Hegemoni Negara China Ke Atas Tibet: Dari Deng Xiaoping Ke Hu Jintao (China Hegemony Towards Tibet: From Deng Xiaoping To Hu Jintao)

Abstract

This article discusses China’s hegemony over Tibet from Deng Xiaoping’s era to Hu Jintao’s administration. Chinese hegemony over Tibet was done through force and coercion to curb the rise of the Tibetan people against the government of China. In addition, they also hegemonized the Tibetans by means of persuasion that was by implementing development policies to gain acceptance among Tibetans. Although the persuasion strategy was taken by introducing modernization approach, this move, however, was rejected by the people of Tibet because it slowly marginalizes their position as indigenous Tibetans. This marginalization is due to the action of the Chinese government in bringing the ethnic Hans into Tibetan areas to meet the needs of skilled manpower that cannot be accommodated by the local Tibets. The influx of ethnic Hans into Tibet resulted in the destruction of identity, language, religion and culture of Tibet. In addition, the Tibetan people are also denied their rights in the economic and administration spheres, thus causing them to play a lesser role in determining the future of their region. Therefore, the people of Tibet represented by their Buddhist monks staged a protest by burning themselves. This prompted the international community to pressure the Chinese government to respect human rights. Despite international pressure, in the final analysis, this article found that the two leaders stood firm and warned other countr