Every year, the month of March is hot in Tibet.
No, I am not speaking of ‘climate change’.
It is not just ‘hot’ because the Two Meetings: the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and National People’s Congress (NPC), are held in early March.
Xinhua News Agency already reported that members representing Tibet to the CPPCC have arrived in Beijing and China Tibet Online quoted one Kelsang Drolkar, a CPPCC member from Metok in Nyingchi Prefecture, saying: "I brought two bills. One is to promote the protection and inheritance of the languages of ethnic minorities. The other is to enhance publicity on the rule of law in the minority nationality areas."
For Beijing, this year seems special for several reasons.
According to Xinhua: “The year 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region. The Chinese central government's policies on governing Tibet will attract attention from home and abroad. The initiative on building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 has drawn the attention of many countries around the world, especially China’s neighboring countries including India, which borders with southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.”
Another official communique give different rationales: “The much-anticipated annual parliamentary sessions of China, dubbed as ‘two sessions’, is expected to lay a foundation for further reforms as the world's second-largest economy actively adapts to the ‘new normal’ of slower growth but higher quality economy.”
But there is another important date, which often makes Beijing nervous: it is March 10.
It is the anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising Day in Lhasa.
On that day in1959, the Tibetan masses revolted against the Chinese occupiers forcing the Dalai Lama to escape to India.
The police forces (not only in Lhasa) are particularly apprehensive of this date.
Remember 2008, when unrest started on that day and later spread all over the Tibetan plateau.
This year, to show how relax and ready is the Police (and particularly the dreaded Public Security Bureau or PSB, the tough guardians of Tibet’s ‘stability’), a video has been circulated on the Internet.
It sings the praises of the cops (and commandos).
Just have a look at the clip: the PSB are now good Samaritans on the Roof of the World, helping the aged and the weak.
At the end of the video, one sees the other side of the coin: if the Tibetans do not behave or in case of ‘unrest’ or ‘disturbance of the stability’, the SWAT commandos are ready to intervene with their latest gadgets.
Is it the ‘New Normal’ in Tibet?
Just watch!
A few screenshots:
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