The Chinese man spying on the daughter of a prominent political prisoner at the United Nations in Geneva last week probably didn\u2019t expect to be expelled from the international body.<\/p>\n
By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW
March 26, 2014, 5:00 pm<\/p>\n
The Chinese man spying on the daughter of a prominent political prisoner at the United Nations in Geneva last week probably didn\u2019t expect to be expelled from the international body.<\/p>\n
But the United Nations stripped him of his pass as a representative of the China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture, a group tied to the Communist Party\u2019s United Front Work Department. The association was accredited as a nongovernmental organization at the Human Rights Council meeting where the incident took place, but his behavior didn\u2019t conform to what most people think of when they think of NGOs. He photographed Ti-Anna Wang and her laptop screen in what United Nations officials deemed \u2018\u2018intimidation and harassment.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The almost amateur espionage involving a camera device hidden inside the man\u2019s coat \u2014 Ms. Wang, who was there to testify about her imprisoned father, Wang Bingzhang, said in an interview she found it intimidating but also silly \u2014 prompted a prominent scholar of Tibet to see it as a reflection of deeper questions facing the United Front, long highly influential in ethnic policy in regions such as Tibet and Xinjiang but losing influence as violence there spirals.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018This is symbolic, but it\u2019s often symbolic issues that are crucial in the rise and fall of Chinese policies and politicians,\u2019\u2019 said Robert J. Barnett, director of the Modern Tibet Studies Program at Columbia University.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I think this is a large crack in the wall that the United Front has built around itself from a lot of internal pressures it\u2019s under now since the disasters of 2008 in Tibet and 2009 in Xinjiang, and now Kunming,\u2019\u2019 Mr. Barnett said.<\/p>\n
He was referring to two eruptions of violence involving Tibetans and Uighurs, and a knife attack in a train station in February in which the attackers \u2014 the government says they were from Xinjiang \u2014 killed 29 people. Scores of self-immolations in Tibetan areas and regular clashes between Uighurs and security forces in Xinjiang, present a picture of worsening relations between the ethnic Han majority and the two most politically sensitive minorities.<\/p>\n
Have these events led China\u2019s leaders to question existing ethnic policies?<\/p>\n
Yes, said James Leibold, a political historian and ethnicity specialist at La Trobe University in Australia, in an interview.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018There is a perception of rising ethnic problems,\u2019\u2019 he said. And under the new administration of Xi Jinping, \u2018\u2018There\u2019s a bit of a turf war over ethnic policy.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Said Mr. Barnett, \u2018\u2018We know that the leadership is being talked to by a lot of advisers saying, \u2018You should do things this way,\u2019 and that debate is happening, and it didn\u2019t happen before.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
One view, associated with Ma Rong, a sociology professor at Peking University, argues for assimilation: remove the ethnic identification from identity cards, end affirmative action for education and birth quotas, make everyone \u2018\u2018Chinese\u2019\u2019 just as everyone in the United States is American. Black people in the United States don\u2019t agitate for a separate country, is the thinking, Mr. Barnett said. The government has been too generous, and that\u2019s the reason for the violence, runs this view.<\/p>\n
Said Mr. Leibold, \u2018\u2018It seems that Xi right now is trying to take an ideological approach,\u2019\u2019 by emphasizing \u2018\u2018the importance of the Chinese nation and the Chinese people.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The department was long charged with winning \u2018\u2018middle elements\u2019\u2019 for the Communist cause. Ethnic minorities were a key target. It also identified \u2018\u2018diehard elements,\u2019\u2019 or enemies of Communism. For publicly calling for her father\u2019s release, Ms. Wang could be seen as one.<\/p>\n
With the United Front weakening, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission may have a growing say in policy. But increasingly important is Yu Zhengsheng, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, the scholars said. In 2013 Mr. Xi made Mr. Yu head of the party \u2018\u2018leading small group\u2019\u2019 on Tibet and Xinjiang.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Real policy-making power flows through individuals and their patronage networks rather than bureaucratic organs, suggesting the bureaucratic turf war over ethnic policy will continue,\u2019\u2019 Mr. Leibold said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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