DEMOCRACY IN CHINA/FREEDOM FOR TIBET-FAX ! - #75

Newsletter on the campaigns of the Radical Party for the freedom of Tibet and the democracy on China.

"I truly believe that individuals can make a difference in society. Since periods of great change such as the present one come so rarely in human history, it is up to each of us to make the best use of our time to help create a happier world".

Tenzin GYATSO, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, 1992

Issue 75, March 20, 1999 (Year IV)

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Editors office: Massimo Lensi

Mailto:M.Lensi@agora.stm.it

Http://www.radicalparty.org

Telnet:agora.stm.it

Distribution: Alberto Novi

Published in English, Spanish, French, Italian

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Forty years have passed since the harrowing days that saw the troops of the People's Liberation Army lay waste to Lhasa. And forty years have gone by without there being an end in sight to the Tibetan tragedy, despite the diffident attempts at dialogue between Beijing and Dharamsala at the end of last year.

The Same Dalai Lama, in his customary discourse marking the anniversary of the 10th of March (*) made known that despite the good will of the Tibetan institutions, the secret discussions had gotten bogged down. We do not know exactly what -- or which of the numerous difficult points -- caused Beijing and Dharamsala to pull back. Perhaps it was the thorny issue of the Panchen Lama; or the issue of the delimitation of the boundaries of Tibet; or the issue of the return of the Diaspora Tibetans or perhaps it was simply because Beijing is using the Tibet issue -- as it uses the issue of Taiwan, or Turkestan, or the "Economic Zones" -- in the other intractable negotiation: the discussions on China's joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) as a developing country. Or perhaps, it is simply because, from the time of Deng's death, there has been no true leadership in Beijing capable of taking decisions on many unresolved issues. The "Big Three" -- Jang Zemin, Li Peng and Prime Minister Zhu Ronji -- have yet to

carve out the precarious boundaries of domestic power within China. As in 1977 and in 1978, internal Chinese dissidence is bearing the brunt of the initial hard blows of a repressive wave that has been portended on several occasions. There still remains open the problem of Taiwan, as well as the problem of the performance of foreign investments in the ill-famed Economic Zones, which are on the verge of insolvency.

We shall allow ourselves to point out the dual approach that the Dalai Lama has had the courage to make public: (secret) dialogue and then negotiations. The Kashag (1) probably had its own good reasons for operating in this way. We have no doubt in that regard -- even if the blackmail that the Tibetans were the target of during the period in question (but also in more recent years) has always demonstrated that the element that can balance the forces in this area cannot pass through the dark corridors of the palaces of Beijing, notwithstanding the good offices of unofficial intermediaries. Only through the courage to condemn, the force of open dialogue and a support movement capable of mobilizing hundreds of thousands, is it possible to commence the negotiating process. For the past four years, we have supported the thesis that the Secretary General of the United Nations must be the guarantor for negotiations of such historic importance.

The Dalai Lama and his Kashag, must express themselves on the arrested Chinese dissidents of the Democratic Party, on North Korea, on Inner Mongolia -- on these and on other important issues in the democratic life of a continent hovering between demographic explosions, economic implosions and local wars. It is necessary therefore that there be not only the natural support for a democratic India, but that there be nonviolent interference on the most important political issues on how this difficult continent should be governed. In past years, a policy of burying one's head in the sand has never been a productive one where Tibet is concerned.

Taiwan is a political paradox. We have always held this view. The Chinese blackmail seeking a declaration by the Dalai Lama on the territorial unity of Greater China demonstrates this. We are pleased at the reply from the Kashag -- obviously not the one hoped for by Beijing -- by Jiang Zemin himself.

This year, there were not as many demonstrations for the 10th of March. In Dharamsala, five thousand people participated in a commemorative procession; in a few other cities in the world, groups of Tibet supporters put on demonstrations. All of these took place -- we are unhappy to say -- amid old, well-worn slogans. "Go home red Chinese" can be a useful spur, but it certainly is not adequate. Our objective has always been to involve Western governments and international institutions, the only ones that matter and that can make the Kashag matter in the final and pacific resolution of the issue of Tibet -- the Roof of the World.

To that end, albeit through the myriad problems that beset us, we shall continue to struggle. But another major date to commemorate is approaching: the tenth anniversary of Tiananmen. The year 1999 is the year of the "Three Nines" and in China it takes on the superstitious meaning of a major disaster or of a major success.

Happy New Year to all of you!

ML

(*) The Dalai Lama's discourse on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of "Tibetan Uprising Day" has been placed on the Transnational Radical Party's Web page: www.radicalparty.org

(1) Tibetan government in exile

[Published by DEMOCRACY IN CHINA/FREEDOM FOR TIBET ! -Issue 75, March 20, 1999 (Year IV)]