http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-is-china-afraid-of-the-dalai-lama/2011/07/14/gIQAd5gyEI_story.html“If China overnight adopted a democratic system, I might have some reservations.. . . If central authority collapsed, there could be a chaotic situation, and that’s in no one’s interest.”
The words of caution might have come from a Communist Party leader, once again lecturing the West not to push too hard on human rights. But, no;
this was the party’s nemesis, the Dalai Lama, the exiled leader of Tibet, explaining in an interview Thursday why he favors “gradual change.”Born in 1935, and having fled Communist China in 1959, the Dalai Lama takes a long view. Initially, he said, he believed that the Communists, who took power in 1949, had principles — that they were “dedicated to the people.” But Mao Zedong’s emphasis on ideology proved “unrealistic” — a tactful understatement of policies that led to the starvation of tens of millions — and Mao’s successor, Deng Xiaoping, realized that China had to embrace capitalism and allow people to improve their living standards. So today’s China, he continued, is entirely different from Mao’s. The economy is thriving and connected with the world. Thousands of Chinese have studied abroad.
The upshot: The United States and other free countries were right to open trade with China and help bring it into the mainstream of global commerce. “Now the free world has a responsibility to bring China into the mainstream of world democracy.” But, he said, it makes sense to start by urging gradual progress: legal reform, and an end to internal censorship.
I guess authoritarian regimes don't like governments meeting with the "opposition" even when it is as mild as the Dalai Lama. If you're an authoritarian, you must believe that you can't give them an "inch" or they'll take a "mile" and their goes your authority.
When this happened recently in Syria our embassy was attacked. Maybe we should post extra guards in Beijing now. :)
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