From Cultural Imagination To Political Construction

Western cultural imagination of Tibet refers to viewing Tibet from the perspective of Western centralism,including "imagination","misreading","prejudice" and "discrimination".The political construction of the "Tibet issue" in the US Cold War policy toward China refers to the political means to construct the "Tibet issue" as a Cold War political issue under the interaction of high politics and low politics.Cultural imagination is the foundation of political construction,and it wins discourse power and legitimacy during the construction process.Political construction deepens and further shapes cultural imagination.The two are in succession,coexisting at the same time and strengthening each other.The Western cultural imagination of China’s Tibet and the political construction of the "Tibetan issue" in the US’s Cold War policy toward China are co-existing.This article takes Western cultural imagination of Tibet as an entry point and first explains the overall source of American cognition of Tibet.With a cultural imagination of China’s Tibet,the United States achieved "strategic" contact with China’s Tibet with the permission and help of the United Kingdom.After the "Tibetan Business Delegation" successfully went to the United States in 1948,the US State Department carefully reviewed the policy on China’s Tibet region and issued the "Bacon Memorandum" in1949,which systematically discussed the US policy toward Tibet for the first time.In1950,the separatist forces in Tibet submitted an "Appeal to the Secretary-General of the United Nations",and El Salvador made a proposal on Tibet at the United Nations General Assembly.In the process,in the face of India,which fully inherited the British interests in Tibet,the United States found a strategic gap,established contacts with the separatist forces in Tibet,and lobbied and helped them confront China,persuading the Tibetan local government to reject the "17 Agreements" and promised to provide refuge assistance.Subsequently,this article describes in detail that the United States has gone through a period of strategic obscurity involving Tibet,and discovered its vacillating and extremely lacking political experience of the old Tibetan separatist forces in its interactions with them.The United States decided to increase its involvement in China’s Tibet affairs.However,at first the simple high-political construction efforts continued to fail with little success.The United States adjusted its strategy,relied on the Western cultural imagination of Tibet,supplemented by a strong ideological propaganda,while reshaping the Western view of Tibet,it broke through the barriers of high politics and low politics,and won public opinion and so-called “Legitimacy” for its political actions.Thus finally completing the political construction of the "Tibet issue" in the US Cold War policy toward China.After Eisenhower came to power,the US concealment in Tibet gradually reached its peak.The United States transported secretly trained local Tibetan rebels to China’s Tibet by airdrops.In addition to organizing local rebels and sending intelligence to the United States,these people also participated in the 1959 Tibetan rebellion.A rebel armed camp has established in Musitang which locates on the Nepal-China border and continues to receive funds and weapons from the US government to invade and undermine the security and stability of China’s Tibet region.However,this series of high-political construction actions in the United States did not achieve the expected results and did not receive the support of India and the international community.Most of the previous activities ended in failure.But U.S.covert operations in Tibet eventually contributed to the Tibetan rebellion.After the Tibet rebellion in 1959,the AIG conducted ideological propaganda on the Tibetan rebellion around the world,cooperating with the US’s vigorous hype on the “Tibet issue” at the United Nations.Tibet was wrongly and maliciously compared to “Asia-Hungary”,causing Westerners produced serious deviated understanding of Tibet and has been affected to this day.However,while the achievements of the construction of the "Tibetan issue" in the US Cold War’s China policy,the political intentions of the US government were also revealed.At this time,the political power that was originally kept in the United States proposed to the US political construction of the "Tibet issue".Dissent,and prompted the US government to review this political action.In the 1960 s and 1970 s,the upsurge of the civil rights movement in the United States increased the popularity of the "Tibet issue" in the United States,further shaped the American cultural imagination of Tibet,and provided the basis for public opinion for the continued attention of the United States on the issue in the later period..With the easing of Sino-US relations and the changes in the Cold War situation,the political construction of the "Tibet issue" has further faded out of the US strategic stage for China.After the domestic political game and policy investigations in the United States,the "Tibet issue" as a tool and gripper of the Cold War was temporarily put on hold,and the US government also began to refuse open contact with Tibetan separatist forces.China and the United States were able to re-establish diplomatic relations in a relatively friendly atmosphere.However,the "Tibet issue",as a result of the political construction of the US Cold War policy on China,did not withdraw from the historical arena.Instead,it has appeared in the Sino-US relations so far.The "Tibet issue" is no longer just a cold war tool,but a policy tool for China with a strong ideological color and cultural imagination.According to changes in the situation,the United States has re-raised the "Tibet issue" from time to time,in order to beat,threaten and suppress China.