subject article:
http://thediplomat.com/2013/03/29/moving-past-the-wreckage-of-chinas-tibet-policy/comment-page-3/#comments
Comment by TDog
,,,why it is China continues to dominate Tibet. Given Tibet's geography as well as the presence of many competitors for influence in the region, it would be geopolitically naive, if not irresponsible of China to grant Tibet even partial independence. Past actions by not only the US, but England and Russia (and even Germany) have proven to China that any vacation of Chinese power in the Tibetan Plateau will result in the presence of a foreign power right on China's doorstep.
Now is it moral for China to dominate Tibet? No, not really, but then again one must ask if it would be any more moral for China to allow the headwaters of two of its major rivers to be controlled by a foreign power. Would it be moral for China to allow strategic highlands that overlook the Chinese heartland to host a foreign military presence?
Morality is in the eye of the beholder and your contant refusal to acknowledge the fact that China has some very practical reasons for occupying Tibet means that you are simply trying to paint the Chinese as morally stunted if not outright evil. But the sad, cold fact of the matter is Tibet is a strategic region that China feels it cannot do without. This is a fact not lost on any foreign government and so rather than sound equally crass, they bring up human rights when, in fact, they couldn't care less.
The Great Game is very much alive in the 21st Century and ideology and morality are the window dressing that makes this very cynical game palatable to the masses. It is much easier to say, "We're doing it for the Tibetan people," than to admit that all anyone in this contest wants is an advantage over the other guy. We and China are jockeying for position. If Afghans had been there, it would be Afghan culture you'd be supporting. As is, the Tibetans had the misfortune of being there and therefore it is they who are the object of discussion.
But beyond the bumper stickers and speeches by Richard Gere, the actual caring most Western powers enact in the name of Tibet could fill a very tiny thimble. It's bread and circuses for a crowd that demands humanitarian gestures rather than bloodletting from their governments.
