Tibet: Between surrender and
struggle By Julian Gearing
Tibet's future is in the spotlight following the
Chinese government's publication of an uncompromising
policy paper that rejects the Dalai Lama's vision of
greater autonomy for the territory and gives the exiled
spiritual leader little or no room to maneuver. For the
68-year-old Tibetan leader, time is running out if he
wants to solve the Tibet Question during his lifetime.
The release of the paper, "Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet",
raises a serious question of what options are left for
the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan exile community as they
struggle to find an acceptable way to return home to
what China calls the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
Though the paper may be "mere rhetoric", as one Tibet
watcher described it, it comes at a time when the
Tibetan leader is jetting around the world publicizing
the need for a Tibet autonomy deal while,
simultaneously, Tibetan demonstrators from New Delhi to
New York are waving "Free Tibet" banners. Exiled
Tibetans are torn between what many see as the
"sell-out" being proposed by the Dalai Lama and their
dream of independence for Tibet.
All this is not
lost on China's communist hierarchy that is playing
tough with both pro-independence President Chen
Shui-bian on the island of Taiwan, and the exiled
Tibetan leader from the Roof of the World. Having won
back the territories of Hong Kong and Macau, Beijing is
anxious to crush the last challenges to what it sees as
its territorial integrity.
The 30-page paper on
Tibet issued by the Office of the State Council of the
People's Republic of China calls on the Dalai Lama to
"look reality in the face" and accept the existing
autonomy that the Tibetan Autonomous Region enjoys. It
recalls the "four glorious decades of regional ethnic
autonomy in Tibet" since the Dalai Lama fled in the wake
of the Lhasa Uprising against Chinese troops in 1959,
decades during which "a feudal serfdom under theocracy,
one even darker and more backward than medieval Europe"
was turned into a "modern socialist people's democracy".
The paper was issued last Sunday, May 23, the
53rd anniversary of the signing of the controversial
"17-point agreement" on autonomy in Beijing that exiled
Tibetans claim was coerced from the Tibetan negotiators
by the Chinese communist government and sealed with
forged Lhasa government chops in 1951. The paper
outlines the process of granting of autonomy from this
agreement, through the important milestones of the 1956
preparatory committee in which the Dalai Lama was
involved and the 1965 founding of Tibetan Autonomous
Region and the various work plans for the region.
Claiming Tibet has been part of China for more
than 700 years, it says Tibet has "broken away from
imperialism" and that the Tibetan people enjoy full
political rights of autonomy and full decision-making
power in economic and social development. It highlights
what it says were the "leaps and bounds" made in moving
from a closed, manorial economy to a modern market
economy.
But the paper's real message is its
call for the Dalai Lama to reject not only independence
- clearly unacceptable for Beijing - but also abandon
any special deal on Tibet that the Tibetan leader was
proposing along the lines of the "one country, two
systems" principle that China says it applies to Hong
Kong and Macau, with the ability to run its own internal
affairs. Such a system only fits territory formerly held
by "Imperialists", namely the British and Portuguese,
the report says, adding, "This argument is totally
untenable."
For many Tibetans, the Dalai Lama's
own rejection of independence for Tibet and his adoption
of the "Middle Way" of autonomy in the 1980s was a sad
climb-down from his earlier position. Exiled Tibetans
claim Tibet was an independent country until it was
forcibly taken over by communist China, citing its de
facto independence from 1911 to 1951, when there were no
Chinese in the territory. They also say there were only
limited diplomatic relations between, in effect,
sovereign states - China and Tibet - over the centuries.
They claim Tibet does not just cover what is today
called the Tibetan Autonomous Region, but also includes
the ethnic Tibetan parts of neighboring Sichuan and
Qinghai, what they refer to as "Greater Tibet". China
says that Tibet for centuries has been an inalienable
part of China.
Now, however, even the Dalai
Lama's downsized vision of Tibet is under threat.
Beijing appears to have drawn a line in the sand.
Whether it is mere rhetoric, a negotiating stance, or a
firm tightening of its grip, is unclear. Thierry Dodin,
director of the Tibet Information Network in London,
says the paper may have been released at this time
because the next round of dialogue between
representatives of the Tibetan exile government and
Beijing is due soon, following two earlier visits by
Tibetan envoys to China in 2002 and 2003. Yet this
dialogue so far appears to be only talk about talks, not
serious negotiation.
Beijing's policy document
appears to be part of a growing propaganda offensive
against the Dalai Lama, the man they call a "separatist"
and a "devil". Notable were the comments made by the man
who could be termed the "Tibetan face" of Chinese Tibet
autonomy, Raidi, who uses one name only. In an interview
with the official Xinhua news agency published on May
24, the Tibetan vice chairman of the standing committee
of the 10th National People's Congress said, "Only if
Tibetans adhere to the leadership of the Chinese
communist party, the socialist road with Chinese
characteristics and China's regional ethnic autonomy
system, can their fundamental interests be realized,
maintained and developed."
Raidi, who has long
played an important role in the local communist
government of the Tibetan region, said the paper
comprehensively and objectively showcased the ethnic
autonomy system in Tibet and "renounced the fallacy
released by the separatist clique", referring to the
image of Tibet - plagued by human rights abuses and lack
of political and religious freedoms - portrayed by the
Dalai lama and his exile government.
Raidi's
comments contrast starkly with those of the Tibetan
Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Dharamsala,
northern India, where the headquarters of the Tibetan
"government in exile" is based. This human rights group
makes clear that the paper's description of the last
four decades in Tibet as "glorious" is "total
whitewash". They call the human rights situation of the
Tibetan people grim and "a well-known fact". The report
ignores the destruction, torture and killing during the
1966-76 Chinese Cultural Revolution that affected all of
China and does not describe what are, in effect, police
state conditions in Tibet today, the center says.
The Tibetan exile government has alleged that
the Chinese authorities have carried out "genocide"
since they took over Tibet in 1951, claiming a death
toll of 1.2 million Tibetans and citing attempts to
stifle or eradicate the culture and religion. Both sides
are poles apart, it seems, with reality somewhere in the
middle.
Now the Chinese authorities appear to be
saying the Tibetan region currently enjoys the very
conditions the Dalai Lama has been calling for and that
there is not much more to discuss. Since the 1980s,
exiled Tibetans have been free to return home as private
citizens on Chinese passports. Beijing appears to be
saying the door is open to the Dalai Lama if he drops
all conditions and accepts Tibet is an inalienable part
of China, though there is no indication they are willing
to allow him to reside in Tibet.
The Dalai
Lama's options appear limited, according to Tibet
watchers. Barry Sautman, professor of political science
at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology,
says the Chinese government would probably accept as a
solution to the Tibet problem a coalition government in
the Tibetan Autonomous Region. The basic structure of
governance would remain intact, Sautman said, but would
include some of what he called "non-separatist" Tibetan
officials nominated to fill positions of power in
non-security-related parts of the regional government.
They would thereby likely agree to a loosening of
controls over religious institutions, to a greater
promotion of the Tibetan language, and to absorbing
something of the exile version of traditional Tibetan
culture, he said.
Sautman, a well-known expert on
Tibet, said a further Tibetanization of the cadre force,
backed by programs to sharply raise the educational
level among Tibetans, might also be undertaken as part
of a settlement. While largely dismissing the idea of
"liberal democracy" in Tibet, which the Dalai Lama had
been suggesting, he said certain rights-endowing ties
between the Tibetan Autonomous Region and the eastern
Tibetan autonomous prefectures and counties, where many
Tibetans live, might be accepted, but not the creation
of a "Greater Tibet".
The Chinese government's
release of the policy paper, he said, is likely to be a
reaction "as much to the prominence of the international
discourse of solving ethnic conflicts through ethnic
autonomy as it is to the Dalai Lama's proposal for a
'Hong Kong-style' autonomy, which has been around since
the 1990s". Over the last decade, academics have debated
whether degrees of autonomy are a suitable way to
address the aspirations of restive and threatened ethnic
minorities around the world.
Beijing appears to
be both standing its ground and offering an olive branch
to the exiled Tibetans by opening the door to dialogue,
held ajar for the last couple of years. That there is
any talk at all is a break from the virtual silence over
the last two decades. Tom Grunfeld, a Tibet scholar and
author at the Empire State College in New York, sees it
two ways. In a recent interview he said the Chinese
government's willingness to engage in dialogue may be
aimed at getting the "pesky Western leaders to stop
whining about the Tibetans, and to look good for the
Olympics" to be held in 2008. Or, he said, it could be
that "the particular Chinese leaders who were on the
verge of working out a deal with the Dalai Lama in the
1980s were pushed out of power but remained in the
background. They did not approve of the hard-line
policies of the 1990s and it is possible they have
re-emerged." The Chinese authorities have clamped down
hard on any separatist aspirations in the wake of
pro-independence demonstrations in Lhasa in the late
1980s.
Solving the Tibet problem may have as
much to do with the divide in the Chinese leadership
between those who take a liberal view and the
hard-liners, Grunfeld said. "There is a strong Chinese
leadership contingent that believes the solution to the
problems in Tibet is to wait for the Dalai Lama to die.
There are others who believe that would be a disaster
and want a deal."
Time is running out. The Dalai
Lama is old, and the prayers for his health grow ever
more earnest by the year. While Tibetans, as Buddhists,
believe in reincarnation and the certainty that their
spiritual leader will be reborn and found again, there
is a realization that the man who led them into exile
more than 40 years ago possesses what they claim to be
extra special qualities that his "successor" might not
be able to replicate.
This "simple monk," as he
calls himself, whose wisdom, laugh and less-than-perfect
English have won over many people around the world, has
proved an effective spokesman for the Tibetan cause. The
1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate tours the world and
attracts Hollywood movie stars and a sympathetic
hearing, so much so that China is dismayed by the
friendly reception he receives. Yet few governments
appear willing to seriously back his cause, as they are
more concerned about trade and business with China than
championing autonomy or independence for Tibet.
Yet some exiled Tibetans are angry with the
stance of the Dalai Lama and their exile government,
though they seldom speak out against their leader. "Free
Tibet" stickers and national flags can still be seen in
the windows of Tibetan shops and offices in Dharamsala,
despite the Dalai Lama's call for autonomy. Kalsang
Phuntsok, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress, has
voiced concern about young Tibetans who wish to take a
more violent stand. While he said the youth congress was
"100 percent in support of the Dalai Lama", and
understands why he is pushing for autonomy, he said
young people want independence.
One of the many
independence activist is Dolma Kyap, 26, who escaped
over the mountains from Tibet in 1997, upset, he said,
at the lack of education and job opportunities and the
marginalization of Tibetans in their own land. "I want
independence, personally, but it is fine to push for
autonomy," he said recently in Dharamsala.
Others are even more forthright in private or on
the Internet. Many exiled Tibetans have grown up with
tales of the heroic fight of Tibetan guerrillas in Tibet
during the 1960s and 1970s, and some also look to the
successful independence struggle for East Timor and
other "freedom struggles" for inspiration. Such views
echo around most Tibetan refugee settlements in India
and Nepal.
But China's grip on Tibet is tight.
As Dodin of the Tibet Information Network says, although
Tibetans find autonomy hard to swallow, they are growing
more used to the idea, despite their demonstrations for
independence.
Tibetans in exile appear to be
growing increasingly desperate for a resolution.
Recently, when the subject of the choice of next Tibetan
exile prime minister came up on a Tibetan Internet chat
line, it was abuzz with the need for action. One
provocative Tibetan Internet user put forward the name
of former youth congress leader Lhasang Tsering as the
next exile premier, to take over from the respected
pacifist lama, Samdhong Rinpoche. This sparked strong
remarks of rejection and support. Few take the maverick
former guerrilla fighter Tsering, now in his 60s,
seriously. He is largely ostracized by the exile
government and runs a bookshop in Dharamsala, often
speaking out to those willing to listen against his
government's policy of appeasement.
Yet his
views often strike a chord with Tibetans angry with how
their cause has been sold out. In a recent interview
Tsering warned: "The Chinese are playing for time,
wooing the Dalai Lama into their fold. They have bought
his silence on the question of freedom." As if echoing
what many in the exile Tibetan community think but don't
say, Tsering claimed: "The Chinese want Tibet, they
don't want smelly Tibetans."
Blunt talk like
this might be heard more in the Tibetan exile community
in the coming months and years. With the Dalai Lama
having rejected his people's aspirations for
independence and striving for a deal on autonomy, the
spotlight is now on his next moves. With the limited
options now available, what matters for many exiled
Tibetans is to find an honorable and practical way to
return to a homeland where their rights, culture and
religion are respected. Free Tibet, though, will remain
a dream.
Julian Gearing has covered
conflicts and religion in Asia for more than 20 years.
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