Riots in Tibetan cities and the Olympic torch relay have generated an immense global furore over China's alleged human rights record in Tibet. The impression is given that China is using its police and army to violently enforce a brutal occupation on peaceful Tibetan aspirations for independence. No doubt there will be some human rights abuses whenever riot police and troops are brought out in force. However, it is vitally important to look behind the media headlines to understand what truly is happening there and here.
The U.S. government has been funding and encouraging Tibetan exiles in India through the U.S. Agency for International Development, National Endowment for Democracy, and through covert operations by the Central Intelligence Agency. This is a continuation of the long history of CIA support for Tibetan insurrections after China formally asserted sovereignty over Tibet in 1951. Thus, it is not so surprising that the violent protests that erupted in Lhasa in mid-March 2008 were neither entirely spontaneous nor indigenous.
As China's opponents and the political establishment in the United States have latched onto protests over human rights in China, the White House has officially pressured China to engage in negotiations with the Dalai Lama over the future of Tibet. With China's rapid rise as a global power economically and politically, there is increasing reason for the U.S. government to find ways to destabilize a potential
