Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang’s Revision of Tibetan History?
On July 6, 2010 the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had its regular press conference in Beijing. Mr. Qin Gang was the spokesman on duty that day.
Let me just say in general that I learn quite a bit by following remarks by the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokespersons. To be fair to them, most of them are well dressed and presentable and they do a good job of representing the Party line. It is especially interesting when they are posed a question on Tibet as they deliver the Party line response with a straight face, and without even blinking their eyes. It does not matter whether that response corresponds to reality or not. For them, Big Brother is watching and so they need to show that they have left no stone unturned in the defense of the Motherland’s interest.
Sometimes the spokesmen apparently become so concerned about their responses on Tibet that they do not realize that they have revised history. Just such a development took place during the press conference on July 6, 2010.
This date is the birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, there was a question about it from a journalist. An unofficial rough translation of the Q&A from the Chinese is as follows (there is a reason why I am able to give only an unofficial translation and not an official English version of the press conference, which I shall explain later):
Question: Today is the Dalai Lama’s 75th birthday and a lot of activities are taking place in the world related to this. Does China have any comment on this event?
Answer: I only remember two dates. The first date is March 28 in 1951, the Peaceful Liberation Day of Tibet. The second date is May 23 in 1959, which is the day Tibet implemented its democratic reforms. We named it the Emancipation Day of Millions of Tibetan Serfs.
Now that is, of course, the Party line on Tibet and nothing more, you would think. But please look at the dates again and if you have some basic knowledge of modern Tibetan history, you will immediately see a difference (as a Tibet expert in Washington, D.C. did and brought it to my attention).
It was on March 28, 1959 (not 1951) that the Chinese government “announced it would dissolve the aristocratic local government of Tibet and replace it with a preparatory committee for establishing the Tibet Autonomous Region.” This day was formalized as “Serf Emancipation Day” in 2009.
Furthermore, it was on May 23, 1951 (not 1959) that “The Agreement of the Central People’s Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet” (called the 17-Point Agreement for short) was “signed” by Tibetan and Chinese representatives.
Now some may feel that this was just a slip of tongue and we should not read too much into it. That may be so, but still it is revealing because spokesman Qin Gang clearly said, “I only remember two dates.” So, I was wondering if he cannot even accurately cite the only two dates he remembers, how much knowledge can he independently have on the issue of Tibet?
Now as for the reason why I had to use a rough English translation of the spokesman’s statement on Tibet here is because somehow this section is missing from the official transcript posted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on its website, both in Chinese and in English. Quite a few non-Chinese media sources reported Qin Gang’s comments on July 6 and there are recordings of the press conference that contains this mention of Tibet. Would this absence of the “Tibet” reference in the official transcript constitute a revision of history? You tell me!
PHOTO: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Qin Gang in an undated photograph.
5 Responses to “Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang’s Revision of Tibetan History?”
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Chinese government knows no shame, no mercy and no reason. My parents say all the time, “They only think for themselves, live and work for now and not for the future and copy everything from others but forget the truth.
Only power that can subdue the rise of evil in the East is a God of the West, America needs to wake up and stand up for one and all.
Chinese government know no shame, no mercy and no reason. My parents say all the time, “They only think for themselves, live and work for now and not for the future and copy everything from others but forget the truth.
Only power that can subdue the rise of evil in the East is a God of the West, America needs to wake up and stand up for one and all.
Bare faced liars the lot of them!
Cannot possibly trust the chinese.
They only see what they want.
They take what they want.
They do what they want.
And they are always right,no matter how the rest of the world sees things.
It isw time the chinese were bombed out of Tibet.
Lets face it, Tibet is lost.
The hun have stolen it.
The only way to get Tibet back is to fight for it.
Not just sit back and hope that one day it will be free.
Does anyone really think the chinese are going to give up Tibet???????????????????????
the only way china could really justify tibet’s occupation is by simply ‘getting away with it’. so china would purposely say something to reset the history (especially of tibet) to their advantage and at the same time challenging the rest of the world to accept it in the interest of a good economic relationship and ‘get away with it’. tibet is still under china not only becoz china is just strong, but that the rest of the world is just too weak, selfish and just too narrow minded to see a broader goodness for the world and humanity. humanity without which, would send us(meaning everyone one of us humans) back to primitive age.
With a determination to achieve the highest aim
For the benefit of all sentient beings
Which surpasses even the wish-fulfilling gem,
May I hold them dear at all times. (Training the Mind: verse 1)
The words of HH Dalai Lama
….and I agree!