Chinese minister interviewed about Tibet

The BBC World Affairs Editor, John Simpson, has interviewed a Chinese government minister on the subject of Tibet.  At the start of the interview the minister, Zhu Weixin, welcomed the statement from the UK government recognising the sovereignty of China over Tibet.  John Simpson also put some forceful questions, asking about the Chinese repression of the Tibetan people and saying that Tibet is one of the worst examples of repression in the world today. The minister did not admit to seeing it that way so no surprise there. 

Later in the film clip John Simpson succinctly puts the Tibetan case, although not to Zhu Weixin, that the Chinese army invaded Tibet in 1950 and put down the uprising of 1959 with extreme brutality. (This story has deep roots and you have to go back at least that far.) 

There were many protests in Tibet in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics.  The world found out about the protests although journalists from abroad do not have much access to Tibet.  What do ordinary Tibetans think?  I have written on my blog about two Tibetan film makers who did interviews with 100 people and of course they came into conflict with the Chinese authorities.

In Exile from the Land of Snows, by John Avedon, is an account of Tibetan history since the Chinese conquest.  I bought the book secondhand from a charity shop but I think that it is still in print.  Maybe Zhu Weixin should read it? One hardly needs to ask whether translations of it are on sale in Tibet or in Beijing. 

Good question below from "Hope"  – Who is playing blind to the truth?  "Hope" also writes of all the evidence that the Chinese have at hand.  Maybe they should have produced it to the UN's Committee Against Torture when they held their Forty-first session concluding on 21 Nov. 2008.  To be fair that committee did find some positive moves from the Chinese government but "was deeply concerned about the continued allegations of routine and widespread use of torture and ill-treatment of suspects in police custody, especially to extract confessions".