NYT: Beijing Sends In The Masses To Make Tibet More Chinese

[CShine]

For the Chinese government, which still describes its violent takeover of Tibet in 1950-51 as a "peaceful liberation," Tibet remains a prickly international issue, often defined by its sparring with the Dalai Lama over Tibetan autonomy. But the government's strategy, launched in recent years and now in full swing, is about the politics of economics.

The Chinese Communist government is reshaping Tibet with the force of China's superheated economy, pouring money and tens of thousands of Han Chinese into the region. The economic goal is to "modernize" Tibet's agrarian economy. But the political goal, analysts say, is to gradually secularize Tibetans and undercut political opposition with the fruits of capitalism.

For Tibetans, the question is whether this is economic development or economic imperialism. The influx of Chinese has divided cities like Lhasa into two worlds, Tibetan and Chinese. Some Tibetans say they have benefited from the Chinese strategy. But the Chinese in Tibet seem to be benefiting far more

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/15/international/asia/15TIBE.html

[regnaD kciN]

1. Boys and girls, can you say..

..."settlements?" Sure you can!

:eyes:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. I can.

And I also can say "Northern Ireland".

[onehandle]

2. Erasing Tibet...

Karl Rove take note. Is this the final solution for those pesky Blue States?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. Same technique that Stalin used in

the Baltic States: ship the locals out to "new settlements" in Siberia, ship ethnic Russians in.

As a result, Riga, the capital of Latvia, is a majority Russian city today.