Article by Bhuchung K. Tsering (issue June 1999)
At the end of April I was in Geneva in connection with a rally held on the birthday of the Panchen Lama, the hunger strike by the Tibetan Youth Congress and the session of the Comission on Human Rights. I arrived there the day after China was once again able to block a resolution condemning its human rights practices in China and Tibet.
Enter the meeting room of the Comission - I had last stepped into it six years ago - I experienced once again the harsh reality concerning the UN and issues like ours. In that room, the suffering of opressed people is a product, with the NGOs primarily playing the role of sales agents. The product's value is not based on its own merit but on how countries feel it has use for them. Since the mid-eighties Tibetan officials and NGOs have been adapting themselves to this situation and lounching a vigorous campaign at the Commission to sell the Tibetan product. Occasionally they have been successful - sometimes they have faced setbacks. Nevertheless, today the Tibetan brand name enjoys very favourable recognition within the Commission and is used as a model for success by other human rights advocates. But then, it is a crazy market out there.
A case in point is the China resolution proposed by the United States during this session of the Commission. Even the European Union failed to co-sponsor it. Eventually, only Poland became a co-sponsor. China, however, had to seek recourse to its usual procedural tactic to prevent this resolution from being discussed. While China may think it won this round, observers in Geneva feel otherwise. There were more countries, significantly from Afrika, abstaining this time. This is a clear writing on the wall.
Today, China is desperate to do anything to prevent countries from reminding it about Tibet. The undiplomatic outburst of President Jiang Zemin during his visit to the Swiss Capital, Bern, in late March is an indication of how far the Chinese are willing to go on this. President Jiang literally scolded the Swiss leadership for permitting Tibetans and Tibet-supporters in Switzerland to exercise their democratic right to freedom of speech during his visit to the Swiss Parliament.
I took a short trip to Bern from Geneva and specifically went to the square before the Swiss Parliament House. Loten Namling, who was my host, showed me the location where the demonstrators stationed themselves. Is this the building that made President Jiang launch his thousand tirades? I wondered. As I stood in the square I tried to visualise the development that day. While the demonstrators may certainly have embarrassed President Jiang, there was no justifiable reason for his extreme outburst. This led me to wonder whether there were other reasons for his attitude. Could it be that he has been facing the heat from others in the Chinese leadership concerning Tibet since his non-negative statements during the press conference with President Clinton in June of 1998? Would this mean that President Jiang has really not been able to consolidate power and authority?
Bhuchung K. Tsering is a commentator based in Washinton, DC. He currently works with the International Campaign for Tibet.
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