China Angered at U.S. Reception to Dalai Lama - washingtonpost.com

As the Washington Post reports, China is angered at U.S. Reception to Dalai Lama. George W. Bush is to present the Dalai Lama with the Congressional Gold Medal. While this is a bold move, two aspects seem important to highlight:

First, if the Chinese really were being so gracious to Tibet, they wouldn't need to be so vociferous in their deploration of the Dalai Lama. Obviously they have something to hide if they constantly feel the need to shout every time somebody meets with the Dalai Lama.

Second, does this really put Tibet on the agenda when it comes to US foreign policy. As cynical as it may sound, do we really believe Bush's awarding the medal of honour to the Dalai Lama is more than paying mere lip service to the cause of human rights? I somehow doubt it. While one of Bush's hands may be shaking a Tibetan hand, his other one will be controlling his industry cronies, who will certainly be making sure that business goes on as usual with a totalitarian regime.

There's simply too much money involved to seriously even consider harming industrial relations with the Chinese. Maybe this is Dubya's last-ditch attempt at getting into the Nobel's good books for potential peace prize nomination once we've all forgotten how little he actually has contributed to the cause of peace.

And to make sure that this isn't just a rant, here's a couple of potential solutions to the Tibetan problem:
- Boycott Chinese goods
- Boycott the Chinese Olypmpics
- OR Bring Tibet to the 2008 Games

Now, these would be radical moves to get China to rethink its Tibet policy. But, believe me, I doubt somehow that we would ever see Mr. Bush putting his weight behind any of those measures.

That's the real shame of it all!