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Enough Misguided Maligning of China
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Other articles by Antoine Halff and Shalom Solomon Wald
More in Forward ForumIt is fitting that Jews should speak up against injustice, whoever its victims may be, and rise to their defense. With a history that includes centuries of religious persecution, Hitler’s Final Solution and repeated assaults on the State of Israel, Jews have a special affinity for the victims of prejudice and genocidal violence.
Lately, though, rightful concerns about Darfur and Tibet have given rise to a fast-growing campaign of prejudice — with a few well-known Jews in the vanguard — that singles out Chinese policies for criticism and threatens to derail China’s Olympic dream in retaliation.
A wellspring of anti-Chinese sentiment is being stoked by ill-informed attacks by politicians on the campaign trail, sanctimonious denunciations by celebrities and mass demonstrations along the path of the Olympic torch. Not only are such efforts of dubious effectiveness in solving the problems at hand, they are outright counter-productive, morally questionable and, from a Jewish standpoint, strategically suicidal.
In targeting China, Jewish critics are also perpetrating against Beijing the very kind of fear-mongering of which the Jewish people themselves have all too often been victim.
Take, for example, the protracted, self-congratulatory and ultimately ineffective movement for peace in Darfur. Jewish personalities and organizations, including the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and the American Jewish World Service, figure prominently in the campaign. In March, director Steven Spielberg, revered in China for his film “Schindler’s List,” resigned as artistic advisor to the upcoming Olympic Games to protest Chinese involvement in Sudan.
The Save Darfur campaign has increasingly identified China’s oil stake in Sudan, as well as its trade, diplomatic — and, yes — past military ties with Khartoum as key factors facilitating the atrocities of the Janjaweed militia. Undoubtedly, Beijing holds a position of influence in the country, and as such can be part of a solution to the tragedy.
But in the last 16 months or so China has come a long way, deeply amending its Darfur and Sudan policy and leaning on Khartoum to accept peacekeepers — long before Mia Farrow started campaigning on the issue.
And let’s not forget that China is far from Khartoum’s only friend. India, a close ally of Washington, has almost as much at stake in Sudan as China does. Rarely, though, is Delhi targeted by those trying to help Darfur.
Moscow, for its part, is a major military supplier. And last year Japan emerged as a major importer of Sudanese oil. It also helps that Khartoum’s African neighbors, as well as Arab and Muslim allies like Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, turn a blind eye to the atrocities in Darfur, or even provide active support to the government. How can we expect China to solve Darfur alone when the others get a free pass?
In short, to pillory China alone for the horrors in Darfur is naive, ill informed and disingenuous.
The knee-jerk outrage to recent reports of Chinese repression in Tibet has been equally ill advised. Elie Wiesel, perhaps the world’s most famous Holocaust survivor, got 25 fellow Nobel laureates to join him in a forceful condemnation of the Chinese government’s violent crackdown.
Such humiliating attacks on China on behalf of the Dalai Lama, however, may backfire. Senior Chinese policymakers reportedly are discussing whether they have given Tibetan Buddhism too much freedom.
Never mind the television footage of violent Tibetan assaults on ethnic Chinese and their properties, or the fact the Dalai Lama appeared to have little if any control — Chinese allegations to the contrary not withstanding — over the demonstrators. What really seems to bother those in the West agitating for a free Tibet is the “cultural genocide” they and the Dalai Lama himself accuse Beijing of carrying out.
Official discomfort with religion is widespread in China, and is not specifically targeted at Tibetan Buddhism, which has consistently enjoyed much more freedom and protection than, for example, Christianity and Islam. And while China’s crackdown on media coverage of the unrest clearly is a concern, so is the lack of press freedom in China in general.
Actually, the main threat to Tibetan culture may come from its exposure to the winds of modernity, not from Chinese policies.
Demonizing China will not achieve much in Tibet and Darfur. But it is an irritant that could cloud our relationship with a great power — one that in its 5,000 years of history has never showed an ounce of antisemitism.
Jewish expressions of anti-Chinese sentiment and threats to derail the Olympics have not escaped Beijing’s notice. A paper just released by a Chinese academic institute identifies American Jewish organizations as being among the main culprits in the anti-Chinese part of the Darfur campaign in the United States. Meanwhile, a new book blaming Jews for China’s problems with the yuan is selling like hotcakes.
It would be unfortunate, to say the least, if Jews came to be seen as an enemy of Beijing. China is today an economic powerhouse, and its diplomatic clout is quickly growing. Furthermore, it has the ability to play a major role in the Middle East, where to date its foreign policy has been remarkably balanced and much friendlier toward Israel than is generally recognized.
The potential cost of anti-Chinese sentiment among American Jews is dear indeed. But it is not just from a realpolitik standpoint that the Darfur and Tibet campaigns are misguided.
Under a veneer of political correctness, such efforts are threatening to become a major moral failure on our part. For all the obvious differences between China and the Jewish people, it is hard not to notice the similarities between today’s anti-Chinese feeling and the antisemitism that first emerged in the late 19th century, when Western Jews threatened Christian domination by moving into positions of power.
Our insistence on holding China to higher standards than other countries reflects our concerns about how its rise is reshaping our world and challenging Western supremacy. Outrage at Chinese policies is in style and uncontroversial because it gives those anxieties — about losing jobs, about Chinese takeovers of Western companies, about China’s competition with the West for scarce energy resources — a respectable cover.
As a rising power with roots as deep as ours, China has a role to play for the good, and it is open to influence if it is not publicly insulted. We would do well not to try to stifle China’s rise or seek to disrupt its cherished Olympics.
Screaming at China may be a great way to feel good about ourselves or get political mileage, but it is not going to get us anywhere on Darfur or Tibet. Not all is perfect about China, and there is no point in denying it. But neither should we mindlessly howl with the anti-Chinese wolves.
Shalom Solomon Wald is a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute in Jerusalem. Antoine Halff, an adjunct professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, is an energy analyst in New York.
Comments
I am currently in China. I did an interview at the Center for Jewish Studies Shanghai and I knew there was quite a bit of anti-Chinese sentiment. However, I did not have any idea that a good portion of it was from many American Jews.
My project here is on the protection China has given to Jews throughout history including saving more than 30,000 lives. It is a shame that people just repeat what they hear rather than doing balanced research on an issue. That is not to say that China is exactly balanced in what it reports, but anyone can educate themselves overall. Thank you for this piece.
After watching and listening to all these recent anti-Chinese bashing with false and misleading information in Western media, esp. in Germany, I now come to understand how the Nazi could so successfully brainwash most German to become anti-Jewish and march on with its killing of the Jewish people without a blink.
What troubles me most is that people like Mr. Elie Wiesel stand up for a course that they are neither fully informed nor totally understand. What happened in mid-March was some mobs ran brutal riots against innocent people, Han and TIbetan Chinese alike. There are tons of the eyewitness reports from Western tourists and journalists, but none of the self-claimed "fair and objetiveve" media outlets, such as BBC, CNN, German and French ones, bothered to report these facts. None of the activists for human rights bothered to show an ounce of sympathy to the families whose beloved ones were burnt to death in this riots.
However the most unsettling is that the total unconditional support from Jewish people to Dalai Lama, who has had very close relationship with some Nazi officers, and his Tantric Buddhism, which had quite some influence on Nazi ideology:
- He kept his close contact with ex-SS men Bruno Beger, who was convicted as helping to murder more than 86 Jews, and Heinrich Harrer, who was his teacher for 7 years, till his death in 2006.
Till a few years' ago, Beger's photo was proudly presented on the official website of exile Tibetan "government".
- Nearly unknown until now is the contact of the Dalai Lama with the French SS-collaborator, convinced anti-Semite, recognised Orientalist and Kalachakra Tantra Expert Jean Marquès-Rivière (in his absence convicted and given the death sentence for turning Jews over to the Gestapo in France).
- The founder of an esoteric Hitler movement the ex-Chilean diplomat Miguel Serrano (promoter of an extremely racist SS-mysticism, which is based on Tantric practices and on the idea of the Shambhala Warriors) met the Dalai Lama four times.
- Well known is his relationship with the Japanese terrorist, Shoko Asahara, whom he described, even after the Tokyo sarin gas attacks, as his "friend, albeit an imperfect one”.
- How many Jews know that the warlike and racist ideas of Heinrich Himmler of the SS and of other well known Neo-fascists have been fundamentally inspired by elements of different Asian religions, such as Tantric Buddhism?
The "SS-Ahnenerbe", the think tank of the SS, and its’ Chief Heinrich Himmler openly engaged in ongoing discussions with the most distinguished German Orientalists of his time in the construction of a new Indo-Arian Nazi-Religion. For that purpose, Nazi sent an expedition team to Tibet in 1938/39 led by Bruno Beger and it brought back the bless for "His Excelleny Hilter" from the Tibet.
(source: An Interview with Victor and Victoria Trimondi (Germany))
Hope that Jewish people get informed about Tibet and China not through the biased Western media but by reading some history books.
"- How many Jews know that the warlike and racist ideas of Heinrich Himmler of the SS and of other well known Neo-fascists have been fundamentally inspired by elements of different Asian religions, such as Tantric Buddhism?" I did. Actually, it's not that big of a secret. Especially if you know that "Aryan" is an ancient Sanskrit word meaning "perfect," and referred to people of Indo-Iranian heritage, which was co-opted/corrupted by Hitler to mean "Master Race." As was the swastika, and ancient symbol for life and creativity, common to Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. Neither is the fact that the Dalai Lama befriended various Nazi German officers not because of any anti-Jewish sentiment, but because they were willing to protect the people of Tibet from the brutalities that were occurring throughout the region during the war. In troubled times you can't always choose your friends. Sometimes you ally yourself with unsavory characters/countries to save your own skin. Israel does it too. Also, the present-day Dalai Lama has expressed great admiration for Israel and the Jewish people and their success in re-establishing their homeland and thriving in the face of great persecution. he even went so far in an interview to say, "Tibet needs its own Moshe Dayan!" So it's disingenuous to imply that the Tibetans somehow harbor anti-Semitic feelings as a whole. Then again, Mainland China had indeed offered asylum to Jews fleeing the Holocaust, and even before that, they were open and welcoming to Jews who passed through along the Silk Road -- so much so that a small number of Jews felt comfortable enough to settle along the outskirts of Shanghai. The bottom line is, you can't make blanket statements against any group of people simply because of the actions of the governments/leaders in their country of origin. Just as it's wrong to say any criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic, being concerned about human rihts in Tibet is not automatically anti-Chinese. But by the same token any indvidual Jew or Chinese who takes pride in his or her country of ethnic origin (aha! I was careful how I phrased that!) should not have to be persecuted or labeled as wholeheartedly endorsing all the policies of that country. (I do agree, however, that there's now a lot of anti-Chinese media bias esp. in Europe. Seems the Jews and the Chinese have a lot in common!)
sheela,
First let me say that it is great that we can have such an interesting dicussion here, which is not very easy to find on English forums/bbs/media nowdays. Just like you said, there are far too many irrational anti-Chinese bashings (not simply bias) going on in the Western, which reminds me of the anti-Semitic propoganda in the Nazi times.
I have seen with my very own eyes how the German media using totally false info. and video clips, such as referring the Nepalese police who beat the Tibetan demonstrators in Kathmandu as Chinese police in Lhasa, calling the rescue of a Chinese boy from the mobs as the arrest of the demontrator, etc., to purposely mislead the German public so as to stage on their brainwash work. This is the very reason that prompted me to question what's the real motivation behind the frenzy anti-Chinese propoganda in Germany.
Then coming across the information of the close knit between the Nazi ideology and Tantric Buddhism, the ex-SS officers and Dalai Lama, I ask myself whether some kind of neo-Nazi ideology in Germany is resurfacing behind the holly veil of human rights & free Tibet?
When talking the Nazi ex-ss men "were willing to protect the people of Tibet from the brutalities", you must mean the brutalities brought upon to them by the Britan, who had been then invited by the Dalai Lama XIII to exchange for its weaponry and protection, right? The relationship between Dalai Lama and these ex-SS officiers can not be simply explained by "In troubled times you can't always choose your friends", IMHO, because Dalai Lama kept his close tie with Heinrich Harre till his death in 2006. If it had not choice in trobled times then, why did the exile-Tibet "government" still put the photo of the convicted ex-SS officer Bruno Beger on its offcial website till recently?
Dalai Lama is a very sleek talker and knows what to talk and when to talk. He called for "Tibet needs its own Moshe Dayan" then in Isreal, now he tells the world that he has been all for the "non-violent" while his brohters heading CIA trained exile Tibetan rebels attacking China in 60s & 70s and still advocating to use terrorist tactics against China. So, who is this real person Dalai Lama? No mere a spiritual leader but also a politican.
I have no intention to "imply that the Tibetans somehow harbor anti-Semitic feelings as a whole", but raher suspect the real motivation of German media's frenzy standing-up for the course of "free Tibet". You know that 5.8 million Tibetans live inside China and only ca 100k in exile, who are most the descendants of the landlords and family members of the high rank Lama/monks. They fled China in 1959 because the Chinese communist government abolished the feudalism serfdom under Dalai Lama's theocracy rule. Their talk of "free Tibet" is more about getting back their land and slaves, who are free men now, than anything else, I am afraid.
Talking about human rights in Tibet , you have to admit that the Chinese government did a great a thing by liberating millions Tibetans from the brutal feudal slavery system ran by the lords and high rank lamas, in which the serfs had no say about their life, and gave their land to the poor. Despite all its faults and shortcomings, the Chinese government has built schools, roads and hospitals in Tibet, which had never existed under Dalai Lama's rule. Nowdays the Tibetan children can go to school for bilingual education. To improve their chances to access to high education, there is favourable policy aka affirmative action that students of minority origin, i.e. Tibetan, Muslim, etc., can go to the universities with much lower academic scores than those of Han Chinese. Also the much criticised one-child policy is mostly applied to Han Chinese while the Tibetans can have as many children as they can afford to.
Do you know that the monks and lamas get monthly salary from the local governments? Millions of the public money have been poured into the restoration of the Buddhism temples.
Tibet is the only one province in China that it does not send any tax income to the central government. Instead it gets billions of investment from Beijing.
So is the other side of the story that people seldom find on the Western media. I have no problem when people criticise China, but it seems that quite a number of people and the Western meida simply jump on China because this Chinse government is run by a communist party. This is its sinn, just like Jews were persecuted because they are Jews. I thought this world has learnt a lot from the Holocaust tragedy, but now I doubt it.
scroogle:
Well, I pretty much agree with you on most of your points but I still nevertheless fervently believe that no occupation is a "good" occupation, no matter how awful the occupied in question are portrayed (whether fairly or not). I also think the Nazi German connection is being taken a bit out of context, and the atrocities and brutal suppression of Tibetan culture is getting sort of downplayed. After all, Chinese human rights abuses in Tibet are well-documented by more than a few impartial human rights groups. (Unlike the Falun Gong, whose claims are pretty questionable at best but who also garner a degree of sympathy here in the U.S.)
Of course each country has its own agenda for propagandizing either for or against, and unfortunately the nuances which you and I are willing to discuss and confront get lost in the political rhetoric of extremists on either side. Whether it's Cuba, Israel, China, the U.S. -- most folks like to see their villains in a convenient one-dimensional package.
Oh, one more thing: I remember protesting the killings at Tianmen Square back in the '80's, and at the rally, a free (of course) right-wing newspaper was being distributed. I wasn't aware of its political bent until I read its editorial criticizing, of all things, not just the massacre but also Amnesty International's "frequent support of left-leaning organizations" (!) So I would definitely agree with you that many in the Western media are most likely singling out China simply because it's a Communist country.
I know Tibet issue a lot better than most people because my family has been living there since early 1950s. It was a few years before Tibet rebellion and Dalai Lama escaped to India in 1959.
Tibetan society before 1950 is a typical slavery society. Basically Dalai Lama owned all Tibetans. There are many historical records about this dark and backward society. PLA went into Tibet is to gain full control of one big piece of Chinese territory, not an invading. Check your old maps about Asia and China. All American maps I have, since 1870s, shows Tibet is a part of China. If you don’t have an old map, go to your local university library before you believe it is an invading.
Tibetan in Rebellion is not like you guys think that much peaceful and adorable. During the 1959 rebellion Tibetans kill Han-Chinese in all kinds of cruel ways more or less like Jews were killed by German Nazis. They metal chains Han-Chinese together across their collar bones, they skin captive alive, they took the hearts out of Han-Chinese captives, ... On 4/17/1959, my mother brought my older brother out of rebellion area through one only road in the area. The next day, 4/18/1959, the road was blocked by the rebellions and some 30 Han-Chinese were massacred when they tried to escape from the same road.
Another story. That was in late 1970s. One Tibetan came to Shanghai with my father. He brought a few watches for skilled Shanghai watchsmith to repair. The Tibetan can speak fluent Mandarin. When he asked the watchsmith about the repair in mandarin, he was rejected because there is not enough time allowed. My father then pulled the Tibetan over, told him to speak Tibetan language instead of Mandarin and let my father to be an interpreter. After my father emphasized the customer is a Tibetan, a minority, the watchsmith quickly decided to take care his repair issue first. The watches were ready to be picked up in just a few hours by the Tibetan. This story shows how minority was generously treated by Han-Chinese, even in big city like Shanghai.
It is a common practice in China for Han-Chinese treating people with minority heritage better and more generously than Han-Chinese ourselves. Chinese government policy is the same. During Cultural Revolution, when there is a short food supply, minority residents always get priority supplies.
In contrast, in Metro-NYC highway what is the percentage of minority drivers stopped by police J
In USA, is it possible for minority employee gets promoted faster than European White? Oddly in China, it is a known government policy minority cadres get promoted faster and easier.
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By the way, I thought Jewish are pretty intelligent and know how to see things through with their own eyes. How can they are also fooled by a bunch of western media like CNN, without their own more directly investigation, or even without a little bit of effort via Google? With a few Google searches you can find some more qualified western traveller’s experience. There are also well-written articles and books on Tibet matters.
Neither human genocide nor culture genocide existed or happened in Tibet. There are erroneous government policies and practices in Tibet during that era but none of those has anything in common with genocide. If there is any genocide, I will honestly tell you so.
many people know the Jewish population changed in Europe during the genocide of the second world war. As a contrast for you to compare, here is a web page by United Nation about Tibetan population changes since 1952: http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/chinadata/tibet.htm And here is a reseach article about population change issue in Tibet: http://www.tibetinfor.com/english/zt/society/..%5Csociety/200402004518144413.htm
I am sure there is no solid research paper that shows population change matching the claim of any kind of genocide. Sadly, "A lie told one thousand times become truth", even between my Jewish friends.
Do you know Tibetan population increase has been faster than Han-Chinese for more than 30 years?
Just found one article with quite accurate description of today's Tibet - though that is from an travelling American's eye: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99feb/tibet.htm
Now enough material for you to chew about, if you are really concerned.
I am a Tibetan Chinese,and I am form a family who believe in the Red Buddism.I hate Dalai Lama. Here,I heard a lot of words of "occupation".Yes,Tibet was occupied,but in 13th century.At that time,Tietan people and Mongolian people became the ruling group of China. They killed ,robbed and raped Han people for one century.In 1368,the Han people rose up and Mongolian people was driven out. As for Tibetan people,after a century's better life,our ancestors went to see the Emperor Hongwu and insisted to be a part of China,so we could get a lot of gifts such as money,tea,and silk. It was quite interesting that there caused a quarrel between the Emperor and his ministers.Ministers insited that accepting Tibetan people's request would cost a lotfor the land was too romote and poor ,yet the Emperor wanted to add his glory even accepting an useless land. At last,the Emperor won and Tibet stayed in Chinese territory.It is noticed that at that time there still no monk to be named Dalai Lama. Most people in your country don't konw.From the 13th to 17th century,Buddists in Tibet were devided into four branches(white,yellow,red and Dark) and killed each other. The leader of Yellow wanted to win over other branches,and begged the later Emperor for help. In 1578,Dalai Lama III got his title (When Dalai Lama I abd II were living,they didn't know they would have such a strange title.) But Dalai Lamas were not the only ruler of Tibet,but the biggest.White,Red still had their people and land until 1950s,and always be hostile to each other as usual. "Tibetan spritual leader"?I think,it must be an idiot who give Dalai Lama XIIII this title. Now Dalai Lama XIIII calls for free Tibet,and many western people supports him.I don't konw what kind of freedom he want.Maybe he will continuing killing for centuries. After all,because of Dalai Lamas' effort,Dark Buddists had been killed out,the next,maybe White or Red,2 millon people. Maybe that's your human rights! If Dalai Lama came back,most of us,Red and White people have to flee from our home.We just want to stay in home,and be a happy Tibetan Chinese under our Lamas.
Sheela,
I try to reply to you several times but cant post it. Let me try this one first.
sheela,
1. As someone mentioned below, the "occupation" of Tibet by Chinese regime actually took place in 13th century not in 1959 as proclaimed on the Western media. In youtube you can find a video clip "Why We Fight: "Battle of China (ca. 1944) 1/5" filmed by American government". You can see yourself to which country Tibet belongs. (The map starts from the 3rd minute onward.)
If you "still nevertheless fervently believe that no occupation is a 'good' occupation", then my question to you is whether you feel equally strong that US should give up on Texas and/or that white Europeans should just pack up and give the land back to the Indians, who are the orignial owner of this land of America.
You see, the problem here is less about "how awful the occupied in question are portrayed" but rather the self-referential, double standard double talk in the Western. We haven't heard all Western media cry loud for the human rights for the Native American and protect their culture and religion around the world, have we?
2. Sheela, if you were Chinese living in Germany for the recent time, you'd understand my worries. The German media, from the public TV senders (Das Erste, ZDF) to private ones (RTL, NTV, SAT.1), from the highbrow Spiegel, mainstream FAZ, Sueddeusche Zeitung to the boulevard Bild, have been staging on various anti-Chinese propoganda in unison by mixing false information, unrelated pictures and unconfirmed data. It has been shown not on serious late night political talkshow but also on comedian shows and children programms. When you read a 7 or 8 year-old writting on the programm-website "Why are the Chinese so bad" or simliar remarks, when Chinese on the bus would be stared with disdain, etc., then you have to ask what's going on here.
As we pointed out the mistakes made by the German media, they either ignored our requests completely, or made an announcement in an unnoticed corner on the website or simply deleted the webpages, though the damage is done. As we try to post our views on their websites, our posts were either heavily edited or simply not allowed to appear on the websites. In my case I was once even blocked by a German/French TV sender, since I left a long letter on their forum to tell a different opinion. All these censorship methods used here are not much differenet from what we have experienced in China before!
When thousands of overseas Chinese went on the streets in LA, Seattle, London, Manchester, Edinburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Toroto, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, etc. protesting against the media distortion, the Western media either branded us as "brainwashed" or "organised by Chinese government", which can not be further from the truth.
When the self-claimed "objective, fair and freedom of speech" journalim subjugated itself to be a political tool, you have every reason to question what kind of film cutting, editing and writing skills employed to have created the stories you are watching and reading. As Chinse, we are very much aware of the censorship in Chinese news, however it seems many people in Western simply unconditionally believe what they see on their TVs are only truth, esp. regarding China and Tibet.
Before you start out to correct the world, walk three times around your own house. I see lots of naive people being used by war mongers in the current china bashing. Dalai Lama is a smart guy who knows what to say to please the adam and eves of today. Watch out and verify what it said to give yourself a chance to see the truth before its too late. When some lobbyist say genocide you must ask where when and how it happen and go to the root of it. Same with accusation of atrocite and cultural genocide, don't stop at those generic words but go all the way to ask where, when, and who so nobody can tell lies. The chinese or any other government will not be able to correct itself if no detail on their short coming are given. No point repeating accusation with no solid evident given. (Please don't show the now famous Nepalese police arresting unruly tibetan monks as an evident, better reserve these for the ignorant free press). Beijing Olympic is a coming out party, meaning chinese are happy where they are today and ready to accept all well wishers including peoples who did great harm in the past invasion of their motherland. Why try so hard to remind them of their humiliation when they are ready to forgive and forget for building a new world with equal enjoyment with dignity for all.
sarah lee wrote an interesting post on www.rememberorrepeat.wordpress.com
I well understand jumping out and criticizing china become this year's fashion. Nobody want to be left behind, so do Jews. The only suggestion I have for jews is take care of your business with Palestinian cause My experience with Jews are they always criticize others while forgive themselves for the same behaviors.
While upset by some Jewish leaders' call for boycott of the Beijing Olympics, I am happy to read this balanced and balancing article from Antoine Halff and Shalom Solomon Wald, and I am also impressed by many knowledgeable comments following this article.
I have a question to ask those jews.In my home,there is not any "genocide" or "distinction of culture".Why do you lie? Why do you support those people who is really taking genocide and distinction of culture? We,the Tibetan people only want to have a peaceful life.Why do you involve us into a lie made by you? Stop it!For the reason of protect our homes, famlies and lives,I swear,we will fight back until the last drop of blood if Dalai lama comes back.
You Jews were killed a lot by Nazi!Why those people still want to follow the step of anohter Hitler who is Dalai lama. Dalai lama kept killing us for centuries,then was stopped by PLA(the People's Liberation Army).In 1959,thanks for Budd's blessing,the Devil fled with his gangsters,and we got peace and don't worry about killing. Why do you want to take us back into killing, for human rights?Thank you,we have human rights already,so there is no need. If you jews really want to promote human rights.OK,there is a lot of things to do,Firstly,stop killing and ocuuping Iraq. As for us,the Tibetan people can take good care of ourselves.If you Jews want to do somrthing for us,there is only one thing to do,that is shutting your mouths up!
Too bad nobody mentioned the elephant in the living room. I believe that a lot of the anti-Chinese criticism is rooted in the way the Chinese government oppresses its own people. The result of that oppression is that the Chinese work for peanuts, something which American business has seized on with both hands. For over a century, business interests have tried to roll back and destroy the labor laws that have allowed American workers to make a decent living, buy their own homes, and send their children to college. With the Chinese undercutting our workers, all those good things are going bye-bye as American business and industry sends manufacturing facilities and jobs to China.
Then there is the issue of poisoned products from China that have caused death and destruction. Not only are our labor laws circumvented, but also our product safety standards that the Chinese purposefully skirt in order to maximize their profits. I believe that dealing with a despotic China is damaging to Western society. It is a perfect combination, seen from the point of view of business: American capital combined with a near-forced labor tyranny that guarantees low labor costs - a paradise for the capitalists and misery for everybody else. I try to not buy anything that is made in China.
Wald and Halff's views regarding Tibet, Darfur and China should be given considerable weight! As one who has visited China several times and has Chinese friends, I concur with the authors that the Chinese people are proud of their ancient culture and shouldn't be needlessly dissed.
I know a little bit about genocide because Hitler murdered many of my relatives. I have warm feelings toward China, because several of my cousins survived the Hitler period in Shanghai. As a member of a synagogue-based Darfur action group, I have been working with the goal of having China change its policies regarding Sudan, not because I oppose China or wish to bash the Chinese but because China is in a unique position to stop the mass killings in Darfur. By using its veto power on the Security Council, by buying Sudan's oil, and by supplying Khartoum with weapons, China has tragically allowed the genocide to continue. There have been a few moves in the right direction lately, but there remains much that China can and must do to save lives in Darfur.
Quote: "It is fitting that Jews should speak up against injustice, whoever its victims may be, and rise to their defense. With a history that includes centuries of religious persecution, Hitler’s Final Solution and repeated assaults on the State of Israel, Jews have a special affinity for the victims of prejudice and genocidal violence."
I am a Chinese who have lived in the United States for over 10 years. Now I understand the reason why I had a minor conflict with my Jewish colleague (who is from Israel) a few days ago on the Tibet incident.