Description Too Mild

To say that Tibet was “annexed” by China in 1951 is a little bit like saying folks in Ethiopia had a dietary deficiency in 1992 (“Tibet Film May Derail Disney’s Efforts to Expand Into China,” Nov. 23).

China’s “annexation” was a full-on military invasion. Since that time, 1.2 million Tibetans (including hundreds of thousands of Buddhist monks and nuns) have died as a direct result of execution, imprisonment, torture and starvation. Over 6,000 monasteries and nunneries were deliberately destroyed (only 10 to 13 remain), along with countless works of art, historical texts and artifacts.

Millions of Chinese have been relocated to the Tibetan Plateau from other parts of China at enormous cost (both monetarily and environmentally) to strip Tibet of its natural resources.

Today, resettled Chinese outnumber native Tibetans by more than 2 to 1. The torture and imprisonment of native Tibetans continue, and there is a well-thought-out program designed to destroy Tibetan Buddhism. Many human rights observers have come to the conclusion that the Chinese government will not be satisfied until the Tibetan race and its civilization are completely extinguished.

Today, what remains of the Tibetan civilization and Tibetan Buddhism in particular barely survive in a few enclaves found in India, Sikkim, Bhutan, Mongolia and Nepal.

The U.S. government has sold its soul to China in the pursuit of profits. Disney should be applauded for its association with a film that tells the truth about this terrible situation in Tibet.

L. GARY GOLDMAN

Los Angeles