Tibet Separatism on Edmonton AM

This morning on Edmonton AM, a CBC Radio One show, I heard a local lawyer make statements about China and Tibet. Unfortunately, the show prefers to take controversial drive by shots as the transcript of the commentary is not available. Without the transcript, I have to rely on memory and I am bound to do the lawyer a disservice by quoting him wrong. Without the transcript, I am unable to adequately respond directly to what he said. And this is unfortunate as he made comparisons between China and Nazi Germany that should not go unredressed.

Did China kill millions of Tibetans after China reclaimed the territory in the 50's? In 1959, the population of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) was about 1.3 million. Millions of dead would mean a negative population. What the separatists are talking about is also including a large area to the east of the TAR. They look to almost all of Qinghai Province, a bit of Gansu and Yunnan Provinces, and a chunk of Sichuan Province. At this point, the differences in numbers seem to be more a case of methods of counting rather than genocide. In fact, the population in the TAR has about doubled. The portion of non-Tibetans in the TAR is small, less than 7%.

The separatists claim of the larger territory is a bit bold. The Tibetans were unable to maintain their borders in face of Nepalese invasions in the late 18th century without Qing military support. Even at the start of the 20th century, Tibet was just a piece in a larger game between the British and the Chinese. Yet the separatists lay claim to a territory beyond what they sat on in 1951 when they couldn't even maintain that bit. There is a reason Canadians should be concerned about having at least a presence in our northern seas. If you can't defend a border, it really wasn't yours. This is something to keep in mind when the separatists speak of territory or demographics, their idea of Tibet extends well beyond the TAR.

It could also be that the lawyer speaking on Edmonton AM was alluding to the millions and millions who perished during the "Great Leap Forward" or the "Cultural Revolution". I've seen this before in other separatist messages. However, they don't mention that the period of time was during the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. Instead they talk about how the Chinese came and changed how they grew food, forcing them to adopt non-traditional methods. The implication is that the Chinese were out to decimate the Tibetan people through starvation. The Tibetan narcissism is staggering. The Great Leap Forward that resulted in 10's of millions of deaths from starvation across China was all about them. I expect that the Cultural Revolution was all about how to destroy their monasteries as well. It would seem that the separatists reach extends beyond territory and demographics into claiming nationwide historical catastrophes as their own.

It was a difficult time across China. I have listened to stories about people migrating from Eastern China, where they were landowners, to Western China, where they had nothing, in the hope of finding life. It was an experience shared across China. I can't imagine any corner left unscathed. It is something that, when I spend more time there, I will want to understand better.

Is there room for improvement in China? Of course there is. But I am optimistic about China's future because of China's past.