Austin Ramzy reports from Beijing, for Time Magazine:
A new report from a group of Chinese scholars has for the first time challenged China’s official explanation that the deadly riots that broke out across Tibet in March, 2008, were inspired by “overseas forces” — namely the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile. (Read “One Year After Protests, an Enforced Silence on Tibet.”)
The report, which was recently published on a Chinese website, blames the riots not on outsiders but on Beijing’s policy toward Tibet, claiming the central government has backed incompetent local officials, created an economy that provides few options for young people, and deprived Tibetans of access to equal justice under the law. (See pictures of last year’s uprising in Tibet.)
While international human rights groups have said the rioting, in which at least 19 died, was a predictable response to the repression many Tibetans experience under Chinese rule, domestic criticism of the government on the politically charged subject of Tibet is rare in China.
