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In recent times, China (or I should state 'the People's Republic of China' to avoid any political confusion or offense) has been in the limelight. The troubles in Tibet and the protests occurring during the Olympic torch relay have brought the nation's role in the world to the forefront.

Yet it is wrong for China also to react in such a violent manner towards the people who want autonomy and freedom for themselves. It is also wrong for China to be in Tibet in the first place, having marched in with their army back in 1950. This piece of information has been neglected in the history books taught in local schools, so my parents are rather ignorant on this matter. All the Dalai Lama wants is autonomy, not independence. My dad rightly said that Tibet couldn't sustain itself economically if broke off from China. What my dad said is true but the whole point of independence is not of economic factors but of self-determination, the right to be governed by one's own people. This is the basis of the two world wars we had in the last century. The Kosovans didn't break off from Serbia for monetary reasons but for the right to rule itself.

I can see why the dissidents use this method to publicize their cause. Peaceful protests only work if the opposite side (in this case the Chinese government) also play by the rules, which they don't. The Chinese government don't want to engage in dialogue with the Dalai Lama and are rather stubborn on Tibet (as well as Taiwan and other matters). Nelson Mandela knew this when engaging the South African government in the early days of apartheid. Greenpeace knows this when encountering the Japanese whaling fleet in the Antarctic waters.
There is a question I want to raise about the Olympics - hasn't there always been some political issues surrounding the Olympic movement. We have the most prominent examples in 1980 and 1984, when the Western countries boycotted the Moscow games due to the invasion of Afghanistan whilst the Soviet bloc retaliated at the Los Angeles games. Yet people tend to forget that even the Olympic torch relay itself was instituted due to political reasons. Even though the Olympic flame was reintroduced at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic games, the torch relay was introduced by the Third Reich for the 1936 Berlin Olympic games to promote the Aryan race. In fact the whole point of the Olympics is political. The whole Olympic games is just nation bashing, a substitute for war in the modern age where we want to exert up superiority over other nations.
It would be wrong for nations to boycott the Olympic games because of the Tibetan incident. There are other methods to make China wake up...
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