Tibet has been a thorn in China’s side ever since Mao Zedong’s People’s Liberation Army invaded the Roof of the World in 1950. The recent unrest in Lhasa resulted in a Chinese crackdown that has effectively transformed the Beijing Olympics into what some are calling the “Human Rights Games.” In a wide-ranging interview with AsiaScoop Editor Ajay Singh, veteran Sinologist Richard Baum, a professor of political science at UCLA, dissects China’s Tibet challenge and other major problems that plague the nation. Baum’s latest book, China Watcher: Confessions of a Peking Tom, will be published in early 2009.
Richard Baum is one of the Western world’s most knowledgeable, oft-quoted and experienced Sinologists. Fluent in Mandarin, he has been associated with China for the past four decades and is a professor of political science at UCLA. His latest book, China Watcher: Confessions of a Peking Tom, will be published in early 2009.
