In some instances, I am naive. I know this to be true and perhaps this is one of those times. It seems as though it would be so fucking easy for China to embrace–or at least accept– the Dalai Lama’s “middle way” approach and grant autonomy to Tibet. In all of these years of exile, the movement has been asking for that which they already had prior to the Chinese invasion in 1949. They weren’t asking for independence and there is a huge difference between the two.

China has continued it’s hard line stance and refuses to consider autonomy which is now pushing many Tibetans, including the exiled government, to reevaluate it’s methods. The middle way has thus far produced no results and frustrated Tibetans are now talking about a movement to independence which will surely result in a military crack down, death, and even tighter restriction for those in the region.  The recent meeting in India of the exiled Tibetan government has prompted China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang to state that;

“Any attempt to separate Tibet from Chinese territory will be doomed.”

Some Tibetans fear that an independent movement would effectively end the sporadic talks that have been taking place with Beijing since 2002, but in reality, those talks have proved ineffective and therefore of little value to the end goal. It’s as though China wants the Tibetans to rise up so that they can squash them and be able to “justify” the move to the rest of the world.

I just don’t fucking get it. I’ve tried, but I just can’t understand the bully reasoning and unbending stance of China. If you can enlighten me, please do.