Creative Writing

For the past few days, Tibetans have vented their anger on the Chinese occupying their land.

They are doing this now to mark the 50th anniversary of Chinese occupation of Tibet.

I'm having trouble accessing foreign news reports, even those copied into emails to me as the browser goes blank and I have to wait a few minutes to be able to reload it again.

Today at the gym I watched a report on the BBC that went black after 15 seconds, probably blocking the violent scenes they captured on camera. Some of the images show people throwing rocks at buildings, pushing a man off his motorcycle and hitting the bike, police and soldiers behind shields marching forward.

Meanwhile the Chinese government insists everything is under control and blaming the Dalai Lama as the "mastermind".

Besides issuing reports that contrast with foreign media ones of violence and deaths, the Xinhua News Agency also published a commentary yesterday that deserves recognition for its creative prose:

The Nobel laurel was tainted, and the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal proved nothing but a fig leaf of the Dalai Lama when on Friday rioters, backed by the self-proclaimed peace preacher, turned the tranquil holy city of Lhasa into a land of terror.

And the intention harbored behind the monk's claim of seeking "real or greater autonomy" of Tibet also proved hypocritical when hundreds of his followers yelled independence, attacked police, smashed windows, robbed shops, and set cars and a mosque ablaze.

Yet, this impudent politician did not show any sign of shame when he disassociated himself from the conspiracy as an innocent monk, leaving his followers standing as cat's paws by persuading them, in a canting manner, "not to resort to violence" reportedly in a statement after the serene abode of the gods was disturbed.

At least 10 people were confirmed dead in the rioting, while the number of injured and other losses kept rising.

When a woman who dared not to step out of her office near a looted and burnt supermarket told me through mobile phone short messages that Lhasa was cloaked in an atmosphere of horror, I believed the hand behind the cat's paws was a master terror maker.

But the monk in a crimson cassock has many tools for disguise to survive the international criticism against violence and terror: his preaching of peace, tolerance and benevolence to the Nobel honor and U.S. medal which added to his undeserved aura.

Now the blaze and blood in Lhasa has unclad the nature of the Dalai Lama, and it's time for the international community to recheck their stance toward the group under the camouflage of non-violence, if they do not want to be willingly misled.

The Dalai Lama and his clique have never for a day refrained from violence and terror. His childhood teacher, an Austrian, was a Nazi, and it's no secret that for quite a long time after he fled to India, he kept a force, armed by his western patron, for separatist activities. The peace advocator had also shown no interest in the global campaigns against U.S. wars on Afghanistan and Iraq.

The international community, however, seems to have neglected, or, be unwilling, to face the facts. Continuous tolerance to violence undoubtedly means appeasement to terror, while offering platforms for the rhetoric lama to sell his deceitful philosophy will only encourage him to drift further away from the negotiation framework on the Tibet issue that the Chinese government has repeatedly promised to keep open.

There are always countries, organizations and individuals who would like to act as moral defenders when anything they don't like to see happens. Now it's time again for them to stand out, but on whom their whip falls is a test to justice.

As for the Dalai Lama, I never disbelieve the ability and power of the so-called "His Holiness" in praying for peace, but the violent scene in Lhasa has given me the very reason to doubt the always-smiling monk's sincerity.

It's written by a Wang Jiaquan, but it's most probably a nom de plume for someone who was given the freedom to sink their teeth into His Holiness and literally rip him to shreds.

What is also sad is that the Chinese themselves completely believe in what their government says.

They have been told it was the Chinese who helped Tibetans improve their way of life, building the economy and now with the Qinghai-Tibet railway, tourism and immigration can ramp up at an even higher pace.

The average person, particularly young people, don't understand that in the process of economic development, Tibetan culture is quickly disappearing. They think prosperity is much more important than culture, especially when it's not Chinese.

So it is a shock for some who leave China to study or emigrate and find out the real truth of their country. Others still in denial, resolutely believe China is right regardless of the consequences.