No lie is too big or small for the paid posters of Chinese propaganda, especially when it comes to attacking His Holiness the Dalai Lama and discrediting the peaceful nature of Tibetan freedom movement. This is perhaps the only logical explanation for the Op-Ed piece published by China Daily on 25 November, which claimed that, following the recent spate of self-immolation in Tibet and outside, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people in exile have responded by ”publishing on-the-scene photos and a list of cash compensation available in the event of a death or injury through self-immolation.” [1] The article does not find it necessary to offer even a modicum of evidence or facts to substantiate those serious allegations.
Needless to say, these allegations are an outright lie that serves only to add insult to the injury of Tibetan persecution. Like the proverbial case of a thief reprimanding the police (ulta chor kothwal ko daten), it is the Chinese authorities themselves who are openly trying to purchase ”social stability” by greasing the palms of Tibetan monks and nuns. In a latest example, the Chinese Communist Party in Tibet has dangled juicy carrots like a monthly retirement pay of 120 yuan (US$19) for elderly monks and nuns, in addition to promising an annual maximum of 50,000 yuan for medical expenses. (It boggles my mind when I think about how or when a monk can ever retire from monkhood in the proper sense of the word. These cash enticements also expose the utter lack of Chinese sensitivity toward addressing the real causes behind the popular unrest in Tibet.) [Source]
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Dhondup Gyalpo is a senior fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute. Views expressed here does not necessarily reflect those of the Tibet Policy Institute.
Notes
1. Extreme acts of violence, China.org.cn, November 25, 2011.
2. Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist liberation movements in Asia, by Christopher S. Queen and Sallie B. King.
3. Thich Nahn Hanh’s open letter to Martin Luther King, Jr, urging him to publicly denounce the American involvement in the Vietnam War.
4. Dalai Lama questions wisdom of self-immolations, BBC News, November 18, 2011.
5. Corruption is a form of violence: Dalai Lama, Hindustan Times, October 2, 2011.
6. Micheal Biggs’ analysis constitutes a chapter of the bookMaking Sense of Suicide Missions.