April 28, 2008
Chinese to World - Stop Questioning things!
Well, it's been a bad couple of weeks for the PRC. The upcoming Olympics was supposed to be a glorious coming of age, a stage managed event of awesome propaganda to rival Berlin 1936 or Moscow 1980.
Unfortunately, it fell apart rather spectacularly. Why? Well, because authoritarian regimes are great in situations they can micromanage and control down to the last bit, but absolutely hopeless.
What a complete cluster-fuck the doings in Tibet and the subsequent torch relay have been and the PRC's reaction. Not content to rely on the security of other nations, the Chinese government decided to sent tracksuited goons to make sure that any eventuality was taken care of. Not really going to endear the world to the Chinese, is it?
Ah, but what's more interesting is the PRC's attempt to provide a fake "groundswell of support" for its actions, not content with bussing hundreds and hundreds of Chinese students to Canberra to abuse pro-Tibetan protestors, I'm also absolutely certain the Chinese government has been making sure that the comments posts on blogs and news articles are well stocked with pro-Chinese comments.
And of course, they are all labelled "Joe of Sydney", or "Bob of Melbourne". Oh, those cunning bastards...I surely wouldn't expect a PRC lackey to post under a fake identity!
Anyway, the comments themselves are rather predictable and repetitive (the same arguments pop up again and again). Most of it is boring shite about CIA conspiring to make China hated. (Seriously, the CIA couldn't tie its own shoelaces, guys). Two points of rebuttal, however, need to be made:
Argument 1 Tibet has always been an integral part of China, it was greedy European powers that separated it!
Well, maybe. Tibet was mostly under Chinese rule post Middle-Ages...but it was Genghis Khan's heirs (particularly Kublai) who conquered it. And they were Mongols, not Han Chinese. So unless Chinese want to argue for the entire mainland Chinese nation to be ruled by Mongol chiefs in Ulanbaatar then this argument is retarded.
Well, doubly so really. I mean...who gives a fuck how long it was part of China? If Tibetans wanted to piss off and go it alone, they should be entitled to, seriously. Self-determination and all that. Jesus, the Chinese argument here is so lame it barely deserves a response.
Argument 2 Tibet was a theocracy ruled by greedy Buddhist monks who kept their subjects in semi-slavery. The Chinese brought modernity and freed them from their bondage. The Dalai Lama just wants his slaves back
What? This is irrelevant. Has any one, Tibetan or otherwise, called for a reinstitution of a theocracy? No? Besides, at the time of the invasion, China was a communist basketcase ruled by Mao Tse-Tung, a man who would go on to slaughter roughly 70 million Chinese. If it was him or feudal monks who had to rule me, I'd take monks.
Here's a novel idea. Bring in democracy, liberty and self-determination for all inhabitants of East Asia, whether they be Tibetan, Han Chinese or whoever, no one should have to live under the rule of the thugs of the Chinese Communist Party.
Posted by Quentin George at April 28, 2008 07:51 PM