The lost horizons of the Tibetans

Press, 19 October 1987, Page 14

The lost horizons of the Tibetans

By

JASPER BECKER

in Lhasa

Recent riots in the Tibetan capital pose the worst challenge to China’s rule over Tibet since the 1959 rebellion when 87,000 Tibetans died and the Dalal Lama fled to exile in India. The challenge to the world’s largest standing army could well end in tragedy. The Tibetans, two million nomads and subsistence farmers scattered across a region almost the size of Western Europe, have always been the most troublesome of the 56 minorities which belonged to the "great family of the Chinese nation.” Like most of the other minorities, they inhabit a sensitive border area. Unlike the others, their resistance to Chinese rule has been sustained both by their religion and a government in exile led by the 51-year-old Dalai Lama and supported by 100,000 exiles scattered across the globe. Tibet suffered more than any other part of China from the policies pursued by Chairman Mao. The forced collectivisation of the 1960 s led to widespread famine when the Tibetans built terraces to grow winter wheat instead of the traditional barley.

The rebellion, famines and persecutions are said by the Dalai Lama to have led to the deaths of one million. Tibet has been a bottomless pit into which the Chinese Government has poured SUS 3 billion since 1952. There is little to show for it, according to a report in the World Economic Herald published in Shanghai two years ago. Tibet still has the lowest per capita income in China — JUS110; the highest Illiteracy rate of 70 per cent, and lowest life expectancy, 40 years. After 37 years of rule by the Chinese Communists even Tibetans living in Lhasa can barely speak Chinese. The devotion to the Buddhist lamas appears unshaken despite the wholesale destruction of the monasteries and the geography that went with them. Around the restored Johkan temple in the centre of Lhasa thousands* of impoverished pilgrims dressed in greasy animal skins prostrate themselves in the dirt or chant mantras before yak butter candles. The 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama is still

regarded as a “living god” and monks accept pictures of him with an embarrassing display of gratitude. The Chinese have invited the Dalai Lama to return, but have been horrified by the tumultuous reception given to his emissaries when they have visited Tibet The Chinese now insist that if he returns, he must live in Peking The negotiations have stalled. . At the end of the 1970 s some,. Chinese leaders including Deng Xiao Ping and the lately deposed Hu Yaobang, former party general secretary, began to admit that serious mistakes had been made in Tibet However, Tibet remains a stronghold of “leftism.” Many of the current cadres arrived during the cultural revolution and their unhelpful attitudes towards the reforms were still being criticised last year by the provincial governor, Mr Doje Ceririg For the Chinese reformers Tibet has been a minefield. Mr Deng was reportedly purged in the cultural revolution for his Tibetan record.. The second of the five points cited for Mr Hu Yaobang’s dismissal in January

was his failure to resolve Tibet’s instability. The hew policies were launched in 1980. Tibetan farmers were allowed to return to their old ways. Land leases were extended to 30 or 50 years, and all taxes were lifted. At a meeting in 1984, $250 million was earmarked for 43 infrastructure projects, including hotels, schools and museums. Tourism was singled out as the quick fix for the economy and 40 per cent of the money was spent on hotels and urban development projects. Thus Tibet was opened to the outside world with confident projections that in 10 years it would welcome 100,000 tourists a year. The Chinese Government also decided to spend money on special schools for Tibetan children in order to create a necessary educated class. Thousands of children have been sent to schools outside Tibet. By opening up the borders, China has encouraged contacts with the Dalai Lama’s exiled government in India. Nowadays large numbers of Indian or Nepalese Tibetans visit their relatives. The Chinese suspect that sub-

BS-SSs way and they are accusing him of fomenting the current unrest One pamphlet printed on June "The Chinese say this Is . a Communist country and they’re giving economic help but in reality the Chinese are exploiting Tibet -for the benefit of the Chinese here not the Tibetans,” it said. The pamphlet was addressed to the people of the world and the heads of the United Nations and international human rights organisations. “The Chinese really say the Tibetans are too stupid to progress,or handle high level jobs. Tibetans are always given the worst and most dangerous jobs,” It said. “If you go to hospital you get third-class treatment They don’t care. From any point of view, their dirty game is; to finish off Tibet The Chinese say they’re educating our children by sending them to China. This is only a deceit The students are unable to learn about their own language and culture. This is another way of destroying Tibet’’ Most of the Western backpackers who have been allowed in since 1984 have immediately warmed to the Tibetans* cause and are providing a ready avenue for Tibetan appeals for help In the outside world.' Yet the more enlightened policies pursued since 1980 will now be under attack with unknown consequences for the political future-of-China’s reformers. , Although the monks are ready to take up arms against the Chinese the results would be disastrous. Arms would be difficult to smuggle in and after visiting Moscow in 1982 the Dalai Lama decided against seeking help from that direction. Instead, lama monks in Interviews betray a pathetic confidence in the power of the. U.N. and human right organisations. “We plead that the U.N. support us. Out of the goodness of your hearts please give us help' for this benighted country known as Tibet and free us from the hands of the Red Chinese,” said the pamphlet “We want a U.N. delegation to inspect the human rights situation in Tibet” a senior lama told me. However, the recent demonstrations, while they were intended to lend support to the Dalai Lama’s visit have also played into the hands of the militants. Some, members of the Tibetan Youth League would prefer to create a national separatist movement along the lines of the Basques, Sri Lankan Tamils, or the Sikhs. The first step in creating a cycle of violence and militancy has begun.