Fifty years after the Tibetan uprising of 10 March 1959 and one year after the unrest of Spring 2008, China's Tibet policies continue to be based on the belief that economic determinism and robust demonstrations of force, flanked by an, at times, outlandish, narrative about the liberation of serfs, is sufficient to resolve the Tibet issue. In a speech delivered to deputies of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) at the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing on 9 March 2009, Chinese President Hu Jintao called for the building of a "Great Wall of stability" in Tibet, referring to the renowned Chinese edifice as a metaphor for steadfast solidity. Hu specified that the key element to achieve this is accelerated economic development. Meanwhile, the Chinese authorities' ambiguous depiction of the current security situation in Tibet reflects perceived needs to appear confident while maintaining a politically convenient level of alertness.

Chinese President Hu Jintao at a panel discussion with deputies to the S...

In his speech, Hu described Tibet as being "now basically stable". Even more sanguine, Kang Jinzhong, Party Secretary (Commissar) of the People's Armed Police (PAP) in the TAR told Xinhua that the situation is "currently very stable" and "all the armed police forces across Tibet are on routine duty". Kang declared himself "completely relaxed". He did, however, specify: "The armed police force has the ability to handle any emergencies at any time".

Danger, where at all acquiesced, is presented as coming from across the borders. Kang Jinzhong, said that Chinese troops are ready for "any infiltration and sabotage activities by the Dalai Lama clique and other hostile forces". Earlier, Legqog, chairman of the TAR People's Congress, said the "Dalai clique" had recently increased "secessionist and sabotage activities" and "made attempts to make trouble through collusion with those inside or even sending in their people". Fu Hongyu, the Commissar of the Public Security Border Control Department said he has "tightened controls at border ports, and key areas and passages along the border in Tibet", adding: "We will firmly crackdown on criminal activities in Tibet's border area that pose a threat to China's sovereignty and government".

TAR governor Qiangba Puncog, Chairman of the standing committee of the T...

Chubakang Tubdain Kaizhub, a senior Tibetan member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said, again at the NPC: "There won't be an increase of security forces [because] the Tibetan people firmly stand for the leadership of the Communist Party and the socialist system". Kang described Tibetans to Xinhua as "very simple and kind", and "their heart[s] stood with the Party". Xinhua was careful to quote a Tibetan from Lhasa as saying: "Tightened security is a good thing for business people and all residents".

Indeed, all available sources inside Tibet confirm a large number and range of security forces on alert, while Tibetans in Lhasa have compared the current situation to conditions that prevailed during the passage of the Olympic flame through Tibet in June 2008. This does not contradict Chubakang Tubdain Kaizhub's remarks in so far as the tremendous contingent, the largest since the 1950s, which was sent to Tibet in spring 2008 to reinforce the overstretched local militia, is to a large extent still present all over the plateau. No large military convoys have been observed heading back down to the Chinese lowland since spring 2008, while encampments in or around cities still have not been dismantled, though some were shifted to less obvious places. The Xinhua article confirms that alongside police, "the People's Liberation Army is patrolling Lhasa's streets".

There is a fair amount of confusion about the question whether Tibetan regions are 'open' or not. In late 2008, the TAR tourism bureau announced fare and hotel rate cuts in order to encourage tourism, which had plummeted following the events of 2008. It was also reported that the tourism bureau was predicting 835,000 visitors during the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival period from 11 January to 06 March. But AP reported on 12 February that foreigners have been banned from travelling in most Tibetan regions until late March or April. Some of these areas had re-opened just two weeks earlier. In Kardze prefecture, only three counties out of eighteen have remained open to foreigners. Enquiries made by TibetInfoNet among local and international travel operators found that while none of the major agencies were cancelling scheduled trips, they were careful in making commitments about the future. Obviously, all parties are deferring any decisions while they see how things develop.

A 'liberated serf' on the cover of Shardungri - The Eastern Snow Mountai...

There is an even larger discrepancy between statements and facts with access to Tibetan regions for journalists. The state website eng.tibet.cn reported Wang Chen, director of the State Information Office in Beijing as announcing that the authorities welcomed foreign journalists to the TAR and would make "greater efforts to simplify formalities for foreigners to visit Tibet and improve efficiency". In articles posted on 09 and 10 March, however, the organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) documented several cases of systematic harassment of international journalists while they were attempting to report from Tibet.

Up until now, the majority of the Tibetan population does not seem eager to engage in mass movements. Some recent, individual protests have been reported in the international media and by various Tibet support groups but in most cases they have involved only a handful of participants. While certainly symptomatic of ongoing tensions, these incidents would probably have not attracted the same attention in a period where there was less scrutiny.

In his address on 09 March, Hu urged the Tibetan NPC delegates to continue improving people's standard of living. In pursuing economic development, Hu said, Tibet must stick to a "development road" with "Chinese characteristics and Tibetan features", a formula for China's specific understanding of autonomy that consists of a strict, localised implementation of policies drafted centrally in Beijing.

Hu said the authorities in Tibet should embark on more projects that will directly result in the improvement of people's life and working conditions, "particularly those of farmers and herdsmen". Priority must be given to addressing people's immediate needs, so that "people of all ethnic groups in Tibet will be able to share the fruit of development", he said. These comments seem to be an acknowledgement that the violent riots on 14 March 2008 in Lhasa were a result of rural Tibetan migrants' resentment against socio-ethnic asymmetries. But they also reinforce the authorities' belief that unrest like that of 2008 is best addressed by raising material living standards. Hu's call to "vigorously advance" the construction of "socialist new villages" indicates that the authorities intend to continue the unpopular resettlements of nomads and villagers, one of the triggers of the unrest of 2008. The endeavour benefits mainly Tibetan building developers whose family clans are closely intertwined with the state administration and have to be considered, at present, to be the most loyal supporters of the regime. This focus on economic and material development ignores the fact that unrest is most persistent, and ongoing, in the eastern Tibetan regions, whose inhabitants have experienced appreciable material progress in recent years.

Tibet is now being prepared for the new festival of 'Serf Emancipation Day', to be commemorated on 28 March 2009. The new celebration was established during the Regional People's Congress in Lhasa in January 2009, and it draws on a narrative of Communist propaganda that dates back to the 1950s and has found new vigour in the way the unrest of spring 2008 has been packaged by the authorities for consumption within the PRC and abroad.

Delegates from Tibetan regions in Beijing for the NPC visited a fringe event to the festival, an exhibition where, Xinhua reported, one of the items on display was a letter purportedly from the old Tibetan government that demanded "...wet intestine, two skulls, many kinds of blood and a full human skin" for the celebration of the 14th Dalai Lama's birthday. The article quotes TAR-NPC chairman Legqog as saying "Democratic Reform in Tibet is an important chapter in the history of global human rights development (...) Its implications are no less than those of the abolitions of serfdom in the United States (sic) and Europe".

The Tibetan Barbie doll

Next to the at times bizarre vilification of old Tibet and the Dalai Lama, the Chinese authorities have also recently multiplied attempts to win sympathy, in particular employing foreign support. Since February 2009, and increasingly since the beginning of March, Chinese media have published reports from foreign visitors from Spain, Canada and other countries praising the authorities' policies in Tibet and questioning recent China-critical statements made by the Dalai Lama. One of the attempts to portray themselves in a positive light was the launching of the Tibetan Barbie doll in early March. The legendary US doll, which is currently celebrating its 50th birthday, enjoys a considerable popularity in China and Mattel Inc. opened a $30 million flagship Barbie store in Shanghai on the weekend of 07-08 March. A limited edition of 300 Tibetan Barbie dolls was recently released as one in a series of eight dolls featuring the 'ethnic' look of minorities across the PRC. It is currently on display at Gongkar Airport, close to Lhasa and, according to a report by Xinhua, the different parts of the dolls were made in various countries. But, the report states, "to make these Barbie girls more vivid, the company also invited traditional Tibetan craftsmen to beautify the details". While the only picture of the Tibetan Barbie that seems to be in circulation so far reveals few details, it does show that the sleeves of the Tibetan Barbie's robe are trimmed with fur(1).

Notes:
1: See also: http://www.tibetinfonet.net/content/update/70