(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-23 07:27

Mohan Guruswamy

President of the Center for Policy Alternative, India

I visited Tibet last year and spent a week in Tibetan-populated areas in Yunnan, Qinghai and Sichuan provinces. The Tibet I saw was really impressive. Economic development and progress have ensured for the people high living standards. The Tibetans seemed to be prosperous.

I don't think any country should interfere into the affairs of other countries. Chinese authorities will solve the problem in Tibet, and other countries do not - and should not - have a role in it.

Unfortunately, human rights have become a sword in the hands of many people in the Western countries. Every time they want to attack you, they say your human rights practices are not good. But where are their concerns for human rights when they kill civilians in Iraq and cause widespread damage?

Politics and Olympics should be separated. Beijing Olympics is a sign that China has achieved major successes.

But some people are just hatching a plot. It's true every country has some problems, but they are only highlighting those problems. It's not the first Olympics to get politicized. Moscow and Los Angeles Olympics also got politicized.

Nina Karpachova

Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights

China's poverty reduction has recorded much progress in the past 10 years, which was also an important progress in its human rights record.

China's experience in poverty reduction could be valuable for other countries. The ethnic minority groups in China now enjoy a wide range of rights.

For instance, life expectancy in Tibet has improved from 35 before 1950s to about 67 now.

I once visited Tibet a few years ago. Talking to locals, I got to know that they had been slaves before the liberation. Now with their social status raised, they had their basic human rights protected.

Recent attempts by some countries to use the Tibet issue to influence the Beijing Olympics are nothing but a ploy to interfere into the internal affairs of China.

Tibet is an inseparable part of China, and China's sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected by the whole world. The world should view China's achievements and positive role in global affairs in a fair and just way.

Sirkka Korpela

Professor at School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University

China's human rights have been quite well developed, because poverty has been largely eradicated in an impressive way.

My wish is that more people have their chance to come to China and see for themselves how China has developed. Ignorance and lack of information are a major cause of conflicts. When people come to meet each other, it will foster better understanding.

The recent Tibet issue is an excellent example of how lack of information and ignorance create misunderstandings. If the critics come personally, they will have a better understanding of Tibet.

The pity is that some people just spread one-sided stories without knowing much about China. Also, information is manipulated in order to create that human rights issues.

I have visited Xinjiang. I had been told it was a very backward region. But I found it very prosperous when I was there. The infrastructure is very good, and life there very dynamic. I think it is actually developing fast. The government has dedicated a lot of resources Xinjiang's development.

The same things are happening in Tibet. The investment the government makes will make people even in remote areas have access to the benefits of a modern society.

The recent disturbances during the Olympic torch relay are no coincidence. Some groups have planned to use the torch rely and the Olympics to gain more visibility and create trouble. Sport is something that unites everybody. But politics is totally different; it separates people. We wish to have the chance to celebrate the Games, to have a good time watching the events and not to see those political issues mixed up with sports.

Aslan Abashidze

Director of the Center on Legal Research of People's Friendship University of Russia

The Western society often discusses things that they actually don't know about.

Many conflicts have been created out of misunderstanding and ignorance. Debates over human rights issues are an example. But we should not drag human rights into unnecessary bickerings.

Instead, we should get more concerned about whether people's lives have really improved. Only through frank conversations we can understand issues that we are not familiar with. And our task is to push such dialogues forward.

Tibet is a region with thousands of years of history. And those people who know nothing about the Tibetan history have no right to discuss the Tibet issue. Tibetan matters are an internal affair of China. There might be thousands of opinions on Tibet, but the only one that matters is the opinion of the Tibetan people.

China Daily

(China Daily 04/23/2008 page9)