There have been loud cries from overseas calling for the Chinese government to exercise "restraint" in handling the violence in Tibet.

But the voices, intentionally or otherwise, are almost silent over the violent acts that ravaged parts of Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region, on Friday.

Those acts, from setting fire to buildings; torching police cars as well as private vehicles; looting banks, schools and shops to stabbing innocent civilians, are ones that most governments around the world would take drastic actions to stop and condemn if they happened in their own countries.

It is ironic, and even ridiculous, to raise the issue of "human rights" when the rioters have infringed upon the rights of the majority of Lhasa people - as well as all the residents on the Roof of the World - to live and work in the holy land to improve their lives and work in peace and prosperity.

Local Tibetans have managed their affairs well with aid from inland provinces across the country and without interference from the Dalai Lama.

Anyone who visits Tibet can see how life has improved for the people, the freedom they enjoy in religious affairs and how much their cultural heritage has been preserved.

Gone are the days more than half a century ago when only 5 percent of the residents - officials, nobles and upper-ranking monks in monasteries - owned all the farmland, pastures, forests, mountains and rivers, and the majority of the livestock; and treated their serfs like dirt.

It is revealing that the rioters made clear their objective: To split Tibet from the motherland and return to those days that can only be described as the dark middle ages.

It is tragic that they are not even aware that as often as the Dalai Lama talks about human rights, scholars in the West have revealed that the political exile has continued his rule with an iron fist that smashes any challenge to his power from anyone or any sect.

Whatever the political ruse the Dalai Lama is using, the Tibetans as well as other people of other ethnic groups living in the region will not tolerate the lawlessness, the invasion of the rights of the people, or the disruption of ethnic harmony.

Above all, multi-ethnic China's determination to maintain national unity and territorial integrity and achieve development goals for a well-off society will only become stronger.

(China Daily, March 18, 2008)