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TIBETAN

january-April 2011Volume 15, Issue 1

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Contacts for the Central Tibetan Administration

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Today marks the 52nd anniversaryof the Tibetan people’s peacefuluprising of 1959 against

Communist China’s repression in theTibetan capital Lhasa, and the thirdanniversary of the non-violentdemonstrations that took place acrossTibet in 2008. On this occasion, I wouldlike to pay tribute to and pray for thosebrave men and women who sacrificedtheir lives for the just cause of Tibet. Iexpress my solidarity with those whocontinue to suffer repression and prayfor the well-being of all sentient beings.For more than sixty years, Tibetans,despite being deprived of freedom andliving in fear and insecurity, have beenable to maintain their unique Tibetanidentity and cultural values. Moreconsequentially, successive newgenerations, who have no experience offree Tibet, have courageously takenresponsibility in advancing the cause ofTibet. This is admirable, for they exemplifythe strength of Tibetan resilience.

This Earth belongs to humanity and thePeople’s Republic of China (PRC)belongs to its 1.3 billion citizens, whohave the right to know the truth aboutthe state of affairs in their country andthe world at large. If citizens are fullyinformed, they have the ability todistinguish right from wrong.Censorship and the restriction ofinformation violate basic humandecency. For instance, China’s leadersconsider the communist ideology and itspolicies to be correct. If this were so,these policies should be made publicwith confidence and open to scrutiny.China, with the world’s largestpopulation, is an emerging world powerand I admire the economic developmentit has made. It also has huge potential tocontribute to human progress and worldpeace. But to do that, China must earnthe international community’s respectand trust. In order to earn such respect

China’s leaders must develop greatertransparency, their actionscorresponding to their words. To ensurethis, freedom of expression and freedomof the press are essential. Similarly,transparency in governance can helpcheck corruption. In recent years, Chinahas seen an increasing number ofintellectuals calling for political reformand greater openness. Premier WenJiabao has also expressed support forthese concerns. These are significantindications and I welcome them.

The PRC is a country comprising manynationalities, enriched by a diversity oflanguages and cultures. Protection ofthe language and culture of eachnationality is a policy of the PRC, whichis clearly spelt out in its constitution.Tibetan is the only language to preservethe entire range of the Buddha’steachings, including the texts on logicand theories of knowledge(epistemology), which we inherited fromIndia’s Nalanda University. This is asystem of knowledge governed byreason and logic that has the potential

to contribute to the peace and happinessof all beings. Therefore, the policy ofundermining such a culture, instead ofprotecting and developing it, will in thelong run amount to the destruction ofhumanity’s common heritage.

The Chinese government frequentlystates that stability and development inTibet is the foundation for its long-termwell-being. However, the authorities stillstation large numbers of troops all acrossTibet, increasing restrictions on theTibetan people. Tibetans live in constantfear and anxiety. More recently, manyTibetan intellectuals, public figures andenvironmentalists have been punishedfor articulating the Tibetan people’s basicaspirations. They have been imprisonedallegedly for “subverting state power”when actually they have been givingvoice to the Tibetan identity and culturalheritage. Such repressive measuresundermine unity and stability. Likewise,in China, lawyers defending people’srights, independent writers and humanrights activists have been arrested. Istrongly urge the Chinese leaders to

His Holiness the Dalai Lama delivering the National Uprising Day Statement at Tsugla KhangTenzin Choejor/OHHDL

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review these developments and releasethese prisoners of conscience forthwith.

The Chinese government claims there isno problem in Tibet other than the personalprivileges and status of the Dalai Lama.The reality is that the ongoing oppressionof the Tibetan people has provokedwidespread, deep resentment againstcurrent official policies. People from allwalks of life frequently express theirdiscontentment. That there is a problem inTibet is reflected in the Chinese authorities’failure to trust Tibetans or win their loyalty.Instead, the Tibetan people live underconstant suspicion and surveillance.Chinese and foreign visitors to Tibetcorroborate this grim reality.

Therefore, just as we were able to sendfact-finding delegations to Tibet in thelate 1970s and early 1980s from amongTibetans in exile, we propose similarvisits again. At the same time we wouldencourage the sending ofrepresentatives of independentinternational bodies, includingparliamentarians. If they were to find thatTibetans in Tibet are happy, we wouldreadily accept it.

The spirit of realism that prevailed underMao’s leadership in the early 1950s ledChina to sign the 17-point agreementwith Tibet. A similar spirit of realismprevailed once more during HuYaobang’s time in the early 1980s. If therehad been a continuation of such realismthe Tibetan issue, as well as severalother problems, could easily have beensolved. Unfortunately, conservativeviews derailed these policies. The resultis that after more than six decades, theproblem has become more intractable.

The Tibetan Plateau is the source of themajor rivers of Asia. Because it has thelargest concentration of glaciers apart fromthe two Poles, it is considered to be theThird Pole. Environmental degradation inTibet will have a detrimental impact on largeparts of Asia, particularly on China andthe Indian subcontinent. Both the centraland local governments, as well as theChinese public, should realise thedegradation of the Tibetan environmentand develop sustainable measures to

safeguard it. I appeal to China to take intoaccount the survival of people affectedby what happens environmentally on theTibetan Plateau.

In our efforts to solve the issue of Tibet,we have consistently pursued themutually beneficial Middle-WayApproach, which seeks genuineautonomy for the Tibetan people withinthe PRC. In our talks with officials of theChinese government’s United FrontWork Department we have clearlyexplained in detail the Tibetan people’shopes and aspirations. The lack of anypositive response to our reasonableproposals makes us wonder whetherthese were fully and accuratelyconveyed to the higher authorities.

Since ancient times, Tibetan and Chinesepeoples have lived as neighbours. Itwould be a mistake if our unresolveddifferences were to affect this age-oldfriendship. Special efforts are being madeto promote good relations betweenTibetans and Chinese living abroad andI am happy that this has contributed tobetter understanding and friendshipbetween us. Tibetans inside Tibetshould also cultivate good relations withour Chinese brothers and sisters.

In recent weeks we have witnessedremarkable non-violent struggles forfreedom and democracy in various partsof North Africa and elsewhere. I am afirm believer in non-violence and people-power and these events have shownonce again that determined non-violentaction can indeed bring about positivechange. We must all hope that theseinspiring changes lead to genuinefreedom, happiness and prosperity forthe peoples in these countries.

One of the aspirations I have cherishedsince childhood is the reform of Tibet’spolitical and social structure, and in the fewyears when I held effective power in Tibet,I managed to make some fundamentalchanges. Although I was unable to takethis further in Tibet, I have made every effortto do so since we came into exile. Today,within the framework of the Charter forTibetans in Exile, the Kalon Tripa, thepolitical leadership, and the people’s

representatives are directly elected by thepeople. We have been able to implementdemocracy in exile that is in keeping withthe standards of an open society.

As early as the 1960s, I have repeatedlystressed that Tibetans need a leader,elected freely by the Tibetan people, towhom I can devolve power. Now, we haveclearly reached the time to put this intoeffect. During the forthcoming eleventhsession of the fourteenth TibetanParliament in Exile, which begins on 14thMarch, I will formally propose that thenecessary amendments be made to theCharter for Tibetans in Exile, reflectingmy decision to devolve my formalauthority to the elected leader.

Since I made my intention clear I havereceived repeated and earnest requestsboth from within Tibet and outside, tocontinue to provide political leadership.My desire to devolve authority hasnothing to do with a wish to shirkresponsibility. It is to benefit Tibetansin the long run. It is not because I feeldisheartened. Tibetans have placedsuch faith and trust in me that as oneamong them

I am committed to playing my part in thejust cause of Tibet. I trust that graduallypeople will come to understand myintention, will support my decision andaccordingly let it take effect.

I would like to take this opportunity toremember the kindness of the leaders ofvarious nations that cherish justice,members of parliaments, intellectuals andTibet Support Groups, who have beensteadfast in their support for the Tibetanpeople. In particular, we will alwaysremember the kindness and consistentsupport of the people and Government ofIndia and State Governments forgenerously helping Tibetans preserve andpromote their religion and culture andensuring the welfare of Tibetans in exile.To all of them I offer my heartfelt gratitude.

With my prayers for the welfare andhappiness of all sentient beings.

The Dalai Lama10 March 2011

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Today is the 52nd anniversary of theTibetan people’s uprising againstthe Chinese authorities in 1959

and the third anniversary of the peacefulprotests throughout Tibet in 2008. Onthis special occasion, the Kashag wouldlike to pay homage to all the martyrs,who sacrificed their lives for the causeof Tibet, those who are still sufferingand particularly we would like to expressour solidarity with Tibetan intellectualssuch as writers, poets, musicians andenvironmentalists, who have beenarrested and incarcerated in recent years.We praise their courage and conviction.

During the last nine years, from 2002 to2010, the twelfth and the thirteenthKashag considered the 10 Marchanniversary as the most importantoccasion to inform the Tibetan people,both in and outside Tibet, about issuesconcerning Tibetan politics and theadministration. The Kashag hastransparently informed the Tibetansabout developments, policies, courseof actions, principles and future plansregarding the issue of Tibet and itsorigins, Tibetan people’s strength andweaknesses, opportunities and risks,achievements and failures, and thestatus of Sino-Tibetan talks and theinternational situation. Particularly, in2009 during the 50th anniversary of ourbeing in exile, the Kashagcommemorated and thanked theextraordinary achievements of HisHoliness the Dalai Lama, which spansacross the globe and the greataccomplishments of the Tibetan people,in and outside Tibet.

Since this is the last 10th Marchstatement of the present Kashag, wewould like to take this opportunity toexpress our gratitude to the generalpublic and reiterate some issues as areminder. As it was mentioned in our10th March statement of 2009, for morethan half a century, Tibet has been

subjected to a series of repressivecampaigns under various forms andnames to annihilate the Tibetan peopleand its culture. This has pushed Tibetto the brink of extinction. However, atthe same time, the strength of Tibetanpeople’s unity and solidarity has goneundiminished, which has enabled us tosustain our struggle from onegeneration to the next.

Moreover, with the phenomenalaccomplishments of His Holiness theDalai Lama throughout the world,Tibetan Buddhism, culture, traditionand values have gained renewedrecognit ion and interest .Consequently, the number of Tibetsupporters and followers of TibetanBuddhism and culture, both in theWest and East, have grown many fold.Lately efforts to translate Kangyurand Tengyur into various Westernlanguages were initiated, and thespeed a t which contac t anddiscussions be tween Tibe tanBuddhism and science is taking placetoday are a matter of great pride andconst i tute posit ive changes.Irrespective of the absence of anyconcre te change in the pol it icalsi tua tion, the fac t tha t Tibetanreligion, culture and tradition aredeveloping paves great prospects forthe future. When future generationslook back at our times, they mayconsider our contemporary times asan era of expansion and spread of theTibetan culture.

Furthermore, the nonviolent struggle ofthe Tibetan people and thetransformation of the nature of Tibetanpolity into a democratic system are twoachievements that are source of prideand the strength for the Tibetan people.As a result, the issue of Tibet has beenable to be sustained around the worldand these have become reasons why thePeople’s Republic of China is unable toignore the issue of Tibet.

As this miracle the Tibetans haveachieved in exile is a result of theprofound accomplishments of HisHoliness the 14th Dalai Lama. We expressour deepest gratitude to him.

Since the PRC occupied Tibet, theTibetan people have had not even afleeting moment of peace and joy.Furthermore , polic ies wereimplemented that aimed to annihilatenot only Tibetan religion and cultureand natural resources, but even thetrace of Tibetan identity as well. Sincerepression across Tibet worsened in2008, the Tibetan people have beenlanguishing in an environment ofconstant fear and suspicion. Therecent campaign, targeted at Tibetanintellectuals, scholars, writers, artistsand environmentalists, has resulted intheir arbitrary incarceration onconcocted charges. This furthervalidates the existence of a definiteobjective to wipe out Tibetan identityand heritage. As Tibetan language isthe bedrock of Tibetan identity andculture, the recent move to phase outTibetan as the main medium ofinstruction in schools also constitutean aspect of the strategy towards theobjective of annihilation of Tibetanidentity. Under such circumstances,the people in T ibet have beenstruggling for the preservation andpromotion of Tibetan language andculture by disregarding even at the riskof losing their lives. For this, theydeserve our heartfelt gratitude.

The Tibetan and the Chinese people areneighbours and share close social,economic and commercial relations.However, if enmity between the twopeople grows and the relationship isstrained due to manipulations by theCommunist leaders then this is highlyundesirable. Tibetans living in exile aretrying their best to create a goodrelationship with the Chinese people.

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Likewise, the Kashag wish to requestthe Tibetans inside Tibet to maintainfriendly relations with Chinese and othernationalities. Particularly, we would liketo urge Tibetans not to engage in anyviolent act with other nationalities.

A series of recent peaceful people’sprotests in the Middle East and NorthAfrica to move towards freedom anddemocracy is a source of inspiration forus. We offer our solidarity for all thosewho take part in these protests andextend our support and stand with themin unity as long as their actions remainnon-violent. These events prove the fact

that suppression by authoritarianregimes anywhere cannot last forever.

Presently, a major cause of concern forTibetans in and outside Tibet is thatHis Holiness the Dalai Lama willrelinquish his role as the political leaderof Tibetan people, and transfer hispolit ical and administrativeresponsibili ties to the electedleadership. As a result, a great numberof Tibetans in exile from the varioussettlements, organisations, monasticinstitutions and individuals andparticularly many Tibetans from insideTibet collectively and individually havebeen ardently supplicating His Holinessthe Dalai Lama not to take such a step.We, the Kashag, would like to make the

same request in the strongest terms.Since the institution of the Dalai Lama,as an emanation of Avalokitesvara, andthe inhabitants of the Land of Snows,the spiritual domain of Avalokitesvaraare intimately connected by a purekarmic bond, the Tibetan people mustmake all efforts to ensure that thisrelationship continues to last foreverwithout change. The Tibetan peopleneed to make great efforts to keep thisbond between the successive DalaiLamas and Tibet. In order for this tohappen, we request the Tibetan peopleto make even more efforts to increasetheir collective merits.

To fulfil His Holiness the Dalai Lama’swish to relinquish the temporalresponsibilities, His Holiness will issuea message to the coming session of theTibetan Parliament-in-Exile. And allfuture course of action will depend onhow the members of the legislative bodyintelligently formulate legislationregarding this. The Kashag would liketo urge the members of the exileparliament to consider this a matter ofutmost importance and accordingly thinkcarefully to take the right path.

Even though there are no majorachievements during the tenure of theTwelfth and Thirteenth Kashag for thelast nearly 10 years, we have been able

to complete our tenure without anymajor failures and controversy. Thishas been achieved because of the kindguidance of His Holiness the DalaiLama, and the sincere hardwork of theofficials of the Central TibetanAdministration, the cooperation andsupport of the general public. I and allmy fellow members of the Kashagdeeply thank and extend our gratitudeto His Holiness the Dalai Lama. At thesame time, with deep regret we offer oursincere apology for our inability towork in accordance with your visionduring our tenure. We beseech HisHoliness to continue to lead us untilwe attain liberation. Similarly, wewholeheartedly thank the Tibetanpeople in and outside Tibet for theirconsistent cooperation and support.Likewise, we profusely thank all theofficials of the Central TibetanAdministration who have worked withsincerity and devotion for the exileTibetan administration only because oftheir commitment to the cause inspiteof inadequate salary and facilities.

Taking this opportunity, we thank andextend our gratitude to all the TibetSupport Groups, heads of thegovernments and members ofparliaments across the world whosupport the just struggle of the Tibetanpeople, and especially the generalpublic, the leadership of central andstate governments of India, for theirunwavering support for the welfare ofTibetans, the preservation andpromotion of Tibet’s cultural andspiritual heritage and for the realizationof the Tibetan people’s aspiration.

Finally, the Kashag prays for the longlife of His Holiness the Dalai Lama andthe spontaneous fulfilment of all hiswishes. May the truth of the issue ofTibet prevail soon!

The Kashag

10 March 2011

NB: This is the English translation.Should any discrepancy arise, theoriginal Tibetan should be consideredthe final and authoritative.

The official ceremony observes a minute’s silence in respect of the sacrifices made bycountless Tibetans for Tibet’s freedom

exilelens.com

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Furthermore, the families and relatives ofthese officials also feast on the workopportunities presented by a myriad ofaid-Tibet projects. After studies reportedthat the Tibetan plateau has some of theAsia’s largest reserves of mineralresources, the Chinese state-run miningindustries have been running amokexploring and extracting mineral reservesfrom across Tibet. The four largest electricpower industries of China have plans toconstruct dams on all major rivers of Tibet.Even the Chinese private enterprises havebeen liberally exploiting the mineralsresources of Tibet as wild card gamewithout any form of restraint or regulationand concern over the natural environment.Similarly, the wild life of Tibet has also beenirreversibly victimized by extensivepoaching. Thus, the chilling question ofjust how many more years before the entireTibetan environment is ripped to tatterssends shivers down our spines.

Because of the years of Chinesepopulation influx into Tibet, drivenmainly by state-sponsored economicopportunities, the social resources inTibet are today controlled by theChinese people, while the native Tibetannomads and peasants are furthermarginalized to the edges. This makes itamply clear that China’s malafideintention is to annihilate both the habitatand inhabitants of the Land of Snows.

In addition to imposing a whole newrange of rules and regulations onmonasteries and reincarnation of lamas,the Chinese authorities have installedspecial “work teams” in the monasteriesto undertake forced education campaignof “love your country, love your religion”.In fact, there are also many monasterieswherein the authorities have installedspecial units of local public security.These security officers closely monitorand regulate the daily life at themonastery and also resort tointimidation of monks and nuns.

Disregarding the language aspirationsof Tibetan teachers, students andintellectuals, and in total contraventionof China’s own laws and regulations, theauthorities have imposed a policy ofinstituting Chinese as the main langueof instruction in all Tibetan schools,beginning from the preschool.

Eminent Tibetan people includingwriters, singers and environmentalistswere persecuted by arbitrary detentionand incarceration on concocted charges.Without adequate legal representation,some of them were sentenced for a fixedterm, while some others were sentencedfor life imprisonment. There were alsomany cases of torture deaths, missingpeople and those in terrible physicalhealth as a result of beatings indetention. As of now, at least 831 Tibetanprisoners of conscience are reported tobe languishing inside Chinese prison.The Tibetan Parliament-in-Exilecondemns in the strongest terms thecolonial wrongdoings of China andardently urges it to revoke all itsoppressive policies in Tibet.

For all those who perished during therecent disasters in Kyigudo and Drugchu,the Tibetan government and the peopleheld special prayer services and raisedrelief funds by mobilizing publicdonations. Even though it is impossibleto prevent natural calamities, there werenonetheless clear indications of humanblunders being a major contributingfactor in triggering those disasters. TheChinese authorities are therefore well-advised to be seriously concerned aboutthe likely ramifications of their excessiveexploitation and devastation of Tibet’snatural environment.

The Tibetan struggle headed by HisHoliness the Dalai Lama is founded onthe cardinal principles of non-violenceand truth. Since our approach of pursuingthe mutual interest of both Tibet andChina serves as a model framework forthe resolution of global conflicts, with thepassage of time, the international supportfor our approach has been increasing byleaps and bounds, including the supportfrom foreign governments andparliaments, NGO’s and individuals. As aresult, the Tibet issue today has becomevirtually a mandatory topic of discussionfor the world leaders.

From as far back as the 1980’s, the exilegovernment has consistently pursuedthe Middle-Way Approach by engagingin a series of talks to resolve a mutuallybeneficial solution to theTibet problem. Furthermore, after therevival of contacts between Beijing and

Dharamshala in 2002, the Memorandumon Genuine Autonomy for the People ofTibet that outlines the aspiration of theTibetan people and formulated inaccordance with the provisions of theConstitution of PRC, was proposed toBeijing during the 8th round of Sino-Tibetan talks. Similarly, in January 2010,Dharamshala further issued anexhaustive clarification to China’smisinterpretation of the memorandum. Asthe Chinese government still triesdevious means to prolong the process,we urge the Chinese leadership tobroaden its horizon of intellectualacumen and have the courage to seek ameaningful solution to the issue of Tibet.

In just a few days, the final elections ofboth the Kalon Tripa and the Tibetanparliament will be held. We urge all theTibetans to value their democraticresponsibilities and participate in thisgreat celebration of democracy by castingtheir votes. Regarding the implementationof the concluding recommendations madeby the 1st Tibetan General Meeting in2010, appropriate follow-up measures toaddress those recommendations weremapped out and forwarded to the relevantdepartments for implementation.Everybody should therefore be aware ofthe fact that the implementation of allthose recommendations are as of now infull swing.

As we have already spent over half acentury in exile, we should express ourheartfelt gratitude to the governmentand people of India for providing us asecond homeland, as well as to thegovernments, organisations andindividuals across the globe for theirconsistent support to the Tibetan cause.

In conclusion, we pray for the long lifeof His Holiness the Dalai Lama and asper the existing democratic practicesbeseech him to continue to lead us asthe political and religious leader ofTibetan people. We also pray for the daywhen His Holiness the Dalai Lama willgrace the Land of Snows with hisfootprints and Tibetans in and outsideTibet are reunited in glory.

The Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile10 March 2011

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1. Your Holiness, what is your viewabout Ngabo Ngawang Jigme? He wasthe representative delegated by you tonegotiate with the People’s Republicof China and also the one who signedthe 17-Point Agreement [in 1951].Even if you had not granted him[plenipotentiary] powers [to sign theAgreement], you had later accepted thatagreement. Eventually, most of the time,he stood against you and acted like thespokesperson of the Chinesegovernment on the Tibet issue.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: I knewNgabo even before 1950. People whoknew Ngabo at that time viewed himas an honest person, someone ofintegrity. I also viewed Ngabo asprogressive and trusted him. He wasthen one of the main people who hadmy trust and confidence. After thesigning of the Agreement, when I metNgabo in Lhasa, he told me that theywere compelled to sign that Agreementbecause, had they refused to sign, itwould have resulted in an ‘armedliberation’ of Tibet. Thus, he felt that a‘peaceful liberation’ was better than an‘armed liberation’. He, however, alsosaid that when they signed theAgreement, even though they werecarrying the Chamdo governor ’sofficial seal, they did not use it. Theyinstead had to use a forged sealprovided by the Chinese government.

Similarly, in 1979, after Deng Xiaopingdisplayed significant flexibility, Idispatched fact-finding delegations toTibet. At that time, when my delegates

met Ngabo, he told them to be awareabout the fact that whether in times ofthe Qing dynasty, or for that matter, therule of Guomingtang, places within theterritory of Ganden Phodrang[Government of Tibet] never paid taxesto them. Ngabo thus gave a clearindication of his patriotism.

Similarly, in 1989, during a session ofTibet Autonomous Region People’sCongress, Ngabo refuted as factuallyincorrect the official Chinese paperclaiming that the Nanjing government(of Guomingtang) made all thedecisions regarding the enthronementof the 14th Dalai Lama, as well as onmatters relating to the identificationand recognition of the Dalai Lama.Ngabo said that the reincarnation of

the Dalai Lama was recognized by theregent of Tibet in accordance withreligious tradition and that there wasno foreign presider at theenthronement ceremony. The aforesaidclaims, Ngabo said, were not true asasserted by the Guomintang officials.Even though I was a minor at the timeof the enthronement, I still vividlyremember that there wererepresentatives of British India, China,Nepal and Bhutan uniformly seated inone row. Thus, in these matters, Ngabohad done his best in clarifying theactual facts. Following his demise, weorganized a memorial service. In fact,some of our friends criticized ourmemorial service for him asinappropriate. We all know it is a factthat people under fear are forced to

His Holiness the Dalai Lama interacting with scholars from mainland China via the internet

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speak diplomatically according to thegiven circumstances. This is thereason why I always had completetrust in him. Even though he has nowpassed away, I always pray for him.

2. Your Holiness, are you losingcontrol over the behaviour of a fewTibetans in exile? What do you thinkif that happens and how are you goingto work on this?

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: Thereare over 150,000 Tibetans living inexile, out of which perhaps 99 percentshare common concern and sincerityon the issue of Tibet. Of course, therewill be difference of opinions and itshould exis t since here we arefollowing the path of democracy. I tellmy people that they have the right tofreedom of speech and freedom ofthought, and they should expressthemselves freely. So there will bedifferent opinions. Take the exampleof the Tibetan Youth Congress. Theystruggle for independence andcriticize our Middle-Way policy.During my occasional meetings withthem, I tel l them ‘the Chinesegovernment expects that I shouldarrest some of you’, but we cannotdo such things here in a free countryand I would never do such a thing.

3. My question to you, my teacher, is thestruggle of non-violence and truth (non-cooperation) effective in confrontingcommunist China? If yes, in what waysthe Tibetan people are benefited by non-violence and truth?

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: I alwaystell the same thing to Tibetans. And Iwant to mention here that even thoughour consistent stand of middle-waypolicy based on the foundation of non-violence has not yielded tangible resultthrough dialogue with the Chinesegovernment, it has helped us in gettingstrong support from the Chineseintellectuals, students and those whoare interested in and aware of the reality.This is the result of my efforts.

It is difficult to deal with the Chinesegovernment, but I think despite our

inability to maintain extensive contactswith the Chinese intellectuals andpublic, our stand will win their supportand it will continue to grow. It was somemonths after the Tiananmen event, I metsome Chinese friends at HarvardUniversity as I happened to be at thattime in the US. After I explained to themour position, they said the entireChinese people would support thestand of the Dalai Lama if they knowabout it.

4. Your Holiness, please explain howreforming the system of reincarnatinglamas is permissible? Does such areform contravene the Buddha’steachings?

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: From theoutset, I want to ask the questioner toread a little of the Buddha’s teachingsas contained in Kagyur (teachings ofthe Buddha) and Tengyur(Commentaries by Buddhist masters).The custom of recognizing reincarnatelamas did not develop in India.Similarly, the tradition of reincarnationof lamas did not develop in manyBuddhist countries such as Thailand,Burma and China. There is a system ofrecognizing someone as areincarnation of an enlightened being,but the system of recognizingsomeone as Tulku or Lama does notexist . In Tibet, the fi rst everreincarnation was recognized after alittle child who clearly remembered hispast life and which was proved to betrue. Later on, this system slowly andgradually nearly became a classstructure in society. Because of this Ihave made it well known that there is adifference between Tulku and Lama. ALama need not be a Tulku and a Tulkuneed not be a Lama or one could beboth Lama and Tulku. The one who isqualified as a result of one’s own studyand practice is known as Lama. ATulku, even without such a standardof education, enjoys status in societyin the name of the former Lama. Andthere are many who lack the Lama’squalification and even bring disgrace.So I used to say since some forty yearsago that there needs to be somesystem to regulate the recognition of

Tulku. Otherwise it is not good to havemany unqualified ones.

I consider my interest in the system ofreincarnation as a service to theBuddha’s teachings. In the case of theDalai Lama’s reincarnation, the fourhundred year old tradition of the DalaiLama as both spiritual and temporalleader ended with the direct electionof political leadership by the Tibetansin exile in 2001. In 1969, I made it wellknown in my official statement thatwhether the institution of the DalaiLama should continue or not would bedecided by the Tibetan people. Infuture, to decide whether to have theDalai Lama’s reincarnation and if thereis a need, it is not necessary to alwaysfollow the past precedence but we canact in accordance with the givencircumstances. This conforms to theteachings of the Buddha and do notgo against them. When I explain aboutthe possibility of reincarnation ofLamas in general and that of the DalaiLama in particular, some Tibetans frominside Tibet and as well as Chinesefriends wonder if this is in line withour religious tradition.

5. At present there are a lot of peoplein China who have a deep-seated angerand animosity to you. What do you haveto say to them?

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: At onepoint the Dalai Lama was called ademon. On a few occasions I wasasked what I thought on the Dalai Lamabeing called a demon and I told themin good humor, “I am a demon. I havehorns on my head”.

This is understandable since theChinese people have access only toone-sided and distorted information.For example during the Olympic torchrelay, I especially requested theconcerned people that the OlympicGames were a matter of pride for the1.3 billion Chinese people and that wemust never crea te any problem.Moreover, even before the right ofhosting the Olympic Games wasawarded to China, when I was visitingthe US capital city of Washington,

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D.C., some journalists asked me aboutmy viewpoint. I told them that Chinabeing the most populous country witha rich cultural heritage and history wasworthy of hosting the Games. This is afactual account.

But still the Chinese government greatlypublicized that we were creating obstaclesfor the Olympic Games. Because of suchpropaganda, the Chinese people are notaware of the entire situation and thus wecannot blame them.

While on the other side, there are manypeople around the world who respect me.

Therefore, I want to urge my Chinesebrothers and sisters to examine the minutedetails and thoroughly research theinformation you receive from all sources.When I meet Chinese students, I tell themthat being in a free country they shouldfully utilize both eyes and ears.

6. As far as we know, the centralgovernment of the Republic of Chinaparticipated in the selection process andenthronement ceremony of thereincarnation of the Dalai Lama. So,Your Holiness, do you recognize the

Taiwan-based Republic of China and howmuch of an influence do you think theTaiwan government will again have inthe reincarnation process?

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: It issimilar to my earlier account of Ngabo’sstory. Generally, when I am in Taiwan, Ihave supported the call for ‘One China’.But eventually it is up to the people ofmainland China and Taiwan to decidewhether they want to be united in thefuture. What is more important is thatTaiwan’s democracy, its robust economyand Taiwan’s good standard ofeducation should be properlysafeguarded. This is what I usually say.

Wang Lixiong: We have virtually seenthe Dalai Lama, just that, as YourHoliness said we could not smell eachother. Using the Internet in the 21stcentury, we consider this opportunity ofinteracting with Your Holiness as offundamental importance. Thus, ifinteractions like these are deemedconstructive for Sino-Tibetan relationsand understanding each other further,then in the future I think and I hope thatmany Chinese scholars and concernedpeople will take part. Tashi Delek.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: Verygood. If it is convenient for you, I amalways available and fully prepared tointeract using modern technology andclear the doubts of Chinese friends. Ialways say, “Han zang da tuan jie”(Friendly relations between Chinese andTibetans).

If we get the opportunity of frequentlyholding similar meetings andinteractions, it will help build genuinetrust and understanding amongst us.We will not be able to build trust bystanding far apart. The clearer wediscuss our issues the more trust we willgain in each other. If there is trust thenthere will be cordial relations and withcordial relations, even if there is aproblem, we can solve it.

Can you see my face clearly? Can seemy grey eyebrows? See you later.

Tashi Delek. Thank You.

N.B. Translated from the Tibetanoriginal. In case of any discrepancyplease consider the Tibetan as final andauthoritative.

“Man – is a being in search of meaning”,while heroic epics record themagnificent chapters of life. In an erawhen the spirit rots due to materialdesire, the Tibetan people are writingan epic with endless blood and tears inseeking for freedom.

In the late 1950’s, in order to resist thebrutal persecution and culturalgenocide policy of the ChineseCommunist Party (CCP), Tibetans wereforced to stage a national uprising. HisHoliness the Dalai Lama, led eightythousands Tibetans to cross theHimalayan mountains, which eveneagles can not fly over, and began asolemn and stirring road of spiritual exile.

The CCP tyranny drenched the nationaluprising in blood. During thesubsequent half a century, 1.2 millionTibetans died as a result of the CCP’s

political persecution and militarymassacre. The Tibetan culture thatgoes back thousands of years hassuffered unprecedented destruction,yet, in order to protect their spiritualbeliefs and their unique culture fromextermination by the CCP regime, theTibetan people have never ceased theirresistance, and they have alsoovercome one difficulty after anotheron their journey of spiritual exile. Theirjourney of spiritual exile, paved withblood and bones, is a journey to breakthrough the iron bars of the CCP’spolitical and legal jail, a journey thatleads to freedom and dignity, and ajourney that will take them into thecentre of human history.

Writing on the 52nd Anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day in Dharamsala

Mr Hong Bing Yuan in a file photo

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Freedom is hard to gain. However, inorder not to become the political slavesof CCP tyranny, the Tibetan nationalityhas undertaken all the hardships to befree, and pushed forward withouthesitation. Thousands of years ago,Sakyamuni stepped down from thethrone, walked into the wilderness andimmersed in the sacred truth ofBuddhism. In contemporary times, HisHoliness, the Dalai Lama, discarded thethrone the CCP tyranny set for him andled the Tibetan people into a journey ofexile, and a journey that would lead toglory. The journey started by HisHoliness, has turned the heroic epic ofTibetans seeking for freedom into aparagon of mankind’s cause of freedom.

The CCP tyranny is the root cause of nofreedom and the sufferings of theTibetan people. In the Seventy-Thousand-Character Petition, the 10th

Panchen Lama stated that under thebloody slaughter by the CCP, those thatsurvived in many villages in the Tibetanregion were only women, old people andchildren. He also recorded a historic fact:that after shooting Tibetans in groups,the CCP army buried the corpses in apit, then they forced the relatives of thevictims to sing and dance on top of it, tocelebrate the victory of tyranny. Such atyranny with no conscience cannotpossibly give the Tibetan nationalityfreedom, because within the politics andlegal system of the tyranny, there is onlyslavery, no freedom.

Some people say that the CCP has nowchanged for the better. Yet this is a lie. Ashistory is always in motion; perhaps theCCP has changed in many aspects.However, it has never changed in nature,in terms of its totalitarian dictatorship, andit has never changed in its policy of culturalgenocide against the Tibetan people. Thebrave Tibetan people are still bearingendless sufferings under the persecutionof the CCP. In March 2008, anotherpeaceful protest against the tyrannyerupted in all Tibetan-inhabited areas; andonce again the CCP responded to thepeaceful protest with a massacre. In thestreet of Lhasa, an iron-strong Kangbaman strode forward with his head held hightowards the guns of the police and soldiers

——his arms stretched out toward the bluesky, as if wanting to hold the sun; he flasheda broad smile and shouted, “I am theTibetan you killed fifty years ago, Iresurrected, and I’ve come back!”

Flames jetted out from the guns of thepolice and soldiers, the Kangba man wasagain shot dead. But, I believe, his braveand magnificent soul will resurrect againand again, till Tibet is free.

Some people try to make people believethat Hu Jintao is a pacifist who holdskindness towards Tibetans. However,this is another lie. In fact, Hu Jintao roseto the top position in the CCP regime bystepping on the blood, bones and tearsof the Tibetan people. In March 1989,Hu Jintao, wearing a helmet, with anautomatic rifle in his hands, directlycommanded the army and soldiers toslaughter monks who were peacefullyprotesting in the streets of Lhasa . Theabove fact is well-known. But there isanother sin hidden behind the ironcurtain of the autocracy: Hu Jintao oncemurdered a Panchen Lama.

In January 1989, the 10th Panchen Lamadied suddenly. According to insiders, afterhe passed away, the Panchen Lama staredinto the sky in anger, appearing like a BigWade King Kong (Yamântaka); his skinwas dark black, as if it had been burned byfire; his face looked like red sandalwoodand blood bled from his nose. Obviously,he had died of poisoning. Hu Jintao, thenSecretary of the CCP Committee of Tibet,was the culprit behind the plot to murderPanchen Lama. The reason that the CCPmade the decision to murder the PanchenLama, is mainly because the Panchen Lamaexpressed his wish to welcome HisHoliness, the Dalai Lama, back to Tibet.That will be the first time to disclose thesin of Hu Jintao, murdering a PanchenLama, in my forthcoming book “To theSummit of the Firmament —— Crossingthe Himalayas”.

Dear friends, hereby I would restate atruth that has been proved countlesstimes by history: Freedom can never berealized by the patron of autocratictyranny and dictators, people’s resistanceto tyranny is the only origin of freedom;

and for nations under totalitarianism, togive up resistance, is the same as givingup all hope to freedom.

The recent Jasmine Revolution ofTunisia, Egypt Revolution, and presentLibyan revolution, etc., indicate onceagain: freedom and democracy is anirresistible trend of history. Currentextreme social conflicts in China alsopredict for sure that a new nationalresistance movement will emerge withinseveral years; all historical factors thatcaused the former Soviet CommunistEmpire to fall apart overnight are maturingrapidly inside of China; the CCP tyranny,the eastern Bastille established on thetheories of Communist totalitarianism, willdefinitely collapse amidst the people’suprising; the day Eastern Asia winsfreedom will come eventually.

Dear friends, we clearly have heard thecall of a historical opportunity. But ahistorical opportunity only bringsgood luck to those who are fullyprepared. Therefore, let’s make allnecessary preparation to grasp thishistorical opportunity.

Fifty two years ago, the Tibetannationality practiced their natural right tostage an uprising in the face of tyranny;the March 10th Uprising Day is recordedin history as the emblem of struggling forfreedom. For half a century, the hot bloodof the Tibetan nationality that has beenyearning for freedom can burn every rockon the Tibetan Plateau into pieces; thedeep love the Tibetan nationality has forfreedom has moved heaven and earth. Iwish free Tibet, the ideal that so manybones, blood and sufferings have beensacrificed for, be realized at an early date.

Bless Tibetans, free Tibet.

March 10th, 2011

* Hong Bing Yuan was born in InnerMongolia and upon graduation fromBeijing University taught at the School ofCriminal Procedural Law at BeijingUniversity before taking an active role inthe 1989 protests. Author of numerousbooks, Yuan now lives in Australia as oneof China’s most prominent public dissidents.

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Dear Brothers and sisters,

It is a great honour for me to participatein the General Assembly of the Swiss-Tibetan Friendship Association andhave the opportunity to share with yousome of my views and experiences.Swiss-Tibetan Friendship Association isone of the oldest organizations for theTibetan refugees which has played animportant role over the last half acentury in not only looking after thewelfare of the Tibetan refugees settledin Switzerland but also in preservationand promotion of Tibetan culturalheritage, in strengthening the Tibetanstruggle for achieving freedom andgenuine autonomy for all the Tibetanpeople and in promoting awareness ofTibet issue in the Western world. Ideeply appreciate all the efforts made bythe past and present members of thisAssociation. I take this opportunity toexpress our gratitude on behalf of 6million people of Tibet to all of you andthrough you to the internationalcommunity in general and people ofSwitzerland in particular. Switzerland wasthe first Western country to invite a largenumber of Tibetan refugees forresettlement and these settlers havebeen the happiest among the TibetanDiaspora. They are able to lead a veryhappy life with freedom and dignity andalso able to help fellow Tibetans livingin India, Nepal and Bhutan. We will neverforget the kindness of Swiss people andgovernment for their help offered whenwe were badly in need of it.

I have been asked to say a few words onthe democratic system practiced byTibetans in exile and about the TibetSupport Groups¹ (TSG) contribution tothe Tibetan struggle and their relevancein the future. Both of these subjects arevery important but these are vast andcomplex. Therefore, I don’t know howmuch justice I can do to these topics.

However, I will try.

1. As far as the system of democracybeing practiced by Tibetans in Diasporais concerned, democracy is not a newconcept or system for the Tibetanpeople. Our apparent opening up todemocratic functioning was notprompted by the Chinese occupation ofTibet nor was it prodded by our interfacewith the outside influence. In the firstquarter of the Twentieth Century, HisHoliness the 13th Dalai Lama had madelots of efforts to democratize the politicalsystem of Tibet, much before thepresent People’s Republic of China evencame into existence. But he couldn’tachieve much due to various internalresistance as well as external factors. Thepresent, 14th Dalai Lama, since hischildhood and long before taking overthe temporal power, had an unmistakablewill to democratize Tibet. Butunfortunately, by the time he was giventhe reins of the country half of itsterritory was already occupied byPeople’s Republic of China’s militaryforce. In spite of this, for nine long years,from 1950 to 1959, he tried his utmost tointroduce many measures and reformstowards democratization but every timethese moves were systematicallythwarted by the Chinese military junta.It is only in exile that he got the freehand to implement his vision.

There was but uniqueness about thistransformation so characteristic of theleader and his people. In our case, theHead of the State advocateddemocratization and consequentrelinquishing of his authority but thepeople refused to accept it. Just contrastit with some of the authoritarian,dictatorships of 20th Century. During thelast fifty one years of life in exile, HisHoliness has gradually persuaded andeducated his people to adopt ademocratic way of life and translate the

ideals into implementation so that whatis achieved is a genuine democracy andnot mere lip service.

The model of Tibetan democracy isfundamentally different from the moderndemocratic principles. The modernpolitical systems all over the world, byand large, are governed by the economicideology of Capitalism or Marxism/Socialism. The political systems arederived from these two ideologies. Bothof these ideologies are based on thepotential conflict with humanity and noton the potential of cooperation orcollaboration of the humanity. Marxismlaid its foundation on the concept ofclass struggle and Capitalism laid itsfoundation on the concept of so calledfree and fair competition.

Today’s democratic system is basedon capitalistic idea of individual rightsand market oriented economy. TibetanDiaspora governance system is basedon basic principles of equality of allsentient beings on the basis of theirpotential for unlimited development.Such equality can be established in dayto day living only through co-operation and not throughcompetition. Competition invariablyleads to a form of confrontation orstruggle. Love and equality cannot beachieved through competi t ion.Whether in political system or ineconomic system, it prevents genuineco-opera tion and collaboration.Realizing this aspect of human nature,the Buddha had advocated ademocracy free from sense ofcompetit ion. Such system waspracticed in various Republics inancient India such as Vaishali duringBuddha’s lifetime. Truly speaking,awakening of human intelligence is theultimate objective of the society. Itcreates a level of rationality, whichleads to unanimity - a state of harmony.

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Although we do not deny the possibilityof multiparty systems of democracy forTibetans in future, we strongly believethat a party less democracy is possiblein which each individual has freedom todeal with every issue according to hisor her wisdom without any impositionor any conditions from groups orideologies. The Assembly of TibetanPeople’s Deputies (Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile) is a living example of party lessdemocracy. It represents all Tibetansequally. There are no group ideologies,programs, majority or minority.Domination of majority over minority toois a kind of imposition of its viewsagainst the will of the minority, far froman ideal situation in a democracy.

Decentralization of decision-makingprocesses and implementationprocesses makes each individualresponsible and sovereign to think andto act. It enables the individual to thinkglobally and act locally. In our view,when a few persons live at the cost ofothers it is totalitarianism. On the otherhand, the principle of ‘live and let live’ isordinary democracy. But, whereeveryone lives for the other is a modelof democracy, and this is what we aretrying to achieve.

An ideal democracy has to have threebasic components:

1.An enlightened leadership,2. Right philosophical ideology, and3. Enlightened and responsible people

We, the Tibetans, fortunately possessthe first two components and we arestriving hard to meet the third criteria.Plato spoke of ‘the philosopher king’ andBertrand Russel talked about ‘commonwill’. Both these factors are embodied inessence in the person of the presentDalai Lama, and in the Buddhistphilosophy of non-violence andinterdependent origination whichpresents the perfect right view. Now,only our people need to mature to usherin the ideal democracy.

In June 1991, a Charter for governanceof Tibetan Diaspora received the assentof His Holiness after it was duly

approved by the XIth Assembly. TheCharter made the people sovereign andevery organ of the government -executive, legislative, judiciary and eventhe authority of His Holiness - derivedits power through the provisionsenshrined in the Charter. Although ourCharter was drafted under the guidanceof His Holiness, its draft carries thenature of polity as secular and thereforethe entire Charter was drawn on thatbasis. But during the debate in theAssembly the word ‘secular’ wassubstituted by the word combination of‘dharma and polity’. However, the basicstructure of the Charter remainedunchanged. Thus we have a Charterbased on secularism without the wordof ‘secular’. In our Charter the Assemblyof Tibetan People’s Deputies is thesupreme although there is demarcationof authority among legislative, executiveand judiciary. The Assembly alone hasthe power to withdraw the powers andfunctions of His Holiness the DalaiLama as Head of State and Head ofExecutive. Similarly the Assembly canimpeach the Kalon Tripa or the Kashagor the Chief Justice Commissioner orJustice Commissioners. The other checkand balance provisions are similar tomodern democratic systems.

In the beginning the Charter providedHis Holiness to nominate candidates forelecting members of Kashag by theAssembly and thereafter the Kalonsshall elect Kalon Tripa from amongthemselves. This provision wasamended in the year 2001 and since thenKalon Tripa, the Head of the Executive,is being directly elected by the peopleand he nominates his colleagues withthe approval of the Assembly. Since2001, the entire administrative and thepolitical decisions are taken by theelected Kalon Tripa and His Holinessremains a kind of figurehead. At thepresent moment, His Holiness is activelyconsidering to withdraw himselfcompletely from the ceremonial dutiesof exile administration in order to makethe process of democratization reach itsultimate stage. For this the basicstructure of the Charter needs furtheramendment. The proposition of HisHoliness has obviously alarmed the

Tibetan people inside Tibet and inDiaspora. But on the other hand HisHoliness appears to be quite resolute. Ithink this development will be of a veryimportant nature. It will be a turning pointin the history of Tibet’s polity andgovernance.

2. As far as the Tibet Support Groups’(TSG) contribution to the Tibetanstruggle and their relevance in the futureis concerned, His Holiness the DalaiLama reminds us constantly that thisexpression of international support hasbecome the fourth refuge in the politicalvocabulary of the Tibetan people. Toexplain what he means, when Buddhistspray, they say, ‘I take refuge in theBuddha, the Dharma and the Sangha’and because of TSG’s whole-heartedsupport, they have become the politicalrefuge in our struggle for survival as apeople with a distinct culture andnational identity. The worldwide Tibetsupport movement is one of the uniqueinternational coalition movements in theworld. Devoted to the universal valuesof truth, justice and freedom and to thespirit of non-violence and reconciliation,this movement continues to attract andinspire the imagination of thousands oftalented individuals across the globe.Their dedication and enthusiasm to thesupport of the Tibet cause makes theTibet movement worldwide one of thegreat movements of non-violence incontemporary times. Their sustained andconcerted campaigns over the yearshave resulted in promoting theawareness of the Tibetan issue all overthe world and kept it as a burning topicand mobilized governments andparliaments around the world to speakup for the people of Tibet.

The efforts and dedication of TSGs haveinspired a new generation of committedTibetans in Tibet. They are risking theirlives to preserve Tibet’s spiritual andcultural heritage by their non-violentresistance. The Tibetan people areblessed by this expanding network offriends and supporters around theworld. No other cause however just, noother struggle however long, has beenas blessed as the Tibetan people by thecommitment of these Support Groups.

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Thanks to the work of Tibet SupportGroups, the political cause of Tibet, andthe preservation and promotion ofTibet’s rich cultural and spiritualheritage, specially the Tibetan Buddhistand cultural centres, have remained aliveon the agenda of world community.

The nature of entire Tibet Support Groupmovement is voluntary participation,inspired by love for justice, by using theirown time, resources and energy with fullawareness that no personal, political ormaterial benefit, whatsoever, could begained for their tireless and unceasingeffort. Therefore, His Holiness the 14thDalai Lama always says that Tibet SupportGroups should not be considered as pro-Tibet or anti-China. They are rather pro-justice and anti-injustice.

The Tibet Support Groups consist of multi-faceted groups of experts andprofessionals in the fields of human rights,environment, development, culture andreligion and so forth. Some TSGs work forthe overall improvement of the humanrights situation in Tibet. These includeefforts to highlight cases of individualprisoners of conscience and their eventualrelease and documenting the atrocitiescommitted on them. Other TSGs producea constant stream of high quality researchwork on the negative impact of ill conceiveddevelopment works in Tibet, and on itsculture and people. Some focus on theexpanding railway line, rampant mining,indiscriminate deforestation, forcedresettlement of nomads in permanentstructures on the grasslands and thegrowing expansion of Chinese settlementon the Tibetan plateau and their negativeimpact on the fragile environment of Tibet.

Then, there is another aspect to the TibetSupport movement. This aspect is theTibetan Buddhist centres, academicinstitutions for Tibetan studies andTibetan cultural centres. These Tibetancultural centres attract an ever-expandingcircle of devout friends for Tibet in everycorner of the globe, every year. Thiscomponent is important for us becausethe activities of these centres ensure thatTibet’s spiritual and cultural heritage canand will survive outside of Tibet. Thesecentres also reflect the abiding relevance

of Tibetan culture and spirituality. Thatan expanding international civil society,beholden to no one, no government, nosovereign, flourishes is an eloquentmessage of the international community’srecognition of the universal values ofcompassion and non-violence inheritedby the Tibetan people from ancient India.This I feel gives us the confidence to saythat with or without the Tibetan people,their culture and the values that underpinit will be cherished by the world. This isbecause Tibetan culture speaks not justthe language of the Tibetan people. Itspeaks the universal language ofhumanity.

The Tibetan people’s movement for ourcultural survival is invigorated by thefact that an increasing number of ourChinese brothers and sisters areembracing it. Appreciation of the valuesof Tibetan culture is growing amongstthe Chinese, both in and outside ofMainland China. We are deeply gratefulto many brave Chinese individuals andorganizations in China for speaking upfor the Tibetan people in the aftermathof the brutal crackdown on thewidespread and peaceful protests in2008 that called for freedom in Tibet andthe return of His Holiness the Dalai Lamato his homeland. Many of theseindividuals organized an open letterexpressing their support for His Holinessthe Dalai Lama’s Middle-Way policy andcalled on the Chinese government tostop its propaganda against Tibet andHis Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Today most of the state powers are onlyconcerned for economic gains. People’sRepublic of China (PRC) is not onlyemerging as an economic giant but alsoan unlimited market for every product.Therefore, usually state powers areadopting a policy of appeasement towardsPRC and consider Tibet issue anunnecessary irritant in their relationshipwith PRC. If strong public opinion in thesedemocratic countries were not created byTibet Support Groups, all thesegovernments of various countries wouldhave chosen to push aside the Tibet issuelong ago and our movement would havebecome difficult to sustain. Today, if mostof the governments have to entertain the

Tibet voice, it is because their own publicopinion demands it. This, indeed, is anenormous, effective and result orientedcontribution the TSGs have made to theTibetan struggle.

I have touched just a few importantaspects of their contribution butcouldn’t recount exhaustively becauseit is so large and so varied.

The Tibet Support Groups remain morerelevant than ever before since theTibetans are passing through a mostdifficult period ever since the year 2008uprising in Tibet. Coming few years willnot only be very critical but mostimportant period for the future of Tibetanpeople as rapid changes will take place insocio-economic and political spheres ofthe world in general and PRC in particular.The repressive measures adopted by thePRC authorities and the tolerance andpatience of Tibetan people both havereached the threshold of their limits. Thusit is not a time to feel fatigue and give up.Each one of us who cares for the justcause of Tibet must revitalize ourselves,sharpen our focus, consolidate our action,repackage the whole movement and afinal and forceful push be given toachieve the desired result. It is for this allthe TSG’s dedicated themselves for overfive decades.

To conclude, I feel the following four-point program for Tibetans and Tibetsupporters is important:

1. To successfully generate a culture ofnon- violence within ourselves;2. To be prepared to struggle for the Tibetproblem, even if it takes manygenerations before we succeed. Youngerand new generations of Tibetans andTibet Support groups should be everready to carry on the responsibilitiesuntil we regain our genuine autonomy;3. Should the Tibet problem be resolvedin the near future, to be prepared toshoulder the responsibilities ofrebuilding and sustaining a non-violentnew Tibetan society; and4. To maintain the sacred traditions andidentity of Tibet in all circumstances.

Thank you. Jai Jagat.

E N V I R O N M E N T


For centuries, the Tibetan pastoralnomads and herders havesuccessfully maintained a

sustainable and mobile lifestyle,traveling to different seasonal pastures.The grasslands on the Tibetan Plateaurepresent one of the last remainingagro-pastoral regions in the world.These pasture lands are made habitablethrough the co-existence of the herdersand their livestock. Through theirefforts they have maintained thesustainable use of this area for manycenturies. China’s introduction ofdifferent policies over the years havenot only punished these pastoralnomads but also threatened thesustainability of this delicateenvironmental balance. The currentpolicy of displacing the Tibetan nomadsand herders from their pastoral groundsdirectly goes against the article 6 andarticle 11 of the International Covenanton Economic, Social and CulturalRights (ICESCR)1 and article 8(j) ofthe 1992 Convention on Biodiversity2

that China has ratified.

During the revolutionary communesystem, fifty years ago, in the name of“democratic reform”, the nomads wereherded into communes, stripped of allpossessions, reshaped into productionbrigades, and given rations accordingto their work points. No productionmeant no rations. From the outset, thenew class of cadres in command sawthe nomads not as stewards andcurators of the landscape, but asignorant, backward and irrational,utterly lacking in enthusiasm for class

warfare. At the same time, under thecommands of the new cadres, the herdsize steadily grew to an unsustainablelevels and the chain of grasslanddegradation began. Twenty years later,in the late 1970s, the communescollapsed, having failed except for oneachievement: the number of animals, inall Chinese official statistics, hadclimbed steadily every year, to recordlevels: 30 million sheep and goats, sixmillion yaks. In the early 1980s nomadswere given their animals back, but nottheir land. As soon as they regainedsome control over their lives, they cutthe number of sheep back to moresustainable levels.

Household Contract ResponsibilitySystem (HCRS) or the Grassland lawwas adopted in the year 1985. This lawwas adopted in order to protect thedegrading grasslands and tomodernize the animal husbandry.

Perhaps this law was implemented inorder to gain more state control overthe pastures and to stop the over-exploitation of the grasslands, whichthe government appeared to considerthe most important cause for grasslanddegradation. Long after the Chinesefarmers had been given suchguarantees of their land (land leasecertificates) the nomads were at last(in the 1990s) given certificatedguarantees of long term leasehold totheir land (30 to 50 years) . Thisencouraged conservation of pastures,giving nomads a sense of ownership.

Along with the implementation of thegrassland law, the state authoritygradually implemented the so-called“Four-Way Programme” or ‘Si PeiTao’, ordering region-wide fencingregimes and shelters for nomads andlivestock. This added a financialburden onto poor pastoralists. The

Gomang Township, Mangra County, Amdo



Animal Husbandry Bureau stated thatthis programme was meant to improvepeople’s lives, and control livestockand grazing. This program limits themobil ity of the livestock andencouraged the herders to invest andspend more time in winter pastures, andless in the upper pastures in summer,leading to increased grazing pressureon a smaller land area. Thus the FourWay Programme at some point

intensified or at least in part, wasresponsible for the problems for whichthe herders are now being blamed. Butat the same time, other policies, drivenby China’s long standing disdain formobile people, were also implemented.Limits on family size and herd size weregradually made compulsory. Gone wasthe annual cycle of overwintering in

lower plateau pastures and herding upinto the alpine meadows in summer.

Mobility was crucial, moving on beforegrazing pressure destroys plants,exposing the dying turf to the icy galesand blizzards of Tibet which can stripsoil, leaving only bare rock. Nomadicknowledge of how, when and where tograze, and the nomadic willingness tolive in portable woven yak hair tents,

summer and winter, with their animals,kept the pasture free of invasive toxicweeds, erosion, shrub invasion, andinfestations of pests. None of this wasknown to China in the 1980s, except tothe nomads themselves, and no-oneasked them how they dealt with the risksof living at the third pole. It is only inthe 21st century that Chinese and

global science have caught up withwhat the nomads have always known.

In 1990s, even after implementing newgrassland policies, little changed andit became obvious that everything onthe grasslands was going wrong. Theliving turf was dying, eroding andslumping, only to be torn away in wildweather, back to bare rock or ‘blackbeach” as Chinese scientists called it.Burrowing rodent populat ionsexploded, in plague proportions.Toxic invasive weeds multiplied. Therangelands were degrading, includingthe arid area of northeastern Tibetwhere both of China’s great rivers, theYangtze and Yellow, rise from glaciermelt . Chinese scient ists andadministrators turned to just oneexplanation. The nomads were toblame. They were overstocking,beyond the carrying capacity of thepastures, and this was the cause ofdegradat ion. T he compulsoryoverstocking during the communesystem could not be discussed; it wasand is off-limits. So only one causewas possible: to blame the nomads.But some recent research revealedthat overgrazing and degradation ofthe grass lands is not enti relydependent on the grazing livestock.The herders even ta lked aboutweather changes, rodents and miningactivities as important factors causinggrassland changes.



In 2003, a grassland rehabilitationpolicy was announced. In pastoralareas this policy is referred to as the‘Restore Grassland Policy’ or ‘tuimuhuanco’ in Chinese, meaning “closingpasture to restore grasslands”. Inrecent years, moving herders from thegrasslands to state built housing hasintensified and has now become thecentral measure in protecting thesegrasslands. The land lease certificatesguaranteeing nomads long term landtenure have been nullified by the newcommand. Instantly, all their skills,r isk management s tr ategies,environmental services, traditionalknowledge and biodiver si tyconservation are gone, redundant, asif they had never existed.

For decades, the policies such as de-stocking and rodent poisoning werecarried out forcing herders to act in away contrary to their religious beliefs.It was made compulsory that oneperson from each family should joinin the drive to poison these rodents(Tibetan pika). Over the past 20 years,an areas extending 320,000 squarekilometers were poisoned! Actually,these rodents (as argued by manyresearchers), are the keystone speciesof the grasslands and that large-scalekilling may even be harmful for thegrasslands, and is almost certain toendanger other wildli fe and thebroader environment.

This new policy, ‘tuimu huancao’ likemost simple ideas, it is overly simple.It assumes the only way to conserveChina’s upper watersheds is to removeanimals and nomads. Yet China’s ownscientists have now learned, throughpatient observat ion, that thegrasslands of Tibet, when grazedmoderately and intermittently, movingherds on well before the short summergrowing season ends, actual lymaintains a higher biodiversity thanon ungrazed pastures, where toxic

Sershul, Kandze

weeds invade and b iodivers i tydeclines. It took Chinese scientists 50years to discover what the nomadshave always known, and Chinesepolicy remains far behind the latestscientific knowledge.

Now climate change has arrived,explaining everything. No longer needChina fear its past policy failures asthe cause of degradation of Tibetanrangelands. Climate change explainsall, especially in Tibet, where climatechange is happening faster than inmost parts of the planet. But the mostimmediate impact of climate change isthe exclusion of nomads from theirlands, labeling them officially as“ecologica l migrants” . Thecompulsory “ecological migration” ofthe Tibetan nomads is grounded inignorance, prejudice, a failure to listenand learn. Around the wor ld,governments increasingly recognizethat pastoral nomadic mobility holdsthe key to sustainability on the drylands of the world. There are otherso lut ions to the problems ofdegradation of Tibetan lands. Thedisplaced nomads are facing theworst of all social problems, withoutany special skills to adapt themselvesin their new urban settings, they trytheir best to earn money away from

their herds, scavenging waste, roadbuilding, laboring on official projects,se ll ing med icinal plants andmushrooms to Chinese traders.

(Footnotes)1 Requires the s tate to ensureeveryone to freely choose or accepthis living by work as well as anadequate food, clo th ing andhous ing , and to the cont inuousimprovement of living conditions.

2 Subject to its national legislation,respect , preserve and main tainknowledge, innovations andpractices of indigenous and localcommunities embodying traditionall i festy les relevant for theconservation and sustainable use ofbiological diversity and promotetheir wider application with theapproval and involvement of theholders of such knowledge,innovat ions and practices andencourage the equitable sharing ofthe benef i t s arising from theut i l ization o f such knowledge,innovations and practices.

*Mr Tenzin Norbu is the head of theEnvironment and Development Deskof the Department of Information andInternational Relations, CTA.

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Saransh Sehgal: Since your term endsthis March 2011, the entire handoverwill be given to a new leadership inexile…Kalon Tripa: It is just a usual handover,nothing special, merely a change ofgovernment. A new leadership will takeoath. A briefing by the outgoing personon the handling of current and ongoingaffairs, soon to be presumed by the newperson, is expected.

Will the new leadership face morechallenges than you have?I don’t think the future leadership willface any new challenges, whateverchallenges we have been facing willcontinue. The greatest challenge will stillbe dealing with the PRC [People’sRepublic of China] to find a solution tothe Tibet issue. This is neither an easytask, nor will it be accomplished in ashort spell of time. It will need a lot ofpatience and a lot of perseverance.

In my view, there are basically threechallenges not related to the politicalsettlement with PRC for the diasporacommunity in exile.

Standard of education: We have facilitiesto educate everyone, not just Tibetansbut the entire Indian himalayan region.What we lack are good teachers andquality education. The universalisationof education does not bring with it quality.Improving the quality of education is nota one-man job; the entire community hasto work together. We need a similarity inattitude between the parents, teachersand students, which is very difficult toachieve. We have been struggling on thisfor the last ten years. I could not leaveany satisfactory achievement in this

regard. If the quality of education is notimproved, the life of the new generationmay not be as good as we expect it to be.

Our settlements: His Holiness and thethen Indian Prime Minster Pt JawaharlalNehru both had a long term vision andplaced the Tibetan people in exile incommunities within India. They createdthese communities because India is sovast and so heavily populated that onehundred thousand Tibetan people caneasily disappear among its vastness.These settlements are, by and large,based on agriculture and a few are basedon small-scale industries. The newgeneration though is not interested inagriculture or industry-based production.They want white-colored jobs. If weintegrate these settlements, the Tibetanscan very easily assimilate with the vastmajority of Indian people and our identity,culture will be preserved. Moreover, thenew generation is now looking towardsthe West. They are not willing to remainin India, Bhutan or Nepal. It could bebecause of the higher standard of livingand an easier life in the West.

Tibetan moral character: This worries HisHoliness the Dalai Lama very much.Tibetans are considered religious-minded people who are highly moral, donot speak big lies, and do not harm otherpeople unless compelled to. Today,however, this kind of good conductappears to be in deterioration. If this islost, the value of our struggle forindependence will also be lost with it.

What is the political message that youare getting from inside Tibet?The majority of the Tibetans livinginside Tibet consider His Holiness’s

approach of the middle path the best andthe only practical way to achievefreedom for the Tibetan people. Theysincerely support the process ofnegotiations, but people inside Tibet areunder great repression and cannotexpress their views clearly to the outsideworld. One message is clear though: theyall are with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

What is your view on the current Tibettalks between the representatives of theDalai Lama and Beijing?There are two different angles fromwhich people evaluate it. One angle isthe earlier contact [the Sino-Tibetandialogue that took place in 1978–1993]between the Dharamsala and Beijing butnothing came out of it, no tangibleresults were achieved. From this angle,the talks are a complete failure.

The other angle is that the objective ofdialogue is to have contact and exchangeviews. In this regard, we have achievedquite a lot during the last nine rounds oftalks. For example, India and China havehad 15 rounds of talk on border issuesbut they are not able to agree on any oneagenda. We, on the other hand, by thesixth round of talks, had made Chinaunderstand what His Holiness was askingfor. We had also understood their way ofthinking and what their doubts andsuspicions were. During the seventhround, they were compelled to say thatHis Holiness should come out with whathe was looking for. They complained thatthey did not get it when the Dalai Lamasometimes asked for a genuineautonomy, sometimes for a higher degreeof autonomy, and at other times for ameaningful autonomy. That gave us anopportunity to explain the kind of

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autonomy the Dalai Lama is looking for,which is within the constitutionalframework of the People’s Republic ofChina and is detailed in our memorandumfor genuine autonomy. The memorandum,which was made public later, was handedto China during the eighth round of talksas a logical conclusion to the past sevenrounds.

Beijing chose to advertise thememorandum and it worked in our favoruntil they misprinted it and in 2010, wesubmitted a note, which is also in publicdomain, making it clear that we are notseeking independence or a Greater Tibet.We are only seeking constitutionalprovision of autonomy for the entireregion of Tibet. So, from this angle, thenine [including the time when the notewas submitted] rounds of talks havecome to a logical conclusion. Now, theball is in their court. It is up to China torespond and we are waiting.

On future talks, we have not yet made anyspecial efforts. To our usual contacts, wealways tell them that we are ready for around of dialogue at any time convenientto them. The Dalai Lama’s envoys are inregular contacts with Beijing. Hopefully,after April, we might have another roundof dialogue. We, however, don’t havemuch hope of a result from this presentChinese leadership under Hu Jintao.

What is your view on the recent Karmapacash controversy?A major disproportionate boil-up of thingswhich I do not appreciate, but as far as theKarmapa management is concerned, theyhave made a great mistake and that mistakehas to be acknowledged. It is a financialcrime and mismanagement, and for that,the law should take its own course. But itshould not be mixed up with the integrityof the Karmapa or with its political aspect.He was not knowledgeable of the moneyand had nothing to do with it or donationssince his arrival in India.

The Karmapa administration was veryweak. So, things have to be cleaned upand a system of accountability has tobe established. But this should becompletely disassociated from theKarmapa as a person.

Do you expect the new Prime Ministerto put forward new strategies or will s/he continue with your administrativepolicies?I have no wishes. People ask me what mywish for the future leadership is. Some askme what my advice or suggestion wouldbe. I say I have nothing of the kind. I donot want to influence in any way the mindof the new leadership. A new leadershipmust be fresh. He or she [now it’s a he]should be influenced by no one and musthave an original thinking of his/her own.Let him/her do what s/he sees is right. Themost important thing is people’s mandate,and I am asking people to support whoeverthey vote till s/he completes his/her tenureso that s/he completes his/her vision orpolicies. A freedom of mind is the mostimportant thing to have and it can only beweakened if other people encroach.

What do you think has changed intoday’s exiled Tibetan community?Fifty-one years it has been and duringthese 51 years, one thing that has changedis the generation. Sixty percent of thepeople who came in exile in 1959, peoplewho lived in Tibet and had the past Tibetexperience, people of my age or much older,have now passed away. People below theage of fifty are either born and brought upin India or are the new arrivals after 1980when Tibetan refugees started crossingthe border once again.

Tibetans born and brought up indiaspora are more or less all educated orat the least, they have passed throughthe basic school system. The newTibetan generation is literate and amajority of them go for higher educationto a BA, MA or some other programme.Therefore, certain fundamentaldifferences remain between the old andthe new generation who has not seenthe past Tibet.

The cultural heritage is very much alivethough. The older generations were ableto disseminate and hand down the cultureto the new generation. The newgeneration has a new way of looking atthings and the interests are a little different,of course. They are modern educatedpeople. They have their own lifestyle.Nevertheless, third and fourth generation

Tibetans even today know the Tibetanlanguage and lead a Tibetan style of life.Therefore, I am inclined to say that therehas not been a great change in the culturalspectrum, but some of the values of lifehas changed. For example, I say the newgeneration is more after money and easierlifestyle than the older generation is. Butthis is quite natural. And many are inclinedto go to the West to developed countries.So this, I may say are a few viewablechanges. Otherwise, we are still the same.

What do you think about the future ofthe Tibetan cause without the DalaiLama? Will there be a void when he dies?Yes and no both. His Holiness’s dynamicleadership is unparalleled. When he is nomore, there will be a great vacuum andmore psychological setback. There is adanger that people might be disheartenedand lose their self-confidence. But in spiteof this, His Holiness is cautious and ispreparing for that time. He hasdemocratized the Tibetan community andnow, there are procedures to elect a newleader. So, there won’t be a dislocation.He is now in a process of withdrawing frommuch of his roles. After March, he will retirecompletely as he says. He is not shrinkingfrom his responsibilities; he is preparingthe people for the worst time ahead.

How do you see the future path for Tibet?It is very clear. We are looking for acomplete implementation of the nationalregional autonomy provision enshrinedin the present constitution of thePeople’s Republic of China. If this issincerely implemented, it is goodenough for the preservation of theTibetan culture, religion and identity.

What is your future role in the exilecommunity?As a citizen of Tibet, my role is the sameas of every other Tibetan: the strugglefor Tibet’s autonomy.

Saransh Sehgal is based inDharamsala, India and writes on Tibet’sgeopolitics. He can be reached [email protected].

http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/4280-sitting-down-with-the-tibetan-prime-minister-in-exile.html

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Sangay Gyatso, a monk who played aleading role in the widely-coveredprotest staged infront of a visitinginternational media contingent in easternTibet during the 2008 peaceful uprisings,passed away on February 26, 2011.

According to a report received by theCentral Tibetan Administration, SangayGyatso succumbed to physical andmental trauma suffered during his year-long escape in the hills to evadegovernment persecution.

Defying intense restrictions by theChinese government, Sangay, 41, and hiscolleagues on April 4, 2008 at LabrangMonastery spoke to a group of foreignjournalists who were on a statesponsored visit.

Fearing arrest by the Chinesegovernment, he fled and spent more thana year in the hills facing insurmountablehardship. Lack of proper foodcompounded by mental trauma left himdebilitated and bedridden. When hiscondition kept worsening, his familyadmitted him to a hospital in Xining fromwhere he was taken to another hospitalfor surgery. The hospital discharged him,saying there was no hope for his recovery,

Sangay Gyatso (1st left) speaking to foreign journalists about repression of human rights bythe Chinese government during a peaceful protest in Labrang in Amdo Province innortheastern Tibet on 9 April 2008

Sangay Gyatso, a leadingprotester in 2008 Tibetuprising, dies

Tibetan Parliament-in-Exileexpresses grief over thedemise of Mr Dashi Tamdin

The Tibetan Parliament-in-Exileexpressed grief over the passing awayof Mr Dashi Tamdin, a former jointsecretary of the parliamentarysecretariat. Mr Tamdin breathed his lastafter a prolonged illness in New York onDecember 21, 2010.

The Tibetan Parliament in itscondolence message said, “The TibetanParliament in Exile mourns the demiseof former Joint Secretary of the TibetanParliamentary Secretariat Mr. DashiTamdin due to a prolonged illness.

Mr Dashi Tamdin began his service atthe Central Tibetan Administration in1974 at the Department of Finance.During his long career as a civil servant,Mr Dashi served under variouscapacities at the Department of Securityand the Tibetan ParliamentarySecretariat. He applied for earlyretirement in 2003.

The Standing Committee of the TibetanParliament in exile in its condolencemessage to the family of the deceased,expressed deep appreciation for theservices that the late Tamdin la hasrendered for the Tibetan cause andprayed for peace for the departed soul.

and the Chinese police also did not arresthim for that reason.

Sangay spent his remaining days in hishome and passed away on 26 February2011. He is survived by his old parents,both of whom are septuagenarians.

Sangay was born in 1969 in a nomadicfamily in Labrang Tashikhyil. He wasordained at the age of 16 and began hisreligious studies at Labrang Monastery.In 1991 he joined Drepung LoselingMonastery in India to pursue hisstudies. Unfortunately, he had to returnto Tibet as his health could not adapt tothe environment in India.

Like Sangay Gyatso, many Tibetans inTibet are forced to leave their homes toescape torture by the Chinese authorities.

An estimated 227 Tibetans have diedsince March 2008. Over 6,810 Tibetanshave been arrested and detained and atleast 510 Tibetans sentenced withoutfair trial and independent legalrepresentation since March 10, 2008.

A total of seven Tibetans have beensentenced to death since then - two withimmediate death sentence who weresubsequently executed and five arecurrently facing suspended deathsentence or death sentence with a two-year reprieve. All defendants are youngTibetans below the age of 30.

Late Mr Dashi Tamdin

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Ever since March, the issue ofTibet and the Olympics havebeen stirred up together, drawing

the attention of the entire world. Shortsighted politicians in our own countryhave been pleased that their pettyschemes to stir up nationalist sentimenthave been so successful. This not onlymanipulates domestic opinion but alsouses so-called “mainstream publicopinion” to oppose the criticisms comingfrom international society. On the otherhand, this serves to push for theconsolidation of the situation in Tibet inthe hope of getting through the Olympicspeacefully. They did not realize that theTibet issue has already become a majorfactor affecting China’s future. Solvingthe Tibet issue will take courage and greatwisdom. Petty scheming could ruin Tibetand ruin China.

How did the Tibet issue arise?The Tibet issue is first of all a humanrights issue.

Although the authorit ies are notwilling to admit it, I want to say itplainly. This problem that plagues theleadership of the Communist Party, ifwe look at its origin, was created bythe Chinese Communist Party itself asthe ruler of China.

We don’t have to look too far back inhistory. Whether in fact the relationshipbetween the Tibet government andBeijing from the Yuan Dynasty to theQing Dynasty was one of relatives or ofequals is a matter of dispute amongacademics. For now, we don’t need topay any attention to controversy. Whatis most important is that from 1912onwards, Tibet was for a long period ina de facto “state of independence”. Thatsituation continued until 1951 when theTibet local government signed anagreement with the Beijing centralgovernment — the “Seventeen Point

Agreement on the Peaceful Liberationof Tibet”. The document was moderateand constructive. The agreementstressed that Tibet is part of China butalso recognized that Tibet’s currentsystem would not change and that theDalai Lama’s position would not change.We can call that the earliest version of“One Country, Two Systems” incontemporary China.

In 1954, the 19 year-old Dalai Lama and16-year old Panchen Lama both went toBeijing to take part in the First NationalPeople’s Congress, attending ashonored guests of Mao Zedong. Theywere appointed Vice Chair of the NPCand Vice Chair of the National People’sConsultative Congress, respectively.Tibet’s future seemed bright. Problemsbegan to appear in 1955. Mao Zedong’sutopian socialist social transformationbegan to accelerate that year. Ripplesspread from the Chinese interior toChangdu and the Tibetan areas ofSichuan, Yunnan, Qinghai, and GansuProvinces. In these areas, which werenot bound by the 17 Point Agreement,“democratic reform” broke out on aspectacular scale. Radical localCommunist Party leaders sought to carryout “democratic reform” and “socialist

transformation” simultaneously so as“to make spectacular progress in justone step”. They struck hard against themasters of the serfs and their“representatives”, confiscating thelands and property of monasteries andforcing collectivization, slandering thereligious beliefs of Tibetan people, andforcing upper class people, lamas andmonks to “reform their thinking”.

The result was that they stirred updissatisfaction and resistance among theTibetan people. During 1956 – 1958,armed conflicts in the Tibetan areas grewlarger and larger in scale. When one diedout another arose but were soon wereput down by campaigns by the PLA toput down rebellion and wipe out rebels.Tens of thousands of Kam and Amdoregion Tibetans fled across the JinshaRiver into Tibet. This sowed the seedsfor the 1959 Lhasa “rebellion”. Thesehistorical circumstances led to the“rebellion” and indeed were a necessarycondition for that event to occur.

There is no need to go into detail aboutwhat happened after that. The victorious“suppression of the rebellion” at Lhasashowed that the central government hadachieved absolute control of all theTibetan areas including Tibet itself. Italso marked the rapid move of Tibettowards “socialism”. Chinese of my agegrew up hearing songs like “The RedSun is rising about the snowymountains” and seeing movies like“Serfs”. In those days we really believedthat under the leadership of theCommunist Party “the serfs have beenliberated” and were living happy lives.Later, after reading a lot of historicalmaterials, I learned that there were manyuntruths in the propaganda.

The dictatorship system of the CommunistParty, the arrogance and ignorance ofleaders, and the extreme leftist policies

The author Zhang Boshu in an undated photo

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pursued by them in the Tibetan areasbrought terrible disasters to both thereligious and lay people of Tibet. In 1962,the Panchen Lama, who was ranked as a“national leader,” wrote a letter to PremierZhou Enlai expressing his deep sorrow atwhat he had seen and heard of thesuffering of the Tibetan people. Since thePanchen Lama was certainly not opposedto the leadership of the Communist Party,and was loyally and faithfully reporting tothe Party the actual situation in the Tibetanareas, this letter known as the “70,000Character Document” can be seen as adocument that accurately reflects thedifficult situation of the Tibetan peopleduring those years. I might as well quotefrom it here:

— On “class struggle” in the Tibetanareas: “In most or in many areas, thecadres didn’t care if the campaign wasplanned or carried out well. They wereintent on making a spectacular displaythat would strike terror in people. Theydidn’t care if they attacked the rightpeople. The objective was to do thecampaign on a big scale and achievenumerical targets.” They attacked manypeople whom they shouldn’t haveattacked. Often “those who were theobjects of struggle meetings had notdone anything particularly bad orcommitted serious errors. So they hadto make up many false and seriousaccusations. They exaggerated at will,turning truth and falsehood upsidedown.” Many innocent people wereforced to flee abroad against their will.Those who stayed behind lived in terror.

– On the lives of the people in the Tibetanareas: “Because of the rise in theagricultural areas of the five unhealthytendencies [Tr. Note: post Great LeapForward Party critique of GLF excesses— wu feng over-egalitarianism, thecommon practice of exaggeration,confused orders, too many compulsoryorders, and special privileges] andexcessively tight controls on grain, andthe standards for the amount of grainthe people could retain was set too low,a severe grain shortage resulted, …andmany households had no grain. In someareas some people even starved to death.Formerly Tibet was a dark and barbarous

feudal society but there had never beena shortage of grain like that, especiallysince Buddhism permeated the society,everyone rich and poor, had the customof helping the poor and giving alms.People could easily support themselvesas a beggar, so we never knew of anyoneever having starved to death.”

– Implementation of “dictatorship”resulted in the improper deaths of manyprisoners: After the “suppression of therebellion”, the proportion of prisonersin the Tibetan population reachedseveral percent, something completelyunprecedented. In 1959, Chairman Maoset forth a policy that since thepopulation of Tibet was small, peopleshouldn’t be killed or at most only a fewpeople should be killed. But in fact, justthe opposite happened. Except for thesomewhat better treatment of imprisonedmembers of the upper classes, mostpeople who were locked up in prisonendured very bad conditions. The prisonwardens didn’t care about the lives orhealth of the prisoners. They oftenverbally abused and savagely beatprisoners. Moreover, wardensdeliberately moved prisoners back andforth between very warm and cold placesso that the prisoners could not adaptand their clothes were alwaysunsuitable. Their clothes could not keepthem warm, their mattresses were notwaterproof, and the wind and rain

entered their cells. They never gotenough to eat, living in miserableconditions, yet they still had to get upearly to do work. The hardest work wasalways given to these people. Theybecame worn out physically, often camedown with diseases. As a result of norest and inadequate medical care, manyprisoners died who should not have.

–On religion and nationalities issues:“Under the so-called ‘elimination ofsuperstition’, the first priority wasopposing religion. The second prioritywas destroying images of the Buddha,Buddhist scriptures, and stupas.” Whenthey demanded that monks and nunsreturn to secular lives, “first in all thetemples and monasteries, under thepretext of ‘study’ and ‘mobilization’, theybrought all the monks and nuns togetherinto a large hall or room, and made themstudy nervously day and night, forcingthem to criticize each other in order tocreate a big wave of sharp struggles andattacks. People who openly express theirbelief in religion were given labels suchas a superstitious element or someonewho doesn’t like the revolution. Theywere constantly attacked without rhymeor reason. Even worse, in some placesthey made the lamas stand on one sideand nuns and lay religious women standon the other. They were then forced tochose each other in marriage. In Tibet,there were originally over 2500 temples.

The 10th Panchen Lama undergoing a Cultural Revolution struggle session in Tibet's capitalLhasa in 1964

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After ‘democratic reform’ there were only70 left. Originally there were 110,000monks and nuns. Ten thousand fledabroad, leaving 100,000 behind. After‘democratic reform’ there were only 7000monks and nuns left. What especiallycannot be condoned is that in someareas there was deliberate desecrationand insults to religion such as theBuddhist Canon used for compost.Many paintings of the Buddha andscriptures were used to make shoes orother objects. There is absolutely noreason for this. Because there were manyinsane things done that even a lunaticwouldn’t do, people in all classes ofTibetan society were deeply shaken.Their emotions were in chaos and theybecame exceedingly sad and shed tears.They said ‘Our land has been made intoa dark place,’ quoting a Tibetan proverbthat means ‘a place without religion’”.

Alas, when I read these characters, myown heart bleeds and my face burns.

Most of these problems also existed inthe Chinese interior as well. But theywere more serious in Tibet. They weremore extreme and more widespread there.No matter how well-meaning or noblewas the initial motivation of those inpower was to use their social ideals totransform Tibetan society was, itsshocking results are all crimes. These arecrimes that resulted from ignorance,arrogance, rage and violence.

Under these circumstances, the over100,000 Tibetans who fled to India andother foreign countries called upon theentire world to support the human rightsof Tibetans. Therefore the Tibet issuebecame a symbolic issue for the entireworld. What can be surprising aboutthat? Moreover, this was going on duringthe Cold War and so in the minds ofwestern people, Tibet became a focalpoint in the game of competing nationalinterests in which China, the SovietUnion, India, the United States and othercountries were engaged.

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency didin fact provide funding, technical andother support to Tibetans in exile. Thatwas part of the effort of the United States

to contain the “spread of communism”.Chinese can of course curse the damnAmericans for plotting to “split China”without revealing their real intentions. Buton the other hand, if the Communist Partyhad not done so many stupid things inTibet and forced Tibetans to flee intoexile, what would other people have beenable to say? What pretext could they haveto butt in? I haven’t even mentioned theCultural Revolution. That “historicallyunprecedented” “revolution,” because itwas even redder and even further left,was even more extreme and more cruel.Of course it created even greater disastersfor the Tibetan people. I won’t discussthem here.

Enlightened Communist PartyLeaders Once Reflected on the“Leftist” Misfortunes thatBrought Disaster to Tibet

Objectively speaking, there has been noshortage of enlightened people withinthe Chinese Communist Partyleadership. At different times and indifferent positions they have opposed

leftist work methods in Tibet. However,under these historical circumstances,they could achieve only limited results.Xi Zhongxun, from northwestern China,was a Vice Premier and Secretary Generalof the State Council in the 1960s. He wasresponsible for contact with thePanchen Lama. He made a very completereport to the State Council about the howthe “Seventy Thousand CharacterDocument” came to be written by thePanchen and so was charged with“accommodating and not interfering withthe Panchen. The Tenth session of theEighth Congress of the Communist Partydismissed Xi Zhongxun and, in additionto the major crime of “using a novel toattack the Communist Party,” alsocharged him with “accommodating andnot interfering with the Panchen.”

Another dismissed, high-levelCommunist Party official was Li Weihan,who was an old communist who had beenhead of the United Front Departmentsince 1947. During April and May 1962,at a Nationalities Work Conference heldin Beijing, some of the nationalities

Red guards burning Tibetan Buddhist scriptures at Jokhang, Tibet’s holiest shrine

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religious figures offered some sharpcriticisms. Li Weihan remained calm andhonestly said that he welcomed criticismfrom everyone. He praised the talk of theTibetan Buddhist Lama Xijiashenzhi[romanization of Chinese name], sayingthat he was “open and above board, with“a heart as clear as a mirror” and standsas a symbol of “patriotism in the area ofnational minorities religious affairs”. LiWeiquan’s action was later severelycriticized by Mao Zedong who said that“The United Front Department isneglecting the class struggle and isbeing capitulationist.”

After the end of the Cultural Revolution,many issues in Tibetan affairs wereneglected. Nationalities policy and therelationship between the Han nationalityand the Tibetan nationality needed tobe adjusted and the lives of Tibetansneeded to be improved. In May 1980,just after Hu Yaobang had becomeGeneral Secretary of the ChineseCommunist Party, Hu and Wan Li flew toTibet for an inspection visit. On theplane, Hu said to the accompanyingXinhua News Agency journalists: “Inour policies in the national minorityareas, we must always seek truth fromfacts, and adjust measures to suit localconditions so as to fully respect theautonomy the Tibetans have to governtheir minority area themselves. That isthe crux of all the Tibet issues.” On May29, in the work report that Hu Yaobangpresented at the meeting with the cadresof the Tibetan Autonomous Region, hestressed that the development ofTibetan must resolve “six big issues”.

The first is, under the unified leadershipof the center, to fully implement theautonomy rights in the nationalitiesareas. “Any document, order orregulation which is not suitable for theconditions of Tibet should not beimplemented.” “You should according toyour own characteristics, draft specificdecrees, laws and regulations, and rulesto protect the special interests of yourown nationality.” The second: “Underthe present difficult conditions in Tibet,you should carry out a policy ofrecuperation and rebuilding andconsiderably reduce the burden on the

people.” “We have decided that withinseveral years required purchases byTibetans will be abolished.” Third:“Tibet should implement special flexiblepolicies to promote the development ofproduction.” Fourth: “Devote theresources that the state is providing toTibet to the development of agricultureand herding and the daily necessitiesmost needed by Tibetan people.” Fifth:“With the condition that the socialistroad be followed, develop science,technology and education in Tibet.”

Hu Yaobang especially stressed:“Looking down on Tibetan history,language and art is totally wrong…Loving the minority people is not amatter of empty words. Their socialcustoms and habits must be respected.Respect their language, respect theirhistory, respect their culture. If you don’tdo that you are only speaking emptywords.” Finally, Tibetan cadres shouldmanage Tibet. Within two years,Tibetans should make up two-thirds ormore of the cadres in Tibet. “We havebeen here for thirty years. We havecompleted our historical mission.”“Today there are 300,000 ethnic Han,including military, in Tibet. How can thatever do?” The above can be summarizedin six characters “cut taxes, open up, and

withdraw personnel”. These were the“emergency measures” energeticallypromoted by Hu Yaobang to resolve theTibet issue.

These views, strong criticisms of socialevils, were enthusiastically welcomed inthe Tibetan areas. Of course because ofhistorical conditions, the enlightenedleaders of the Chinese Communist Partywere unable to discuss and considerinstitutional perspectives on theproblems that occurred in Tibet. HuYaobang in his May 29th speech saidthat we should not look back on the pastbut rather “unify ourselves and look tothe future”.4 This reflects Hu Yaobang’sexperience and resourcefulness and thefrustrations of a generation of reformersin the Chinese Communist Party. Afterall, the many of the tragedies incontemporary Tibetan history aredirectly linked to the Communist Partysystem and the social policies that thatParty carried out. This is all a result ofthese policies. If we do not reflect uponthe origins of the Tibet issue, then wewill not be able to resolve it.

New Symptoms Arose in the TibetIssue During the Years of ReformWith opening and reform, especially sincethe early 1990s and the turn of the new

Chinese propaganda posters from the 1960s show happy smiling Tibetans with bumperharvests—enthusiastically parading around wheatfields with Mao Zedong pictures. But inreality tens of thousands of Tibetans starved to death. China's disastrous agricultural policiesled to severe famine in Tibet.

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century, the Chinese economy has grownvery quickly. The central government hasalso certainly invested a lot of capital inTibet and devised a series of specialpreferential policies and measures toaccelerate the development of Tibet.There have been direct state investmentconstruction projects, Chinese centralgovernment financial subsidies, andsupport for projects from partners aroundthe country for the modernization andconstruction of Tibet. The overalleconomic level of Tibet has improvedconsiderably as a result. However thepolitical structure has remained the sameas before with the Party exercising controlover political, economic, cultural, andreligious affairs just as before. Anautonomous region in name, but in actualfact, autonomy was in the samelamentable state as before. The core ofthe Tibet issue has not been truly solved,and under the new social conditions avariety of new problems have arisen.

The market economy has become aneconomy controlled by influentialpeople. It is that way in the Chineseinterior, and it is that way in Tibet. Theblending of the system of Partydictatorship and the policy of openingup created a new privileged stratum thatincludes Han and as well as Tibetanswho have positions in Party andgovernment institutions and culturalinstitutions. Faced with swarms ofmerchants coming from the Chineseinterior, many ordinary Tibetans inLhasa and other areas fell discriminatedagainst and marginalized.

Even worse is the all encompassingcontrol of religious affairs. On thesurface, religious life in Tibet has alreadybeen restored. The state spent greatsums repairing damage and protectingsymbolic Buddhist structures, thetemples are filled with burning incense.The Buddhist Canon will never again beused for compost. But this is just thesurface of things. There is a deeperreality that is hidden behind these thingsas if beneath a mask.

The independent scholar Wang Lixionghas done much research on, and takenmany trips to, Tibet. His conclusion: In

Tibet there is no true religious freedom.On one hand, the government strictlycontrols the registration of religiousactivities in the temples, limits religiouspersonnel to a certain “authorizedpersonnel complement”, and forbids tiesbetween temples. Religious activitiesoutside the temples are forbidden. Onthe other hand, spontaneous religiousactivities outside government control arerigorously suppressed so that they willnot have any influence.

In the Kang region of [Tr. note:ethnographic] Tibet, not far from thecounty seat of Sela County, is themountain valley of Larong with itsWuming Buddhist Institute [Tr. note: alsoknown as the Sertar Tibetan BuddhistInstitute, Sertar, Ganzi TibetanAutonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, China.When founded in 1980, there were only30 or so people at the Institute. At theend of the 1990s, there were nearly 10,000Tibetan and Han monks there. Thisworried the Chinese government. Theauthorities ordered that they reduce thenumber of personnel from the authorizednumber of 4000 nuns to just 400 and 4000monks to just 1000. All the 1000 Han whohad come to study Buddhism were forcedto leave. This requirement was rejectedby the Living Buddha who ran theInstitute because to make a monk returnto secular life involves a serious violationof vows. The government took action,

sending people to destroy the housingof the monks. On July 10, 2001 during theheight of the destruction of monastichousing, 1700 monastic cells weredestroyed in a single day. “I have heardpeople describe that scene, the soundsof houses being destroyed, the dustrising up everywhere, on one side onethousand nuns crying, as if the world itselfwere shaking. In the area around theWuming Buddhist Academy were manynuns in groups in the countryside hidingout to avoid pursuit by the government.

An even more deadly consequence ofthe strict control of religion has beenbreaks in the transmission of TibetanBuddhism. Traditional Tibetan religionhas an internal control mechanism. Forexample, although their is a reincarnationsystem for the Dalai and the Panchen,but in the Geluga School, eminent monksand heads of monasteries have a setterm of office. They are chosen fromamong the most learned lamas. Thewinners in the competition can becomethe head of the Ganden Monastery —that is a natural teacher for the DalaiLama and the Panchen Lama. Thissystem has continued for severalhundred years without a break, therebyensuring the authenticity in thetransmission of the teachings of TibetanBuddhism from generation to generationand ensuring as well the excellentcharacter of eminent monks. But since

The sprawling campus of the Serthar Buddhist Institute in Kanze, eastern Tibet, before itsdismantling in 2001 housed over 10,000 monks and nuns from all over Asia

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1959 this continuous process has beeninterrupted. From the 1980s to thepresent, although on the surfacereligious activities have been renewed,it has become hard to find a trace of thevery core of the religion — the piousbeliefs of eminent monks, deep researchinto Buddhism and teaching aimed atenlightening all sentient beings.

The governing authorities operate a“reverse elimination” selection systemamong the leaders of the monks. “Anymonk leader who insists on religiousprinciples, refuses to be a tool of theauthorities, will be subject to pressure andpurging or even sentenced to prison as awarning to other clergy. Any monk with arelatively high traditional rank who keepssilent and doesn’t cause trouble is acandidate for recruitment by the UnitedFront Department. He will be givenrewards but a club will be always be readyto intimidate him. Any monk willing toput personal advancement first, who isopportunistic, gives up religiousprinciples, and willing to be a tool of thegovernment will be given all sorts ofadvantages, membership in the NationalPeople’s Congress, the National People’sConsultative Congress or even highergovernment positions. The green light willbe given for their activities, resources willbe provided so that they will be a modelwho can draw in other leaders among themonks.” In sum, therefore, although theChinese Communists boast of religiousfreedom but their religious policy is aimedat the destruction of Buddhism, no lessthan it was in the days of Mao Zedong.Mao Zedong wanted to completelyextirpate Buddhism. In Tibetan historythere were eras when Buddhism wasextirpated yet Buddhism still continuedbecause the religion lived in the hearts ofbelievers and so could not be destroyedby an external force. Today theCommunist Party religious policy aims atthe degeneration of the monk stratum ofTibetan society. This is a mortal dangerto Buddhism.”

As a consequence of all this, althoughTibet has made considerable economicprogress over the past thirty years andthe lives of ordinary Tibetans haveimproved, Tibetans are still dissatisfied

and “events” occur over and over againin the Tibetan regions. The Tibetanissue is still “an issue” that is the focusof constant international attention. Theevents that have occurred since Marchare just new developments in the courseof this ongoing transformation.

Demonizing the Dalai Lama isExtremely Stupid

After the “hitting, smashing, stealingand burning” event of March 14, theChinese government immediatelyannounced that this was instigated bythe “Dalai Clique”. When in April therewas interference with the transmissionof the torch, the authorities againasserted that the “Dalai Clique” hadinstigated “Tibet independenceelements”, with the aim of destroying theOlympic Games, in order to further thecause of “Tibet independence”.

The “human rights issue” wassubstituted for the “independenceissue” to serve the needs of people inauthority. This is easy to see. But intheir effort to dump this pile of shit onthe head of the Dalai Lama, we can seehow preposterous the traditionalpolitical logic of the Chinesecommunists is. This also reveals thatthe rulers lack a long term strategicvision and political wisdom.

The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader ofTibetan Buddhism. He is also one of themost famous political figures in theworld. The year the Dalai Lama fled Tibethe was 24 years old. In half a century ofexile, this ethnic Tibetan sage hasblended the essence of Buddhism,magnanimity, liberal democracy andother universal values of contemporarycivilization. Already in 1987, the DalaiLama proposed the “Five Point PeaceProposal” which includes thesuggestion that Tibet become a “peacezone”, that “China end its policy ofmoving settlers into Tibet”, that therebe “respect for the human rights anddemocratic rights of the Tibetan people”,that the government “restore and protectTibet’s natural environment”, and thatthe two sides “hold sincere talks aboutthe future status of Tibet and the

relationship between the Tibetan peopleand the Chinese people”.

In 1988, the Dalai Lama also made the“Strasbourg Proposal”, which proposedthat “Tibet should become a self-ruleddemocratic political entity in union withthe People’s Republic of China, in which“the Chinese government would beresponsible for Tibet’s external affairs,but Tibet could establish officesoverseas for the religious and culturalaspects of foreign relations” etc.

During the last seven years, the DalaiLama has at many times and in manyplaces stated clearly that he does notseek Tibet independence, only realautonomy for Tibet. On the methods andways of achieving this he strongly callsfor a peaceful “middle way”, whichwould involve honest dialog with thecentral government and negotiations toresolve issues. Ever since 2002, the DalaiLama’s special envoy has met withrepresentatives of the United FrontDepartment in Beijing six times in orderto explain to the ruling Communist Partyrulers the “middle way position” but hasnot gotten any response to the proposal.

The rigid stance of the ChineseCommunist Party is very easy tounderstand from their political tradition.The institutional arrangements for Tibethave already been decided. So what is thereto talk about? Accepting the so-called“autonomy” of the Dalai Lama would shakethe foundations of the party-state, so therecan be no yielding on this point. Therefore,“talks” are for the Communist side just aperfunctory exercise and only done forshow, and so of course there can be noconcrete results from them. Yet thesedelays cause more and more difficultiesfor the Dalai Lama since he has to explainthings to both the Tibetan exiles and tobelievers within Tibet.

There are many different organizationsand groups among the Tibetans in exilewith different political positions. Thereare radical ones like the “Tibet YouthCongress” which has attracted a lot ofattention lately. It’s political position isvery different from the Dalai Lama’s“Middle Way”. The Tibet Youth

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Congress was founded in 1970 mostlyby second and third generation Tibetexiles. Membership is now several tensof thousands with organizations in 40countries. At the outset the Tibet YouthCongress stood for non-violence, but ishas changed its position over the pastseveral years. At its 2007 annual meeting,the leader of the Congress said that thenon-violence propounded by the DalaiLama is good, but he has been sayingthis for many years without result. “Verymany people don’t believe in it. Theysay it doesn’t work.” If it doesn’t work ,then what? The Tibet Youth Congressis inclined to use violence to solve theproblem, including preparing a “popularuprising movement” in the Tibetanareas. It is said that over 700 Tibetanshave volunteered and that they arewilling to give up their lives to protectwhat they “stand for”.

The Dalai Lama has stated clearly that heopposes any scheme or action involvingthe use of violence. He said that if suchan act should occur, he may have to“resign” to show his true position.Several days ago, the Dalai during aninterview with Asia Week [YazhouZhoukan] said that he believes that givingup the Middle Way of setting aside effortsto achieve Tibet independence in favorof seeking a high degree of autonomy isstill the mainstream view of Tibetans inexile as well as the mainstream view ofpeople in the Tibetan areas. As for theTibet Youth Congress, the Dalai Lamasaid that he can only admonish the TibetYouth Congress not to take the radicalroad. However, he has no way to orderthe Tibet Youth Congress to shut up.

Beijing may not completely trust thestatements of the Dalai Lama becauseovercoming political enmity built up overa long time will take time and face-to-face communication. However,indiscriminately demonizing the otherside, charging that the Dalai Lama is thecommander in the “Tibet independencecamp” and should certainly be punishedby the entire nation, and reviled byeveryone, can only put the Dalai Lamain a difficult situation (while he is tryingto put pressure on radical forces amongTibetans) and lead the Chinese

communists into a political dead end(frozen into the rigid face of the dictator),giving up the freedom of maneuverneeded in political negotiations. Isn’tthis an extremely stupid way to behave?!

Yet, in the final analysis, this is theobstinate and stubborn traditionalpolitical logic that haunts the CommunistParty. According to this logic, there canbe no equal negotiating partners. Therecan only be enemies locked in a life anddeath struggle. Even worse is how therulers are haunted by their own logic ofinterests — for according to this logic,Tibet “autonomy” is intolerable. It wouldbe a fundamental threat to the party-state,and a threat to a large group that benefitsfrom this system. Considered in terms ofthese two logics, the demonization of theDalai Lama becomes easy to understand.But where is justice? What are theprospects for the great family of thepeoples of China? Considering the puerileand shallow “patriotism” and“nationalism” shown in the recentturbulent tide of meticulously plannedand instigated demonstrations in bothChina and abroad by the new “Boxers”,as well as the very deep problems facingthe country, one is left with a bitter andconfused taste in one’s mouth andtroubled deep into sleepless nights.

The Solution to the Tibet issueShould be Sought Within aConstitutional Framework

The Tibet issue is first of all a humanrights issue. But it is not only a humanrights issue. Abuses of human rights arean “effect”, not a “cause”. An irrationalsystem of political dictatorship is whatcaused the “Tibet issue.”

Didn’t the Communist Party initially seekto help the Tibetan people and the million“liberated serfs”? I believe that this istrue. Yet the history of the world is fullof examples of evil deeds done with goodintentions. During the late Qing, thecourt made great reforms in Tibetanaffairs and promoted reforms in order toprevent the great powers fromcontinuing to encroach upon Tibet. In1907, Zhang Yintang gave to the QingCourt “Twenty-four proposals for the

governance of Tibet”. During 1905 –1911, in the the provinces of Sichuan andKang, a reform to “change from indirectcontrol through local chiefs to directcontrol by the central government”. Thepurpose in addition to consolidatingQing rule was to transform socialtraditions for the “good of” ordinaryTibetans. However, these “reforms” werestrongly resisted by Tibetan people. Halfa century later the Communist Party didthe same thing in the Tibetan areas,albeit more systematically and with moredetermination. The result was largerscale harm to the people, religion andculture of the Tibetan areas.

In fact, history has already shown thatChina’s 20th century communistrevolution was a mistake. It was a bigwrong turn during a century of socialtransformation. It not only broughtmisfortune to the Han nationality, it alsobrought misfortune to the minoritypeoples. Today, people are thinkingdeeply about that history. Things that arepast cannot be called back. But we shouldremember the lessons of history, and lookat the issues of today and tomorrow witha scientific attitude. This is theresponsibility of the present generation.

Respect for the fundamental rights ofcitizens, and respect for the distinctivecultures and traditions must beimplemented in a constitutional politicalsystem. This is the basic path for solvingthe Tibet issue.

Recently Taiwan successfully changedthe ruling party for the second time. Thisshows the superiority of the democraticsystem of government. It alsodemonstrates the necessity and urgencyof changing the political system on theChinese mainland. Clearly, the partydictatorship system of the ChineseCommunist Party cannot accommodateunification between Taiwan and themainland, just as it cannot accommodatetrue autonomy for Tibet. Only bydissolving the present system andcreating a constitutional democraticsystem in accordance with the universalvalues and principles of moderncivilization can the day come whenTaiwan finally returns to the motherland,

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Tibet achieves true autonomy, and Hanand Tibetans get along with each otherin harmony.

From the beginning of the 1960s, theTibetan government-in-exile inDharamasala, India started to experimentat building a system of democraticgovernment. In his Strasbourg Proposal,the Dalai Lama said that “the Tibetangovernment should be composed of anindependent administration andlegislature chosen by the vote of allcitizens and a court system.” The DalaiLama even proposed changing theTibetan form of government thatcombines politics and religion. He didn’tworry if he might become the “last Dalai”in Tibetan history.10 Tibetans havealready made preparations for ademocratic political system. Shouldn’tthe central government in Beijing makesimilar preparations?

Certainly for the Chinese Communistdecision-makers who now hold power,changing the present system andcreating a new institutional frameworkwould take a great deal of courage andwisdom. This would not be just for Tibetor for Taiwan; it would be for all the 1.3billion citizens of the People’s Republicof China. To be honest, even after China

has established a constitutional form ofgovernment, finding the reasonablesharing of jurisdiction between thecentral government and the nationalitiesareas will not be easy.

I once wrote an article entitled “TwoTrack Republican System: A Proposal forthe Reform of the Chinese System ofConstitutional Government”. In thisarticle I pointed out that it is anuncontested fact that the “division ofpowers” and “autonomy” strengthen therights consciousness of citizens andincreases their participation in publicaffairs (in the nationalities areas,autonomy also helps preserve thecultural traditions of nationalities andprotects their special interests). Yet thereis another aspect to this problem, that isthe tendency of interests to expand andthe “logic of collective interests”. Thelatter will certainly create some“problems of the commons” which willhave to be solved by the intervention ofa public power at a higher level that isabove local interests, especiallyintervention by the central government.

Returning to the present, there is still achance for the central government tosolve the Tibet issue. That can be doneby conducting genuine negotiations with

the Dalai Lama. Recently Beijing hasalready said that it is willing to resumecontact. That is good. Even if it is just apose, it is positive. Everyone hopes thatthe takes can produce genuine results soas to create a harmonious bridge betweenthe Han and Tibetan peoples while theDalai Lama is still alive. If this issue is nothandled well, then “splitting” mightbecome a real and present danger.

As a Chinese citizen, I naturally don’twant to see Tibet split off from thehousehold of our motherland. Weshould believe that the trend of humancivilization is towards unifying ratherthan towards splitting. Unity is helpfulfor solving many of the problems thathumanity is faced with. As a Chineseproverb goes, the melon that is grabbedroughly cannot be sweet — unity needsto be a voluntary unity based upon acommunity of interests. Forcedcompliance cannot produce goodresults. This simple truth can also beapplied to politics.

(*Zhang was born in Beijing in 1955.He received an MA in economics fromZhongguo Renmin Daxue in 1982 andin 1985 passed the entranceexamination for the Institute ofPhilosophy of the graduate school ofthe Chinese Academy of SocialSciences. His research has been oncritical theory in continental Europein modern western philosophy. Heobtained MA and PhD degrees inphilosophy in 1988 and 1991. He hasheld a post in the Philosophy Instituteof the Chinese Academy of SocialSciences from 1991 to present. In recentyears he has striven to understand thelessons of success and failure in thehistory of the past century of China’sdemocratic transition and institutionalmodernization. He has gradually settledupon criticism of 20th Century Chinesedespotism as his main research topic.

This assessment by Zhang Boshu wastranslated for China Digital Timesby a reader who wishes to remainanonymous.

This article was written April 22 – 28,2008 in Beijing.)

Thousands of Tibetans have been arrested in connection with the peaceful protests that sweptacross the plateau since March 10, 2008. Above is a screen grab of a public sentencing rallyheld in Ngaba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, and broadcast on state-runtelevision. The letters on the screen say “Hold high the banner of maintaining stability”.

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London Metropolitan University, London UK offers one scholarship for either an Undergraduate or Postgraduate for TibetanRefugee students every year. Those interested should apply directly to the LMU branch office in India taking into considerationthe following:

1. Check LMU website: www.londonmet.ac.uk/howtoapply for eligibility criteria and application details.2. Download Application forms from their website: www.londonmet.ac.uk or apply online.3. Interested Applicants should visit either of their branch offices at Delhi and Chennai (which ever is closest to you) forsubmission of forms or further information.4. Last date for submission of LMU Application form & relevant documents is 31st May for Fall Admission & 31st October forSpring Admission respectively.5. Applicants who receive Letter of Conditional Offer should submit the following to the Department of Education of the CentralTibetan Administration (CTA) Dharamsala, H.P.

a. A bonafide certificate stating that you are a Tibetan Refugee student holding a valid Residential Certificate (RC)from any one of the following:

i. School Principalii. Settlement / Welfare Officer

b. Photocopies of:i. Letter of Conditional Offerii. Photocopy of LMU Direct Application Formsiii. Applicant’s valid Residential Certificate (RC) duly extended with attestation by Settlement Officeriv. Applicant’s valid Green Book (GB) duly paid with attestation by Settlement Officer

6. Applicants need to produce IELTS/TOEFL score for those who have not scored more than 70% in English at Class X & XII.7. The Department of Education CTA will endorse the application once formality no. 5 is completed and accordingly recommendthe list of eligible candidates to the LMU Main Office at London for its final selection.8. Upon its selection, the London Metropolitan University, London will directly contact the final selected candidate for furtheradmission process.

If you have any questions, contact us at:

Scholarship SectionDepartment of Education CTAGangchen KyishongDharamsala-176 215Distt. Kangra, Himachal PradeshPhone: 01892-226695, 222572, 222721 Fax: 01892-223481Note: CTSA Reserved seat and HP MBBS Reserved seat recipients are not allowed to apply for any overseas scholarshipprovided by this department during the entire study period.

Edited by Sherab Woeser printed and published by the Secretary, Department of Information & International Relations, Central Tibetan Administration,Gangchen Kyishong, Dharamshala-176 215, HP, INDIA Printed at Narthang Press, Gangchen Kyishong, Dharamshala 176 215, HP, INDIA

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