When the news broke that President Obama was not going to meet with the Dalai Lama during his recent visit to Washington -- ending a practice that has spanned the past two decades and three previous presidents of both parties -- some China hands and Obama sycophants applauded the decision as a pragmatic step to avoid antagonizing a regime whose cooperation was needed on "more important" matters. When they weren't dismissing their predecessors' meetings with the Dalai Lama as "cheap symbolism," White House officials tried to spin their preemptive capitulation as being what the Dalai Lama wanted and a move that would actually help the Tibetans. Placed in a no-win situation, the Tibetans and their supporters attempted to put the best face on it by playing down the slight, at least until someone at the White House flatly told the New York Times that they really did throw the Dalai Lama under the bus because a meeting might be "substantially damaging to the relationship."
Now come reports out of Tibet that up to four Tibetans have been executed after dubious trials in Lhasa. Can there now be any doubt that dissing the Dalai Lama failed to improve the situation of the Tibetans? Whereas in the past when an American president was planning a visit to Beijing for important summitry, the Chinese have released a token political prisoner or two, this time around they have executed Tibetans (and, possibly some Uighurs too) just before Obama's arrival. While it would be hyperbolic to say the Chinese made the decision to execute these people as a result of Obama's downgrading of human rights concerns, we'll never know if different signals on human rights and Tibet issues might have delayed or even diminished their punishments. When I asked the State Department last Friday why they had not yet commented, I was told they could not confirm the executions but not to expect much even if they did; meanwhile, the Brits had already confirmed -- and condemned -- two of the executions.
But at this point, the Chinese are not even politely pretending to care that the U.S. or others may have any concerns about their brutal treatment of the Tibetan population. In a recent German magazine interview with Zhu Weiquan, a senior Chinese ethnic affairs official, he made it clear that the Chinese feel no need to modulate their current policies in Tibet or engage in meaningful talks with the Dalai Lama or anyone else about that topic. Some choice words from Vice Minister Zhu:
The Tibet issue is purely China's internal affair. We will brief foreign friends on the issue, answer relevant questions and invite you to report in Tibet. But we will never allow foreigners and foreign organizations to meddle in the issue or pretend to be a mediator or moral guardian in Chinese affairs.
I know that some foreign individuals and organizations have been extremely enthusiastic and eager to be engaged in the relationship between us and the Dalai Lama, as well as the so-called "Tibet issue." Let me repeat here: there is neither necessity nor possibility in this regard.
You really have to read the whole (really long) thing to get the full sense of China's arrogant dismissal of international concerns about Tibet, but this is a pretty in-your-face message to Obama that any effort to curry favor with Beijing by snubbing the Dalai Lama is completely misguided.So is anyone at the White House listening? Do they even care, or were their promises to unleash their "smart power" on Beijing for the Tibetans' benefit next month just a cynical ploy to keep important Tibet supporters from criticizing their preemptive capitulation? Signs point to the latter, as a desperate-sounding Valerie Jarrett took time last week to resurrect those hollow promises in another attempt to defend the Dalai Lama snub. With the likes of Czech dissident hero Vaclav Havel calling them out as cowards and even Maureen Dowd -- yes, Maureen Dowd -- questioning the White House's judgment on this one, White House credibility on this issue is pretty thin. And this was before the Chinese started executing Tibetans.
Several commentators have noted that those who have "Free Tibet" and Obama campaign bumper stickers on their fuel-efficient cars should be thinking about removing one or the other. Its time to get out the razor blades and WD-40.
