Decades long disputes between the United States and China continue to rumble in the background as the two superpowers attempt to reach a comprehensive new trade agreement before the close of the year.
US support for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Tibetan independence is a particular bone of contention for the Chinese, who also object to perceived US interference relating to Taiwan, Hong Kong and East Turkestan [Ch: Xinjiang].
Regarding Tibet, US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, who met the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala on October 28, ruffled Chinese feathers with a statement reiterating the US position that all matters relating to the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama must remain the concern of the “Tibetan Buddhist system, the Dalai Lama, and other Tibetan leaders” and free from interference from Beijing.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuan responded to Brownback’s comments at his regular press conference on October 29. Geng said that the Chinese government in Beijing recognised the 14th Dalai Lama and that his succession in 1939 was “approved by the then central government.” However, he implored foreign officials to cease meetings with “the Dalai clique” and called the Dalai Lama “a political exile who has long been engaging in anti-China separatist activities using religion as a cover.” He said that interference in the reincarnation situation by the US amounted to meddling in internal Chinese affairs.
Geng also referred to the new Tibet Policy and Support Act of 2019 which was introduced in the US Congress in September. The bill proposes to strengthen the Tibet Policy Act of 2002 with such measures as banning the establishment of new Chinese consulates in the United States until the establishment of a US consulate in Lhasa; promoting dialogue between exiled Tibetan leaders and Chinese government officials; and establishing as official US policy the Brownback position on reincarnation. Geng asserted that this Act “severely violates the basic norms governing international relations, grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs and sends a seriously wrong signal to the separatist forces of ‘Tibetan independence’.”
Long running animated sitcom South Park and the National Basketball Association also recently made China-related news. Daryl Morey, the General Manager of the Houston Rockets, sparked controversy when he tweeted support for anti-government protestors in Hong Kong. The NBA responded that Morey’s tweet was “regrettable” in a kowtow to the vast Chinese market; before backtracking and taking a strong stance against demands to fire Morey apparently made by Chinese officials. Superstar LeBron James stumbled into the debate, calling Morey’s initial tweet “uneducated”, and subsequently saw his various career jerseys burned by protestors at a rally in Wan Chai.
South Park invited sanction from the Chinese government with the second episode of its 23rd season. Entitled Band in China, the episode lampooned Hollywood for doctoring and dumbing down its material for the sake of being allowed to sell its products in China, and featured a character being sent to a work camp similar to those being used by Beijing in East Turkestan to control the ethnic Muslim Uighur population there. Though a scene was included in which Xi Jinping’s animated nemesis Winnie the Pooh was strangled to death in a Chinese hutong, the general theme of the episode saw the sitcom banned from the Chinese internet. Show creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker responded to the ban with a faux apology:
“Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn’t look like Winnie the Pooh at all…Long live the great Communist party of China. May the autumn’s sorghum harvest be bountiful. We good now China?”
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