China-Tibet and Russia-Chechnya Conflicts

One of the key variables identified by political scientists as leading to internal tensions in the nation-state is ethnic diversity, a problem that has impacted some 53 of 172 countries with populations of over 200,000 in which a majority ethnic group occupies dominant positions vis-�-vis politics, culture, and the economy (Sodaro 148). China, whose population is 92 percent Han Chinese, "has continuing problems over Tibet, which was forcibly annexed in the 1950s by the Communist Chinese government" (Sodaro 148). Russia, reconstituted after the breakup of the former Soviet Union, has experienced a violent challenge in Chechnya, "a largely Muslim region where a separatist movement launched a guerrilla war for independence" (Sodaro 528). These ethnic conflicts will be analyzed herein, with the argument advanced that the Tibetans have not used armed conflict against the Chinese as the Chechens have against the Russians.

Tibet has endured slightly more than 50 years of Chinese suppression following an uprising that saw the Dali Lama, the country's spiritual leader, flee into exile with some 100,000 followers and 20 years since protests that led to the imposition of martial law in the capital of Lhasa ("Another Year of the Iron Fist" 15). The Chinese presence in Tibet has been constant and at times brutal and while Tibetans have at times rioted or engaged in peaceful protests against the continued occupation of their country,

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ewhere (Dhussa 6). The problem from the Chinese perspective is therefore that eliminating Tibet's subordination will actively encourage other ethnic minorities to demand their own autonomy and China will not tolerate such a situation. Russia faces similar issues in Chechnya where a Muslim minority exists and wherein an emergency regime has been in place for some time (Weir 6). Chechnya has long agitated for separation from Russia, beginning before the breakup of the Soviet Union and accelerating over the last 20 odd years. Armed warfare between ethnic Chechens and Russians began almost immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 when the Chechens declared independence. An invasion by the Russians in 1994 killed an estimated 100,000 people, primarily civilians, and ended in Russian defeat in 1996. Fred Weir (6) stated that "a de facto independent Chechnya become a nexus for crime and subversion throughout the region." The response of the Russians to a wave of apartment bombings in 1999 was a second invasion of Chechnya (Rasizade 277). Chechen separatists, unlike their Tibetan counterparts, were willing to use guerrilla warfare, terrorism, and military offensives to seize control over key places within

Category: History - C