This is a particularly annoying, condescending and insulting question. Tibet wants independece because it is a different nation, with a different culture. Besides, who doesn't want independence? A better question, at least one that makes sense, is why China would think that it has some claim to Tibet.

Tibet is culturally different from China. Presently, China's totalitarian and communist society is completely at odds with Tibet. When China occupied Tibet militarily, its first task was to move in Chinese people, and take the indigenous Tibetans out, causing a tragic diaspora. It attempted to change the face of Tibet.

When Tibetan Buddhists turned out to be a lot more difficult to handle than they had presumed, the Chinese government turned to abuse, imprisonment, torture. Tibetan monks who were imprisoned were often tortured, to little effect. The Chinese amputated their thumbs to prevent them from saying prayers using traditional prayer beads. The dalai lama, the reincarnation of the boddhisatva of compassion, had to flee from Tibet into India. The dalai lama has traditionally selected the ruler of Tibet, called the Panchen Lama.

The Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1949 and its complete take-over in 1959 is a farce. The secular government of the PRC has declared that they have the mystical right to name all higher reincarnations. They have imposed their own Panchen Lama, their own spiritual leader. This would be equivalent to the Americans voting for a new Pope. It has no relevance to the Tibetans themselves, but merely creates a figurehead puppet that the PRC can control.

The Chinese occupation and exploitation of Tibet is a travesty and a terrible violation of ethics, morality, and international law. The fact that the PRC is allowed favored nation status in world trade is unconscionable. The fact that the PRC will host the Olympics would only make sense in a bad parody of real life.

Learn more about this author, John Devera.
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