China steps up its overseas publicity efforts to mitigate negative reports on Tibet

As the mainstream foreign opinion regarding Tibet has been largely negative, China has strived to reverse this trend and win over supporters. Over the last few years it has sent Tibetan legislators, experts and cultural representatives abroad to share their views about their home, in addition to making documentary films and staging cultural activities.

On December 7, a delegation from the Tibet Autonomous Region, including two deputies to China's National People's Congress (NPC), wrapped up an eight-day visit to North America. Their mission was part of Chinese efforts to share a different point of view about the situation in Tibet from the one that is usually heard abroad and to develop Tibet-related public relations.

It was the ninth overseas trip by Tibetan legislators since 2009, the first of which came one year after the deadly March 14 riot in Lhasa which claimed 19 lives and injured hundreds of civilians and police officers.

The delegation met with lawmakers, politicians, scholars and experts and talked with overseas Tibetans during the trip - which stopped at five cities in Canada and the US - and exchanged their views about Tibet.

A lot of criticism of China's Tibet policies has come from the parliaments and congresses of Western countries.

Currently, more than 20 parliaments in Western countries have established "Tibet question groups" to assist "Tibet independence" forces to enlarge their international influence, according to Tenzin Lhundrup, deputy secretary general of the Tibetan government and a member of the delegation that recently returned from the North America trip.

"These parliaments are the key targets of, as well as barriers to, our communication efforts," Tenzin told the Global Times.

Go out and tell the world

In March 2009, right after the annual legislative meeting came to a close, five NPC deputies from Tibet began an official visit to North America. Since then it has become regular occurrence that Tibetan legislators would go abroad each year, talking with officials, scholars and overseas Tibetans; they now make two trips a year and visit two countries on each trip.

At this point nine trips have been made, including five to Canada and the US, and another four to New Zealand, Australia, Belgium, Italy, the European Parliament, France, Spain, Poland and Latvia.

Wang Pijun, former deputy director of the Tibet Bureau of the State Council Information Office (SCIO) of China, said that the majority of the American people have little knowledge about Tibet.

Tibet has long been described by the Western media as a region ruled over by the Chinese, who profit from its resources but damage its culture and environment.

"What we need to do now is go out and tell the world about Tibet, so as to increase understanding and dismiss confusion," Wang, now the director of the information center of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, told China Central Television in 2009.

According to Tenzin, the NPC delegations were invited to Canada and the US for their most recent trip by Senator Victor Oh and Member of Parliament Wai Young, who are the co-chairs of the Canada-China Legislative Association, and Rick Larsen, co-chairman of the US-China Working Group of the US House of Representatives.

During the trip, Lobsang Gyaltsen, the chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region who led the delegation, emphasized Tibet's economic development and the government's environmental and cultural protection policies.

"Tibet is the 'water tower' of China and Asia. The regional government will never sacrifice the ecological environment to obtain economic development," Lobsang said, adding that one third of Tibet's land has been designated as conservation zones.

Together with Lobsang on the trip was Phuntsok, an NPC deputy and director of the standing committee of Ngari (Ali) Prefectural People's Congress, and Zhang Yanqing, mayor of Lhasa and deputy to the People's Congress of Tibet Autonomous Region.

As natives of Tibet, they are not only participants in Tibet's social development but also the beneficiaries, Tenzin said.

'Reports about Tibet are all negative'

These public relations campaigns are important to expand the viewpoints about Tibet heard in the West, nevertheless, the effect of the campaign is limited, according to observers.

As Chinese legislators were finishing their recent trip, the Dalai Lama set off from India's Dharamsala to the Italian capital to attend the World Summit of Nobel Peace laureates, which received much more international media coverage than the legislators' trip.

"I haven't seen any reports in the Canadian media about the delegation's recent visit to Canada," Han Jiangxue (pseudonym), a Chinese reporter who has lived in Canada for more than four years, told the Global Times.

As on previous visits, the people whom the delegates met with were either politicians of Chinese origin or people who are friendly toward China, Han said.

He said that the campaign has failed to make any changes, "From the government to the media, reports about Tibet are all negative."