The Development and Stability of Tibet Reveals the Truth

On December 12th, 2011, Mr. Zhu Weiqun, the Executive Vice-Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee led a delegation in a luncheon discussion with representatives at the China Office of the EU Mission of Brussels. The representatives included chief executive officials of the Chinese Department of European External Action Service, senior research fellows from the Institute of Contemporary China Studies of Brussels, senior scholars from the Eurasia Center, professors and students from universities and colleges in Europe, journalists from New Europe, EU Observers, editors from Parliament Magazine, and the assistants of members of the European parliament(including the People’s Party and the Conservative Reform Party). Mr. Zhu Weiqun addressed the status quo of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of China and answered questions from representatives of the EU in regard to the issue of the Dalai Lama, human rights in Tibet, and “self-immolation incidents” while engaging in open discussions. This J ournal hereby publishes his address as follows.

The Acceleration and Improvement of Tibetan Livelihood and Living Standards in TAR

Zhu Weiqun: May I first briefly address the basic situation of TAR in China.

Because of my job, I have visited TAR about 40 times (including five times this year). Whenever I visit TAR, I see apparent changes taking place, including an improvement in the living standards of Tibetan people while their democratic rights are guaranteed. Here I would like to share the basic data with you. Though numbers can be boring, they reveal that great efforts have been exerted by the Chinese government, working together with the Tibetan people, to finally achieve a success which was not easy. From 2006 to 2010, during the 11th Five-year Plan of China, the Chinese government sponsored TAR by investing 137.8 billion Chinese Yuan in the development of TAR. From 2011 to 2015 during the 12th Five-year Plan, overall investment in TAR will reach 330 billion Yuan, double that of the last fi ve years. The estimated GDP (gross domestic product) of TAR in 2011 reach 60.5 billion, a 12.6 percent increase over that of last year, maintaining a consecutive annual double-digit growth for 19 years. The disposable income of urban residents is estimated to reach 16,148, up by 7.8 percent since last year. In particular, we focused on farmers and herdsmen since they have experienced hardship due to living in the harsh natural environment of TAR. The net income per capita of Tibetans this year is 4700 Yuan, a 13.6 percent increase over that of last year, realizing double-digit growth for nine consecutive years. The Chinese government recently held an important meeting, from which the national standard of povertyrelief was upgraded from 1196 Yuan to today’s 2300 Yuan. Such initiative of course adds a certain challenge for us to advance poverty-relief in the coming future. But no matter what, this is what we must do. The criterion of “2300 Yuan” is equivalent to an income of one US dollar per day per person, higher than the widely applied international standard. The net income of Tibetan farmers and herdsmen reaches 4700 Yuan annually, indicating that generally they have defeated poverty. Apart from increasing advances in our education and health, an outstanding figure is the life expectancy of Tibetan people that has increased from 35.5 years in 1951(when Tibetans were experiencing Peaceful Liberation) to 69 today. The overall population has increased to three million from one million. One should be especially aware that this increase is defi nitely not mainly because of the migration of ethnic Han. From several censuses, including the most recent one, the population of ethnic Tibetans still accounts for over 92 percent of the total population of TAR.

To respect Chinese citizens and protect their religious freedom is one of the principle policies of the Chinese government. To date, TAR includes a total of 1780 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, equal to one monastery to serve about 1600 people. The total number of clerics is about 46,000 people, 1.5 percent of the overall population. I have no idea about the ratio of religious services to the number of people and the proportion of clerics to the overall population in Europe. Frankly speaking, this fi gure is lower than the total during the reign of the Dalai Lama, which was 100 thousand out of the overall population of one million people. Please think about these figures and ask yourself how can such society make any progress?

A Few People in the Parliament of EU Persist in Attacking China

Zhu Weiqun: At present, the EU and China maintain a good relationship and both sides have built a strategic partnership while their communications at various levels cover the areas of the economy, science and humanities. Such cooperation between China and the EU brings benefits to both sides as well as to the world… and in particular it signifi cantly strengthens the communication between China and the EU to work together to overcome

diffi culties and achieve the “win-win” outcome of solving both the world fi nancial crisis and the EU’s debt crisis.

However, notwithstanding such significant cooperation between China and the EU, I am puzzled that there are some persistent accusations against China from the EU. On the contrary, I don’t remember the Chinese people at any time or under any circumstances making accusations against the EU or interfering in its internal affairs. One recent example was when a few people from the EU parliament ignored the interests of China and persisted in inviting the new head of the so-called “government in exile” of the Dalai’s clique to Brussels for high-profi le meetings with him. Ironically, he was invited in the name of the “prime minister of the Tibetan Administration Center” by the Foreign Affairs Council of the EU to deliver a speech about so-called“Tibetan independence”. These people irresponsibly betrayed a promise to China from the EU, as well as the accepted norms of international relations. If the EU has recognized that Tibet is part of China, the EU has no right to invite the head of a rebellious and separatist clique to officially visit Europe. I hope everybody here will play your part, basing your concerns on maintaining friendly relations between China and EU, to prevent such situations from arising again.

Provoking Clerics to Set Fire to Themselves Runs Counter to Basic Human Rights and Buddhist Doctrine

The representative of EU: I am an officer with the European External Action Service. Your visit to Brussels and the questions you have raised are quite important. You mentioned that Tibet has achieved significant progress. We are glad to hear that. I would like to remind you, you are aware that EU has great concerns regarding human rights and the preservation of traditional culture as well. This is the reason that we value human rights and the preservation of traditional culture, not only internal to the EU but also external to the EU.

We attach great importance to the incidents of selfimmolation recently reported amongst clerics. From the perspective of the EU, such incidents indicate some Tibetans feel extreme desperation over the preservation of their culture. I must declare that the EU does not recognize the legitimacy of the Kalon Tripa to represent the “Tibetan government-in-exile”. That invitation did not come from the EU, but rather from some parliamentary members who are elected independently and are therefore able to play their roles independently.

Zhu Weiqun: We are going to make an increased effort to advance the cause of human rights in China and in the meantime we wish to have more people to help us in this regard. However, what I want to say is, other than the Chinese government, there is no one else in the world entitled to speak for the human rights of our people, including the Tibetan people. Why did the Communist Party of China begin a revolution in the early years? One of the tasks of the revolution was to fight against imperialist invasion, including by some countries in Europe. As matter of fact, two imperialist invasions of Tibet had taken place not too long ago in 1886 and 1904.

In 1904, in a valley in Tibet, 600 Tibetans armed only with antiquated muzzle-loaders and swords, were mown down by modern rifles and Maxim machine guns. However, who spoke out about human rights for our Tibetan people at that time? Some countries in the West sent arms to support their side in a local Tibetan revolt against the peaceful liberation in 1951, and in 1959 they incited and backed the armed rebellion by the Dalai clique. Their support was not just so-called“moral support”, but also included airdrops of arms and intelligence experts aiming to oppose the democratic reform then taking place in Tibet. Which of you spoke out about the human rights of Tibetans during that time? All that we have done (including emancipating about one million former slaves, advancing the economy, upgrading the living standard of the entire population, pursuing a policy of religious freedom and developing and preserving Tibetan culture) is making a contribution to human rights. On the contrary, how many of you westerners have done any favors for Tibet? You may count them for yourselves! From my point of view, if some Europeans claim concern for the human rights of the three million Tibetan people, we may frankly say that their concerns are in fact the loss of privileges formerly possessed by a handful feudal serf-owners represented by the Dalai and his supreme ruling power, which has been lost politically, economically and religiously by the Dalai. I am sorry I do not have enough time to detail the “human rights record” catalogued by some western countries. Now I would like to move on to your suggested topic: self -immolation.

This March, a chain of incidents of self-immolation took place in four monasteries situated at Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Ngapa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province (rather than in Tibet). Those setting themselves on fire were young, about 20 years old, the youngest is just 16. I was extremely shocked by such incidents and felt especially sorry for those who were so young. Not too long ago, I went to the monasteries and I was so impressed that the local clerics and people strongly criticized and expressed their indignation towards those responsible for such incidents.

All self-immolation incidents occurred in four monasteries, but no other of the 3538 monasteries(about 140 thousand clerics) had such incidents in Tibet and other Tibetan inhabited areas. This is contrary to the claims of the Dalai clique that the whole Tibetan inhabited area was “engulfed in flame”. Most of the monasteries and clerics did not participate in such incidents, but rather criticized them strongly. The Dalai clique argued that Tibetans were in a “miserable situation” but from my point of view, the only person who is in a miserable situation is the Dalai himself. Out of 3542 monasteries, only four had such incidents and most of the incidents of selfimmolation happened in a specific monastery, the Kirti Monastery in Ngapa County of Sichuan Province. Why? The reincarnation in this monastery joined the armed rebellion in 1959 by following the Dalai and fl ed abroad after the failure of the rebellion. Subsequently, he undertook the post of “Security Minister” of the Dalai clique’s so-called “government in exile” which is notorious for masterminding bloodshed, destruction and sabotage.

The first incident of self-immolation took place on March 16th, and the monk setting himself on fire was just 19 years old. He was burnt to death. Those three monks who encouraged him to do it have been taken into custody. They confessed in court that they were persuaded to do it by separatists abroad. When the young man was set on fi re, not only did they watch but they also prevented the cadres who came to help the injured man. Meanwhile, these three fi lmed the self-immolation and immediately sent the fi lm to Dharamasala.

After the self-immolation incidents appeared on websites, the Dalai clique described these young men, who were engulfed in flame, as “heroes” and “fighters”and expressed their “admiration”. Ridiculously, they even granted “awards” and set up a “monument”. The Dalai also held a special religious ceremony and led a fast in Dharamsala to celebrate those self-immolation victims and to encourage more people to go down such a dead end.

We notice that some western media, including Reuters, the French International Broadcaster and the German Deutsche Welle (which had not previously said much in our praise before) agreed with us to the extend of pointing out that the Dalai Lama and his clique did nothing to stop the self-immolations, but rather encouraged and instigated them.

Unfortunately Tibetan Buddhism is, as matter of fact, a religion supporting mercy and is concerned with life. However, an article published by the “Tibet Religious Foundation of the Dalai Lama” in Taiwan declared, with emphasis, that self-immolation was not against the doctrine of preserving life, but rather referred to it as“bodhisattva’s practice” and claimed that anyone who would set himself/herself on fire would immediately reincarnate as a Bodhisattva. The facts reveal that this is the aftermath of long-term indoctrination and brainwashing by the Dalai clique of the clerics who were isolated in monasteries and lacked modern education.

The Dalai clique is attempting to transform Tibetan Buddhism into a religion that practices suicide and self-immolation to serve its political purposes. This is the root cause of these incidents of self-immolation, not as you just claimed that self-immolation is the result of cultural and religious destruction caused by us!

The Chinese Government Will not Alter Its Policy on Tibet

Zhu Weiqun: The Chinese government will not change its policies toward Tibet and its position of opposing the Dalai clique simply due to the several self-immolations and the subsequent verbal assaults by some people. I suggest everybody should review the history, from which in 1951, the counter-revolutionary upper class in Tibet opposed the liberation of Tibet and dared to fi re on the People’s Liberation Army in Chamdo. Though they eventually failed, in 1959 the Dalai Lama instigated an overall armed rebellion in Tibet. In the 1960s, he had no ability to oppose us by force of arms so he then turned to attacking us in our frontier area, but ultimately he was still losing the capacity to do this since his armed base was diminished. By then, he had changed strategy in the 1980s to provoke turmoil in Lhasa City over three consecutive years. Then in 2008, he desperately put all his eggs in one basket to create the “March 14 riot” but it was quickly put down.

This clique, aiming to exert pressure on the Chinese government, has deceived a few innocent young men into burning themselves to death. A Chinese saying has it that “weasels give birth to rats”, meaning one generation is inferior to the last. It is a pity that this kind of political clique has to maintain its existence by leading their followers into suicide by fi re. Will such a clique last much longer? Despite the current political reality, some people in the EU still insist on linking their fate with the Dalai Lama. That may be unwise. With regard to whether or not to instigate several more people to set themselves on fi re, a dispute has arisen within the Dalai clique. Some of them have already recognized that such a strategy has a limited lifespan. Here I would like to speak frankly to you as friends, though such incidents may arise again, the policies regarding Tibet as issued by the central government and its attitude towards the Dalai clique will not change.

You just mentioned that some EU parliament members have invited the new head of the so-called “government in exile”. I do understand the internal organizational structure of the EU and that the position of a few EU parliament members cannot stand for the EU as a whole. Nevertheless, as an international organization claiming to be democratic, isn’t it necessary to constrain behaviors that may cause harm to it and to other countries when some members demonstrate immorality and injustice? At least, the EU should conduct some internal criticism. If such a violation of the interests of the Chinese people is being allowed to continue while offering sympathy, encouragement and a platform for their enemies… the EU’s prestige will be diminished. I have heard many of your above-mentioned reasons. Whenever those people have done something against the interests of the Chinese people, they like to conclude by saying it is all because of the parliament, non-government organizations and some individuals. Seemingly, this district of Europe is not administered and governed by the government! Our Chinese government is sometimes criticized as being incapable of democracy and human rights. Nevertheless, we know a principle of being human; i.e., we absolutely do not allow anyone who is standing on Chinese territory to harm the interests of other countries and would never accuse others while we don’t know the facts. A government can only form a policy after knowing the facts.

China Will Never Allow any Foreign Group to Interfere in Tibet

The EU: I am impressed that your visit aims to have an open discussion about “Tibetan issues”. If this is so, is it possible for the Chinese government to allow an independent diplomatic team to visit Tibet to check whether the reality matches what you describe?

Zhu Weiqun: This is a very serious issue. China is an independent country with dignity and fully capable of safeguarding the sovereignty and interests of the country. We definitely don’t allow any foreign power to intervene in the internal affairs of China by any means. Frankly speaking, I don’t believe any foreign power interfering in the internal affairs of another will solve problems or bring any benefits to the people of the other country, but rather it will provoke conflict, intensify contradictions and even lead to war. China never interferes with the inner affairs of other countries by asking them to do this or that; likewise, China never allows any foreigner to intervene in our inner affairs. Who gives this right to you to interfere with us? You can criticize us and give us your advice, but our right to control our inner affairs will never be handed over to any others, including foreign organizations and governments.

Of course if some individuals, like foreign diplomats, media reporters and scholars would like to visit Tibet to upgrade their knowledge about ethnic Tibetans and their culture, they are welcome. Our Tibet never closes its doors to the outside world. Last year the Tibetan tourist industry received 6.85 million tourists from both home and abroad, including 228 thousand foreign visitors. The number of tourists has climbed to 7.5 million in 2011. Surely, the fi gure of foreign visitors will continue to rise.

The EU: Will we be restricted if we move around and interview people in Tibet?

Zhu Weiqun: Obviously you did not visit Tibet. Whenever you move around and interview people, you will not be interfered with. But in all honesty I must also make you aware that Tibet is a frontier of China. There are a couple of border areas or military forbidden zones in which you are requested to follow administrative rules which are actually the same rules applied internationally.

The EU: You wish the EU to restrict the behavior of EU parliament members. What is your advice in terms of these measures?

Zhu Weiqun: Whatever measures being taken by the EU are your internal affair and I will never impose my will on you or any others. A Chinese saying goes “Don’t impose on others what you yourself do not desire.” I can only propose that the EU give some advice to those people who have no discretion and pay little attention to the facts when speaking out. It is important to understand the facts about the real situation in Tibet before speaking in public. Groundless statements are not good and in particular; please don’t discriminately hurt the interests of a country filled with 1.3 billion people enjoying rapid economic development. Any intention to make the Chinese people unhappy will cause serious problem. Of course, if someone chooses not to listen to me and continues accusing and attacking us…honestly it is not a big deal. What I believe is, no matter if an individual or a country, a dissenting voice heard frequently may make you vigilant and it is good way to strengthen your capacity for self-defense.

Why Were the Talks with the Envoys of The Dalai Impeded?

The EU: You are in charge of talks with the envoys of the Dalai Lama. Would you tell us the progress of the talks and how China judges future trends in this movement?

Zhu Weiqun: The last round of talks with the private representatives of the Dalai started from 2002. To date we have had 10 talks and have not made any progress which people with goodwill would expect to achieve. There are two reasons behind of this. Firstly, there was a sharp divergence of views is about who talks with whom. The new head of the so-called “government in exile” claims the talks are between the so-called“government in exile” and the Chinese government. But we know the so-called “government-in-exile” is just a continuation of a rebel cohort and there is no legitimacy in this group. Fundamentally, we never recognized it and there would never be any contact or talks with it. The only talks we recognize are the ones between the private representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Central government. The intervention of the new head of the socalled “government-in-exile” is a significant reason for any impediment to the talks being restored.

The second disagreement is about what we are going to talk about and what we are not going to talk about. Our attitude is very clear. Only by the Dalai Lama meeting the fundamental requests of the central government can we have this talk about his personal future. These requests include that he must recognize that Tibet, since ancient times, is an inalienable part of China, cease all forms of sabotage, recognize Taiwan as part of China, and so forth. However, the Dalai Lama ridiculously demands to talk about the so-called “Tibetan political position” and the “high-level autonomy of greater Tibet”. His core request is for us to hand over the whole Tibet-Qinghai Plateau (which covers 2.5 million square kilometers and includes Tibet) to the rule of the Dalai clique. This is clearly impossible. Since the central government did not agree with his ridiculous demands to divide China, the Dalai Lama has twice made announcements, in 1993 and 2008 respectively, to halt the talks with the central government. Notwithstanding, the central government, having a generous attitude, never says anything about stopping talks and always remains flexible. Recently, the Dalai Lama repeatedly announced that his personal future was not an issue for discussion, but rather the issue of the “future of the six million Tibetans” and the “position of Tibet”. However, the future of the ethnic Tibetans and the position of Tibet have already been solved when the new China was established and is fundamentally impossible to be overturned. Such a rigid and irrational altitude of the Dalai Lama is another key reason for him to impede the progress of the talks.

There is no capacity for the Dalai Lama to match wills with the Chinese government. Why did he advance such an irrational demand? I guess it is because he still believes that he has support from some countries. I wish western countries would give a little sympathy to this 77-year-old man and advise him to discard this fantasy and sit down honestly with the representatives of the Chinese government to talk about his personal future. This is the only really signifi cant thing he can do. If there are still various forces trying to promote the bizarre and unrealistic ambitions of the old lama, all of them will fundamentally harm the position of the Dalai Lama.

The EU: Your name is quite well known in China, but in Tibet do people feel happy or horrifi ed on hearing your name?

Zhu Weiqun: Everybody in China does not, as you say, know my name since there are a number of cadres who are more capable than me and I am the least capable person to be chosen to deal with issues concerning the Dalai Lama. I have lots of Tibetan friends, including leaders in Tibet and civilians like farmers and herdsmen, old or young. I am positive that the mass of Tibetan people is satisfi ed with my work, whenever I visited ethnic cadres and pupils, they always welcome me. Of course, I recognize that a few of people, in particular the Dalai clique abroad, hate me but I feel honored by such hate, coming as it does from those forces which attempt to divide the nation and sabotage the stability of Tibet. I recognize that this is my most successful achievement in my lifetime. If the Dalai and his follows, including those who instigated the selfimmolations, liked me it would demonstrate that I was not doing my job well.

Time and Facts Will Reveal the Mistakes Made by the Western Media

The EU: As a Chinese-European living in Europe for decades, you have offered me lots of new information and I appreciate it very much. J ust before, a journalist raised the question of bringing a team to conduct an investigation in Tibet. Many Europeans support this because they are always suspicious toward leaders dispatched by the Chinese Communist Party. Because of this, I suggest whenever and wherever the leadership goes abroad, it is good to have some local Tibetans within the delegation since they can describe what it has happened in Tibet in a way that is easier for Europeans to believe and understand.

Zhu Weiqun: In recent years, we have had many scholars, offi cers and religious people visit overseas. However, when they tell the truth about Tibet, they were also doubted and contradicted by some Europeans. I would like to add that no matter which people belong to which ethnic groups in China, the absolutely priority of the nation is unity. The small delegation, which I bring with me this time, has no Tibetans, but we still maintain the representative form. I have been holding the position of the Executive Vice-Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, through which I not only represent the interests of ethnic Han, but also the interests of all 56 ethnic groups in China. I agree with your suggestion that we should send more ethnic Tibetans abroad to share their views with you. I also inform you that I am not the only one of the deputy ministers of the United Front Work Department of the CPC committee. Mr. Sitar, who is also another deputy minister, is an ethnic Tibetan. In our team, almost one third of our people involved in Tibetan affairs are ethnic Tibetans.

Obviously the western media, to some extent, supports the Dalai Lama. I guess the reasons are complicated. I recognize we do not provide sufficient information about the true situation and facts about to outsiders, and our information delivery needs to improve as well. Apart from these reasons there is another… i.e. the bias of some western media: they don’t like to admit that the Chinese Communist Party is so successful in running the country and they don’t like to see such expansion under Chinese socialism. With such stereotyping, some people are subjectively prone to listen to the words of the Dalai Lama rather than to the true facts given by us. I cannot change these people’s way of thinking, but I keep telling the facts and the truth about the development and stability of Tibet… and I believe time is on our side.

Today I am sitting in the host’s seat. The information about Tibet, which is held by you and me, is freely available so my language may seem a little strong. It does not matter whether you believe me or not, but we welcome you to seize your chance to have a look at Tibet. You can use your own eyes to make your own judgment.