China's Tibet? Autonomy or Assimilation (review)

[ 167 ] policymaker’s library • select books published in 2008 China’s Tibet? Autonomy or Assimilation Warren W. Smith Jr. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008 • 336 pp. This book analyzes whether Beijing’s policy toward Tibet is one of autonomy for or assimilation of the Tibetan people. main argument China’s promises to Tibet of cultural, religious, and even political autonomy have never been more than a temporary tactic considered necessary to reduce resistance to Tibet’s incorporation into the Chinese state. Since 1979 the Chinese government has engaged in a sporadic dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Beijing, however, denies that there are any unresolved political issues involving Tibet and has instead tried to confine the dialogue to the personal future of the Dalai Lama. China has thus used Sino-Tibetan dialogue to try to defuse criticism from both the Tibetan exile and international communities while making no concessions in regard to Tibetan autonomy. policy implications • China has demonstrated that it will not yield to Western pressure to negotiate a solution to the Tibet issue but instead will continue to attempt to resolve the issue through repression of Tibetan separatism, economic development, and colonization. China will await the death of the current Dalai Lama and appoint its own “patriotic” Dalai Lama to replace him. • IntheabsenceofanyforeseeablesolutiontotheTibetissue,theinternational community should promote Tibet’s right to national self-determination in order to help Tibetans maintain the most essential elements of their national identity. ...