China’s Buddhist Intifada

Recall that in 1959, China invaded and occupied Tibet – forcing its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to flee into (permanent) exile.

More to the point, the Chinese showed no mercy back then in killing tens of thousands of Tibetans to establish their totalitarian claim to Tibet as a part of China’s territory. And they have been determined ever since to disabuse the followers of the Dalai Lama of any hope for his return.

There is ample fact — and we also have plenty of evidence — proving that this incident was organized, premeditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique. This has all the more revealed that the consistent claims made by the Dalai clique that they pursue not independence but peaceful dialogue are nothing but lies.

[Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao underscoring China’s non-negotiable position that it “will only consider dialogue with the Dalai Lama if the exiled spiritual leader were willing to give up his proposition for so-called Tibetan independence.]

Therefore, it’s no surprise at all that a week after this latest uprising began, the Chinese military has crushed it with precision and brutality that Burma’s military junta must envy.

Indeed, given the way they dealt with the pro-democracy uprising in Tiananmen Square in 1989, it was positively suicidal for these Tibetans to think that their protest would fare any better.

Moreover, there seems little doubt that wherever sympathy protests flare up, they too will be extinguished with equal dispatch.

(According to the Washington Post, the Chinese government claims that 16 people have been killed and dozens wounded. Whereas, the Dalai Lama claims that over 80 have been killed and hundreds wounded – in what he decried as a “cultural genocide” taking place in his homeland….)

Nevertheless, the only worry the Chinese have is that western countries might consider boycotting this summer’s Beijing Olympics to protest this brutal crackdown. After all, the US-led boycott of the Moscow Olympics in 1980 (to protest the Russian invasion of Afghanistan) stands as a persuasive precedent in this respect. And, no doubt, the protesters are acutely mindful of this fact.

Of course, the Chinese have so much national pride and financial resources invested in this coming out party that they are loath to even contemplate such a spectacular international snub.

But they have nothing to fear. Because they are fortunate that any decision to boycott the Olympics will be President George W. Bush’s to make, not Barack Obama’s or Hillary Clinton’s. And it would be too hypocritical even for Bush to act indignant over Tibet – given Iraq, Guantanamo Bay and his myriad constitutional abuses.

(Remember, it was a self-righteous Democratic president, Jimmy Carter, who ordered the boycott of the Moscow games.)

Meanwhile, the Europeans – who would follow whatever the Americans do – wasted little time in expressing solidarity with the Chinese national agenda to ensure that no country boycotts these Olympic Games.

Boycotts have never worked… the only people who are punished in a boycott are athletes.

[Pat Hickey, president of the European Olympic Committee]