This underscores the extent to which authorities have to carry out internal repression to perpetuate one-party rule and maintain control over the restive ethnic-minority homelands that make up more than 60% of China’s landmass. But it may also explain why one self-immolation in Tunisia helped to kindle the Arab Spring, whereas some three dozen self-immolations by Tibetan monks and nuns have failed to ignite a similar popular movement against the Chinese state.
这其实说明了中国当局必须花费巨大的资源来维持一党专政和控制国内桀骜不驯的少数民族故土（约占中国国土面积的60%）。但这也解释了为什么突尼斯的一次自焚事件能够点燃阿拉伯之春，而三十多名西藏喇嘛的自焚没能在西藏点燃类似的群众运动。