The Dalai Lama, who deliberately avoids it, said last week that his drive to secure genuine autonomy through negotiations had failed, an admission that strengthens the hand of younger Tibetans who have long agitated for a more radical approach and who demand independence rather than just autonomy. The spiritual leader has long said he seeks not independence but “meaningful autonomy” within China for Tibet and Tibetan-inhabited areas in the country’s south-west, about one-fourth of the mainland’s area. He wants to bring Tibetan areas under a single administration. Tibetans number about six million, with 2.5 million living in their homeland and 3.5 million in Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. About 120,000 Tibetans reside in Dharamsala with the Dalai Lama. Beijing has persistently rejected the Dalai Lama’s positions, saying “a ‘greater Tibet’ did not exist in history and does not have basis in reality.” It also accuses the Dalai Lama of wanting to drive other ethnic groups out of Tibet. The two sides’ positions have been the same in the past decade. If this is not resolved during the Dalai Lama’s time, there will be lots of trouble once Beijing puts forward its own candidate to succeed him.

The problems will grow wider and deeper. Tibet declared its independence in 1912 after the founding of the Republic of China. After the birth of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Beijing sent troops to Tibet in 1950 and summoned a Tibetan delegation the following year to sign a treaty ceding sovereignty. The Dalai Lama fled his homeland following a failed uprising in 1959 against Chinese rule.

On October 29, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband officially declared that “like every other EU member state, and the United States, we regard Tibet as part of China.” As a result, Britain has been criticized for undermining the Dalai Lama by recognizing China’s direct rule over Tibet for the first time. London’s position derives from the Simla accords of 1913, in which Britain recognized China’s “suzerainty,” authority in Tibet’s internal affairs but without “sovereignty.” Miliband said the idea of “suzerainty” was outdated.

Subscribe to The China Post and save.  Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 1000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email