China: the enemy’s fortune runs high
International public opinion knows that in reality
China is a totalitarian government, that Tibet is an occupied country, and
that the latter is being brutalized by the former.
By DICK DORWORTH
Express Staff Writer
A secret Chinese government document, detailing an
intricate and orchestrated external public relations campaign to support
China’s hard-line positions toward Tibet and the Dalai Lama, was
recently leaked to the Western world by an official in Beijing. The
document gives the outside world a rare glimpse into the inner-workings of
Beijing’s plans to aggressively influence Western public opinion. The
document also shows how the Chinese government works to create
anti-American sentiment among its own people and to pressure its academics
and intellectuals to develop better theories to support the government’s
positions and actions in Tibet.
The fact that the document was leaked is evidence that the
Western world and Tibet have friends in high places of the Chinese
government, even if the government itself is no friend to Western concepts
of democratic government, international law, human rights,
self-determination, Tibet or the American people.
The document reveals many things about the government of
the People’s Republic of China that human rights defenders and friends
of Tibet have long known. It reads, "It is difficult to reverse the
present situation where the enemy’s fortune on the international arena
is running high and ours low." The enemy refers to Tibet, which China
invaded and has occupied by military force sine 1950, and the Dalai Lama
who is the political and spiritual leader of the people of Tibet and who
has been forced to live in exile since he escaped with his life in 1959.
The fortune is public opinion in the international community, honesty,
integrity, human decency and truth.
International public opinion knows that in reality China
is a totalitarian government, that Tibet is an occupied country, and that
the latter is being brutalized by the former.
According to the 22 page document, the academics, scholars
and Tibetologists of China are instructed that they "must support our
propaganda," and that "the very act of writing and publishing…is
for external propaganda and public opinion." In other words, the
intellectuals of China are being told by their government that the purpose
of thinking is not the search for truth, knowledge and understanding but,
rather, the acquisition of power and other men’s minds. The difficulties
of carrying out such a corrupt task are spelled out in the document
itself. At the same time that the thinkers of China are exhorted to
produce better intellectual arguments which need to be
"understandable and acceptable to the international community,"
they are told that Chinese propaganda is often "out of tune with the
reality in Tibet" and that their intellectual arguments are
"inadequate…to carry out our external struggle."
Using the intellect to create arguments that are out of
touch with reality could be a definition of insanity. It is at the least,
like the Chinese government, corrupt and dangerous.
The document shows that Beijing has plans to aggressively
solicit Western scholars in order to "encourage a considerable number
of foreign specialists and intellectuals to speak out on our behalf."
Of these plans, John Ackerly, President of International Campaign for
Tibet (ICT), says, "ICT supports academic exchanges with Tibetan
scholars, but governments and universities should review their exchange
programs and ensure they serve the interests of scholars and not of
Beijing."
Indeed, anyone who does business of any kind with the
People’s Republic of China should review their exchanges and make sure
their own interests are being served and not Beijing’s. (American
businesses profiting from China’s slave labor, sub-standard working
conditions and non-existent environmental laws should be boycotted as
well, but that, perhaps, is another matter.)
The document identifies three books published in the west
as particularly damaging to the cause of China’s propaganda on Tibet.
The books are Tsering Shakya’s "The Dragon in the Land of Snows
(1999)," Ken Knaus’ "Orphans of the Cold War: America and
Tibet’s Struggle for Survival (1999), and Michael van Walt’s "The
Status of Tibet" (1987). The document states, "We cannot
underestimate the negative impact of these books on our nation."
That statement alone would recommend these books. They are
works of scholarship and honest intellectual endeavor, and, as such, they
are by their very existence a threat to China’s corrupt, out of tune
with reality propaganda concerning Tibet.
The document castigates the strategy and campaigns of the
"Dalai clique," referring to Western people and organizations
supporting the Dalai Lama in his efforts to stop the cultural and literal
genocide of his people and culture at the hands of China. The Dalai Lama
has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for those efforts. The Chinese
government will receive no prizes for peace as it hides behind lies,
propaganda and public relations in a failed attempt to keep the world from
seeing the blood of Tibet that covers all its documents.
The leaked document in its entirety is available from the
ICT at 1825 K St. NW, Suite 520, Washington, D.C. 20006 or at info@savetibet.org.
