By Michelle Klepper (Daily Mail)
While dropping into Britain to collect the Templeton Prize of £1.1m last month (and immediately giving it all away), Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama once again rattled the leaders of the People’s Republic of China by having the audacity to hold a sneaky meeting in the basement of St Paul’s Cathedral with David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
Right on cue came the Communist regime’s threats of ‘serious consequences’ towards our ‘conniving’ government for consorting with their arch enemy. It kicked these off by placing the British Ambassador to Beijing on the naughty step and cancelling a visit to the UK by one of their senior leaders. Not that this will be the end of it either, because there’s sure to be further leg slapping for our premier and his deputy that in all likelihood will amount to a reduction in pocket money for the rest of us.
Gosh, what a lot of bother we’re having to put up with over this 76-year-old monk who has given our new ‘bff’, the Chinese government, the run around for the past 60 years or so, spouting off about compassion, tolerance, peace and all that. But what really irks our ‘buddies’ even more is the Tibetan spiritual leader having the gall to continue his solo campaign (insofar as assistance from major powers is concerned) for the religious and cultural freedoms of his countrymen in Tibet. Crikey – no wonder the PRC leaders call him a ‘separatist’ and a ‘devil’ – I can just see the posters plastered along the Great Wall: Wanted – The Dalai Lama – For Kindness against Humanity.
In recent years we’ve witnessed quite a few occasions of China throwing the weight of its wallet around, threatening ‘consequences’ against any nation who plays host to the spiritual leader. And despite his receiving more individual honours than possibly any other man on the planet – not least the Nobel Peace Prize; Congressional Gold Medal and the Templeton Prize (awarded to ‘outstanding individuals who have devoted their talents to expanding our vision of human purpose’), there are nations in the ‘free world’ who have succumbed to China’s threats and refused entry to the Dalai Lama. The Netherlands is one, and more famously South Africa, which dragged its heels in granting him an entry visa in order for the monk to attend his close friend, the Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s 80th birthday celebrations last year. In the end, his fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner travelled to the Dalai Lama’s home-in-exile in India in defiance of the ANC.
Perhaps for the sake of peace and quiet – or for our pocket – we should follow suit and refuse him an entry visa? After all, what do the six million remaining Tibetans (after the Chinese government wiped out over a million of them since invading in 1949) matter to us? Why should we suffer threats of ‘seriously damaged relations’ and potential economic loss on behalf of this Buddhist monk…or any other Tibetan?
After all, during his recent visit to the UK, when asked what faith he still had in the Western governments, who bestow so many medals and awards upon him, but never any meaningful help in his struggle for Tibetan autonomy, the Dalai Lama himself conceded that though ‘the US, Great Britain and Germany are very concerned over the situation [in Tibet] and do try to talk to China about it’, (for which he says he’s ‘very grateful’). He acknowledged that the country – although of global ecological and cultural importance thanks to the Tibetan plateau and the increasing spread of Tibetan Buddhism across the world (not least inside China) – holds ‘no economic interest’ for Western nations, adding, ‘…in this economic climate, what can they do?’ Tibet, His Holiness concluded, was ‘a moral issue’.
And of course that’s a good point – what can we do? After all, isn’t that what really matters to us in Britain, our economic security? Wasn’t that what we fought the Nazis for? Isn’t material prosperity the true pinnacle of our aspirations? Blow the principles of the Enlightenment.
Of course not. The West’s weak stance on the China/Dalai Lama/Tibet issue only highlights our hypocrisy over human rights. While recognising the national and global benefits of fostering positive ties with China, isn’t it time we took a step back and faced up to what these ‘benefits’ are threatening to cost us? In particular, what our choice to embrace the leaders of an openly oppressive and, by Western ideals, cruel regime before they have made any significant changes in their hard-line policies, really means?
Social commentators have long held fears that China’s inevitable material and technological progress would impact upon the values that are said to govern the democratic nations. By ignoring the blatant human rights abuses within its regime and empowering and protecting dictators responsible the suffering of millions in Darfur and Burma as well as within its homeland and Tibet (notwithstanding its support of both Pakistan and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions) China stands at the very antitheses of everything we say we stand for.
I do not doubt for a moment the importance of building firm friendships for the sake of economics and global peace. But this, surely, cannot be achieved – and more importantly we should not attempt to achieve it – by selling out the freedom of others.
And the excuse given to the Dalai Lama of ‘well we’ve asked the PRC to stop torturing and imprisoning your people for wanting spiritual freedom… but they wouldn’t listen’ should not wash. Hardline Communist China should not, therefore, be a nation counted as among our friends.
Instead of the ‘free’ nations standing together on their values for human freedoms, when China barks, we become apologists for or beliefs. Just look at our government spokesman’s defensive response to the PRC’s chastisement of Cameron and Clegg meeting with the Dalai Lama at St Paul’s.
It started off spirited enough: ‘We can meet who we want’, but the addition of the words ‘…just because we meet someone doesn’t mean we agree with what they have to say’ is just plain embarrassing.
So let’s just get this straight, we don’t agree that Tibetans should have the freedom to teach their children their own language and history at school? We don’t we agree that they should be allowed to carry a photo of their spiritual leader without the threat of imprisonment and torture?
Let’s remember, the comment was not in relation to whether China had sovereignty over Tibet or not…. the Dalai Lama has long only been seeking ‘autonomy’ – cultural and religious freedom – and not ‘independence’ (though the PRC don’t like to acknowledge that – it makes them sound unreasonable). Oh dear, the shame of Westminster that they dare not own up to ‘agreeing’ with the Tibetan struggle for basic human rights that we all take for granted.
We’re all aware that in the last 20 or so years the technological advancement, cheap labour and volume of production in China have caused a major shift of global business and trade, giving the country the power it now wields over many Western nations – ourselves included. Yet to witness this still highly oppressive regime using its material muscle to pressure democratic nations into disowning the values they place upon human freedoms – even in our own backyard – is nothing less than an abomination. To see it actually working is sickening and should strike at the core of any citizen of this country and others in the ‘free’ world.
While China’s power and material wealth have expanded, it appears its conscience has not, and despite its best efforts to keep its astounding indifference to human and animal suffering behind closed doors, the evidence is well documented by many official global agencies – and it is overwhelming.
When challenged on human rights issues China’s leaders resort to name-calling, childish actions of ‘not talking’ and pure spite. After almost 40 self-immolations of mostly young Tibetans in protest at the oppression they have to endure, it has been revealed that Chinese police actively seek out the families of those who set fire to themselves in order to claim ‘compensation’ from them for the damage caused to their clothes while extinguishing the flames. Such an astounding lack of compassion and human decency coming from a burgeoning superpower beggars belief, and should be a concern to us all.
Indeed while this regime gives the appearance of being wholly unable to compromise, our own government bows, scrapes and by all accounts attempts to veil our democratic values simply in order to keep the petulant and reactionary Chinese leaders at the table. Although this is likely being done in the hope that the bullying tactics will give way to meaningful dialogue, compromise and positive change between all sides, I fear that, for the time being, this is a too romantic notion of the Chinese government’s psychological capabilities and will only result in our humiliation and further erosion of our values. The PRC have shown the world on enough occasions that they do not respond to soft approaches – they see doing so as a form of weakness.
So where will this end? Even our Western media has business interests in China – and we already know that the authorities there refuse entry to or kick out journalists who they perceive as having ‘spoken evil’ about them (by that they mean those who have put too much focus on human rights issues).
With this in mind, can we really keep faith that all members of our ‘free press’ – who, themselves are gaining increasing business connections in China, are to remain infallible to the demands that may be placed upon them if they wish to prosper? This notion should be unthinkable…. but perhaps, in time, it will only become unspeakable.
The bottom line here should be that when China threatens the democratic values of any free nation, like with the bully in the school playground, we need to show solidarity.
We should not stand by and watch other nations with the same principles on human expression be forced into a position of conceding them to appease a repressive regime.
Yes, ultimately, to have lasting peace and economic prosperity in this world we must form a good relationship with China, and hopefully this time will not be too far off, but a true and lasting friendship cannot be achieved at the expense of eroding the values in which many in this country, at least, really believe.
We need to remember that China needs us as much as we need China. Their nation is moving towards great, hopefully positive change – wages are increasing and productivity is lessening as the Chinese people fight for shorter working hours, better pay, and more personal freedoms. As this occurs their trade will surely become less economically viable – this is starting to happen already. Change is coming, and as the soon-to-step-down Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, affirmed in his message in on 14th March, reform in China must come soon if another Cultural Revolution is to be averted.
But until that happens, until positive, meaningful change actually occurs, we must not be driven by our economic fears to sell-out our moral principles. We must not humiliate ourselves any longer by kowtowing to what is a materially wealthy, but morally bankrupt regime. It’s time to make a stand, because if the Tibet/China issue doesn’t matter to us, then we need to ask ourselves why not.
The Dalai Lama returns to the UK on Saturday 16th June for a series of teachings and public talks, but specifically to reach out to Britain’s youth to urge them to ‘Be the Change they want to see in the World’. I suggest members of our own Parliament toddle along to those talks.
For further information go to: www.dalailama2012uk.org