Why bend the knee to Beijing on an issue that violates our own sense of justice, asks Crispin Hemson.
Pretoria - The refusal by South Africa of a visa to the Dalai Lama, yet again, should give us reason to pause for a moment.
Why should South Africa so consistently follow China’s wishes on this issue? It is, in fact, reasonable that South Africa should generally have a sense of commonality with China’s long history of suppression and mistreatment at the hands of foreign powers?
The details of what was done to China are maybe not well known in other countries. Those of British descent may be somewhat shocked at the two Opium Wars fought by Britain against China. The basic reason was that Britain was importing tea, spices and silk from China, but was selling little that China would accept. This imbalance meant that silver was constantly having to be paid to China, leading to a silver shortage in Europe.
The British (with the noble exception of some merchants, such as Quakers) then realised that they could sell opium in China, if the emperor would end the prohibition on importing it. Strangely, the Chinese responded poorly to these drug-pushers. The British response was war that ended only when they got their way.
The privileged position the Westerners secured for themselves led to the Boxer Rebellion at the end of the 19th Century. This was put down with great savagery. Great numbers of Chinese not involved in the rebellion were simply killed, Chinese women committed suicide rather than be raped, and every day the British held auctions of looted goods. The only Westerners who emerged with credit were those who saw and wrote the truth of what happened, including Mark Twain.
Less than 40 years later, the country was invaded by Japan. As Chinese resistance began to grow, the invaders responded with extreme brutality, with unrestrained killing and rape. It was only at the end of the World War II that the invasion ended.
Such events lay down deep trauma in the national psyche. I think there are two major directions such countries can then take. The first is to seek to learn, and to create fresh responses that celebrate resilience and hope. This is a response that South Africa often slips from, but those responses are present in key institutions of the society, like our constitution.
The second is to take on some of the power and authority of the opponent that harmed you. And it is here that I think we should part company with China. The path the country has taken in recent decades has been remarkable and in many ways praiseworthy.
But the path of development is marred by an unfortunate arrogance in national and international affairs that does the Chinese no justice.
We see the expansionist attitude, in claiming sovereignty over vast areas in the South China Sea, as if other countries have no legitimate interests in the region. We see it in internal repression, such as the suppression of dissent, the silencing of history and such damaging policies as the denial of education to children of rural migrants to cities.
We see it in the reckless pursuit of national “development” even when it does obvious damage, for example in air pollution. We see it in patterns of human rights violations against both dissidents and those with different cultural heritage to the majorities, such as Muslims in the west and the suppression of Tibetans.
We see it also in the deliberate distortion of the policy promoted by the Dalai Lama, that of the Middle Way. Those who claim that the Dalai Lama is demanding secession are simply dishonest. The Middle Way approach accepts Tibet as part of China, but espouses autonomy for the region and a recognition of its cultural diversity.
One of the South African achievements has been a relaxed approach to cultural diversity; we now take it for granted that there is no one way of being South African. We could easily imagine a similar acceptance of diversity in China.
The Dalai Lama is also someone who speaks the language of peace in human activities, and not war or domination.
Why then do we take our instructions from China on the issue of the Dalai Lama? This to me marks the failure of South African foreign policy to advance our own ideals and values. We are admirably willing not to follow the line of the West when it wishes to invade Iraq or arm Israel against the Palestinians. We can still keep cordial relations with the West.
So why bend the knee to China on an issue that violates our own sense of justice? Where we could be using our historic ties to advance our inclusive and democratic approach to society, we fail to do so. Let’s stand up for our own values.
* Crispin Hemson is director of the International Centre of Nonviolence, based at Durban University of Technology.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.
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