Ethnic Conflicts In Asia. Tibet And Sri Lanka

Ethnic conflict in Asia

The Case of Tibet

The conflict between china and Tibet is well known but not necessarily in the context of tribalism. Tribalism is when people identify with a sub-state group, defined by a common culture and ethnicity, so they are not loyal to the state government.

Origin of the Conflict

The China-Tibet conflict is viewed as an ethnic and/or religious conflictbecause of the importance of ethnicity and religion in the conflict. First, while the native inhabitants of the Tibetan plateau are Tibetans, the majority ethnic group in China is Han Chinese.

Chinese Communist Party ideology accepts the Marxist view of religion as "the opiate of the masses". Chinese authorities in Tibet have worked to destroy the local religion.
The dominant religion in Tibetis Tibetan Buddhism. Religion has for centuries been the most defining aspect of Tibetan life and has fundamentally shaped Tibetan identity.

China says Tibet has officially been part of the Chinese nation since the mid-13th Century, so should continue to be ruled by Beijing.

Many Tibetans disagree; pointing out that the Himalayan region was an independent kingdom for many centuries. Forexample, after a brief military conflict between China and Tibet in the early part of the 20th Century, Tibet declared itself an independent republic in 1912. Tibet functioned as an independent government until China sent troops to Tibet in 1950.

Consequences of conflict

• Tibet, before occupation, was a nation with an established sovereign government, currency, postal system, language,legal system, and culture.

• Deaths of hundreds of thousands of Tibetans, the destruction of over 6,000 monasteries, nunneries and temples, and the imprisonment and torture of thousands of Tibetans.

• The Chinese government claims to have “developed” Tibet, with “developments” mainly benefiting the new majority Chinese, not Tibetans.

• China, neglecting education and healthcare,has spent millions of dollars building infrastructure; many roads, buildings, and power plants to enhance the economic growth of China.

• Tibet is a highly militarized state that imprisons and tortures dissidents, sterilized women and subjected to forced abortions.

• Tibetan nomads have been forced to abandon their traditional way of life to live confined in resettlement in horribleliving conditions

• Exile of thousands of Tibetans who, through the Himalayas, risking their lives to leave the country.

• China has outlawed some traditional Buddhist rituals and festivals.
• Common torture methods in Tibet are: beatings, use of electric shock batons, submersion in pits of sewage, exposure to conditions of extreme heat or cold, deprivation of sleep, food orwater, prolonged solitary confinement, denial of medical treatment, hard labour, harassment by dogs and being hanged upside down.
• Indiscriminate exploitation of Tibet's vast natural resources is also threatening the ecological balance of the roof of the world.
• China government wants to reduce Tibetans to an insignificant minority in their own country, sending millions of Chinese out ofwork and landless.

Current situation
Perhaps one of the reasons Westerners know so much about Tibet is because of the Dalai Lama, he has travelled the world calling for more freedom in his homeland, which has had to leave and live in exile.
He said: "I am not in favour of separation. Tibet is a part of the People's Republic of China. It is an autonomous region of the People's Republic ofChina. Tibetan culture and Buddhism are part of Chinese culture. Many young Chinese like Tibetan culture as a tradition of China."
However, in March 2011 the Dalai Lama announced that he renounced all political positions of the Tibetan government in exile, to be just as spiritual and religious leader.
In November 2008, the UN agreed with Free Tibet's report on torture, clarifying that it believes...