The Friedrich-Naumann Foundation, an organization largely financed by the German government, began the preparatory work for the fifth “International Tibet Support Groups Conference” as early as March 2005. The Conference, with representatives from various Tibetan associations and support groups from 56 countries who were invited by the Foundation, was held from May 11 to 14, 2007 in Brussels.1.
After several days of discussions, the Conference decided that the main agenda for the Tibetan movement in the months ahead should be political support for negotiations with the Chinese government, human rights, environment and development, with the 2008 Olympics being “the single focus of attack for their activities for the next 15 months.”1. The Conference hired a full-time organizer in Washington to direct worldwide Olympic disruption campaign.1.
The first action of this disruption campaign was the disturbance, which occurred at the Olympic Torch Relay in Greece, then it followed with violent demonstrations in London and Paris, all orchestrated from the headquarters in Washington. According to one participant of the Conference, this campaign of disruption will continue on to the Olympic Games, and even to the point of “direct action in heart of Beijing, inside the Games, every day”.1.
As a result, the Conference, under the auspices of a Foundation largely financed by the German government, which supposedly has a friendly relation with China, began a subversive and hostile activity against China. This might be a shock to most Chinese or even to the foreign policy establishment in Beijing, as for the past two decades, China has provided a lucrative market for Germany and German firms, which have reaped an enormous profit from China. Successive German Chancellors have come to China on a state visit with smiling faces and profusions of friendship. They were all lavishly entertained and returned home with business contracts to the tune of billions. Therefore it is puzzling why any nation would be so ungrateful, about face, and launch such provocative covert action against a sovereign government. However, according to the German foreign policy source, since the mid 1980s, Germany has revived Nazi’s policy of “supporting extensive autonomy rights for Tibet and even its secession”, which was dated back to 1930s and 1940s, as “Berlin considered this region to be an important base for expanding its influence toward China.”2.
Accordingly, the organizations of “Volksgruppen” (ethnic group) policy in Germany actively promoted a ‘free Tibet’. The secessionist policy is also aimed at other vast regions of China (Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang). These objectives were not only to increase German influence for potential neocolonial exploitations, resource extraction, and to detach these territories from China, but to weaken China for fear she would be a future potential rival.2.
With these objectives in mind, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, despite the vigorous protest by China, received the Dalai Lama in Berlin in September 2007. This was claimed to be historical talk, as it was for the first time that the exiled Dalai Lama had been received at the Chancellery of Germany. With this unforgiving act, one has to conclude that an irreparable damage has been done to bilateral relations between the two countries. However, a German government spokesman declared at that time that “he was confident that the meeting would not disturb the good state of German-Chinese relations and co-operation”.3.
Astonishingly, the calculation of the German government with respect to the potential harm of this historical talk with the Dalai Lama had been correct, as the Chinese government did not take any punitive measure to punish the government in Berlin.
In the absence of retaliation on the part of the Chinese government, which emboldened the Germans to use the 2008 Olympic Games as an opportunity to fulfill their objective of destabilizing China, as the “Games are used as a means of applying pressure to force Beijing onto its defensive from its rise to world power status.”2. As a result, a meeting on “Tibet and the Olympic Games” was organized by the “Tibet Discussion Group in the German Bundestag” in November 2007. The discussion in this meeting was focused mainly on “if the Olympic Games could offer a lever for influencing China’s Tibet policy.”2. It decided to launch the “Team Tibet Project” that “is aiming to send its own Tibetan team to the Beijing Olympics”.2. As a result, the German parliamentarians secretively initiated a blatant provocation against China by directly challenging China and seriously violating China’s sovereignty.2.
In the wake of March 14, 2008 Tibetan Riot, “Berlin is using the upheaval in the western region of the People’s Republic of China to pursue its campaign of attrition against Beijing.”2. The German Chancellor, returned once again to the old colonial mentality of the Nazi regime by “demanding that the Chinese government enter a ‘dialogue’ with the Dalai Lama, and a prime minister of German federal state of Hesse, “would like to have international observers sent to Lhasa”2. and threatened a boycott of the Olympic Games if China did not oblige to his demand. 2.
The shameful act of the German Chancellor and other politicians is the old colonial game of divide and rule. It used ethnic division as a pretext for interference in domestic affairs and the break up of other countries, and this has been practiced by the Western powers for centuries, and more recently in the Balkans. The break up of the Yugoslavia Federation has been a great rewarding experience for Germany, as she pursued economic dominance in the region.12.
Nonetheless, this is a bold step to take against China, and one would think that as a vanquished power in the Second World War, Germany would have learnt a lesson from colonialism and military conquest. Yet one should not be surprised by this aggressive action and audacious demand from Germany, as the destabilization of China also conformed to the geopolitical interests of other Western powers, particularly the United States. This anti-China holy alliance manifested with the presence of Paula Dobrinasky, the U.S. Undersecretary of State and Special Coordinator for Tibet Issues in the May 2007 Brussels Conference. The Office of Special Coordinator, much to the affront of the Chinese people, was established only two days after the state visit of the Chinese president in 1997 during the Clinton administration, which declared it would treat China as a strategic partner. Unfortunately, this infringement of Chinese sovereignty was met without any challenge on the part of the Chinese government. Dobrinasky, a member of neo-conservative and considered to be a hardliner in Washington, has been involved in the Color Revolution in Eastern Europe.4.
The Color Revolutions are political campaigns, which usually result in the overthrow of the existing governments and their leaders. The American organizations such as USAID, the governmental agency providing aids to the third world countries, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the International Republican Institute, and Free House are directly involved in the Color Revolutions. It has succeeded in the regime changes of several republics of the former Soviet Union.10.
“As in the other Color Revolutions, the U.S. Government is fanning the flames of destabilization against China by funding opposition protest organizations inside and outside Tibet through its arm, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).”5. The NED is funded by the U.S. government to do the works “done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA”5.
Prior to the destabilization against China, the Saffron Revolution was orchestrated by Washington against Myanmar in September 2007. Even the U.S. State Department admitted its supports of NED activity in that country for a regime change. In fact, “the U.S. State Department has recruited and trained key opposition leaders from numerous anti-government organizations in Myanmar. The United States has continuously provided financial support for regime change since at least 2003. It recruited and even trained citizens of Myanmar in the U.S. for organizing activities, and funded the opposition media.”6.
Myanmar’s Saffron Revolution was chosen for its strategic position as China’s southwestern neighbor as well as a test run for the Tibet riots. It is not a surprise then, that the Saffron Revolution was followed with a carefully staged violent riot against the local citizens in Lhasa on March 14, 2008.
In the aftermath of the riot, “a media disinformation campaign supported by political statements by Western leaders directed against China was launched.”7.
Consequently, accusation, distorted reports and false condemnation of China appeared in most media in the Western world. China, a victim of terrorism, became a violator of human rights and suppressor of freedom of the Tibetan people. NED, the organization which provided most funding for the terrorist and subversive activities of the Tibetan exiles against China and the killing of innocent Chinese, was promoted as the champion of democracy.7.
These Western leaders who expressed support for the Tibetan rioters including George Bush, Condi Rice, and Angela Merkel of Germany, who announced the boycott of the Olympic Games as a gesture of protest. Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who had returned from China a few months ago with more than $30 billion business contracts, also voiced protest and indicated that he may not attend the Olympic opening ceremony if China does not open talk with the Dalai Lama. 5.
In the U.S. presidential campaign trail, Hillary Clinton also urged President Bush to boycott the Olympic opening ceremonies in Beijing. This is a direct contradiction to her husband, Bill Clinton, who took millions of dollars from China as compensation for speech engagement fee. Hillary, on the other hand, in endeavoring to boast her anti-China credential, urged a get tough policy as she declared: "The violent clashes in Tibet and the failure of the Chinese government to use its full leverage with Sudan to stop the genocide in Darfur are opportunities for presidential leadership.”8.
Since China took over Chevron’s abandoned Dafur oil field and developed with great success, Western politicians have united in the denunciation of China for the responsibilities of genocide in Darfur. In fact, it was the Americans who equipped the rebels with modern military weapons to fight the central government in Sudan. U.S. military support for the president of neighboring Chad “in fact had triggered for Darfur bloodbath. Khartoum reacted and the ensuing debacle was unleashed in full tragic force.”9.
Thus, the campaigns of “Save Tibet,” “Save Darfur” are “controlled by Anglo-American intelligence apparatuses and/or co-opted by them, in order to provide the masses with the propaganda justification for wars and intervention, and resource conquest.”10.
As a result, China became a scapegoat for the bloodbath in Darfur, and Western politicians such as Hillary Clinton used the tragedy in Africa and the riot in Tibet for their own political advantage. China, on the other hand, in the pursuit of her own stake in natural resources, has been “violently contested by the Western powers.”10.
This contest includes the “Color Revolution” in Myanmar, the carefully staged riots in Tibet and other regions of western China, “the ongoing effort to get NATO troops into Darfur to block China’s access to strategically vital oil resources there and elsewhere in Africa.”5. It also includes the “attempts to ferment problems in Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan and to disrupt China’s vital new energy pipeline projects to Kazakhstan.”5.
Tibet, the southwestern region of China, has long been the enticing prey of Imperial powers, as it is strategically located on the border with India. This imperial conquest was started with the British aggression in the early part of 20th century, resulting in thousands of death. Tibet is now so captivating to the Western powers for the simple reason that, in addition to vast reserve of oil and gas, it also has “the world’s most valuable water source, and “contains some of the world’s largest uranium and borax deposits, one half of the world’s lithium, the largest deposits in Asia, enormous iron deposits, and over 80,000 gold mines.” 5.
But the fact that Tibet endowed with rich resources is not the only reason which led to the formation of the anti-China holy alliance to detach Tibet and the western regions from China, as one of the main reason is the misguided foreign policy of the Chinese government itself. China’s reaction when her national interests and territorial integrity is challenged by the Western powers has always been to launch a protest, to make statement such as “we strongly oppose the interference of internal affairs”-- an old ritual which has become laughable in the international community since no one would take such a reply seriously. This is a major failure of Chinese diplomacy. The Western leaders have always carefully monitored China’s reaction when they knowingly committed actions which were against China’s vital national interests. They shrewdly calculate that their commercial interests with China would not be damaged, that China would continue to open her market to be plundered by the Western businesses, and that “Chinese leaders recognize that China’s economic advancement depends heavily on integration with the Western countries.”11. In their view, “Chinese leaders talk tough in foreign relationship affairs, but in reality, they act in a careful and highly calculated manner to avoid confrontation.”11.
Thus, to restore and maintain the credibility of retaliation for any damage done to China’s vital national interests, and avoid being the victim of the anti-China holy alliance, China must resort to a confrontation with any Western power and start sanctions against their commercial interests in China when her sovereignty is being challenged, as no President, Chancellor or any politician can stand the pressures of Western multinational corporations when the latter’s interests are at stake. Moreover, sanctions against Western firms would also confer tremendous economic benefits to China , as the largest share of the profit in foreign trade and investment is now reaped by the Western multinational firms. China would then not only be able to safeguard her sovereignty, win international respect, avoid being the target of the anti-China holy alliance, but at the same time begin a new chapter of healthy, solid development, repairing environmental damage while protecting her indigenous industries and developing her own technology, all for the betterment of the Chinese people.
Notes:
1. WForum.Com: “The Olympic Torch Relay Campaign” April 8, 2008
2. German-Foreign-Policy.Com March 17, 2008
3. BBC News: “Angela Merkel angers China on Dalai Lama” September 23, 2007
4. Moon of Alabama: “Tibet Uprising and U.S. Government Grants.”
5. Engdahl, William: “Risky Geopolitical Game: Washington Play Tibet Roulette” April 10, 2008 Global Research.ca
6. Engdahl, William: “The Geopolitical Stakes of ‘Saffron Revolution’” October 17, 2007 Asia Times Online
7. Chossudovsky Michel: :China and America: The Tibet Human Rights PsyOp” April 13, 2008 Global Research.ca
8. Braun, Stephen: “Bill Clinton, China Linked via his foundation” April 13, 2008 Los Angeles Times
9. Engdahl, William: “Darfur? It’s the Oil, Stupid” May 25, 2007 Asia Times Online
10. Chin Larry: “Is the CIA behind the China-bashing Olympics protests?” April 11, 2008 German-Foreign-Policy com: “Strategic attrition” September 27, 2007.
11. Traynor, Ian: “U.S. campaign behind the turmoil in Kiev” November 26, 2004 The Guardian.
12. Chossudovsky Michel: “The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order” P 267
