The "peaceful rise of China," driven by China's recent modernization efforts and dramatic economic developments, has lifted hundreds of millions of people - inside and outside of China - out of poverty. Yet, many in the West continue to view the Chinese Communist government as a backward, illegitimate entity that is more a threat than a partner.

Especially worrisome is the China bashing that has become in vogue in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. "Human rights" have been politicized as a platform to criticize and to contain China. The Western media has reported issues involving Tibet, Darfur, "human rights," global warming, and the environment in a biased and sensationalized way that is distorted and counter-productive.

This website is developed especially to focus on Tibet. In the aftermath of the March 2008 riots, it has become painfully clear that a wide gulf of misunderstanding exists between the Chinese people and the West over a host of issues from human rights to democracy. Tibet is a good starting point because it is a topic that touches on many of these issues and evicts strong emotional feelings on both sides.

Regarding Tibet, a point of departure for misunderstanding is that many in the West openly befriend the 14th Dalai Lama in idolatrous terms while harboring strong suspicion and hostility against the Chinese Communist government. For them, Tibet is a recently conquered country acquired by China through force in 1949. Any exertion of authority by the central government (including acts of governance) is viewed, par knee-jerk reaction, as tantamount to an act of international transgression. Suppression of the status of the 14th Dalai Lama - a potent symbol for political separatism - is repeatedly protested as oppression of basic religious freedom.

Human rights is another departure of misunderstanding between China and the West. Chinese generally regard human rights to be a multi-dimensional condition embedded much in the circumstances in which societies and individuals find themselves. Improvements in human rights must come about through real improvement in those circumstances - and not allegiance to ideological rhetoric such as the American "Bill of Rights" or whatever fashionable sensibilities that may lately sweep through the West.

We believe it to be a mistake for the West to propagandize and pigeon hole China as a backward, illegitimate, and even dangerous power. Human rights in China must start with national sovereignty. Whatever faults the Chinese Communist government may have, the Communist Party is still revered by Chinese people everywhere for liberating the country from over a century of foreign invasions and internal chaos.

While China today faces huge challenges (all over China, not just in Tibet) in managing its rapidly growing economy - with challenges spanning environmental protection, equitable socioeconomic development, to cultural preservation - these should be (despite the current Dalai Lama) domestic issues for the Chinese to solve - not a platform for the West to meddle.

In Chinese history, Tibet has been a politically integrated part of China since at least the Yuan Dynasty over some 700 years ago (though its strength has varied - rising and waning - through the times). Since the country's re-unification in 1949, the Chinese Communist government has invested heart and soul to liberate the Chinese people from poverty. In Tibet specifically, billions have been spent to liberate the common people from the tyrannical hold of slavery, land servitude, and poverty in general.

In this day and age, it is silly to think that a few so-called China experts (or protesters or even movie stars) in America and Europe are in a better position to monitor and criticize the Chinese government than the 1.6 billion Chinese who reside within China.

The strength of China has always been her proud, diverse multi-cultural and multi-ethnic heritage. And today represents an unprecedented time of hopes and opportunities for Chinese of all ethnic nationalities.

Let's keep Tibet free from the type of ethnic and religious based politics that have plunged so many parts of the world into ethnic intolerance and religious fanaticism.

Let us root for China to reach her utmost ideals - a world in which every citizen, regardless of ethnicity, is liberated from poverty and ignorance, where all individual are empowered to lead meaningful and purposeful lives as members of a peaceful and prosperous society.