The speaker argues that the dominant narratives surrounding Tibet, often framed as a simple human rights issue, obscure the region's critical geopolitical and environmental importance, particularly its role as the source of major Asian rivers.
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[Music]
When I was a child, uh I once heard a
fairy tale about Tibet. Uh the story
goes like this. Once upon a time, the
Tibetan people live in a hell on earth
as slaves. They had no food and no clothes.
clothes.
And then chairman Mozadong led his
mighty army went to Tibet and liberated
the Tibetan people. From then on the
Tibetan people have been living in a
paradise on earth. So they keep on
coming to Beijing to express their
gratitude to Chairman Maong and his
communist government.
When I came to Europe, I heard a
different fairy tale.
Actually, it's not that different. All
the elements of the story remained the
same. Just the sequence changed
slightly. So, the story goes like this.
Once upon a time, the Tibetan people
lived in a paradise on earth as a free
and a spiritual people. And then came
the evil Chinese who took away their
land, took away their freedom, took away
their religion, took away their
everything. From then on the Tibetan
people have been living in the hell on
earth. So they keep on coming to Europe
asking for help from the international
community and every good person with a
good morale is obliged to help them.
I mean these two stories cannot be true
simultaneously, right? And uh what makes
this apparent contradiction
more interesting is actually my
childhood memory. When I was a seven
years old, my cousin graduated from the
medical school in China on the east
coast of China. She received a letter
from the government. She opened the
letter. It reads, "Congratulations.
You have been selected by the party and
the government to go to Tibet. It must
be a great honor to help the Tibetan
people over there."
Long lives chair Ma. My cousin collapsed
immediately on the ground. Uh we
actually had to took her to the hospital
for emergency care. So later on our
family had to send gifts to appropriate
people so that she would avoid going to
Tibet. Uh in my hometown is a open
secret. Every year uh many government
officials were were fired because they
refused to go to Tibet. So for me this
is really uh puzzling that people would
create fairy tales to demonize one
another for a place which seems to me
nobody wants to go. So actually this uh
apparent contradiction puzzled me for a
long time. I did not really have a clue
what was the reason until recently the
situation in the Middle East gave me a
hint. So as you know
most people are not interested in the
deserts or would want to go there unless
there is some kind of a black liquid
beneath it. Oh by the way we have heard
plenty of fairy tales about these oil
rich uh deserts recently. So what might
be uh the vital resource in Tibet that
draws analogy to the oil in the Middle
East. It's not that difficult to find
out if you look for the information.
You can see that half of the world's
total population live in that very small circle.
circle.
And if you look at this area in more
details, you will see almost all the
rivers in that area originated from a
Tibet. So combining these two pictures
together, you will reach a logical
conclusion which is also supported by
many scientific studies that is half of
world total population live in the
watershed of Tibet. So this is what
makes Tibet so desirable
and China is certainly not the only
country that is interested in Tibet. Uh
when China was weak in the 19th century
both the British Empire and Russia
actively engaged in acquiring interest
in Tibet. In uh 1904,
the British army did invade Tibet. And
in uh 1907,
the conflict for interest between Russia
and the British Empire had become so
intense, the two parties had to sit down
and negotiate a treaty over Tibet so
that they would avoid clashing in the battlefield.
battlefield.
So this is the real historical
background about Tibet. But what we have
heard recently has been something
completely different.
Okay. So by focusing all our attention
on human rights in Tibet. So what's the
outcome in the end? What did we get? So
it's very obvious to me half of a
century China bashing over human rights
in Tibet produced zero progress.
Uh China after being humiliated in
public for so many years uh today have
become allergic to the Tibetan issue.
So, China did not wish to discuss Tibet
regardless what are the issues including
some of the reasonable issues China
would have otherwise considered such as
some reasonable amount of autonomy for
Tibet, a better preservation of the
culture. But today, China does not want
to discuss Tibet at all. Okay. On top of
that by focusing all our attention on
human rights we have ignored a whole
dimension about Tibet. So what we
observe today is that in Tibet the
glassier is melting much faster. The
waters rivers being polluted by Chinese
mining and there is a diplomatic dispute
between China and every single neighbor
that shares water resources. This is
because the global warming the huge
demand of China for the uh natural resources.
resources.
Okay. So now having said all this what
would be the way to move forward? I
think the way the first step to solve
the real issue is to talk about the real
issue which is the purpose of my talk today.
today.
And as you probably now understand the
Tibetan issue is much more than just a
right or wrong. Who is the right? Who is
the good guy? Who is the bad guy? is
much more than that. Solving the Tibetan
issue would require close cooperation
between China, the neighboring countries
and the western countries as well. For
example, I know there is a great
Hungarian company organic now in China
helping uh the Chinese to trade waste
water. uh similar technologies might
include better mining technology to
preserve the water resources or uh the
technology that's going to turn seawater
into uh drinking water. So these are the
practical measures we could take to make
the situations in Tibet better not human
rights human rights human rights. uh but
from another perspective
I think the Tibetan issue is a huge
opportunity as well because not only it
is the most touchy issue between the
rising China and the incumbent west. It
it is also one of the most important
pieces in the puzzle. how we human
beings could survive the 21st century
with this amount of pollution we have
been generating. Okay. So solving the
Tibetan issue
in a collaborative fashion
is a very strong signal that we as
mankind have become more sophisticated
and we no longer believe in fairy tales.
Thank you. [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
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