Some Western forces and media seemingly forget the lesson that their distorted reports on the March 14 Incident in Lhasa infuriated all the people of China, and they still constantly issue sensational reports to the effect that “chaos is intensifying in Tibetan areas of China” and “Tibetans are celebrating Tibetan New Year under martial law,” and on some occasions, distortion has bordered on total fabrication. A report in the January 28 New York Times under the heading “Han Chinese Suppress and Confine Ethnic Riots” was accompanied by a color photo with the caption “Fully armed Chinese soldiers patrolling Chengdu.” In fact, the photo wasn’t shot in Chengdu at all. The French newspaper La Croix published an interview with the founder of a French organization devoted to supporting the political struggle of the Dalai Lama on the eve of the Tibetan New Year. This Westerner spoke of self-immolation as if it were a kind of holy light. He went on to say that it could “become a signpost that could lead human beings from ignorance and purify themselves so that could take the path of wisdom and enlightenment.” He also said, “For Tibetans, self-immolation is an act of love and peace.” I can’t help but asking, If self-immolation is so wonderful why don’t you and the head of the “government in exile” immolate yourselves? Of course, my purpose is not to encourage this individual to immolate himself, and I just want to point out that to cherish one’s own life while encouraging others to immolate themselves is contemptible.

At the same time, very many people abroad have questioned the Dalai Lama clique’s inclination to violence. On February 3, Chinese Media Net, Inc. published an article stating, “The Tibetan ‘government in exile’ presently takes the attitude of conniving at the extreme action of self-immolation, which intentionally or unintentionally lets this kind of violent protest get out of control. If this goes on unchecked some Tibetans in exile will inevitably take the path of terrorism, and if they do they will gradually lose the support they have in the international community.” It goes on to say that the new head of the “government in exile” “seemingly is deliberately inciting incidents to create momentum to increase the pressure on the government in Beijing. Western politicians fear that if the present situation heats up and the violence increases, it could lead to terrorism and tarnish their reputation, so they want to cool things down.”

The Dalai Lama flaunts his profession of nonviolence in the international arena to attract sympathy, but an examination of his separatist activities reveals that in 1959 he instigated an armed rebellion, and afterwards he carried out armed border raids for more than ten years. He was behind the riots in Lhasa in 1987 and 1989 and the March 14 incident in 2008. All of them involved violence. The Dalai Lama is already 77 years old, and his separatist activities haven’t achieved any success whatsoever. In order to escape its present political difficulties, the Dalai Lama clique again began clamoring for “Tibet independence,” and has increasingly relied on extremist and violent methods in the effort to attract international sympathy and support and increase the pressure on the Chinese government. However, in the past the Dalai Lama’s violence has never succeeded in achieving his aims, and it won’t succeed this time either. Today, openly resorting to violence would result in political suicide. At present Tibet and the Tibetan areas in four other provinces are undergoing economic development and are enjoying political stability. The people have good jobs and live a satisfying life. Both clergy and lay persons loathe the violent actions of the Dalai Lama clique and firmly oppose them. The Dalai Lama’s posturing will not achieve any of the results he fantasizes about; all it does is strip off his faade and expose his true nature to the international community.