A disputed video from Tibet

Last week, Tibetan exile groups voiced outrage at a video posted on YouTube that purportedly showed militarized police beating and kicking detained Tibetans during ethnic unrest a year ago.
 
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Qin Gang, was dismissive of the video at a March 26 briefing.

“I have also seen the video. The contents are obviously edited and doctored. Maybe the Dalai clique got some tips of image-editing from certain Western media,” Qin said, adding that police during the riots used “utmost restraint.”

Nonetheless, the government seemed to sense that this position wasn’t completely convincing. So within a day, censors blocked access to YouTube.

As of today, YouTube once again appears available in China. But if you try to see the video, you get a banner that says, “This video has been removed due to terms of use violation.”

To see the video, you have to go here, an exile website. Judge for yourself whether it is fake. But beware: the scenes are not for the weak of stomach. (The site is blocked in China unless you have software to bust through the Great Firewall.)

On a related subject, Qin Gang is becoming a master at the art of high dudgeon, making the Foreign Ministry briefings entertaining in an odd way. But he certainly turns black into white. I wasn’t at the aforementioned briefing, although transcripts are available here. Qin routinely treats foreign media as lacking in the standards that he ascribes to the Chinese media.

Interestingly, to seek credibility for its Tibet stance lately, the People’s Daily has repeatedly been turning to, you guessed it, foreign scholars and experts. Not surprisingly, they all seem to say good things about China’s policies on Tibet. When one scholar was recently quoted in such a fashion, I was a little surprised. So I wrote him an email. Here’s an excerpt of what he wrote back:

“I had insisted to People's Daily that they should NOT remove a sentence I said about military presence and its long-term negative influence and even without informing me, they run this. I didn't even realise they were running it. They have removed 60% of what I said!!!”

I guess if the “Dalai clique” needed some tips on doctoring information, they could also turn to the People’s Daily.

Comments

[Dzi Bead]

God Bless the Tibetans.

[michael]

I think that phrase "utmost restraint" is going to backfire on the Chinese spokesman. When Chinese are being lynched in Indonesia, the authorities can say ... they were treated with utmost restraint.

[Sparkle]

That video by Tibetan-exile group is clearly a fake. Plus, it did not come from an "independent" source. The footage was shot from an ordinary camara. People don't need to think with their brains to known that "yes the Chinese policeman would smash your camera". If it was leaked from an internal source, then footage should cover everything from operation start to end. On the other hand, I can certainly laugh about that these people don't have enough money to fake the whole thing. This whole clip thing, only shows how desperate these tibetan-in-exile are.

Little history 101 for the bloggers. Dazin Gayso, the so claimed Dalai Lama the 14th. Only come to the western public scene, in the 1970s. Before, tibetan-in-exile group is supported by CIA for you know what. Every year the Dalai-clique claimed to receive 1.7 million US tax-payer dollar during the 1960s, all the way until 1970. However, during the Nixon/Carter administration, US-China relationship was "normalized". US cut the life support off. However, the Tibetan exile community of around 100,000 people does not create a sustainable community. Plus, one tenth of the population are monks or Lamas. These people do not participate in manual labour of the community - farming and building. Thus, the primary source of income is donation.

On one hand that Dazin Gayso has to keep on appearances to get donation. On the other hand he is certainly a card to play with in the hands of crafty politicians. Good relationship with China, denounce him, score in human rights meet him. However, as economic down turn hits the world. China being an emerging economic power. European countries and certainly america, would want to enjoy a nice relationship with China, denouncing Dazin Gyaso, is certainly the most convenient political way to establish the first impression. That is the reason South Africa denied him the visa, this would certainly be a huge favor when dealing with Chinese government, Chinese tutorists, and most importantly the investers. You can see more and more of similiar actions from other countries. Of course, there will be either short-sighted or idiotic political figures to "show their support for human rights". In fact they only try to get attention for their own and they may be quite good at making empty promises. (Old Chinese saying: 口惠而实不至)

As of my part, I am glad to see that Chinese government has taken a very aggressive step toward this issue. Not only by waging this "propoganda war", to pick on the Dalai Clique 1 on 1 and rip-off all those Budda masks and review Dalai clique's true identity, a liar, an idiot and cry baby desperate for money. On the other hand using this economic down turn as a opportunity to cut all the life support off the Dalai clique and to force the Dalai clique to take more radical and extreme ways.

[jeff]

His Holiness didn't even bother to enlighten his people to check the video frame by frame before releasing it.

[Howard]

To copygar:
It is no surprise that the disc will never be broadcasted in what Qin Gang referred as "some foreign media and websites". To be "politically correct" rather than factual and balanced, these media will not release the video get from a Communist official, or they will enrisk outrage from western audience. Just look how angry and fearful the scholar is when he was contacted by Tim, and want to distance himself as much as he can from any comments possibly labelled "pro-Communist".
So, any materials from the Chinese government are just "brainwashing communist propaganda", while anything from the exile tibetan government or pro-Tibet groups and individuals are "facts" and "truth", as implicated by Tim in this post.

[copygar]

In order to help you to be better informed of the March 14 incident, here I have for you a booklet and a disc on the truth of the incident. I have noted that some foreign media and websites have broadcasted the video produced by the Dalai clique. I encourage you to show your sense of justice and courage, playing our disc on your website.

I'm wondering where can I find the disc

[Leo]

Why turn to the People's Daily? Turn to McClatchy. It's a trusted voice.

[steve]

" guess if the “Dalai clique” needed some tips on doctoring information, they could also turn to the People’s Daily."

Tim,

Could you please post the original sentence and the doctored quote, so that the readers can see what is involved in doctoring?

Thanks,