Commentary-en

July 18, 2011

The Tibetan Movement Pulls the Plug on Itself: Advantage China

I have received several requests over the last few weeks to post the article I wrote for the July issue of Jane’s Intelligence Review on the recent changes […]
April 2, 2011

Tubote, Tibet, and the Power of Naming

A few people have now asked me to repost the English version of my introduction to the Chinese translation of Authenticating Tibet here, since it’s also […]
June 24, 2010

The History Boy

I’m going to assume that most people reading this post know who Barry Sautman is (and no, he’s not the one in the picture; that’s King […]
July 20, 2009

Autonomy? Think Again

As if any further evidence were needed of the ways in which China has been running rings around the Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile, recent events […]
April 3, 2009

China Digs in Its Heels in Tibet

In January, in a move little noticed outside Tibet-watching circles, China signaled its confidence in having outmaneuvered the Dalai Lama and his Tibetan government-in-exile on the […]
March 27, 2009

Tibet as ‘Hell on Earth’

The month of March has turned into a field of contention in a struggle for the ownership of Tibet’s historical memory. Tibetans claim March 10, the day the 1959 Tibetan uprising erupted in Lhasa, as a national day, and this year China has been forced to take drastic measures to contain any hint of it. At the same time, China has staked out a new holiday in order to commemorate the suppression of that same uprising: March 28 is henceforth to be »Serfs Emancipation Day.« There is nothing subtle about all this—China is quite determined to dominate the Tibetan historical view, whether or not coercion or even force is necessary.
November 27, 2008

He Has Got It Wrong

In the end, China was right. It is all about the Dalai Lama. Following a week-long “special meeting” to discuss the future of the Tibetan movement, […]
March 17, 2008

Big Brother Is Watching

A combination of factors has come together, including Tibetan awareness of China's sensitivity to negative international attention in the build-up to the Olympics and the arrival of March 10, the day when Tibetans mark the 1959 uprising against China. But the most important element has to be the persistent, underlying resentment of China's presence in Tibet. The banned Tibetan national flag has been unfurled in Lhasa and on its streets the familiar cry for Tibet's independence has been shouted.