Two Anniversaries

Two important and emotional (for the Tibetans) anniversaries have passed offwithout any reports of violent incidents in the Tibetan-inhabited areas ofChina. These were March 10 which was the 50th anniversary of the Tibetanuprising of  1959, which led to the flight of His Holiness the Dalai Lamato India, and March 14, which was the first anniversary of the violent uprisingof last year.

There has been no major outbreak of violence this year due to the followingreasons.  

First, the heavy deployment of security forces by the Chinese authorities inall the Tibetan-inhabited areas.

Second, a greater sophistication exhibited by the security forces whichavoided over-reaction of the kind seen last year, which added to the anger ofthe Tibetan residents. 

Third, the co-operation extended by the Maoist-led government of Nepal bypreventing the large number of Tibetan refugees in Nepal from extending anymoral and material support to their co-religionists in Tibet and helping theChinese authorities in imposing a virtual iron curtain between the Tibet Autonomous Region and the rest of the world.

The Chinese authorities have  suspended all tourist traffic to the TibetAutonomous Region and banned the visits of foreign journalists to the region.The only foreign journalist allowed to visit the Region since February this yearwas N. Ram, the Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu of Chennai.  However,some foreign journalists, including a correspondent of the InternationalHerald Tribune, managed to visit the Tibetan-inhabited areas of Sichuan andreported on the prevailing atmosphere of resentment in those areas.

As a result of this iron curtain  around the Tibet Autonomous Region,the only reports  coming out of the Region and disseminated to the Indianpublic are the despatches of the Chinese State-owned Xinhua news agency carriedby The Hindu without fail.  Even the US-State Department funded Radio Free Asia has been handicapped in getting authentic information from theTibet Autonomous Region. As a result, practically all its broadcasts during thisperiod were about developments in the Tibetan-inhabited areas of Sichuan andQinghai.

There were many incidents of peaceful protests in the Sichuan and Qinghaiprovinces. These were in the form of processions and public prayers by the localmonks, distribution of anti-Chinese and pro-Dalai Lama leaflets and at least oneincident of attempted self-immolation. .  The Chinese did not interfere with such protests so long as they remained peaceful. Most of the widespreadpeaceful protests in the Sichuan province were reported from  Kardze,Lithang, and Nyagrong counties, all of which fall under the Kardze prefecture.Kardze, which the  Tibetans call Kham, is the traditional homeland of theKhampas, who rose in revolt against the Chinese  in the 1950s. They haveremained bitterly anti-Chinese and strong devotees of His Holiness  eventoday. Last year, while the Chinese were able to quell the uprising in theTibetan Autonomous Region within a couple of weeks of its outbreak, the uprisingin the Kardze area continued for about two months--with Khampas on horse-backsattacking isolated Chinese military posts. The Qinghai province is thebirth-place of His Holiness.

The observance of these two emotional anniversaries coincided with the annualsession of the National People's Congress (NPC) at Beijing from March 3 to 12,2009. Next to the state of the economy, the situation in Tibet  receivedconsiderable attention. There were many briefings for the media by Tibetanofficials and representatives to the NPC session. President Hu Jintaoparticipated in one of the interactions in the margins of the NPC session duringwhich he made observations on Tibet. Prime Minister Wen Jiabo also spoke onTibet while briefing the media at the conclusion of the session.

Hu said on March 9, 2009:"We must reinforce the solid Great Wall forcombating separatism and safeguarding national unity, so that Tibet, nowbasically stable, will enjoy lasting peace and stability. The  Tibetauthorities should  implement the central government's policies on Tibet,focus on development and stability issues, attain an economicgreat-leap-forward, safeguard national security and social stability, and keepimproving people's living standard, in order for them to make new progress inthe building of a unified, democratic, prosperous and harmonious socialistic newTibet. Tibet must stick to the development road with Chinese characteristics andTibetan features so as to strengthen the material foundation for the building ofa socialistic new Tibet. Tibet should  vigorously advance the program ofbuilding socialist new villages, develop industries with distinguished featuresand strengthen ecological and environmental protection.  Tibet shouldembark on more projects that will directly result in the improvement of people'slife and working conditions, particularly those of farmers and herdsmen. The governmentmust also give priority to addressing people's immediate needs, so that peopleof all ethnic groups in Tibet will be able to share the fruit ofdevelopment." He avoided any reference to His Holiness.

Wen said on March 13, 2009: 

"The central government held three talks last year with the Dalai Lama'srepresentatives in response to their request. Such talks can  continue aslong as the Dalai Lama is sincere, otherwise no substantial results can be made.The Dalai Lama is  not a simple religious figure, but a political exile. Wehave full evidence. The so-called government-in-exile situated in Dharamsala isa de facto, theocratic regime and this illegal government is  under directleadership of the Dalai Lama. He has been travelling around the world and isquite capable of misleading some political figures. Some Western countries arealso trying to use him. We should not only listen to what he has said but alsolook what he has done. The current stability and development of Tibet hasdemonstrated that the Chinese central government has carried out correctpolicies in the region. The situation in Tibet on the whole is stable. TheTibetan people hope to live and work in peace and stability. Both China'sConstitution and the Law on Ethnic Regional Autonomy safeguard the freedom andrights of people in Tibet, particularly in religious belief. The central governmenthas increased fiscal input to Tibet to accelerate the region's economicdevelopment and to improve the well-being of farmers and herdsmen. The TibetAutonomous Region will continue following the opening-up policy for the sake ofits own development."

The Dalai Lama and the radical Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) issued twohard-hitting statements on March 10, 2009. In his statement, His Holiness said: 

"Quite apart from the current process of Sino-Tibetan dialogue havingachieved no concrete results, there has been a brutal crackdown on the Tibetanprotests that have shaken the whole of Tibet since March last year. Therefore,in order to solicit public opinion as to what future course of action we shouldtake, the Special Meeting of Tibetan exiles was convened in November 2008.Efforts were made to collect suggestions, as far as possible, from the Tibetansin Tibet as well. The outcome of this whole process was that a majority ofTibetans strongly supported the continuation of the Middle-Way policy.Therefore, we are now pursuing this policy with greater confidence and willcontinue our efforts towards achieving a meaningful national regional autonomyfor all Tibetans. From time immemorial, the Tibetan and Chinese peoples havebeen neighbours. In future too, we will have to live together. Therefore, it ismost important for us to co-exist in friendship with each other. Since theoccupation of Tibet,  Communist China has been publishing distortedpropaganda about Tibet and its people. Consequently, there are, among theChinese populace, very few people who have a true understanding about Tibet. Itis, in fact, very difficult for them to find the truth. There are alsoultra-leftist Chinese leaders who have, since last March, been undertaking ahuge propaganda effort with the intention of setting the Tibetan and Chinesepeoples apart and creating animosity between them. Sadly, as a result, anegative impression of Tibetans has arisen in the minds of some of our Chinesebrothers and sisters. Therefore, as I have repeatedly appealed before, I wouldlike once again to urge our Chinese brothers and sisters not to be swayed bysuch propaganda, but, instead, to try to discover the facts about Tibetimpartially, so as to prevent divisions among us. Tibetans should also continueto work for friendship with the Chinese people. Looking back on 50 years inexile, we have witnessed many ups and downs. However, the fact that the Tibetissue is alive and the international community is taking growing interest in itis indeed an achievement. Seen from this perspective, I have no doubt that thejustice of Tibet's cause will prevail, if we continue to tread the path of truthand non-violence."

While the international media, including leading Indian newspapers and TVchannels, gave wide publicity to the Dalai Lama's statement, The Hindu ofChennai and the Maoist-controlled media of Nepal blacked it out. However, TheHindu carried brief extracts from the Chinese rejoinder to the statement.The Chinese, through Xinhua, hit out very strongly at the statement. However,Wen, in his press briefing, did not comment on it.

While the Chinese took strong note of the statement of His Holiness andridiculed it, they chose to ignore the statement of the TYC, which hadsaid: 

"TYC as a national movement with the goal of restoring Tibet’sindependence is grounded on historical truth. The Chinese government will not beable to distort this basic truth by propagating against TYC with attempts tolabel it as a terrorist group. Even under extreme pressure and obstaclesdirected at TYC by the Chinese government, we will remain steadfast in ourcommitment to truth and in our struggle for complete independence. It is ourpromise that we will one day hoist the Tibetan national flag on top of thePotala Palace and our leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, will sit on hisrightful throne."

The Chinese reacted strongly to resolutions on the Tibetan anniversariesmoved in the US Congress and in the European Parliament. While not hesitating tocriticise the Western countries for their interactions with the Dalai Lama, theChinese have continued to follow a policy of avoiding any criticism of the governmentof India for the activities of His Holiness and his supporters from the Indianterritory. While strongly countering the activities of His Holiness and hisfollowers on the ground in the Tibetan-inhabited areas and in the internationalstage, they do not want this issue to become a bone of contention between Indiaand China.

B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. ofIndia, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies,Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies.