For several years now we have been hearing about all the great things about China, even though their record on human rights is one of the worst, even though they threaten war with Taiwan, even though China has more political prisoners than any other nation, even though their systematic program of replacing the Tibetan population with a Chinese population has been going on for years. But we never heard from all of the people that are now coming to the aid of Tibet.

Hillary Clinton was not concerned with China's human rights record when her husband was the President. France was not concerned with China's policies when they were planning on selling advanced military equipment to them. You didn't see any celebrities leading rallies to free Tibet in the last few years. In fact the people that are now rallying to protest the treatment of Tibet are most likely the same people that have been telling us how wonderful a country China is.

Don't get me wrong. I am happy that the world is finally coming to the support of Tibet. But in the end I don't think it will do any good. I believe that China has become too powerful and they will not relinquish what they have taken. But maybe by bringing up the issue of Tibet, the world will realize that China is not as benevolent a country as their propaganda machine would like us to think. The Chinese dragon has teeth and is not afraid to use them.

- Thomas Paine 2

Technorati Tags: Free Tibet, China, Tibet