Thursday, March 20, 2008

S. Koreans Among Most Critical of China on Tibet: Poll

This is an interesting poll that was released on Tuesday that states that according to a poll conducted in six countries (US, France, UK, South Korea, India, Indonesia), South Koreans were the most critical of China's actions in Tibet with 84% disapproving of what the PRC was doing.
The respondents were given two points of view, that of China's official policy and that of its critics. While the Western countries had a rough average of 70-75% of disapproval, states like Indonesia and India were less critical. In India, for example, a third of respondents disapproved of the PRC's actions, a third approved, and the remaining third did not have a position.
On the other hand, North Korea was one of the strongest supporter of the PRC's actions: "The DPRK government strongly denounces the unsavory elements for their moves to seek 'independence of Tibet' and scuttle the upcoming Beijing Olympics." Considering the DPRK is one of China's closest ally, this stance is not too surprising...
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2 comments:

Inyeop Lee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Inyeop Lee said...

Hey, Axel. I also found this poll very interesting. As I wrote in my posting, I think South Koreans tend to remind of their history of oppression by Japanese imperialists or Military government from what's happening in Tibet. And I think what enabled current democracy in South Korea is the long historical tradition of resistance against oppression in the grassroots level.

Then, what about North Korea? Why we have opposite result in the North? I think the poll in North Korea does not exactly reflect North Korean people's opinion but Government position, as their election doesn't. I guess the North Korean government is afraid of Tibet-style grassroots demonstration in North Korea. North Korean government will do the same thing with Chinese government to their own people, if anything like the current Tibet insident happens in the North.