Here is a real mess and the is wailing its guts out on this one.
Where to start?
First of all I don't see how a person can begin to understand this
problem without first doing a bit of research and a good place to start
is the wikipedia article
on Tibet.
The Canadian connection here is that the present leader of the
Tibetans (in exile) is the Dali Lama and he was made an honorary
Canadian citizen in 2006 by a unanimous vote of our Parliament. This
sends a message to China that Canada supports the Dali Lama and the Tibetans
in exile. Honorary Canadian Citizenship is an extremely rare honor and
its only been given 4 times in the history of Canada.
When a couple of
Mounties give you an award you know that Canada is behind you. And so
does everyone else.
After you do the research you come to basically
one of two possible conclusions:
1. That China is right and the Tibetans are
wrong or
2. That the Tibetans are right and China is
wrong.
There is a worrisome component here. If you review
how China has approached this problem you see what looks a lot like genocide
and aggression. Its not pretty and it reflects very badly on
China as a nation. Why?
Tibet is referred to as the roof of the world
with average elevations of a staggering 16,000 feet or just a tad over 3
miles high. What could possibly be the point in
controlling this territory? It all becomes very apparent when you look
at a map and the periodic table of the elements.
As you can clearly see Tibet occupies a strategic
position between the Bay of Bengal and Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. Its
one of the few opportunities for China to expand its land mass for
its huge population. But there is more. As I have said in several other
areas on this webpage if you want to understand something simply -follow
the money. Tibet has vast natural resources and huge
amounts of hydro electric potential. China is simply exploiting the
natural resources of Tibet -its nothing more complicated than that. There
are over 90 minerals found in Tibet for example it has the worlds
largest supply of Lithium. Lithium is used in batteries.
So the bullshit here is that the Tibet situation has more
to do with the money than with anything else. China has simply
barged in and expropriated the land and is sucking up the resources.
Simple. Their economy is on fire and they are desperate for raw materials Ah so!
So what to do? Boycott the Olympics" Chinese
Products? Trade with China? Do nothing? Give moral support to the Tibetan exiles?
Make the Dali Lama an honorary citizen? Right now all the counties with
trading ties to China are worried about the money they are making
trading with China. Its a question of ethics.
One thing is for sure. There is absolutely no way China is
going to give up its claim on Tibet. There are just too many goodies there
for them to plunder. They have moved millions of Chinese into Tibet
and its "home" for them now. The only wild card in this is the Chinese
economy. They are now totally dependent on world trade. Should the
world decide they no longer wish to trade with China the economy would
collapse and the citizens would riot. Because other countries are now
totally dependent on trade with China its unlikely this will happen. The
entire situation can be summarized as follows:
