Cleansing the social environment - China 'strikes hard' in Tibet

A new 'Strike Hard' campaign has begun yesterday, a pre-event crackdown by China to stifle any potential protests by ethnic Tibetans on March 10, the anniversary of the unsuccessful uprising in 1959 after which the Dalai Lama had to flee his homeland.

Dharamsala, India - The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) condemned today the Strike Hard campaign launched on March 3 by China in the so-called Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), a large part of what was previously Tibet. In past years, such Strike Hard campaigns mainly focused on the city of Lhasa, the former Tibetan capital, but this time it is being implemented across the TAR. This way, the Chinese authorities are gearing up for potential unrest on what is known as the Uprising Day, referring to the attempted uprising against Chinese rule on March 10 of 1959. This date is a politically very sensitive one and it is only two years ago, in China's Olympic year, that The World News Network explains it this way:

The new Strike Hard campaign is being launched after years of severely tight security and most repressive political conditions in Tibet. Unlike previous "strike hard" campaigns which mostly focused on Lhasa city, this time the campaign has been launched across the TAR simultaneously. This new development signals the authorities' hardening policies in Tibet and the authorities' preemptive move to squash any imminent new protest in the coming days.

Strike Hard campaigns are normally carried out in various parts of the People's Republic of China prior to major events, including national holidays, anniversaries, as well as before the main annual government and Party conferences, often with the stated intention of "cleansing the social environment." The "strike hard" campaign launched yesterday could be a prelude to a series of arbitrary detention and arrests prior to the 10 March Anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising.

And yes, that's exactly what is happening at present. The Phayul website reports on Friday March 5 (they are way ahead of us in time) the following:

Security has been beefed up in the city that saw one of the biggest anti government protests by Tibetans in March 2008. Soldiers and police in full combat gear are deployed in the city with several checkpoints requiring people to present identification.

Guest-houses, hotels and homes are randomly raided leading to the arrest of some 70 people Tuesday without official registration card and identity card from Sera road in Lhasa.

Although the objective of the current campaign is officially given as being for 'fighting criminals, upholding social order and stability', it is widely known among Tibetans that the real motive behind it is the authorities' attempt to detain any Tibetan suspected to be involved in political activism, to target former political prisoners and arriving travelers from outside Lhasa - among which many monks and nuns who would commemorate the sad day now 51 years ago. The TCHRD fears that detentions will intensify in the coming week, and that the whole campaign will be used to silence, intimidate and stifle any dissent because the authorities fear fresh unrest. After all, a wave of protests that swept across the Roof of the World (the Tibetan plateau) in the past couple of years on March 10, and especially in 2008. Also the Himalayan Times reports that police in neighboring Nepal is arresting more Tibetans than usual. The country is presently flirting with China, and it seems that China asks in return that Nepali police looks for people who have led or participated in previous anti-China protests.

R. C. Camphausen

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