The author and the Dalai Lama in 1982

Tibet’s War of Words

Early March of this year saw the largest riots in Tibet since 1959, when the Dalai Lama escaped into exile. On March 10 and 11, monks protesting Chinese rule were beaten and arrested. On March 14 other monks took to the streets in the old section of Lhasa, which, unlike many areas, is still populated almost entirely by Tibetans. These monks were soon joined by fellow Tibetans, and in that second demonstration, some 200 Chinese shops were burned and, according to official reports, 19 people were killed, all Chinese but for one Tibetan shopkeeper.

Half a world away, I have been sorting through competing claims about these events. My employer since 1997 is the Tibetan Service of Radio Free Asia, an organization funded by the U.S. government and based in Washington, D.C. Created in 1996, RFA broadcasts into China and Tibet as well as other countries in Asia whose press is subject to government control and censorship, including North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Burma. My role is to analyze Chinese propaganda claims about Tibet and to refute them for our audience in Tibet, with the aim of helping them achieve the rights promised by Chinese policies on minority nationality autonomy but thus far denied. My programs are written in English and translated and broadcast by other members of the 35-person Tibetan staff. Radio Free Asia also broadcasts Chinese-language programs about conditions in Tibet.

I have a long history in the region. From 1970 to 1981, I lived in Nepal, where, with Sherpa carpenters, I built staff quarters and tourist lodges in high-altitude national parks. Then, in 1982, I set off for a Chinese-language study program at the University of Inner Mongolia. China had just started to issue individual travel permits to Tibet, on an experimental basis, and only at three small cities, one of which was the site of my university. I availed myself of a travel permit to Lhasa and spent the next five months in Tibet, at a time when few other foreigners were there. The experience altered the course of my life.

During my stay, Tibetan culture was just beginning to revive after the repressive policies of Chairman Mao, including the Cultural Revolution, which had all but eradicated precious monuments and monasteries. Driven by a need to understand what had happened, I headed for Dharamsala, in northern India, the home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile, where I studied Tibetan history and politics for two years. My education continued at Tufts, culminating in a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School (my dissertation was later published as Tibetan Nation: A History of Tibetan Nationalism and Sino-Tibetan Relations).

At Radio Free Asia, none of this background is wasted. Besides analyzing Chinese propaganda, we try to keep up with the concerns of listeners, which can be challenging. We have call-in programs, but because all calls in Tibet are monitored, the people who dare to phone in make only guarded comments. We often rely on private messages we receive and on listener surveys done among Tibetans recently arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal.

After the March uprising, one of my tasks was to examine competing claims about how many people were killed. China’s claim of 19 deaths, all caused by Tibetan rioters, conflicts with sources within Tibet. The Tibetan government in exile claims that more than 100 Tibetans were killed when Chinese armed forces responded to the riots. And cell phone images have clearly shown dead Tibetans. The Chinese challenged the authenticity of those photos, and ransacked a monastery looking for the sender. Most of the monks were arrested, and their fate, like that of more than a thousand other Tibetans arrested, is still unknown.

Another task of mine has been to examine the charge that the protests were orchestrated by the Dalai Lama. China’s only evidence is that several Tibetan and international activist organizations—which the Chinese government calls the “Dalai Clique”—urged Tibetans and their supporters to use the publicity surrounding the Olympics to promote the Tibetan cause. The Dalai Lama himself was so upset at the deviation from his policy of nonviolence that he threatened to resign as head of the Tibetan government in exile. The underlying cause of the protests was Tibetan resentment at the fact and the conditions of Chinese rule over Tibet.

Given the intensity and virulence of China’s propaganda, the government does not appear likely to open talks with the Dalai Lama, despite renewed pressure from world leaders. Discussion about Tibet has degenerated into recriminations and incomprehension. Chinese officials and ordinary people have angrily asked why the Chinese government should not repress illegal riots, and why it should talk to the Dalai Lama when he has attempted to sabotage China’s Olympic celebrations. It is hard to know whether these officials are aware that deadly force was used against Tibetans, but given the absence of a free press, ordinary Chinese clearly are not. Most Chinese, trusting the explanations of their government, view the country’s policies toward Tibet as benevolent.

China apparently hopes that the Tibet issue will go away, but that is unlikely to happen. The government’s continued repression will only create more resentment among Tibetans. The propaganda war will almost certainly continue. In the meantime, I will be holding down the fort at Radio Free Asia. Tibetans say they rely on us for information, and we will not let them down.

WARREN SMITH, A88, F90, F95, writes about Tibetan politics for Radio Free Asia in Washington, D.C. His latest book is China’s Tibet? Autonomy or Assimilation (Rowman & Littlefield).