By Tiffany Ayuda

The recent political tension, riots and arrests in Tibet are the realities of the Chinese problem that has existed since 1949, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officially took power in the mainland. Despite its controversial regime, the CCP has remained resilient for almost six decades of booming economic growth and diplomatic relations with different regimes across the world. Throughout all this, a constant issue for the Chinese people and its government has been the reunification of its territories and people. The CCP has used its reunification efforts to consolidate its power and maintain legitimacy within the mainland and abroad.

However, the circumstances that have developed around their cause have tarnished the CCP’s reputation and misrepresent the reasons behind their intent to reunify with the territories of Tibet and Taiwan. The CCP believes that modernization can only be fully achieved through the reunification of its territories. For the Chinese, reunification with Tibet and Taiwan is a matter of nationalism, sovereignty, national security and political integrity.

The people of Tibet and China are connected through their culture, people and tradition. Moreover, reunification is way for the China to redeem itself from a “century of humiliation” during the Opium War of 1849 when Great Britain invaded and brutally defeated the Chinese, bringing Western culture and principles. In this sense, the reunification of its territories for China is simply an act to balance power.

However, how the Chinese government has dealt with the uprisings and riots that started in early March is preventing it from achieving its goals of reunification successfully. After cracking down on anti-Chinese protestors and sending hundreds among thousands of Tibetans to jail for starting riots, public perception of China has become one of tyranny for the U.S. In many instances, the Chinese have violated human rights not just in stopping the protests but also in the way it has dealt with the mainland’s issue of overpopulation, child labor and restrictions on the media companies.

On the other hand, the Tibetans have become hypocritical to their own cause of a peaceful breakaway from China, ethnically cleansing Han Chinese and brutally killing them. So what is to become of this polarization depends on how much either side is willing to sacrifice. Is China willing to integrate Tibetan religious values and customs in its culture and society to bridge theocracy and socialism? Or will Tibet sacrifice its national identity to become part of Han Chinese nationalism to become more economically developed? With the Summer Olympics in Beijing this August, China must be able to prove that its government is viable in the face of international criticism and challenges to the CCP’s legitimacy. It must not be threatening to Tibet and should encourage talks.

Because if reunification is what China really wants and if Tibetans are Chinese, then both sides must realize that in killing and hurting each other, no one wins. At the same time, Tibet must contemplate the realities of Chinese power, and whether China succeeds in reunification, it must learn how to build relations with China. Though the protests and violence in Tibet draw questions of U.S. intervention through diplomacy, the issue is something that only concerns Tibet and China and can be resolved politically.

Tiffany Ayuda is a senior print journalism student. You may e-mail her at [email protected].