China's Unapparent Weakness

Francis Fukuyama at the LA Times points out a very interesting dilemma for the Chinese government. While there is a substantial amount of repression involving the Communist government on Tibetans, other minority groups and religious organizations, there is another source of coercion not often reported; the local government oligarchs that oppress the local citizens.

"The vast majority of abuses against the rights of ordinary Chinese citizens -- peasants who have their land taken away without just compensation, workers forced to labor under sweatshop conditions or villagers poisoned by illegal dumping of pollutants -- occur at a level far below that of the government in Beijing.

China's peculiar road toward modernization after 1978 was powered by "township and village enterprises" -- local government bodies given the freedom to establish businesses and enter into the emerging market economy. These entities were enormously successful, and many have become extraordinarily rich and powerful. In cahoots with private developers and companies, it is they that are producing conditions resembling the satanic mills of early industrial England.

The central government, by all accounts, would like to crack down on these local government bodies but is unable to do so. It both lacks the capacity to do this and depends on local governments and the private sector to produce jobs and revenue.

The Chinese Communist Party understands that it is riding a tiger. Each year, there are several thousand violent incidents of social protest, each one contained and suppressed by state authorities, who nevertheless cannot seem to get at the underlying source of the unrest."

In this case, much like medieval Poland, the central government is simply too unorganized, weak and dependent on these local officials to protect its people from the depravations of their local bureaucrats. Another example might be the Post-Reconstruction American South, where racial segragation and local Jim Crow laws oppressed the lives of Black Americans. Many of these local protests involve local peasants complaining of horrible workinf conditions and widespread pollution, particularly of water resources. While the central government has taken some steps to reign in local officials, it's like bailing water from a sinking ship. Of course, this doesn't by any means excuse the central government's oppression of Tibetans, Chinese Christians or members of Fulon Gong.

Rioting in Tibet

There are reports of rioting and two dead from the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. Tibet was an independent nation until invaded by the Chinese Communists in the 1950s. Political oppostion to the Chinese regime there has been nealry continuous and periodically explodes into violence. The Tibetan spirtiual leader, the Dalai Lama, escaped the Chinese government in 1959 and has led the political opposition from exile.

"U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia said troops using both live ammunition and tear gas fired on crowds torching vehicles and Chinese-owned shops in the center of the ancient capital of Lhasa. It said other reports put the death toll higher, but gave no figures."

The protest apparently started when Buddhist monks led an anniversary march commemorating the failed 1959 uprising against the Chinese, and spread among the population both in Lhasa and outside the city. The Dalai Lama and governments worldwide has called for the Chinese to show restraint in suppressing the protests, which are the largest uprisings in two decades. Accurate information is difficult to attain due to the close restrictions the Communist government imposes on foreigners travelling to the area.

The protests may have been precipitated by the government cracking down on the city's three largest monastaries after monks had launched hunger strikes. Tibetan opposition leaders and exiles believe that China can be pressured into making concessions due to the impending Olympic Games being held later this year in Beijing.

Chinese Tyrants Unhappy

The government of China is unhappy with the US and Germany due to both nations honoring the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exhiled spiritual leader. Boo Hoo.

“Such a person who basely splits his motherland and doesn’t even love his motherland has been welcomed by some countries and has even been receiving this or that award,” Tibet’s Communist Party boss, Zhang Qingli, told reporters.“We are furious. If the Dalai Lama can receive such an award, there must be no justice or good people in the world,” Zhang said."

Obviously, the fact that some Communist party hack could even say the Dalai doesn't love his homeland when the fact is that he's devoted his entire life to freeing his homeland from the occupation of the tyrannical oligarchy that this buffoon represents is pretty ironic.

President Bush will be honoring the Dalai with the US congressional Medal of Freedom tomorrow at the White House. China cancelled an annual human rights dialogue with Germany after German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with the Dalai Lama last month.

China brutally invaded Tibet in 1952 (if I recall correctly) and the Dalai Lama led a unseccessful revolt against the communist regime in 1959, after which he escaped to lead the opposition to Chinese rule from exile.

The Dalai has actually lowered himself to enter into negotiations with the Communist dictators of his homeland, but the negotiations "aren't going well", which is probably the understatement of the year in the arena of international relations given the Dalai is still the most outspoken advocate in the world for Tibetan independence.