I had the pleasure of visiting Tibet last month. What I saw and heard there has convinced me that the recent attacks on China by some Western media outlets over the issue of Tibet are seriously flawed. And I would like to share some of my thoughts of the issue with the readers here.
The Tibetan separatists overseas have made a lot of irresponsible remarks over the years. They either directly demand "Tibet independence" or seek the establishment of a "greater Tibet region", where no ethnic Han officials or armed forces would be allowed to stay. I find such demands devoid of any legal ground or historical logic.
These people appear determined to go against the current of history and reject the central government's constitutional rule of Tibet; they also invite doubt as to whether they agree that Tibet is part of China or are seeking virtual independence of Tibet under the disguise of "unprecedented autonomy".
Political and cultural links existed between Tibet and the "middle land" long before the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) and Tibet has been part of Chinese territory since the 13th century. Our central government has maintained a bottomline on the issue of Tibet throughout history: Tibet's is a local government with no diplomatic power or power to cede any part of Chinese territory to foreign countries.
It is exactly over the latter issue that the Tibetan regional government grossly betrayed the interest of the Chinese nation, including Tibet, by secretly signing the "Simla Treaty" with Britain in 1914 behind the Chinese central government's back.
The Tibetan regional authorities back then lost the trust of the central government because of its abuse of power and for forfeiting its own credibility. The government of the People's Republic of China launched democratic reforms in Tibet for the sake of the whole nation's fundamental interest and ended the theocratic rule in Tibet. This was reasonable and necessary for protecting the national sovereignty as well as the Tibetans' human rights.
Tibetan Buddhism represents a rich and glorious trove of spiritual civilization, but it suffers from the inherent handicap of being based in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, also known as the "roof of the world", where the living conditions are very harsh to say the least and communication extremely difficult. The natural geographical conditions of Tibet pose a tremendous challenge to human existence there, particularly the 3,000-5,000 meter altitude where atmospheric density is only 80 percent to 60 percent of that at the sea level. Such is the natural condition of Tibet that neither the Dalai Lama nor the bkav-shag government in old Tibet had ever been able to change.
However, the human race can improve the means of communication between Tibet and the rest of the country without changing the natural climate of the high-altitude region. And no other such facility has brought the Tibetans more convenience and benefits than the Qinghai-Tibet highway, which opened to traffic in 1954 and has been improved to a Grade 2 trunk road according to the national standard with the top speed of 60 kilometers per hour.
The "Suez Canal on the Roof of the World", as the highest highway in the world is sometimes called, has been responsible for 80-90 percent of all goods transported to and from Tibet since it started serving the region in the 1950s.
Even more impressive is the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which went into operation in 2006 and is affectionately called the "heavenly road" by local Tibetans. It is helping greatly in the development of Tibet by dramatically improving the land access between Tibet and the rest of the country and in improving the living conditions of people in the autonomous region.
During my stay there I saw with my own eyes how much the two transport arteries had helped improve the life of Tibetans one way or another. Some local governments of the areas which the highway and railway pass through have been able to curb desertification and develop farming, thanks to better transportation, while some others have built new homes by the rivers for those who used to live far away from water sources.
Tibet practiced serfdom in the theocratic era, when the bkav-shag government and landowners could punish insubordinate officials and serfs in such barbarous fashion as skinned them alive or having their eyes cut out. In sharp contrast, the autonomous government handled the perpetrators of the March 14 riot in Lhasa strictly according to relevant law while protecting their legitimate rights, which of course never existed even in one's wildest dreams in the old days.
Since the democratic reform started the younger generations of Tibetans have enjoyed compulsory education. We visited some kindergartens and institutions of secondary and higher learning during our trip to Tibet and saw Tibetan youths receive compulsory education like their peers elsewhere in China. The State has provided considerable resources in order to insure the future generations' right to acquire knowledge necessary for their future livelihood. Many provinces, cities and enterprises outside Tibet have offered the autonomous region financial, material and personnel support in a joint effort to help nurture the future of Tibet with no discriminations made on ethnicity.
It should be noted that Tibetan youths are educated in a Tibetan-Han bilingual format. There is no such thing as what the Dalai group has alleged as "oppression" of the Tibetan culture. Any one not blinded by prejudice will see the motherland has never failed to care for the frontiers region even though it is hard to reach.
On the other hand, Tibetans are Chinese citizens, too. They are obliged to learn the official language just as every other member of the Chinese nation is, considering the fact it is their right and responsibility as Chinese citizens to do so. The younger generations of Tibetans also want to learn foreign languages so as to understand the outside world better. The central government has made sure such demands are met at their schools and colleges.
When the rest of the country has entered the era of people's democracy since the birth of new China, there is no reason whatsoever for Tibet to remain behind. In the past 60 years or so our country has gone through profound changes as it grew from a backward agrarian nation into one in the early stage of prosperity, powered by both industrial and agricultural growth.
Since the beginning of reforms in the late 1970s the modernization drive of our nation has been advancing fast. The achievements we have made in social development and material modernization should be shared with the whole nation, including Tibet. It is the central government's responsibility to make this happen for all Chinese people, including the Tibetans.
China's modernization also includes the popularization of the Constitution. Our citizens have the constitutional right to freedom of belief, but no one should be allowed to interfere with national politics and individual lives, using religion as an excuse.
The author is a professor at Fudan University in Shanghai
(China Daily May 13, 2008)