ICAR News Network: Opinion

As the world has turned its attention to China in preparation for the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing, history has begun to repeat itself. In watching the events play themselves out among the Tibetans, one cannot help but remember the events of April 1989 at Tiananmen Square. Both protests are led by individuals who possess great emotional and psychological influence over their fellow citizens. In Tiananmen, it was students calling workers into the streets to stand up for a more representative system of government. In Tibet, it is monks summoning the laity to protest the Chinese government's attempts to control the religious life of the Tibetan people and the government's policy of resettling ethnically Han peoples from the east to shift the demographics of the province and create a balance favorable to the Beijing government.

Then, as now, the world finds itself in an uncertain time, where changes to the social fabric are altering modes of living all over the world. And perhaps most importantly, China is incapable of closing itself in and dealing with the problem privately. Then, it was a historic visit from Mikhail Gorbachev that brought in foreign journalists. Now, it's the Olympics. Both situations have the effect of forcing the Chinese to accept the presence of foreign scrutiny, and they can no more retreat and handle the matter internally now than they could then.

The unfortunate ending of Tiananmen, however, should not be viewed as an ill omen. In experiencing these events again, both China and the world have an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of Tiananmen and begin social and economic liberalization anew. The West can facilitate this by quietly encouraging the Chinese to make peace with the Tibetans while acknowledging their sovereign right to govern their own territory.

The remarks of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd are encouraging in this regard. The Chinese still feel disrespected on the world stage and the only way to convince them to listen to advice is to demonstrate that they are valued and that they can trust the West to treat them fairly. China, too, must take action. It must realize that calls for increased self determination cannot be ignored forever, take steps to increase local control and move toward rapprochement with its citizens to facilitate the creation of a new system in which the people of China have a say in their future.

In the wake of Tiananmen, the West ignored the actions of the Chinese, determining that the need for stability was more important than encouraging an open, free society. We all suffered as a result. We now have a chance to correct our previous errors. We cannot afford to wait for the next one.