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Beijing: "Dissidents don't get passports"
As far as most governments are concerned it usually considered a matter of national security that "harmful" individuals be kept out of the country. Be the individual a terrorist, a drug dealer, or simply a sex tourist looking to find where exactly the Bang is located in Bangkok, border controls exist to ensure that such people are somebody else's problem. In China however, as is so often the case, things are a little different.
China's border controls not only exist to keep "harmful" individuals out, but also to keep them in. Particularly if Beijing considers said individual to be more harmful to it than to the outside world.
While not unique, this esoteric approach to border controls can be a trial in itself, as Tibetan writer Woeser (sometimes referred to as Woeser La), knows all to well. She wishes to leave, but Beijing won't let her.
Lock-In?
In 2005 Woeser - a prominent ethnic Tibetan writer and the daughter of a prominent PLA Deputy Commander - attempted to apply for a passport in their native Lhasa. However, officials shot it down before Woeser could even get the forms stamped. According to officials in Lhasa Woeser had slim to no chance of being issued with a passport because the writer represented a "threat to state security". Not deterred, Woeser went on to apply for a passport in Changchun, this was similarly refused by Beijing.
Woeser, Author, Tibet
Three years later, Woeser is still trying to get a passport, and Beijing is still refusing to issue one
A Threat to State Security?
Though rarely acknowledged at an official level, Beijing often labels those who speak out against the state line on history, society or politics, as being a "threat to state security", in order to imprison them or to deny them permission to travel. In short, Beijing is afraid of who Woeser might meet, and what Woeser might say, if allowed out of Greater China.
Exposing the Contradictions
According to Beijing, Greater China exists as a "harmonious and integrated society" with the different peoples and components existing in unity, and with any apparent dissent being the work of irrational agitators and/or outsiders with their own agendas. Thus, it is Beijing's standard policy to prevent those who might contradict this line from gaining access to overseas platforms.
Why?
Beijing's refusal to issue Woeser a passport comes in retaliation to an incident in 2003 in which Woeser used their influence as an editor with a Lhasa based literary journal to help publish a collection of essays: titled "Notes on Tibet". The essays directly contradicted Beijing's official line on the Dali Lama - That he is a marginalized player with little or no public support in Tibet - by revealing that he is held in high regard by much of the Tibetan population. This brought Woeser into conflict with authorities. As a result Woeser was forcibly removed from the state literary association - on the grounds that they had committed "political errors" - and forced from the staff of the journal.
In 2004 Woeser married pro-democracy activist Wang Lixiong and moved to Beijing, from where they published articles and poetry through a series of blogs. Four of which have since been forced to close. Amongst the topics that Woeser covered were the issues of STDs and prostitution in Tibet, the continuing Han occupation, as well as the controversial Qinghai-Tibet railway. Woeser also penned a number of books, all of which have been banned in China. All areas of debate which Beijing wishes to stifle for political reasons.
Robbie Barnett, Modern Tibetan Studies Program Coordinator, Weatherhead East Asia Institute, Columbia University.
In 2007, Woeser was awarded the Freedom of Expression prize by the Norwegian Author's Union. However, lacking a passport, the writer was unable to attend in person. Husband Wang, who has travel papers, was able to accept it on her behalf.
Chungdak Koren, Chairperson, Norwegian Tibet Committee
Legal Challenge
In 2008, Woeser and internationally renowned human rights lawyer Mo Shaoping launched a legal battle against Beijing, claiming that it had no ground to refuse Woeser a passport. Though neither expect to win, they hope that the publicity surrounding the case will help to raise awareness of Woeser's cause.
Woeser
Woeser's writing is currently available at the Invisible Tibet blog: http://woeser.middle-way.net/
Tibetans with Passports?
Although Woeser's case is particularly political, it is very rare for Tibetans to successfully obtain passports from the state. In most case Tibetans must be a member of the Han infrastructure with a clean record of supporting Beijing.
In some cases Tibetans with family in India or Nepal may travel overseas to visit them for a limited period of time. However, in such cases the permit holder must maintain strong ties to either Tibet or China. In many cases this means that they must leave significant security, for example young children or an elderly relative, behind to ensure that they return.
Thanks for your excellent post onT1bet topic.
Now you know why I tried to persuade you not to believe China media.
As you have known wanglixiong, I think his books may help you know T1bet
more.
I could recommend one named <sky burial : the fate of T1bet>.
Not only T1bet people have to face this kind of problems. But also Uygurs.
I started put my eyes on Uygurs for about half a year. Uygur people suffers
discrimination a very long time, especially after
911---------"anti-terrorist" is a good excuse for ccp to persecute the
dissidents and blind the Hans.
And after Lh@sa unrest earlier this year, T1bet people would get the same
as Uygurs.
This comment isn't directly related to the above post, though I did read it
and find it quite insightful to get a Chinese perspective on some of the
controversy there.
ALWAYS go through Ebay and/or Paypal.
I was too late to go through eBay when I tried. My option through Paypal
is to essentially accuse the seller of fraud. I could also request a
chargeback on my credit card, but I've been working with the seller for so
long that I was really just hoping to get the item. He sent the item to my
outdated eBay profile address, and since then I'm not sure what he's done
because his responses to my emails are never direct answers to my
questions. I am pretty sure that my messages are probably being run
through some sort of automatic translator, or at least that his replies
are.
Tibet is more free now than it ever was. Furthermore, there are millions of
dissidents in the US who can not even take a domestic flight anymore, not
to speak of visa bans.
antonymous:
I am not Chinese. I was very angry in 1998 when Indonesians when on a
rape-murder spree against Chinese hau chao in Indonesia. I was also angry
when I heard that 6 girls working in a deparment store were burned to death
by Tibetan thugs.
I would be interested to see if anybody could actually find the girl's
name, and produce a photograph of her while alive. It must have been
published by Xinhua, mustn't it?
Well ACB I'm afraid it is you who is living in a fascist country and thus a
kind of fantasy world. Yes could try to hand out leaflets but it won't
change a thing, and if it did you'd be imprisoned and destroyed like any
other relevant protest movement. The flight and travel bans are very real
and have been handed out to people who protested about ecological matters
or tried to make a political stance.
ACB, do you mean one of the six SzChuan girls who died when the department
store where they were working was torched?
Yahoo, George W and it alliance with China.
HuaDe:
antonymous:
OK about the shipping thing, dude you forgot to update your address. You
didn't communicate to him that you have a new address. He sent his
merchandise already, he is not gonna send two for the price of one unless
he gets his first shipment back. Now you are the only one that knows about
his old address, so help the man.
Calsun:
This is exactly what is hurting the communist Party. It is a self
inflicting pain that Beijing has caused upon itselves repeatedly with no
end in sight. The regulating of Tibetan writers, singers, artists and
other prominent Tibetans in Tibet is what Beijing has been doing to keep
its mainland citizens oblivious of what it has done in Tibet and still is
doing in Tibet.
When the Chinese citizen knows of what brutality their government has
brought upon Tibetans, and on their own people when they speak out, only
after the mass Chinese citizen knows of the trugh (not the fact) of what
their gov't has done, only then, there can be change. Until then we all
must do our part to bring constructive change in China's governmental
policies. But just by knowing will not be enough, there has to be a will
to do ones own part in this. A nation can only better itself when there is
a healthy competition, not what China has as it is ruled by a single party
system w/ its Iron fist but eventually and soon, the citizen can and will
develop a desire to research by themselves and compare with what their
gov't has been telling them and decide for themselves.