With the U.S. secretaries of energy and commerce in China this week, much of the attention focused on the standoff over emissions reductions or small breakthroughs in clean-tech cooperation.

But yesterday, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said something amazing—U.S. consumers should pay for part of Chinese greenhouse-gas emissions. From Reuters:

“It’s important that those who consume the products being made all around the world to the benefit of America — and it’s our own consumption activity that’s causing the emission of greenhouse gases, then quite frankly Americans need to pay for that,” Commerce Secretary Gary Locke told the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.

The idea that rich-country consumers should pick up the tab for some of China’s industrial emissions has been gaining currency lately—but not from within the Obama administration. The argument is that many of China’s factories churn out cheap stuff for the West, not for domestic consumption, so those consumers are actually responsible for the emissions. China, of course, loves the idea.

energy, commerce, China, emissions, Gary Locke, greenhouse-gas, Obama

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The Dalai Lama, an individual said to be an incarnation of the Buddha of Compassion, had been both the political and spiritual leader of the country. The current Dalai Lama (the 14th) was only 24 years old when this all came to an end in 1959. The Communist Chinese invasion in 1950 led to years of turmoil, that culminated in the complete overthrow of the Tibetan Government and the self-imposed exile of the Dalai Lama and 100,000 Tibetans in 1959.

Since that time over a million Tibetans have been killed. With the Chinese policy of resettlement of Chinese to Tibet, Tibetans have become a minority in their own country. Chinese is the official language. Compared to pre-1959 levels, only 1/20 monks are still allowed to practice, under the government’s watch. Up to 6,000 monasteries and shrines have been destroyed. Famines have appeared for the first time in recorded history, natural resources are devastated, and wildlife depleted to extinction. Tibetan culture comes close to being eradicated there.

Peaceful demonstrations/protests/speech/writings by nuns, monks, and Tibetan laypeople have resulted in deaths and thousands of arrests. These political prisoners are tortured and held in sub-standard conditions, with little hope of justice.

• The peaceful buddhist country of Tibet was invaded by Communists China in 1949. Since that time, over 1.2 million out of 6 Tibetans have been killed, over 6000 monastaries have been destroyed, and thousands of TIbetans have been imprisoned.
• The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s political and spiritual leader, fled to India in 1959. He now lives among over 100,000 other Tibetan refugees and their government in exile.
• Within China itself, massive human rights abuses continue. It is estimated that there up to twenty million Chinese citizens working in prison camps.
• Most of the Tibetan plataeu lies above 14,000 feet. Tibet is the source of five of Asia’s greatest rivers, which over 2 billion people depend upon. Since 1959, the Chinese government estimates that they have removed over $54 billion worth of timber. Over 80% of their forests have been destroyed, and large amoutns nuclear and toxic waste have been disposed of in Tibet.
• Forced abortion, sterilization of Tibetan women and the transfer of low income Chinese citizens threaten the survival of Tibet’s unique culture. In some Tibetan provinces, Chinese settlers outnumber Tibetans 7 to 1.
• In Tibet today, there is no freedom of speech, religion, or press and arbitrary dissidents continue.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged the Chinese authorities to exercise restraint in Tibet in the wake of disturbances in the region, according to the United Nations News Center. Speaking to reporters following a luncheon with members of the Security Council on March 17, 2008, the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that he is “increasingly concerned” about recent developments in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, including reports of violence and loss of life, and urged restraint by the authorities there, according to the UN. Oh yeah, having the neutered UN become “increasingly concerned” is really going to cause change, isn’t it? What a joke.

U.S. Senator John McCain recently said, “The unfolding tragedy in Tibet should draw the attention of the entire world. I deplore the violent crackdown by Chinese authorities and the continuing oppression in Tibet of those merely wishing to practice their faith and preserve their culture and heritage. I have listened carefully to the Dalai Lama and am convinced he is a man of peace who reflects the hopes and aspirations of Tibetans. I urge the government of the People’s Republic of China to address the root causes of unrest in Tibet by opening a genuine dialogue with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Reports of shutting down YouTube and confiscation of SIM cards are disturbing and reports of multiple deaths are far more so, especially in a year when China is preparing to host the Olympic Games. I urge the Chinese authorities to ensure peaceful protest is not met with violence, to release monks and others detained for peacefully expressing their views and to allow full outside access to Tibet.” Maybe if he gets elected he will do something for Tibet – which will certainly be far more than Obama or Hillary, with their notions of developing international group-hug sessions while singing “Kum Ba Yah”.

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In one of history’s more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is “an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation.”

Reincarnation, literally “to be made flesh again”, is a doctrine or mystical belief that some essential part of a living being (in some variations only human beings) survives death to be reborn in a new body. At the death of one personality, a new one comes into being, much as the flame of a dying candle can serve to light the flame of another.

Tibetan Buddhists believe that a new-born child may be the rebirth of some important departed lama.

But I’ve never heard of the new personality to ask the government for permission PRIOR to coming into existence. What happens if the government says, “no”? Does the new-born child have to jump off a mountain?

China, Buddhist, Tibet, reincarnation

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