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Evening Open Thread: What should the U.S. say to China about the situation in Tibet? |
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The International Campaign for Tibet sent in an email the following information based on reports coming from people inside Tibet about the situation. With restraints on the media, individuals testimonies are increasingly important.
- Reports by doctors in Lhasa of dozens of wounded streaming into hospitals. Lhasa in flames
- Unconfirmed reports that soldiers are firing on Tibetans in the streets.
- Confirmed reports that the major monasteries around Lhasa have been sealed off.
- Three hundred monks from Drepung monastery and 100 nuns from Chutsang nunnery marched toward the center of Lhasa, stopped by armed police. One was beaten to the ground.
- Unconfirmed reports of scores of Tibetans shot and killed including a 16 year-old girl killed and taken away by Tibetans on Beijing Middle Road.
- Arrest of around 500 students from Tibet University, according to CNN.
As reported in the WaPo (reprinted on the International Campaign’s website), China is calling for the protesters to surrender, yet such a plea seems unrealistic given the history of China’s relationship with Tibet.
The International Campaign offers the following courses of action for concerned individuals living in the U.S., Canada, etc.
- Contact you member of Congress and ask that they call on China to release all detainees, and allow international media access to Lhasa.
- If you know any tourists in Lhasa, or others who may have direct knowledge of what is happening in Tibet, please contact us immediately at info@savetibet.org.
- Events of support are happening around the U.S. and Canada. To join a rally at a Chinese consulate or embassy in your area, please click here to review the list of local Tibet Support Groups holding demonstrations.
With these actions in mind for individuals, what should the governments of the world and the larger international community do to resolve the current situation in Tibet? In general, how should the U.S. respond when governments violently crackdown on protesters or impose military/marshal restraints on their civilians? We’ve seen this scenario play out in more than one country in recent weeks, what course of action should the U.S. follow (if any) for the current situation in Tibet and for similar situations in general?
This is an open thread; weigh in with your thoughts below.
Well, we SAW the diabolic behavior of the People’s Liberation Army in ‘89 and did nothing.
We know about China’s involvement in Darfur, and we’re doing nothing.
Frankly, why change what we’ve been doing? We’ve wasted our reputation on Iraq, and any move we make–for, against, or neutral–will just put more egg on our faces. I would say “go for broke”, since we’re so good and unleashing moral indignation on other countries, but I really don’t think our Administration’s in that position.
How do our candidates feel about this?
In regards to the international community, China has a permanent UN seat, which means it can thumb its nose at the world. However, the Olympics offer a good opportunity for protest. I’m referring, of course, to Moscow ‘80 and the American boycott. While it would be nice to do something like that again, I feel like we’ll need more countries. China could easily play off a few Western countries leaving as “sour grapes on the part of colonialists and imperialists” and leave it at that.
If Third World countries could boycott, countries like Sudan, Indonesia, the Philippines…maybe there could be a truly ‘international’ censure of China.