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Comment by lambdasquirrel | Hacker News Reader

I'm going to take the contrarian position, just so people understand why this is so.

For the uninitiated, read up the history of Tibet. They haven't always been peaceful monks. Most notably, the Tibetans sacked the capital of the Tang dynasty — one of China's most brilliant in terms of cultural accomplishments — in that dynasty's twilight years.

For the Chinese, unity is a matter of culture and national security. Surely you Americans would understand this. And for this reason, control of the Tibetan buffer region is paramount because it would otherwise be the ideal place to coerce or invade China.

And for that reason, and because Westerners so choose to ignore their own hypocracies, I too support the denunciation of the Dalai Lama.

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I'm sorry but I have to ask: are you Chinese? This isn't a counter argument. You're argument is literally people in the geographical region of Tibet did something to another group over a thousand years ago and that justifies the hatred of the Dalai Lama.

I feel bad that you're so indoctrinated, I really do.

> Most notably, the Tibetans sacked the capital of the Tang dynasty — one of China's most brilliant in terms of cultural accomplishments — in that dynasty's twilight years.

So you're saying Tibetans were a proud, independent people whose strength once even matched that of the famous Tang Empire?

I don't think your argument is helping your position...

What "unity"? Tibet was never a part of China. It's like US were to invade and occupy Canada and Mexico and then justify its actions in the name of North American unity..

I would be amazed to be at a graduation with Dalai Lama.

But I understand the anger of the Chinese students; it is a bit of "yeah you paid a lot money and you are good at math but here is what we think of you and your country, now fuck off".

When we say "Free Tibet", "Free Xinjiang" or even "Free Hong Kong". What exactly does that mean?

For the millions of (mainland han) Chinese who live there; it means ethnic clensing, forcibly removing Chinese from these areas, Chinese who have been there for a half a century now.

So do you blame today's Dalai Lama for the alleged sacking of the capital of the Tang dynasty? You must believe in his reincarnation then? Because I don't think he was alive in the Tang dynasty... yet you give this as a reason for denouncing him.

And who would be doing this supposed invasion and coercion you mention? Nepal? Really?

That right there - where you call the homeland of a nation a "buffer region" - is the problem. China has the right to take care of its national security, sure. But not at the expense of the right to self-determination of other nations.

Regardless of all that, though, Dalai Lama coming to speak is not an "attack" on Chinese students.

> China has the right to take care of its national security, sure. But not at the expense of the right to self-determination of other nations.

How about the self-determination of the Meskwaki and Sioux nations? Do they have a say whether an oil pipeline gets run through their nations? The Meskwaki and Sioux are getting water cannons, pepper spray, dogs sicced on them. Americans talking about the "right to self-determination of other nations" is a farce.

Why do you assume I'm American?

And yes, I do believe that Native Americans also have the right to self-determination. Funny thing though: I can express that opinion and not be jailed (or worse) in US.

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