Lhasa Faces a Deadline

As I write this it is about 8 pm in Tibet. Authorities have threatened a "harsh" response to protesters who do not surrender themselves by midnight. (Lhasa is 12 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Standard Time.)

Today Chinese police conducted house-to-house searches in Lhasa, arresting hundreds of people. Tibetan prisoners were paraded through the streets of Lhasa in handcuffs.

James Fallows, writing from Beijing, says, "Thus conditions are set for the next stage of tragedy in Tibet, as Monday's deadline for the end of protest draws near."

"Most people in China assume that Tibet, like Taiwan, Inner Mongolia, or the Muslim Xinjiang region of the northwest, is an integral and inalienable part of its territory," Fallows explains. The Chinese people on the whole have no idea that Tibetans feel oppressed by China. The Chinese are told that the unrest is being caused by a minority faction of dead-ender Dalai Lama supporters. The Chinese will support whatever "harsh" response Beijing chooses.

Blogger Rebecca MacKinnon is watching Web chatter from China. "For those living in the West who didn't realize that there's little sympathy for Tibet independence among ethnic Chinese in the PRC," she writes, "this blog post on Global Voices will be a shocker. John Kennedy has translated chatter from Chinese blogs and chatrooms that generally runs along the lines of: those ungrateful minorities, we give them modern conveniences and look how they thank us... where have we heard this before?"

MacKinnon also points us to "Davesgonechina" at the Tenement Palm blog, who has been translating the chatter coming from Chinese on Fanfou and Jiwai --Chinese versions of Twitter. "Click here, here, and here, specifically."

Sophie Taylor of Reuters reports that "a look at Chinese blogs reveals a vitriolic outpouring of anger and nationalism directed against Tibetans and the West."

An American living in Beijing who blogs at The Peking Duck writes,

With the Olympic Torch Relay starting in only a few days, the threat to China's pride cannot be exaggerated; they have hitched their star to the Olympic Games, and if that star crashes and burns the country will erupt in outrage and shattered pride. I hope that doesn't happen; I hope China will be smart enough to do something truly constructive and make peace with the unhappy Tibetans. Knowing Hu Jintao's past, of course, one can only conclude this is unlikely. Heads will be cracked and more lies spun out by Xinhua.

The Duck also points us to a 1999 Atlantic Monthly article by Peter Hessler titled "Tibet Through Chinese Eyes." If there are more developments today, this blog post will be updated.

Photo Caption: The flag of China and Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet

Photo Credit: © Denis Kabanov | Dreamstime.com