Playing "Tibet card" against China is doomed to fail

(Photo source: Guangming Picture)

Recently, the "Tibet Policy and Support Act of 2020" was signed by US President Donald Trump, allegedly aiming to "strengthen US support for the Tibetan's struggle for human rights, religious freedom, and true autonomy." However, American politicians like James McGovern and Marco Rubio did not actually care about the human rights and religious freedom of the Tibetan people. Their purpose was to continue to play the "Tibet card" against China, in an attempt to carry out sabotage and strategic containment, and even to disintegrate China through long-term manipulation of the so-called "Tibet card".

For a long time, the United States has always regarded itself highly as a "beacon of human civilization" on issues such as "human rights" and "religious freedom". The United States was the first country in the world to propose and hold high the banner of "human rights diplomacy." The United States, which won the Cold War, has taken "promotion of democracy" as one of the three pillars of its foreign policy. Today, the Trump administration’s obsession with issues such as "human rights" and "religious freedom" is no less than that of previous US administrations.

However, the United States itself has serious human rights and religious freedom problems. The US media revealed that US federal, state and local law enforcement agencies have set up 8 secret surveillance centers in Texas alone. A report from the US Audit Office in June 2019 showed that the FBI’s Facial Recognition Office can arbitrarily search a database containing more than 641 million photos without legal permission. Regarding religious freedom, a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, an American polling agency, in March 2019, showed that the vast majority of American respondents believed that there was religious discrimination in the United States, especially discrimination against Muslims. How can a country that has its own bad record on human rights issues, and a government that ignores or pretends to be deaf and dumb on its own human rights problems, care about the "human rights situation" of other countries?

The main reason is that the United States interferes in the internal affairs of other countries and safeguards its own interests by playing the "human rights " and "religious freedom " cards. As for whether the "human rights" and "religious freedom" of a certain country requires US intervention, and the method and intensity of interference, it depends not on the country's true human rights and religious freedom conditions, but on the interests of the United States. This is also the fundamental reason why the United States’ "humanitarian intervention" after the Cold War often brought huge disasters to the subject countries and their people.

On the so-called "Tibet issue," the United States has been trying to interfere in China's internal affairs under the pretext of "human rights" and "religious freedom". The reason why the Dalai group has been able to sustain and remain active in the international community since 1959 is that it has received all-round support from the United States. Dalai's "prestige", such as winning the Nobel Peace Prize, would have been impossible without the support and packaging by the United States. Economically, taking the US "Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020" as an example, the various types of "aid to Tibet" in the Act has reached approximately 19 million US dollars. This is the main source of income for the Dalai group. Politically, the United States has recently significantly increased its political support for the Dalai group and the "Central Tibetan Administration". For example, it invited Losang Sungen, the leader of the "Central Tibetan Administration", to visit US government agencies and called Tibet a "military occupied zone" in the report of the US Department of State. These practices have greatly encouraged the Dalai group's arrogance to split from the motherland.

However, it is doomed to fail to play the "Tibet card" against China and attempt to contain China with Tibet.

First of all, the Tibetan people don’t agree. People of all ethnic groups in Tibet became their own masters only after peaceful liberation and democratic reforms. Now they enjoy not only steadily improving living standards brought by economic and social development, but also the protection of human rights and religious freedom that was unthinkable before the democratic reforms. Therefore, they will definitely not allow the United States to play the "Tibet card" and disrupt Tibetan areas. Take the so-called "religious freedom" issue clamored by the United States as an example. According to statistics, in Tibet there are 1,787 religious venues, more than 46,000 resident monks and nuns and 358 living Buddhas. There are 4 mosques with more than 12,000 Muslims living and a Catholic church with more than 700 believers in Tibet. It can be said that all legal religious activities are protected in Tibet.

Secondly, the Chinese people do not agree. Today's China is no longer the China of 1840, and the Chinese government today is not the late Qing government. Today's Chinese people will never allow any country to interfere in China's internal affairs under any pretext. The wrangling between China and the United States on economy and trade, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other issues in recent years has shown that China will never swallow the bitter fruit of harming its own interests, and it will definitely take reasonable, beneficial and measured countermeasures against the provocative actions of the United States.

In the end, the people of the world do not agree. The United States regards itself as a "world judge" and wantonly interferes in the internal affairs of other countries under the banner of "human rights" and "religious freedom." It not only publishes the so-called "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices" and "International Religious Freedom Reports" every year, but also frequently bullies the developing countries that are disobedient to its orders by discrediting, diplomatic isolations, economic sanctions, military blockades and even armed invasions, which makes it the biggest external threat to human rights and religious freedom in the world. This is also an important reason why most countries in the world have expressed their support for China on issues such as Xinjiang and Hong Kong despite the coercion and temptation by the United States on multilateral international occasions such as the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly. Therefore, the United States' attempt to contain China with Tibet is destined to be opposed by most countries and peoples in the world.

The trend of the world is irresistible. Taking "human rights" and "religious freedom" as a weapon, wantonly trampling on the basic principles of international law and international relations, and interfering in other countries' internal affairs are not only against the trend of the world, but also against the will of the peoples of the world, and they are doomed to fail. The plot to play the "Tibet card" against China and use Tibet issues to contain China will never succeed.

Contributed by Jia Chunyang, associate fellow, Institute of American Studies, China Institute of Contemporary International Relations

Translated by Pan Meng