Review

Reviewed Work(s): China's Tibet Policy by Dawa Norbu

Review by: Barry Sautman
Source: Pacific Affairs, Vol. 75, No. 3 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 480-482
Published by: Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4127324
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Pacific Affairs: Volume 75, No. 3 - Fall 2002

document from the World Bank in 1989 provides the definitive statement
on "good governance." In her conclusion she wonders if a democratized
Security Council could become a "watchguard" over the international aid
agencies. She imagines that the relationship between national governments
and international institutions can cease to be "a power relationship" (p. 68).

"Partnership in Development and NGOs; A Critique of Donor Conceptions," is her unpublished recent research, which is based on a review of
policy documents and eight "in-depth interviews" with officers of various
organizations. She claims that the "donor community" is becoming a new
circle of power in Sri Lanka. These donors, as diverse as the World Bank,
Norway, United States, Japan, Canada and others, have "the holistic aims of
redesigning the state and society of the country" (p. 108). The evidence for
such grandiose aims is much too sparse. She appears to be falling into the
trap of "reverse Orientalism," where hypothesized common designs for the
"South" are attributed to the undifferentiated "North." In spite of such large
and unconvincing claims, the chapter has many thoughtful observations and

interesting ideas, such as when the partnership in development is couched

in "the language of economic effectiveness rather than of political values,
the effect is... [a] depoliticizing of society" (p. 94).
"Sovereignty and Humanitarian Relief Organizations" opens with a
restatement of the familiar tensions between state sovereignty and humanitarian concerns. She has a useful review of Sri Lanka's adherence to interna-

tional humanitarian conventions. This is followed by an attempt at an "auto-

biography" of each of three so-called NGOs: the International Committee of

the Red Cross, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and
Medecins sans Frontieres. Her data is very thin and the analysis trivial but her

discussion improves when she moves on to these NGOs' work in Sri Lanka.
Her theme of "new circles of power" calls for at least one solid, empirical

study where the concept could be tested. She is a Senior Fellow at the

International Centre for Ethnic Studies, which has an international board

of directors and external financial support. How has this NGO contributed
to "reorganizing the political economy" and increasing the integration into
"a new cultural and ideological world order?" Her large generalizations would

gain much strength if she could demonstrate how the processes of

"reorganizing" and "integrating" worked in a particular case.
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada BARRIE M. MORRISON

CHINA'S TIBET POLICY. By Dawa Norbu. Richmond (UK.): Curzon Press.

2001. xiv, 470 pp. (Map, tables.) US$75.00, cloth. ISBN 0-7007-0474-4.
The Tibet Question is over-dichotomized and those most involved - the PRC
government and the Tibetan exile leaders - by and large want to keep it that
480

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Book Reviews

way. Not so Dawa Norbu, a political scientist based at Jawaharlal Nehru

University in Delhi. His earlier work Tibet: The road ahead (London: Rider,
1998) is one of the few non-polemical books by even credentialed writers,
and complements the useful work of Tsering Shakya, Dragon in the Land of
Snow: A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947 (London: Pimlico, 1999).
The present work is in the same mode. While decidedly writing from an

emigre point of view, Dawa Norbu brings political theory to bear on issues
arising from the history of China-Tibet relations, a field littered with sterile,

anachronistic debates over whether China had sovereignty over "old Tibet."
His work proceeds chronologically over a millennium and a half of interaction
between Chinese and Tibetans. It then treats Tibet as a factor in U.S.-China,

India-China and Beijing-Taiwan relations, and concludes with chapters on

the China-Tibetan exile dialogue, proposals by the Dalai Lama and Chinese

dissidents for a federation, and the "Tibetan people's case" for self-

determination.

The great merit of the book lies in a sophisticated approach to how th

historic China-Tibet interface should be viewed. Instead of retrospective

applying present-day concepts to what was, for most centuries covered, very

much a pre-modern relationship, Dawa Norbu historicizes it by analyzi

Chinese and Tibetan perspectives of the times. In contrast to Warren Sm
(Tibetan Nation [Boulder: Westview, 1996]) and others who insist that Tib

has always been an independent nation, Dawa Norbu recognizes th

independence and nationhood are themselves decidedly modern concept

that cannot be easily fitted into traditional Tibetan or imperial Chines
worldviews.

None of this is to say that the work is unproblematic. There are several
failings. First, many chapters are scarcely updated versions of essays produced

in the 1980s, resulting in incongruous discussions of long-pass6 "Maoist"

policies as if they (and even the Cultural Revolution) were ongoing. This
may only be bothersome for specialists, but will mislead others. Second, there

are gratuitous conclusions not derived from the author's evidence or

theoretical analysis; for example, that China's reassertion of authority in
Tibet after 1950 constituted imperialism, that development in Tibet is
undermined by internal colonialism and state population transfer, and that,
per contra Tsering Shakya's showing, that China imposed land reform on
unwilling Tibetan peasants. These may be linked to the limited range of
sources employed. While Tibetan sources are used with regard to historical
issues in a couple of the book's twenty chapters, almost no Chinese sources
(even in translation or where Tibetan-authored) are cited, despite the huge
corpus of often-valuable Tibet-related studies produced in the PRC in the
past couple decades.
Third, the work contains a number of factual errors (that Party leadership

and state administrative positions in Tibet are monopolized by Han, that

China has a program to transfer "colonists" into Tibet, etc.), dubious

481

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Pacific Affairs: Volume 75, No. 3 - Fall 2002

interpretations (that the Dalai Lama has recognized that Tibet is part of
China, that autonomy for Tibet is empty, etc.), as well as ubiquitous Chinese
transliteration mistakes and confusions between Chinese surnames and given
names that reviewers and editors should have challenged. Fourth, the general
effort to eschew modernisms in examining pre-modern relations breaks down

in places; for example where the author tries to equate the "patents" issued
by Chinese emperors to Tibetan high lamas with diplomatic recognition
and his acceptance of the British colonial concept of suzerainty as a useful
way to understand imperial Chinese-Tibetan relations.
While these problems are not minor, readers will gain a great deal from
China's Tibet Policy, most notably a refreshing change from the Manichean
view that informs most works on this subject.
Hong Kong University of Science & Technology,

Hong Kong, PRC BARRY SAUTMAN

GLOBALIZATION AND THE ASIAN ECON

Responses, Coping Strategies, and Governan

Edited by Geoffrey B. Hainsworth. Vancouver: Cen

University of British Columbia. 2000. xx, 500 p

graphs, figures.) C$30. 00, paper. ISBN 0-88865

This volume arises out of a conference held

Columbia towards the end of 1999. The theme of the conference was

"Emerging Southeast Asian Identities in an Era of Volatile Globa

and such was the interest that 104 papers were offered, of which aro

third - some 34 papers - are represented here. The editor of th

has, it would seem, given priority to scholars at the beginning
academic careers and/or to scholars based in Asia. Both of these s
are to be welcomed. The result is that we have some refreshing pi
reflect on-going or recently completed research. Some of the p
very short indeed - in some cases just five or six pages in length are often reports on work "in progress."

The editor has structured the volume into four sections: an

section on historical perspectives on globalization; a second deali
ethnic minorities; a third on coping strategies and the Asian cr
final section on political and institutional reform. Only the third

representing around one third of the book, clearly dovetails with the
the volume.

The editor opens with a review paper of Indonesia's modernization under

President Suharto, taking a post-crisis view of the "miracle" years. It is very

wide-ranging in its scope, reflecting Geoffrey Hainsworth's long-standing

and broad-based engagement with the country over a quarter of a century.
482

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