Tibetan Unrest, the broader picture: an inter-university forum in Cambridge

Over the course of the last few weeks a number of protests have taken place in various areas across the Tibetan plateau. In some of these incidents, deaths and injuries occurred on all sides. There are also reports of numerous detentions of mainly Tibetans.

The area is now reported to be largely closed to foreign journalists, tourists and others. Tensions between ethnic Chinese and Tibetans have spread to other parts of China where Tibetans work and study, and abroad, involving western governments and media.

These developments have triggered widespread anxiety and anguish across the globe.

The purpose of this forum was to encourage wider understanding and constructive discussion of the underlying issues represented by the current unrest in Tibet and beyond; and the implications of the unrest (and the official response to the unrest) for China and its ethnic relations, Tibetan populations and the world; and the possible role, if any, of international scholars in such moments of crisis.

Academic and scholarly perspectives highlighted the complexity of social, historical and cultural conditions in Tibet, in particular:

• The importance of understanding the dynamics and the impact of recent economic development policies such as extensive rural resettlement schemes.
• The differential nature of the unrest, which seems to have occurred over large areas inhabited by Tibetans in China, particularly small county towns and rural townships, but which may have been largely absent in other areas such as Yunnan.
• The impact of changes in nationalities policy within the PRC, such as those relating to economic development, culture and religion introduced in 1994.
• Attention to the role of moderate Tibetan and Han Chinese cadres and intellectuals in mediating ethnic relations and promoting and sustaining inclusive dialogues.
• The importance of fluency in Chinese for foreign scholars of Tibet, and of study of adjoining areas in order to avoid isolationist approaches and misunderstandings
• The importance of appreciating the complexity of the Tibetan question not as an exclusively Tibetan-Chinese relationship but through the prism of Mongol Yuan and Manchu Qing empires that linked Tibet with China, and seeing the Tibetan situation within the wider context of relations of ethnic minorities with the majoritarian national state.
• The importance of understanding changing political concepts, such as nationality and autonomy which inform conflicting imaginations of the Chinese nation and of the place of minorities, including the Tibetans, in or outside of it.
• The need to escape the use of the state as the only analytical frame for analysis of emerging problems in Tibet and to consider the possibility that some of the developments or tensions in Tibet could be seen in terms of an emergent civil society in a socialist state and therefore problems which may be replicated in other parts of China as well.
• The importance of inclusive dialogue.
• The high significance of the Olympic Games for contemporary China.
• Attention to frequently expressed concerns by some Chinese commentators regarding media representation of the issue in the foreign press and international concerns regarding media representation within China.
• The need to recognise that the approaches of journalists, politicians and non-governmental organisations may differ from those of academics, and to appreciate the value of making research information from all sides widely available in order to increase general understanding and positive discussion.

The forum saw itself as part of a process to facilitate the development of considered analysis of these issues, at some distance from the polarised positions sometimes encountered in public discourse. Its discussions were governed by the Chatham House rule of confidentiality in order to encourage openness and the sharing of information.*

The group also considered future activities, including in particular:

• establishing a series of workshops in various UK universities to maintain and enhance the dialogue across disciplinary and political boundaries.
• attempting to improve public understanding by engaging constructively with the media.

* That is, "participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed".