Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Tibet, China and US Equation

Spade of recent self immolation by young Tibetan monks, nuns and laymen in Tibet to show their defiance of Chinese rule in a most drastic way is a tragedy unfolding in our own eyes. Even more worrisome is a complete lack of concern by the medias and the world leaders. Passing of resolutions condemning the Chinese action in a US Congress is not enough even though it is a good PR. What is urgently needed is a bold action by the world leaders lead by  the United States to engage Chinese leaderships to look at the Tibetan situation seriously and send a strong message that anything less is not acceptable. One way to do it is to link the trade and commerce to addressing the Tibet's situation and improvement of Human Rights in China. Western countries especially United States has leverage to link Trade to Tibetan issue and Human Rights. Chinese economy is booming but it is still export oriented economy which means sustenance of robust growth depends on Chinese exports. Hence it is at least now dependent upon trade and commerce with the Western countries. China is still not a self consuming economy and most economists elude to it. There is a growing concern in the West that soon China will take over as a world major economy overtaking even the United States. It is still debatable whether such emerging change in global equation is  positive or a negative development to look forward to. Judging by the repressive nature of China's rule in people's basic human rights, and deteriorating situation inside Tibet, intrusion of Chinese interference in south pacific Asia and level of investment in modernizing military asset and weaponry sure does not show a rosy picture of what to expect of such a rise of China economically and militarily.
Putting constant pressure on Chinese leadership is the only viable and realistic way of resolving Tibet's dire situation and improving human rights situation inside China. There is still time to persuade the Chinese leadership to respect the opinion of the freedom loving people of the world and to resolve and respect the plight of the Tibetan people.
China will earn the respect and admiration of the world if they sincerely resolve the Tibet's issue and eventually join the comity of democratic world where  every human being is treated with respect and dignity.