By Zhou Yan
Some Western media are swinging behind a few "rights groups" as if they have finally got the much-needed evidence to prove the Chinese government's "crackdown" and "tyranny" on the Tibetan people.
Xinhua's reports, released on Thursday confirming police opened fire and injured four in self-defense in Sunday's unrest in Aba county of Sichuan Province, were amplified in a most incredible way by these "rights groups" and some Western media followed suit to slam China's human rights record and the Beijing Olympic Games.
Also amplified was the death toll.
These same "rights groups", shortly after last Friday's Lhasa riot that witnessed killings, beatings, lootings and arsons, had slammed China even for its use of warning shots and tear gas to prevent the violence.
Out of a deep-rooted bias, they refused to believe China's official media and the Chinese government.
Except, perhaps, the shooting part.
"The death toll from violent clashes between Chinese and Tibetan forces may never be known," said one report, which quoted the so-called "Tibetan government-in-exile" based in India as saying nearly 100 were confirmed dead.
"The unrest has alarmed China, keen to look its best in the run-up to the Aug. 8-24 Olympic Games in Beijing when it hopes to show the world that it has arrived as a world power," said another report.
One question please: why do I sense schadenfreude here? And a bizarre pleasure in witnessing the turmoils of others.