Europe, China, the Tibet : the geopolitical stakes

 

(Défilé de troupes chinoises devant le palais du Potala de Lhassa)

By Jean-Sylvestre MONGRENIER, associated Fellow at the Thomas More Institute and Fellow at the Institut Français de Géopolitique (Paris VIII Vincennes-Saint-Denis University). Published in partnership with "Fenêtre sur l'Europe". Available in French only.

On the political level as on the moral and spiritual ones, the Tibetan cause fuels/provokes curious reactions in limited parts of the public opinion. One will not insist upon the important business relations with China. Economic interdependence is reciprocal and the threat of a boycott of European goods could provoke, in return, China Bashing campaigns. Therefore, one has to be careful. Besides, it does not distress us to see a sweetish and simpering vision of Buddhism being challenged. More than “no will of violence”, these are the concepts of vacuity, compassion and extinction of passions which are at the heart of this original tradition. Thus, this spiritual practice needs a form of spiritual virility, with the continuation into everyday life; an occupying force could suffer from this “Middle Way”. The accusation of “racism” is more surprising. The millenary history of China is that of the geopolitical expansion of the Han ethnic group, from North to South, then towards West and South-West; the peoples who offer resistance to this movement would then offend/breach antidiscrimination laws? Good Heavens! As for the modernizing argument, it’s just a copy of Maoist logomachies and one could talk of denial of History. Nonetheless, the Tibetan question and the Beijing attitude towards “minority nationalities” remain important geopolitical issues. Europe can’t lose interest/not participate in these questions.

Lire la suite (Institut Thomas More)...