It was with considerable interest that I read the letter of Max Zavanelli (TBT #453) entitled "China is the Bogeyman." There seems to be an attitude in the West that China can do no wrong. Tiananmen Square is likely to pass into the mists of history if the EU lifts its arms embargo on China, which might now be in some doubt.
In his list of what China has been up to, he forgot to mention Tibet. To all intents and purposes, Tibet was an independent state. China invaded in 1949-50 and carried out a brutal occupation, which continues to this day. Approximately 1.2 million Tibetans have been murdered. Large numbers languish in "gulags," and others are incarcerated or executed for political activities, including "separatism." Areas in western Tibet have been/are being stripped of their forests, the agricultural ecology has been radically altered. Add to that the wholesale damage to and looting of the monasteries of irreplaceable ornaments and books. Han Chinese are encouraged to live and work in Tibet, so much so that the Tibetans are virtually a minority in their own country. All in all, it amounts to what would be called genocide under other circumstances.
China has never fulfilled the restrictions of an occupying power, which has been incumbent on the U.S.A./U.K. in Iraq, and open to scrutiny.
Areas in north Kashmir have been "ceded" to China. No doubt China is looking to insert itself in to the northern part of the Indian subcontinent.
The current "spat" between China and Japan over a history book would be laughable if it were not tragic. Having suffered at the hands of the Japanese, China, no doubt has "whitewashed" its campaign in Tibet.
On the international front, China has been able to subvert censure motions at the U.N. and financially "twist the arms" of some countries to support its hegemony over Tibet. I also understand that the governments of the three Baltic republics have also supported this hegemony, despite the 50 years of Soviet occupation.
It is high time that the crimes of communism are held up for scrutiny, just as is done with nazism.
Chris Last
Loughton, U.K.
