China, recognised last week by President Mandela, has one of the world’s worst human rights records, says Guy Liberman
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela’s controversial choice of the People’s Republic of China over Taiwan may appear to be economically motivated – a triumph of realpolitik – but he has given his support to a regime akin to the apartheid government.
Mainland China’s human rights record is one of the most appalling in the world. Despite being chastised by many world leaders, the Chinese authorities continue to suppress and torture dissidents who oppose their ideological dominance. And, perhaps most terribly, have waged genocidal destruction on the Tibetan nation.
One of the culturally-richest races on earth is facing annihilation by their larger, aggressive neighbours over the oil-rich reserves that lie under Tibetan soil. Mandela was silent on these issues. When the Dalai Lama visited South Africa in August, the support for the Tibetan cause clearly held promise and a feeling of solidarity was undoubtably present. It wasn’t when Mandela announced plans to recognise Beijing.
China’s enforced presence in Tibet since 1949 has been mostly hidden from the world. International news teams are not allowed entry into that territory. The only information is from Tibetan escapees and from tourists who have witnessed atrocities performed by Chinese soldiers on Tibetans.
The destructive nature of Chinese activities spans Tibetan life: the immeasurable violations performed on women, including forced abortions and sterilisation; the rape of the forests – bringing in billions of US dollars for China, while ensuring irreparable damage to these fragile ecosystems. It also affects the source of all Asia’s major rivers, which feed half the world’s population. The damming of Tibet’s sacred lakes for hydro-electric power plants is causing untold damage.
The destruction of 6000 monasteries over a short period of time has shown the contempt the Chinese have for the Tibetans. Dumping of nuclear waste is rife.The Chinese term for Tibet means storehouse, indicative of their attitude towards the Tibetans.
At least one in seven Tibetans have served an extended prison sentence, accused of political dissent. Since China’s occupation in 1959, (when the Dalai Lama and 80000 Tibetans escaped into exile in India, after an abortive Tibetan uprising in the capital, Lhasa) over 1,2-million Tibetans have died through torture, starvation, execution or suicide.
According to the Free Tibet Campaign, UK, and approved by Asia Watch, there are some 6000 documented laogais across mainland China and Tibet. They hold an estimated 20- million prisoners. Laogai, or “reform through labour”, is a central feature of the Chinese prison system. People are detained because of their peaceful resistance to the Chinese occupation, are denied their freedom, and subjected to “thought reform”. Brutality is widespread inside the laogai, especially in Tibet.
Although equivalent to Nazi concentration camps or Russian gulags, they differ by their use of “thought reform”. Inmates in the laogai are forced to perform hard labour to atone for their crimes and required to abandon their “incorrect” beliefs and attitudes and conform to the standards set by the Chinese Communist Party.
The prisoners’ forced labour supplies China with a large proportion of its exportable goods. International communities buying into this are helping to feed this violation of human rights. If South Africa is so uninformed as to China’s activities, perhaps more research should have been done before we chose to forge diplomatic ties with mainland China.
The most recent intervention by the Chinese into Tibetan religious practises demonstrates the nature of this regime. The Dalai Lama’s choice of six-year-old Gendun Choekyi Nyima as the candidate for the high- ranking religious position of Panchen Lama has been nullified by the Chinese. The child, his family and entire entourage were abducted last year. Their whereabouts remain unknown. The Chinese presented another youngster in his place; interfering in an age-old religious practice. Many fear the young Panchen Lama dead. He is the world’s youngest political prisoner and inspired a worldwide campaign for his immediate, unconditional release.
Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng has served a 15-year prison sentence for speaking out on the democratisation of China and the freedom of Tibet. In 1993, at the culmination of his term, the Chinese government issued him another 15-year sentence.
In September of 1987, the Dalai Lama issued the United Nations with his proposed Five- Point Peace Plan for negotiations with Mainland China. They include: transformation of the whole of Tibet into a zone of peace; abandonment of China’s population transfer policy which threatens the very existence of the Tibetans as a people; respect for the Tibetan people’s fundamental human rights and democratic freedom; restoration and protection of Tibet’s natural environment and the abandonment of China’s use of Tibet for the production of nuclear weapons and dumping of nuclear waste; commencement of earnest negotiations on the future status of Tibet and of relations between the Tibetans and Chinese.
The Chinese have refused negotiations with the Dalai Lama or the Tibetan government but agree to negotiations between the two nations with the precondition that the Dalai Lama admits that Tibet is, and always has been, an inseparable part of China. The Dalai Lama responded by saying that as a Buddhist, he cannot lie.
Although China’s approach to control and oppression may change, it is unlikely. The Dalai Lama has said change is inevitable, and the present Chinese government will dissolve. But this is not likely to be in the near future. There is, though, a strong presence of the democracy movement among a large proportion of Chinese youth that may grow. From this angle, diplomatic ties are a good move. The question is then the motivation behind President Mandela’s actions.
Guy Lieberman is executive director of the Dewachen Tibetan Cultural Centre, a South African NGO rallying for the support of the Tibetan people