Letter to the Editor

South China Morning Post

OPINION/ESSAYS, LETTERS, Page 20

1997/08/12

The article "After Decades, Tibet Won't Bend to Chinese Ways" (July 29) warrants further clarification.

Tibet has been part of China for more than 700 years. The region was peacefully liberated in 1951 through an agreement between the central people's government and the local government of Tibet. Tremendous changes have taken place, particularly since democratic reform was introduced in 1959.

In the old Tibet, under the Dalai Lama, more than 90 percent of the population was illiterate. Today, 73.5 percent of the children go to school. In the old Tibet, there were only two medical clinics. Today, there are more than 1,000. And, thanks to remarkable improvements in living conditions, the Tibetans' average lifespan has risen from 26 years before 1959 to the present average of 65 years. The Tibetan people also enjoy freedom of religious belief as stipulated in China's Constitution. Over the past decade or more, the central government has appropriated more than $24 million to renovate religious facilities. Today, there's a record number of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples.

After Hong Kong returned to the embrace of the motherland, the Dalai Lama said he favored "autonomy" for Tibet under the "one country, two systems" formula. This is deceptive and absurd Deceptive because in all his contacts with the central government, the Dalai Lama has never given up his idea of independence for Tibet. That's the only reason talks have not started between the Dalai Lama and the central government.

Absurd because Hong Kong, which was occupied by a foreign country for more than 150 years, is a very different case. Tibet has always been under the jurisdiction of the central government. And what system would the Dalai Lama practice in Tibet - the serfdom of the old Tibet?

The Dalai Lama should give up his "independence for Tibet" position, stop his separatist activities, and do something beneficial for Tibet and the motherland.

Yu Shuning

Washington

Embassy of the People's Republic of China