A Conflict Of Interest?

It is almost ironic that a German chancellor under the socialist/green government sold nuclear plants to china, while the current conservative chancellor Merkel decides to invite His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the chancellery. She is the first chancellor to do so, and China is not at all happy: Another meeting with the minister of Justice with the Chinese government was cancelled from China's side "for technical reasons."

China had been critical of Merkel from the start. A woman from the former East, who now so full-heartedly indulged in Western politics - a traitor to the Communist ideals. Still, she was received well in China, even though she had a meeting with so-called dissident reporters there. So maybe, we shouldn't be surprised that the Chinese government is angry, or dare I say, afraid? Not so much the Tibetan authority is at stake here, but something much more dear to the Chinese government (that it may have already lost): credibility. For most Chinese, the Dalai Lama is non-existent. Wiped out by the government from every newspaper, photo or painting. When teenagers painted a picture of the Tibetan flag on a wall a few years ago, they were sentenced to 20 years in prison. But it is increasingly difficult to hide something, when a powerful world leader is involved. So difficult, in fact, that China has begun to abandoned its tactics of hiding information to the more effective manipulation of information. Of course, it is difficult to decide whether this is a form of progress. For now, it seems the Chinese media has decided to not reveal more about the ongoing situation, than this excerpt from an article in the China Daily newspaper:

On the Dalai Lama's ongoing visit to Germany, Jiang said: "the Dalai Lama is not simply a religious figure but a political one who has long engaged in separatist activities aimed at undermining national unity under the guise of religion." She added that China resolutely opposes any official contact between the Dalai Lama and foreign governments in whatever form.

(This was, by the way, buried in an article on Taiwan). The article shows that the government is afraid that the spiritual leader might obtain official character - probably the reason they omitted mentioning the official meeting. China is worried that this situation might bring people to ask questions, or give a perceived growth in power of the spiritual leader. You could speculate, that had China been open from the beginning, they would not be in this dilemma now. And history shows that they cannot avoid the inevitable: One day, people will ask the right questions, and will want to know the truth. Whether this results in a shock or simply acknowledgment lies solely in the hands of the Chinese government.

For they say that history is written by the winners. If so, the government better start writing. If they do it right, I believe they will get what they seek most in the long run: credibility. And the Dalai Lama would suddenly become less interesting.