The Chinese ministry of public security, which is responsible for internalintelligence and security and oversees the administration of Tibet, Xinjiang andInner Mongolia, is reported to have issued instructions to the Chinese embassiesin countries having a large number of Tibetan refugees to mobilise the local Hanresidents to counter the anti-Beijing propaganda and activities of the Tibetanrefugees and to prevent any attempt by the refugees to disrupt the passage ofthe Olympic torch through different countries. They have been advised to counterthem through the Internet as well as on the ground. These instructions havereportedly come on the eve of the planned observance of March 31, 2008, as a"Day of Action" by the Tibetan diaspora. On this day, the TibetanYouth Congress (TYC) proposes to hand over to the Chinese embassies in importantcountries a petition calling for Tibetan independence, which has been signed byover one million people--Tibetans as well as foreigners--all over the world. Thepetition was circulated and the signatures obtained through the Internet.
The Chinese have been concerned over the effective manner in which the TYC andTibetan exile groups supporting it have been using the Internet to keep in touchwith each other, to propagate the cause of Tibetan freedom, to carry onpropaganda against Beijing and to call for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics.Despite the Chinese clamp-down on the use of the Internet and mobile telephonesin Tibet, Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu, the TYC office-bearers abroad and theleaders of the uprising movement, formed by the TYC inside the Tibetan-inhabitedareas of China, continue to exchange communications with each other and keep theworld informed of what has been going on inside Tibet. Thanks to the Internetand the mobile telephones and the ingenuity of the Tibetan youth, the Chinesehave failed to impose a total iron curtain around the Tibetan-inhabited areas,though a partial iron curtain, which is 75 per cent effective, functions. Evenyoung Tibetan monks in Tibet and other provinces have become adept in the use ofthe Internet.
The Han diaspora abroad has been advised to copy-cat the Tibetan use of theInternet in order to widely disseminate the Chinese version of the developmentsin Tibet since March 10, 2008. There has been a mushrooming of Han-run blogs andchat rooms in the last one week to counter the Western version of thedevelopments. A visit to some of these sites indicates that while they have beenhitting hard at the Dalai Lama and his so-called clique and at Western media andgovernments, they are avoiding any criticism of India. They are also avoidingblaming India for the activities of the Dalai Lama and the TYC.
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The Chinese authorities have been avoiding taking cognisance of the TYC andgiving it a locus standi in the Tibetan issue. Instead, they continue to blamewhat they call the Dalai clique, which includes His Holiness himself, his set-upin Dharamsala, the TYC and other Tibetan non-governmental organisationsagitating on the issue of the Tibetan rights.
The Chinese do not want to give the impression that they are doubting thesincerity of the government of India when it says that it continues to regardTibet as an integral part of China and is opposed to any anti-China activitiesfrom its territory. While accusing the Western countries of followingdouble-standards with regard to the use of force to deal with internaldisturbances, they have been avoiding projecting the uprising in theTibetan-inhabited areas as engineered by the West. They have been recalling theruthless manner in which President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, as the InteriorMinister in 2005, put down the riots by the Muslim migrants in France anddescribing his present expression of concern over the Chinese use of forceagainst the Tibetans as hypocrisy.
While continuing to make arrests of the suspected participants in the uprisingand those, who could pose a threat during the passage of the Olympic flamethrough Tibet, they have at the same time mounted a campaign to re-assure theWestern governments and investors that the situation in Tibet is not as bad asprojected by the Western media and has returned to normal. Their exercise totake teams of foreign journalists and diplomats to Lhasa to see the situationfor themselves proved an embarrassment. When the journalists were visiting amonastery in Lhasa, a group of monks shouted anti-Chinese and pro-Dalai Lamaslogans. The diplomats have expressed their dissatisfaction over the way theChinese sought to exercise strict control over their movements in Lhasa and didnot allow them to freely interact with the local population.
The Chinese have been surprised that despite the significant prosperity of theTibetans as a result of the undoubted economic progress, there is a high levelof discontent against the government and support for the Dalai Lama. Theyattribute this to the failure of the local officials to realise the importanceof "patriotic education" of the Tibetan youth. The importance of"patriotic re-education" was the running theme of the remarks made byMr Meng Jianzhu , the minister for public security, during his interactions withlocal officials when he visited Lhasa on March 23 and 24, 2008. His visit hasbeen followed by the beginning of what appears to be a purge of local officials,who are seen as responsible for failing to anticipate the disturbances andprevent them.
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The Tibet Daily announced on March 30, 2008, that Mr Danzeng Langjie,Director of Tibet's Ethnic Minority and Religious Affairs Commission, has been"removed" from his post and replaced by Mr Luosang Jiumei, who was theVice-Secretary of the Communist Party committee of Lhasa since 2004. Both areethnic Tibetans.
The Chinese Foreign Office is also reported to be unhappy with the Chineseembassy in New Delhi for failing to closely monitor the activities of the DalaiLama's set-up and the TYC and forewarn the government in Beijing of their plansto create incidents before the passage of the Olympic flame through Tibet. Thepurge may eventually affect the staff of the embassy too.
B. Rasman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. ofIndia, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies,Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies.
