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Unavoidable internal problems, separatists blamed for Lhasa riot

By Hu Yinan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-03-19 00:02

Some "unavoidable internal problems", as well as separatists nurtured by both imperialist forces and the Dalai clique, were to blame for last year's deadly riot in Lhasa, capital city of the Tibet autonomous region, a senior Tibetologist said yesterday.

"China has entered a phase of fast-tracked development, one in which problems such as employment, healthcare and housing all surfaced, each sparking concerns nationwide, including in Tibet," Zhang Yun, professor of China Tibetology Research Center, told a group of Chinese and foreign reporters at an exhibition on the 50th anniversary of Tibet's Democratic Reform.

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"These problems are found everywhere in the world. In response, our central government spared no effort and introduced a series of common folk-friendly measures, all the while being largely oblivious to the fact that some other forces spared no effort either – only to their own ends," he said.

Development is a process, Zhang said, stressing that while the problems at hand "need time to be fixed", the Dalai clique and other hostile forces attributed them all to the central government and the ethnic Han Chinese, thereby instigating ethnic sentiments.

His remarks came only four days after the one-year anniversary of an unexpected riot in Lhasa – the most violent in decades – that resulted in the deaths of 18 civilians and huge financial losses.

The central government blames the Dalai Lama for masterminding the riot. The Dalai Lama, meanwhile, refutes the allegation, saying all demonstrations were spontaneous and "peaceful".

Zhang said the rioters – mostly youths – were used by the Dalai Lama, who is at once a religious figure and a political activist.

That's why the Serfs Emancipation Day was set – to educate the younger generations who have not suffered under serfdom and theocracy, he said.

Tibet, only 50 years since the abolition of slavery after a failed rebellion by its feudalistic upper class and the flight of the Dalai Lama, is set to celebrate its first Serfs Emancipation Day on March 28.

Before 1959, about 95 percent of its 1.14 million population were serfs, who possessed no more than 5 percent of the social resources in Tibet. The local upper class, accounting for only 5 percent of the region's population, had their hands full of the rest through a brutal, theocratic rule.

While the Dalai Lama – old Tibet's top leader – is "not responsible for the brutality of this system himself", he nonetheless represents the interests of the theocracy’s upper ruling class, Zhang said.

"That fact has never changed," he stressed. "The Dalai Lama's so-called 'government-in-exile' today is also a theocracy ... although the Dalai Lama no longer explicitly calls for a restoration of serfdom in Tibet, he has always taken the time to praise old Tibet."

The central government, meanwhile, has showed the utmost patience in the Dalai Lama. For years after the 1959 incident, the top leadership told the public the Dalai Lama was "hijacked by the rioters", and therefore kept his post as vice-chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee and hoped for his return.

Even though he never did, Premier Wen Jiabao said last week the central government's talks with the Dalai Lama might still continue if the political exile gives up his separatist attempts.

"The situation in Tibet on the whole is stable. The Tibetan people hope to live and work in peace and stability," Wen said.