Chinese Whispers

No wonder, then, so far there hasn't been much talk in Beijing about the flight of Ugyen Trinley Dorje, the 17th Karmapa, to India. On January 8, the lone English newspaper in the Chinese capital, People's Daily, briefly mentioned the incident, but the local people, who read only Chinese language newspapers, are unaware of it. Only a few who surf the Internet know, but like a research scholar at Peking University, they are cautious in their reaction. "I'm happy with the Karmapa's decision," says the scholar. "The Chinese government isn't doing justice to the Tibetans." Most Buddhist scholars and academicians at Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences have no clue why the Karmapa fled Tibet. The official line, put out on January 7 by the religious affairs bureau of the state council, China's highest executive body, is that "the 17th Karmapa named Wu Jin Chi Lie had left Lhasa recently.... He has gone to buy some black hats and religious instruments for the sect."

The Chinese indifference seems a put on. For, the Karmapa is important in its scheme of things as he's considered third in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy after the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama. In September 27, 1992, when the Karmapa, called Wu Jin Chi Lie by the Chinese, was crowned the "Living Buddha" in Lhasa, it was approved by the state council. Two years later, during the 45th anniversary celebrations of the formation of the People's Republic of China, he was invited to meet President Jiang Zemin in Beijing. The Karmapa was then allowed to visit Shanghai and Buddhist sacred places in China like Wu Tai and E Mei mountains. In January 1999, the Karmapa was again given clearance to travel to Guangzhou, Fujian, Zhejiang and Beijing, and in July to meet the Chinese-propped Panchen Lama. The official media had then reported that the two had agreed to work for the prosperity of China under the leadership of the Chinese Communist party.

The Karmapa's dramatic escape is indeed a blow to the Chinese government as it has been portraying that it's all hunk-dory in Tibet, a country it began to occupy in 1950. The previous Karmapa too had fled to India in 1959 citing religious persecution by the Chinese. "The flight of the Karmapa and his closeness to the Dalai Lama will boost the ambitions of Tibetan separatists," says Prof Suiming Sui, a Tibetan expert.

A touch of mystery surrounds the Karmapa's sudden departure from Lhasa. Prof No Bu, deputy director of a Tibetan institute in China, reiterates what is by now a well-known point: "The Chinese military was lax owing to the freezing temperatures during January-March in the Himalayas. A large number of Tibetans take refuge in India during this period." According to a disciple of the Karmapa, the religious leader had been planning to flee to India for the past two years. Since last November, he had been climbing mountains to get himself fit. It is believed he had also sent one of his closest aides on a recce mission to study the entire route.

Some academicians in Beijing say the Karmapa decided to flee Tibet because he was denied permission by the Chinese government to visit the US. Since the Karmapa's arrival in India on January 5, the Chinese government has been

maintaining that some Tibetan separatists were behind the escape and no foreign hand was involved. Apparently, it wants to settle the issue amicably. The official media has been propagating this view. A Chinese external affairs ministry spokesperson recently reiterated that "China wants to strengthen its relations with India on the basis of the five principles of peaceful coexistence." But, as long as the question of Tibet's freedom remains, will there be real peace between the two nations?

(The author is a professor at Peking University on a Nehru scholarship.)