate reincarnation. This includes refusing to recognize the centuries-old religious rituals and historical conventions associated with the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, disregarding historical facts, repudiating the system of drawing lots from the golden urn by claiming that “the regulations were enforced by Manchu tyranny rather than a religious ritual followed by Tibetans”. The Dalai Lama has also falsely stated that “I was found and chosen by the Regent of Tibet and general assembly of the people without Chinese interference”. During his many visits abroad, the Dalai Lama has even randomly vowed to return as an Indian、Mongol、Kalmyk or European, and stated he will choose where to return from countries in the world that are home to Tibetan Buddhists. The purpose of this is to prevent the Chinese government overseeing his reincarnation and avoid losing the title of Dalai Lama, which would leave the government in exile in chaos, and to guarantee the continuation of “Tibetan independence” activities by overseas separatist forces. Third, the Dalai Lama clique’s actions have violated the teachings and historical traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. In the long process of its historical development, Tibetan Buddhism has had a fine tradition of patriotism. But at the instigation of the Dalai Lama clique, some Tibetans dressed in monk’s robes have wantonly engaged in vandalism and arson. On the issue of monks self-immolating, the Dalai Lama has claimed, contrary to the teachings of Buddhism, that it “does not violate the Buddhist doctrine on killing, nor does it run contrary to the Dharma, still less constitute breaking their vows. On the contrary it is the way of a bodhisattva”. This disregard for human life serves only to encourage self-immolations. These acts are undoubtedly the greatest blasphemy and insult to the patriotic traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.

　　Epilogue

　　History is a mirror that not only reflects the past but shows us the future. History has proved to us that Tibet has been an inalienable part of Chinese territory since ancient times, and that the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet are important members of the Chinese family. The CPC has led the people of all Tibet’s ethnic groups in creating countless miracles on the roof of the world, and promoted Tibet’s gradual transformation from darkness to light, from backwardness to progress, from dictatorship to democracy, from poverty to prosperity, from closed to open. The CPC has created a new era in Tibet’s history in which the Chinese nation is working together for common prosperity and development. Facts have shown us that despite the Dalai Lama clique’s best efforts and excuses, they cannot alter the truth about Tibet’s dark、savage、brutal and backward past. Regardless of how often the Dalai Lama clique incites violence and plans unrest, they cannot change the reality of Tibet’s harmonious development and that the Tibetan people live and work in peace and contentment. Regardless of how the Dalai Lama clique attempts to distort the truth and swear black is white, they cannot alter the fact that their secessionist attempts and attempts to seek help from foreign forces are bound to fail. The future will tell us that any attempts to achieve Tibetan independence are doomed to failure, that no reactionary force can stop the torrent of Tibet’s development and progress, that Tibet’s sky will forever be blue, and that the five-starred red flag of China will forever fly over the Tibetan plateau.”

　　(孙显辉 译)