OPINION> Commentary
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OPINION> Commentary
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Nothing peaceful about Tibetan rebels
By Lian Xiangmin (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-18 07:45
Just as Tibetan people are celebrating the central government's suppression of political unrest in the autonomous region and the adoption of sweeping democratic reforms 50 years ago, the Dalai Lama clique is also busy organizing a series of activities outside China's territory to commemorate their so-called "peaceful uprising". Was the deliberately plotted political event on Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet autonomous region, in March, 1959, really a peaceful activity, as the Dalai Lama claims? A simple review of the event lays bare such a lie. On May 23, 1951, the central government and the Tibetan authority signed a 17-Article Agreement, reaching consensus on its peaceful liberation. However, the agreement has since met with the endless sabotage of upper-class Tibetan feudal serf owners. On the way back from his participation in the first session of the National People's Congress (NPC) held in Beijing in May 1955, members of the Dalai Lama's entourage made a stopover in Litang, Ganzi, in neighboring Sichuan province, and invited local chieftains of Tibetan ethnicity and some upper-class monks for secret talks to plot armed revolts against the democratic reforms. A few months later, a violent rebellion took place in Tibetan-populated areas of Sichuan and a large number of rebellious members fled to Tibet. In 1957, the chief rebellious members set up Four Water Six Kong, an organization consisting of people committed to "Tibetan independence". As well as raising funds, they also decided to give the Dalai Lama a golden throne. Such activity won approval from the then local government of Tibet. In April, 1958, an alliance accord was reached among Tibetan rebellious chiefs and representatives from Drepung, Sera, and Gandain monasteries, the three major monasteries based in Lhasa, as well as from the Tibetan army. In July, the Four Water Six Kong convened a meeting attended by rebellion organizers and announced the establishment of the religious guardian army. It also decided to set up a military base in Shannan Area. In July, the CIA air-dropped two American spies into Shannan and offered weapons to the rebels a few months later. In January, 1959, the two American spies held secret talks with the adjutant to the Dalai Lama. When the latter fled to India after a failed uprising, the CIA-trained staff were among his convoy. On February 7, 1959, the Dalai Lama demanded Deng Shaodong, then deputy commanding officer of the Tibet Military Area, arrange seats at a play performed by the art troupe affiliated with the military. Deng immediately agreed and asked the Dalai Lama to fix a time and location. The Dalai Lama later decided he would watch the show at the Tibet Military Area's auditorium at 3pm on March 10. However, the night before, the pro-Dalai Lama chief security official in Lhasa began to instigate local Tibetans to gather around Norbulingka, the Dalai Lama's residence, to petition their spiritual leader not to go to the performance. Lies were then cooked up to convince locals the Han people would abduct the Dalai Lama and spirit him to Beijing. The next morning, many Tibetans gathered around the Dalai Lama's residence under the coercion of a handful of rebellious forces and disseminated the rumor that the Dalai Lama would be poisoned. They shouted loudly such slogans as "Tibet independence" and "Han people out". The rebels also beat some local officials and the deputy commanding officer of the Tibet Military Area. A member of the organizing committee of the Tibet autonomous region was even beaten to death and his body tied to a horsetail and dragged through the streets. The rebellion's chief organizers also convened so-called "Tibet People's Congress" in Norbulingka and decided to launch a "Tibet independence" campaign. On March 11, Lhasa-based Drepung, Sera and Gandain monasteries organized an all-out revolt. An order was issued demanding all forces to come to Lhasa for the safety of the Dalai Lama. On March 13, the rebellious army's headquarters, in the capacity of so-called "Tibet People's Congress", issued a decree that all males aged 18 to 60 immediately report armed to Lhasa united against the Communist Party of China and to gain independence. On March 16, a secret telegram was transmitted to India-based Tibetan separatists, asking them to do their utmost to gain international support. On the early morning of March 20, a large-scale military offensive was launched against the Lhasa-based Party, administrative and military installations and some institutions. Facts have proved that the 1959 Lhasa revolt was a deliberately designed military action aimed at splitting Tibet from the motherland and seeking confrontation with the central government's sweeping democratic reforms. It turns out that the Dalai Lama played an infamous role in that year's armed rebellion, aided by some imperialists. Crowned with the Nobel Prize and masquerading as a self-proclaimed peace and democracy guardian, the Dalai Lama has been trying to cover the truth of the 1959 event. His shameless tactics were repeated during last year's March 14 riot in Lhasa, in which several civilians were burned or beaten to death by rebellious forces. The author is a researcher with the China Tibetology Research Center.
(China Daily 03/18/2009 page9) |
