China Slams Media Coverage of Tibet

ellen212 »

Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:43 am Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

Nice talking! I am glad that we have better understandings of each other. I do not expect that we will agree on everything, nor will the Chinese government with the Western countries, because we have fundamentally different and often conflicting intersts. I just don't like, actually I am disgusted by the way Western governments are using "human rights" as an excuse to advance their political interests. I found a fairly unbiased analysis of the Tibet issue, and how the whole thing is well planned and supported by the Western governments, led by the US. It also reveals the true reasons why the US chose Afganistan and Iraq as its targets for "war on terrorism". There are certainly shadier and strategic political reasons behind them. This analysis also talks about Western media supporting their political interests. While they are "free", they are far from being objective. Watch out as this whole thing might just be to prepare the world for a "justified" war on Iran.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8673

China Slams Media Coverage of Tibet

ellen212 »

Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:17 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

"If a person is suffering needlessly, then I am against it, if a government is the cause of it, then I am against them. You cannot just say, "China lets North Korea handle its own problems" whenever China is sending them tons of aid and obstructing UN work in Korea. The Chinese government is part of the problem, and they are as responsible for the suffering and death of the North Korean people as much as Kim Il." I think the US, not China, is the ultimate cause of all this mess. The US is the one that has been advocating economic sanctions on N Korea, thus leading to hunger and poverty in N Korea, thus leading to the N Korean government becoming desparate and starting to play the nuclear weapon card.

China Slams Media Coverage of Tibet

ellen212 »

Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:59 am Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

Chris,
Thanks for helping me understand your views. I do agree with many of them and I think we understand each other a lot better now after the conversations. I think what we are doing is exactly what China and Chinese people need with the rest of the world. This is very constructive cultural exchange, and the Olympics can make it on a much bigger scale. Even if it might in someway overlap politics, it is good for all parties involved.

I think a lot of conflicts between China and the Western world have roots in their different understandings of the scope of "sovereignty of states". That's what leads to Westerners to think China doesn't care about anyone else when it makes decisions on human rights and stuff, while China gets pissed off when Westerners want to interfere with their decisions on things that they consider as "internal affairs".

Regarding North Korean refugees, as a developing nation itself, China doesn't have as much capacity as the US to take care of any refugees that want to enter. What if every North Korean wants to live in China? We simply can't handle that.

The Chinese culture is also very different than the Western culture. For thousands of years, we have stressed more on collectivism and less on individulism, thus we value collective rights more than individual rights. We believe in preventing individual rights from geting in the way of collective rights and we also strongly value social order - as it is a country with a high population density. In the case of Tibetan protestors, they were violently attacking the innocent people around them and causing serious social chaos. That's why we believe as a responsible government, our main goal at the moment is to restore peace. This whole thing is actually quite similar to the LA riot in 1992. The US government used 10,000+ military guys to quite LA and killed innocent people in the process. We are also angry at the US (esp. Pelosi) at using double standards and this leads us to believe they are simply anti-China.

I do believe most Western governments are quite anit-China and uneasy about its economic rise. You really can't blame China for clinging to the only friends it has in the world. If Western countries are more open-minded and accept China, instead of doing everything they can to alienate it and deploying defense systems all around China, China wouldn't be so concerned about strenghtening its military forces to better defend itself either. We believe in socialism and it has worked well in China. We are fine with the Western countries being based on capitalism. Why can't you tolerate our being socialist? We think the biggest threat to the world is the Western countries' hostility toward China, not the other way around!

China Slams Media Coverage of Tibet

ellen212 »

Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:30 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

"The Chinese government has always planned to use the Olympics for political purposes, to promote China as a country of harmony, progress and peace" Ok, first of all China didn't call it a "political spring board". Second of all, letting the world have a better understanding of the country is mostly for cultural exchange purposes, not necessarily political. This becomes even more necessary now after there is so much misunderstanding between each other.

"Christians cannot meet without government sanction, Bibles must be the Chinese government approved Bible" This is not true. There are many churches throughout China. I owned a bible when I was in China which I bought in a church in China, and it was the exact same International Version I can buy here in the US. I also saw all versions of imported bibles in book stores. Quite a few of my family members are Christians and they have no complaints about their freedom.

"words like "freedom", "Liberty", and "Democracy" were banned from the internet" I see these words on Chinese websites all the time and people openly discuss and offer suggestions about the government's political reforms.

" If your kids want to be free and starve to death, as their parent would you let them? " The reason why I asked this is because I believe the right to life should always come before the right to freedom. If you really care about someone, you shouldn't let them choose freedom but give up life. What human rights do you have when you are not living?

"North Koreans are starving and dying and being horribly oppressed, while China sends North Korean refugees back to North Korea, where they face torture and death." This is the exact same reason why the US won't let Mexicans enter as illegal immigrants. We always belive we should let other countries solve their own problems. The North Korean government should deal with their own internal affairs. Tibet is part of China so we have the responsibility to take care of it.

Olympic Committee to China: Don't Block Internet

ellen212 »

Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:08 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 2

"a communist nation which represses its citizens and denies freedom to its people" We Chinese people are extremely happy and pround about our government and what it's done to make our lives 10% better each year. We also think we have enough freedom than we need. Solve the problems in your own country where half of the citizens are mad with the government, before you start to tell other countries how YOU THINK they should manage themselves only to find that you are wrong because you know nothing about them.

China Slams Media Coverage of Tibet

ellen212 »

Sun Apr 13, 2008 5:39 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

"If Tibet wants to be free and starve to death, then why does China care?" If your kids want to be free and starve to death, as their parent would you let them?

China Slams Media Coverage of Tibet

ellen212 »

Sun Apr 13, 2008 5:17 pm Agree: 1   Disagree: 0

Chris,

"The Olympics was largely formed as a means of uniting countries", you put it very well, it is to unite, not to divide. "and a part of this is politics" I don't see what political purposes it is to serve though. Even if it is related to politics, which I don't think it's supposed to be, we know that boycotting Olympics never works to achieve any political goals. What did the US and Russia gain by boycotting each other's Olympics in the 1980s? Even if you don't like the Chinese government, you should show some consideration to the 1.4 billion people who waited for decades for their Olympic dream to come true and worked so hard to present a joyous and memorable experience to the world. And many of the athletes around the world have spent their entire youth preparing for an Olympic medal. Please do not let any temporary anger ruin so many dreams and break so many hearts.

"China has clearly stated in the past that they are using the Olympics for a political spring board." I highly doubt China said this and there is no way they would call it a "spring board". China eagerly wants to host the Olympics only because it wants to show the world what modern China is really like now and Olympics is a great opportunity to further mutual understanding and clear misunderstanding. China has undergone dramatic change in the past 30 years and many Westerners are not familiar with its achievements and the government's efforts to improve people's lives. I guarantee you will be surprised if you watch this video about Chinese cities http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwfRz8eOZaA. Even I was shocked.

"I seriously do not think it is right to call the Dalai Lama as worse than Saddam Hussein." When Dalai Lama was in control, he was the head of the government and there was no democracy, only extreme poverty and oppression. Avg life expectancy of Tibetans was 35, as opposed to 68 today. I think any president who would cut their citizens' hands and legs when they fail to pay taxes is no better than Saddam. I can even show you pictures of entertaining instruments from that time that were made from people's skulls, legs and skin.

"If Tibet wants to be free and starve to death, then why does China care? " Because Tibet is part of China and why wouldn't we care? It sounds like you don't really care if Tibetans die from starvation, then why do you care whether they are free?? You should also consider the fact that people can be fooled sometimes, especially by their spiritual leaders. They may also be too afraid to speak against their religious leader - their God.

"It appears that the vast majority of Tibetans are not happy, thus massive protests." There are over 2 million tibetans in Tibet. What percentage do you think participated in the protests?

Thanks Chris, and may peace be with all.

China Slams Media Coverage of Tibet

ellen212 »

Sun Apr 13, 2008 10:15 am Agree: 1   Disagree: 0

Chris,
Thanks for your comment. I admit the Chinese government did two things wrong when handling this issue - First, they shouldn't have used military forces to respond to protestors, even though believe me the protestors were extremely violent and killing many innocent Han Chinese people. Second, they shouldn't have banned Western jounalists from entering Tibet.

However, with these said, I don't think it is right by any means for Western journalists to report fake news and make up stories. It is absolutely against the ethical codes of professional journalists. I can't believe some media will use photos of Nepal and Indian police beating Tibetan protestors over there and say that these are all Chinese police. Check out anti-cnn.com if you didn't know this.

My main position is that #1 Olympics should never be tied to politics. Olympics should be a joyous event for the world to come together and strengthen friendship regardless of their political status. It is an event for the civilians not governments. #2 Although I think the Chinese government is far from perfect, I still firmly believe that the Chinese government is doing a much better job at improving the lives of Tibetans than Dalai Lama ever has or ever will. The majority of Tibetans are very happy with their lives and welcome further integration into China. I am angry that the Western media never reports what Tibet was like under Dalai Lama's rule. That's why you all think he's a hero and we know he's even worse than Saddam Hussein.

China Slams Media Coverage of Tibet

ellen212 »

Sat Apr 12, 2008 9:13 pm Agree: 0   Disagree: 0

The FACT is, not just Chinese in China, but Chinese all over the world, including all of us in the US where we have full access to all media sources, are angry towards Western media right now. This is because we have seen both sides of the story and know how biased and shameless Western media has been in covering Tibet. You only tell one side of the story and let your audience believe that is all to it. Did you ever reveal the fact that Tibet was under miserable oppression, poverty and starvation when Dalai Lama was in control? Did you mention how Tibetans were excessively taxed on everything (including having a baby) by the monarstries led by Dalai Lama and if they failed to pay these taxes they would get amputated? Did you ever mention how China has been investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Tibet each year to try to improve their lives, by setting up schools, hopitals, and public facilities? If China hasn't been doing this, Tibet wouldn't be an attractive tourist destination for Westerners at all. Did you ever find out what Dalai Lama really wants? Yes, he wants full freedom as Tibet's religious leader. But you need to understand Tibet was a pure theocracy when he was in control, so religious leader = head of government = dictator. There is no way such a form will give Tibetans real freedom and democracy. Wake up Western media. You have been fooling your own people for as long as you have existed and we educated, informed and sober Chinese are fully aware of your hypocracy now and will never trust you again!