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| China against encouraging Dalai Lama | | |
B L KAK
NEW DELHI, NOV. 21: India has, in a signifcant development, declined to oblige agitated Tibetan refugees and their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, had received written and verbal requests from the India-based Tibetan community, urging him to take up the Tibet issue with the Chinese President, Hu Jintao. But the Prime Minister scrupulously avoided taking up the matter with Hu Jintao.
Chinese President, who arrived in New Delhi on Monday night on a three-day visit to India, was reported to have made clear, through diplomatic channels, his unwillingness to discuss Tibet and the Dalai Lama with Indian leaders. No wonder, New Delhi ensured that more important issues than the Tibetans' grievances and misgivings came up for discussions with the Chinese high-level delegation led by President Hu Jintao.
Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, knows and understands the Chinese rulers, present and past. China, too, knows the Tibetan leader. In recent times, Beijing's attitude towards the Tibetan leader has shown a bit of softness. The two sides appear willing to sort out differences and to remove misgivings. But Beijing is not willing to permit the Dalai Lama and his followers in Tibet to call the shots.
The Dalai Lama knows that Washington and Beijing are not friends, although the two countries have economic ties with each other. Yet, the Tibetan leader continues to depend on America's sympathy and support for his scheme of things vis-à-vis the future set-up of his homeland, Tibet. That Beijing does not want the continuance of the Dalai's 'flirtations' with the United States has once again been demonstrated by China's displeasure at the Tibetan leader's close contact with Americans of consequence. The Dalai Lama has already been reported to be willing to return to Tibet if China allowed him to go back to his homeland without pre-conditions. Will China allow the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet? Is there any secret understanding between him and Beijing, taking into view the reduction in the tension between the two sides?
Definite answer to these questions cannot be expected at this stage, considering the fact that the two sides have already started examining and evaluating and analyzing each other's objectives and strategies. One thing is clear: Speculation that the Dalai Lama is secretly preparing to make a deal with China has been growing since two of his envoys made a trip to Beijing not long ago. Negotiations with China, the Dalai Lama has stated, have been 'positive'.
On the one hand, the Dalai Lama advocates the need of dialogue to find a solution to the Tibet problem, while on the other hand he has been quoted as saying: "We are still carrying on a struggle". If his reference is to the demand for autonomy to Tibet, then he should think of other proposal.
China is not India. China has already come to occupy Tibet. China, it can be said without any fear of contradiction, won't allow itself to act in Tibet in accordance with the wishes and demands of the Dalai Lama. China regards Tibet as an integral part of the rest of China. India, on the other hand, continues to regard Jammu and Kashmir as an 'integral' part of the Indian Union. Yet, India is willing to discus Kashmir with Pakistan.
The Dalai Lama has conceded that the Chinese Government had stopped him from visiting Tibet, most recently in 1984, and prevented him from traveling to sacred Buddhist sites inside China. Following a 'thaw' between China and Tibet's exiled leadership, the Dalai Lama seems hopeful to visit Tibet, to see his old place with his own eyes and try to 'cool down the situation'.
It is perhaps for the first time so far that he Dalai Lama has given his strongest hint that he believes Tibetans will discover another Dalai Lama after his death and that he expects the Chinese to come up with a rival. His reincarnation, he has said, would be born to a Tibetan family outside China.
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