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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: Homestead <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] China, Tibet, Olympic boycott--here's one answer
  • Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2008 12:07:55 -0500

Having just read a book about the Dalai Lama, I was thinking that the Tibet issue is irresolvable, that Tibetans who look to the Dalai Lama as their leader are destined to lives of desperation, discontent and disillusion. I still lean toward that conclusion, but these thoughts by Nicholas Kristoff are enlightening and persuasive. I wonder if he would accept Ambassador of Good Will in our fantasy administration?


A Not-So-Fine Romance
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: April 3, 2008
In the aftermath of the Tibet upheavals, the complicated romance between America and China is degenerating into mutual recriminations, muttering about Olympic boycotts and tensions that are likely to rise through the summer.

It would be convenient if we could simply denounce the crackdown in Tibet as the unpopular action of a dictatorial government. But it wasn’t. It was the popular action of a dictatorial government, and many ordinary Chinese think the government acted too wimpishly, showing far too much restraint toward “thugs” and “rioters.”

China and the U.S. clash partly because of competing interests, but mostly because of competing narratives. To Americans, Tibet fits neatly into a framework of human rights and colonialism. To Chinese, steeped in education of 150 years of “guochi,” or national humiliations by foreigners, the current episode is one more effort by imperialistic and condescending foreigners to tear China apart or hold it back.

So what do we do? A boycott of the Olympic Games themselves is a nonstarter. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has raised the possibility of a boycott of the opening ceremony, and that is plausible.

The best answer is: Postpone the decision until the last minute so as to extort every last ounce of good behavior possible out of the Chinese government — on Darfur as well as Tibet. But at the end of the day, if there have been no further abuses, President Bush should attend — for staying away would only inflame Chinese nationalism and make Beijing more obdurate.

If President Bush attends the ceremonies, however, he should balance that with a day trip to a Tibetan area. Such a visit would underscore American concern, even if the Chinese trot out fake monks to express fake contentment with fake freedom.

The rest of the article may be found at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/opinion/03Kristof.html



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