Tibet issue
www.abc.net
Brigadier Hafiz's concerns for the Chinese sound hollow from this side of the Atlantic! I am an Indian American who has spent a long time in the US. I am also very familiar with Bangladesh having spent a total of several months over my younger days, on business and social visits to Dhaka. Americans do not look at Tibet purely in terms of power politics. Rather, they significantly reflect a lingering sense of guilt at the way European settlers treated the Indigenous Native Americans (or "Indians" as they were once known). There is widespread acceptance that a sort of cultural and ethnic genocide did take place. Clearly, the US is an advanced country, with great respect for individual rights: nevertheless people are acknowledging the costs incurred en route. They see a similar process under way in Tibet. The amazing Tibet Railway is a tribute to Chinese engineering and commitment of resources. However, Brig. Hafiz surely does not believe this was done for the benefit of the Tibetan people! It was obviously done to: maintain control; to give the ethnic Han people, "Lebensraum"; and to further Chinese international policy. Interestingly, in my first years here as a graduate student, I noticed that all my Chinese friends - whether pro-Taiwan or pro-PLC, were unanimous in their belief that Tibet was a part of China. We in South Asia are surely familiar with the point of view that some little bit of territory or the other "is really a part of X"!
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