Someone explain all this Tibet / China nonsense to me (im ignorant)
 

Sounds to me like China owned Tibet back in the day, Tibet is pissed off and causing a ruckus today. Do I have the jist?

China invaded Tibet in 1950 or 51 cant remember off the top of my head, and as you can imagine the Chinese army was too much a force for the Tibetians to resist.

In the last 10 or more years China has built major railways, roads etc into Tibet and pretty much has started to flood it with northern Chinese, and as a Tibetian you are a second class citizen and add that to the opression of their religion and culture and you get some pissed off people.

Oh and chanting "Free Tibet" is currently the in thing...

We only care to bring democracy to countries that dont own a big chunk of our debt.

or use an event....um lets say, the Olympics....to drum up support and boycots from the rest of the world, but sweep the issue under the rug as soon as the closing ceremonies are completed....

I hope the next Olympics are held in Darfur.

You could say Australia has done the same thing with the Aborigines. The USA has done the same thing with the native Indians and the UK did the same thing with Zimbabwa in the Rodeshian bush war. Most countrys have done this and then treated the natives as second class citizens. :2 cents:

nice summary spunkmister :thumbsup

Yes but this topic was about Tibet and China...

Yes, guess I was just trying to say that China is doing what almost every other country has done in the past

Is simple, folks hate Chinese but it ain't politically correct so they use the Tibet issue to bash the Chinese while in reality most don't give a rat's ass about Tibetians.

One is in the past, one is happening now. I do agree though, China isn't doing anything worse than a lot of countries. How many nations suppress separatists at present? And how many do we support? The Kurds come to mind. Seems a bit hypocritical if our Governments start condemning them, though I certainly expect nothing less from the leftist crowds.

again if it wasn't for the Olympics we wouldn't be having this discussion....and once the Olympics are over the same people will be back in line at Walmart saving money on those evil Chinese made goods.

yes how people forget that not too long ago the British Empire made second class citizens of half the world.

If you chant "Free Tibet" you could be as cool as Richard Gere.

Also wear a t-shirt and cry and start causing chaos in London.... then youll be cool and hippies will hang with you :1orglaugh

Alright so why are there so many assholes proclaiming their love for China when it looks like China is in the wrong here?

No love for China from me. Just really don't care about the Tibetan separatist cause more than any other. Want to find a separatist cause to care about? Look closer to home. Maybe you could focus on Quebec :)

Or have any oil.

I live in Asia and have visited China many times, and seen what good things the country can offer...the majority of people on here who critize the country have never been there and havnt seen that if you take away the politics the average Chinese person on the street is just living their life, just like any other citizen around the world.

Unfortunately the actions of their government reflects poorly on the people, but the people in power have done a good job (sad to say) of keeping the average Chinese person in the dark and only tell them what they need to hear. But don't take their ignorance to mean that they don't love their country, they are fiercly loyal to China and will tell you as much if you ask....they may not be that enthuastic about their government but the love and pride for their country is undeniable....atleast that has been my experience in the last 5-6 years that I have travelled there.

not defending Chinas foriegn policy, but they are no more wrong than any other country that has ever invaded and claimed soverignty over another country...they are just a bit more undiplomatic about it.

China has owned Tibet for like... ever... They own it. They don't have to give it back.

That is how the world works.

Thanks for that helpful bit of insight Paris.