China and the Tibet Problem
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 Seed Newsvine |
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The Chinese government problems with Tibet are largely a headache of their own making. Tibet is one of the many small tragedies that plague the human race. With only about 2.6 million people, Tibet's squashing by huge neighbor normally doesn't register much attention outside of the Buddhist community and a small minority of "Free Tibet " activists. However; with China about to step into the world spotlight as the Olympics come to Beijing, Tibetan freedom supporters are seizing the opportunity to bring the issue to the surface. It is a testament to the slow thinking Chinese government that they didn't see this coming and take steps to prevent it from becoming an issue that takes some of the shine off of their hosting the Olympic Games.Even the smallest gesture would have been sufficient to remove the issue from the public conscious. Simply agreeing to talk to representatives of the Dalai Lama would have been sufficient. By starting a process of discussion they would have diffused the situation and even possibly resolved it, although this would take some effort.
Instead the Chinese government did nothing and now they have an issue that will certainly become a point of contention during the Olympics.
The Tibetan Buddhist community gets some kudos for picking the right time to rev up their public relations campaign. They seem to understand timing and media attention. The old men leading a huge, lumbering bureaucracy need to hire a media consultant. Someone needs to remind them that there is such as thing as satellite television and Internet blogs.
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