It's amazing both how polarising the China/Tibet problem is, and how Tibet has remained a fashionable cause for so long. Many of the arguments that are traipsed out tend to have been birthed by those who see everything as black and white, which it clearly isn't.
The social history of Tibet is not an envious one by any country's standards. It is also quite amazing just how much violence people are prepared to engage in to promote their message of peace. Irony, much?
While the Dalai Lama is an honourable man I am sure, even thought well of among Chinese people I know personally, part of the problem lies in the fact that fanatical followers will do anything in his name and claim some holy prerogative. It doesn't matter where you go, fanatics are fanatics.
Do I think China is right to stay in Tibet? Yes and no... it could have been administered like Hong Kong, for example. Despite what many people think, there is a great deal of ideological, religious and political freedom in today's China. However, there are boundaries that need to be observed. Falun Gong are a prime example of this - supported by the government until they overstepped their remit, and then stamped on.
It's a different country, it's a different culture - and one which runs deep, as China is NOT a nation state but a culture state at heart - it ill-behoves people from other countries, other cultures from denigrating the exact same behaviour that they have previously lauded from their own governments.
The sooner people quieten down, concentrate on their own lives, the quicker this will resolve. And I believe that the Tibetan region will be strengthened by this meld with China, as well as Chinese culture further enriched by Tibetan flavour.
Not perfect, but not unworkable either.
It's about time critics got down from Mount Holier-than-Thou and thought about the problem practically and pragmatically. The changes that are being observed cannot be reversed but they can be smoothed.
That is all. I thank you for your indulgence.
Monsoon
ps. I am not Chinese, in case anyone was wondering!