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- Mar 26, 2002
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I just recieved this letter from my American friend, Steve. who lives in the capital city of Nepal, Kathmandu.
The major battles with the Maoist terrorists have been in outlying areas, but KTM has had its problems.
Steve provides some fascinating insights about the mainland Chinese.
"Hi Bill,
Yes, it seems to have been a couple of days of genuine carnage here in Nepal. I don't really know too much more about the weekend operations than you are getting in the news, so far. As you are probably aware, with the "state of Emergency" that is in effect here, the press is tightly controlled. So, what is reported is what has been approved for release. We will probably get a few more details in the days to come. Its all too fresh and too far away from KTM for the unprintable news to reach us yet.
"They keep raising the Maoist death toll - now at about 400. No figures on army and police casualties if any yet. I imagine there will be some at least.
"The Maoists had started to make noises about a "negotiated settlement / peace talks" earlier last week. I think this might have a little to do with the fact that the (Nepal) Prime Minister leaves for Washington today to meet Bush and talk about getting help. They must realize that if the US and Britain start getting involved, the Maoists aren't going to last long.
"Wouldn't peace be nice? Sure and talks sounds better than fighting. But frankly, I don't trust them. I don't think anybody else does either. They seemed to have used the last period of peace talks as a diversion while they prepared provisions, logistics and man power for attacking the army. That was last fall, after which the State of Emergency was declared.
"In a perfect world, a negotiated settlement would be great. But since things aren't perfect.... maybe it would be best to root out the problem entirely, by just trying to finish them off.
"Easier said than done. I wouldn't be surprised to see some real ugly and desperate actions on the part of the Maoists now. They will probably try to do something big in Kathmandu. I hope I'm wrong about that.
"As for the second article and China's pledge of support. I'm not sure about that. The Chinese are complex. However, I will say that I do not believe that the Maoist have been receiving support from China. Yes, there are still some old school hard liners there, but really most people there are wannabe capitalists. As for the pure Maoist ideology - they have been there and done that, and most of them are glad as hell that era is over it seems.
"I suspect that they genuinely do not support the Maoists. In fact, some Chinese projects (development schemes like hydro projects, and mining etc. that the Chinese sponsor) have butted heads with Nepal's Maoists on a few occasions. On the other hand, like I say, the Chinese are complex. To me anyway, they are one of the most genuinely "foreign" peoples. In the sense that they are just so hard to understand and relate to as a people and society. That is for me at least, and a lot of others feel the same way - that is certain. It is a broad generalization, and I don't mean it to come off wrong. For instance, Taiwan Chinese and Hong Kong Chinese are not like the mainland Han Chinese. I find Taiwan and Hong Kong people much easier to relate to. Yes there is a bit of the "face saving" issue there too, but it is nothing like the mainlanders.
"Its hard to explain what I'm trying to say. Maybe you can understand. Mainland Chinese society just seems to invest its people with a weird programming, that seems pretty alien if not plain incompatible with so much of the rest of the world's mode of being.
"I will have to tell you the story of my arrest and detention by Chinese authorities in Tibet back in 1995. Its a long story, but suffice to say, I have had some first hand experience with the "Chinese Way". It sucks!
"I'll tell you the whole story some time but, in a nut shell - my self and 2 friends - one Brit, one American, were arrested on the Tibet side of the Tibet/Bhutan border. We were on pilgrimage, and happened to be at a fantastic cave that Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal had meditated and spent much time at, when we were arrested, at machine gun point no less. Multiple machine guns in fact, they sent a huge posse of PLA border patrollers to "capture" us. We were deep in a "restricted area", and yes, we did know that it wasn't allowed, but let's face it so little is allowed in Tibet that sometimes a person just needs to do what he needs to do - like go visit some sacred sites. We were held for a week, interrogated for hours daily, had to write self-criticisms and the whole communist 9 yards, before we were finally fined, released, and expelled from "China". So, I say from experience that where the Han Chinese are concerned (at least those in positions of authority) they are just real different than any other kind of people I have dealt with in this world.
"That's another story though.
"talk to you later,
"Steve
I think that it is time to keep up the pressure on our representatives. Continued persistant effort will help. It is too easy for us to "fire one shot" by one email or letter to our representatives.
We need to keep up the pressure. Let's send them more email about this. It ain't over 'til its over.
Bill Marsh
The major battles with the Maoist terrorists have been in outlying areas, but KTM has had its problems.
Steve provides some fascinating insights about the mainland Chinese.
"Hi Bill,
Yes, it seems to have been a couple of days of genuine carnage here in Nepal. I don't really know too much more about the weekend operations than you are getting in the news, so far. As you are probably aware, with the "state of Emergency" that is in effect here, the press is tightly controlled. So, what is reported is what has been approved for release. We will probably get a few more details in the days to come. Its all too fresh and too far away from KTM for the unprintable news to reach us yet.
"They keep raising the Maoist death toll - now at about 400. No figures on army and police casualties if any yet. I imagine there will be some at least.
"The Maoists had started to make noises about a "negotiated settlement / peace talks" earlier last week. I think this might have a little to do with the fact that the (Nepal) Prime Minister leaves for Washington today to meet Bush and talk about getting help. They must realize that if the US and Britain start getting involved, the Maoists aren't going to last long.
"Wouldn't peace be nice? Sure and talks sounds better than fighting. But frankly, I don't trust them. I don't think anybody else does either. They seemed to have used the last period of peace talks as a diversion while they prepared provisions, logistics and man power for attacking the army. That was last fall, after which the State of Emergency was declared.
"In a perfect world, a negotiated settlement would be great. But since things aren't perfect.... maybe it would be best to root out the problem entirely, by just trying to finish them off.
"Easier said than done. I wouldn't be surprised to see some real ugly and desperate actions on the part of the Maoists now. They will probably try to do something big in Kathmandu. I hope I'm wrong about that.
"As for the second article and China's pledge of support. I'm not sure about that. The Chinese are complex. However, I will say that I do not believe that the Maoist have been receiving support from China. Yes, there are still some old school hard liners there, but really most people there are wannabe capitalists. As for the pure Maoist ideology - they have been there and done that, and most of them are glad as hell that era is over it seems.
"I suspect that they genuinely do not support the Maoists. In fact, some Chinese projects (development schemes like hydro projects, and mining etc. that the Chinese sponsor) have butted heads with Nepal's Maoists on a few occasions. On the other hand, like I say, the Chinese are complex. To me anyway, they are one of the most genuinely "foreign" peoples. In the sense that they are just so hard to understand and relate to as a people and society. That is for me at least, and a lot of others feel the same way - that is certain. It is a broad generalization, and I don't mean it to come off wrong. For instance, Taiwan Chinese and Hong Kong Chinese are not like the mainland Han Chinese. I find Taiwan and Hong Kong people much easier to relate to. Yes there is a bit of the "face saving" issue there too, but it is nothing like the mainlanders.
"Its hard to explain what I'm trying to say. Maybe you can understand. Mainland Chinese society just seems to invest its people with a weird programming, that seems pretty alien if not plain incompatible with so much of the rest of the world's mode of being.
"I will have to tell you the story of my arrest and detention by Chinese authorities in Tibet back in 1995. Its a long story, but suffice to say, I have had some first hand experience with the "Chinese Way". It sucks!
"I'll tell you the whole story some time but, in a nut shell - my self and 2 friends - one Brit, one American, were arrested on the Tibet side of the Tibet/Bhutan border. We were on pilgrimage, and happened to be at a fantastic cave that Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal had meditated and spent much time at, when we were arrested, at machine gun point no less. Multiple machine guns in fact, they sent a huge posse of PLA border patrollers to "capture" us. We were deep in a "restricted area", and yes, we did know that it wasn't allowed, but let's face it so little is allowed in Tibet that sometimes a person just needs to do what he needs to do - like go visit some sacred sites. We were held for a week, interrogated for hours daily, had to write self-criticisms and the whole communist 9 yards, before we were finally fined, released, and expelled from "China". So, I say from experience that where the Han Chinese are concerned (at least those in positions of authority) they are just real different than any other kind of people I have dealt with in this world.
"That's another story though.
"talk to you later,
"Steve
I think that it is time to keep up the pressure on our representatives. Continued persistant effort will help. It is too easy for us to "fire one shot" by one email or letter to our representatives.
We need to keep up the pressure. Let's send them more email about this. It ain't over 'til its over.
Bill Marsh
