‘Seven Years in Tibet’ – a grim reminder

I watched the movie 27 years late, but the timing is perfect.

I’m not much of a Brad Pitt fan, although I acknowledge that in terms of his acting and body of works, he has gotten better and better with time and age. For 27 years, I have passed off watching the movie “Seven Years in Tibet” primarily because back then I knew little about Tibet and had nothing in common with the country and the people…. until the Chinese Militia came to the West Philippine Sea.

To be honest, when I decided to watch “Seven Years in Tibet,” it was for lack of something interesting to watch on Netflix and perhaps my growing interest in meditation and such remote places. I was totally clueless and thank God I was, because I don’t have much of an interest in World War 2 movies or scaling mountains.

I carried on watching as the movie began to feature snow-capped mountains, valleys and rivers which I can only access in my imagination or travel documentaries on YouTube. From there, the story slowly immersed into the geopolitics of pre- and post-World War.

The lead actors find themselves, as devoted mountain climbers, sucked into a competition to be the first to ascend a mountain, failing to do so they are unceremoniously held as prisoners of war or POWs by the British Empire in India. The movie does quick work of why the people of Tibet never welcomed any foreigners, how Mao Tse Tung declared a policy of integrating all territories of China after World War 2, including Tibet, and how Tibetans ended up kicking out the Chinese forces in their territory.

At the end of the movie, the credits stated that the Chinese military invaded Tibet, massacred an estimated one million Tibetans and destroyed hundreds if not thousands of temples and monasteries. I will not swear to the accuracy of the data regarding this dark period of history, since each side has their own version.

Safe to say, the event and the movie left a very bad impression of China worldwide. Hollywood quickly picked up on the issue, the Dalai Lama became a welcomed celebrity in corridors of power and glitter while Brad Pitt was banned from ever entering or setting foot in China for 20 years. The female lead actor, Lhakpa Tsamchoe, was also penalized and allegedly abandoned or dumped by a fashion brand, possibly to protect their commercial interests in China.

I honestly can’t do justice to the movie or the beautiful story about the friendship between the true-to-life Austrian mountain climber Heinrich Harrer and the Dalai Lama. But I did walk away with a grim reminder that no amount of religiosity, neutrality or political goodwill can be used to reason with an entity that does not speak the same language or share the same values, both literally and figuratively.

I was in fact reminded of a quotation that was made popular by activists in UP during the 70’s that came straight out of The Book of Chairman Mao Tse Tung, where he said in at least three assemblies that “great power comes from the barrel of a gun.” In the movie, one of the Chinese generals sent to meet the Dalai Lama stated, “Religion is the people’s drug.”

Clearly the Tibetans, the youth of Hong Kong or the people of Taiwan have nothing in common with the Communist Chinese except genetic ethnicity. They don’t have shared values, faith or culture. China has imposed its will upon Tibet and Hong Kong and in spite of the threat of bloodshed, will attempt to do the same in Taiwan because they are not the ones who will do the fighting and killing, it would be their faceless comrades.

There is no reason to think they will act differently with the Philippines. They violently resent and reject the victory of the Philippines in the International Court regarding territorial claims. As far as China’s local spies and minions are concerned, the Philippines is their province. Anyone who has ever tried to confront or evict a squatter knows that they act more entitled than the one who holds the title.

I used to think that global politics and diplomacy were still effective tools at finding common ground, but as it stands, Chinese officials are no different from Hamas fighters, Iran and other Arab nations who are diametrically opposed to the continued existence of Israel.

Just like Russia to Ukraine, Chinese officials lay blame and fault for the West Philippine Sea conflict on America and Philippine officials. It is part of their tactic and dialogue to justify an illegitimate claim and use of force.

Perhaps it is time for the Philippines to launch a “roadshow” to campaign and encourage Filipinos overseas as well as our diplomats to launch a global information campaign on our experience with China so the world may know.

Time to tell all the nations that China is trying to win over to their side what China has done through the years regarding their “charm offensive” and unfulfilled promises of economic and development assistance. Tell the world about the debt traps, loans that never came, projects that were never built and railways that were “railroaded.”

Let’s not forget the warnings raised by former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad about borrowing huge amounts from China and ending up in debt traps. Or the other ports and places in the world where China took possession of key facilities of certain borrower nations who could not pay.

How failing to capture us through guile, they are now resorting to intimidation, assault and bullying in an attempt to ignite a shooting war in the WPS. Maybe when everyone in the playground begins to avoid them, maybe then they will learn to play fair or by the rules – maybe.

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