Why Tibet remains the core issue in China-India relations

[Vikrant]

Free Tibet!

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Despite booming two-way trade, strategic discord and rivalry between China and India is sharpening. At the core of their divide is Tibet, an issue that fuels territorial disputes, border tensions and water feuds.

Beijing says Tibet is a core issue for China. In truth, Tibet is the core issue in Beijing’s relations with countries like India, Nepal and Bhutan that traditionally did not have a common border with China. These countries became China’s neighbors after it annexed Tibet, which, after waves of genocide since the 1950s, now faces ecocide.

China itself highlights Tibet as the core issue with India by laying claim to Indian territories on the basis of purported Tibetan ecclesial or tutelary links, rather than any professed Han Chinese connection. Indeed, ever since China gobbled up the historical buffer with India, Tibet has remained the core issue.

The latest reminder of this reality came when President Xi Jinping brought Chinese military incursions across the Indo-Tibetan border on his India visit in September. Put off by the intrusions, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government permitted Tibetan exiles to stage protests during Xi’s New Delhi stay, reversing a pattern since the early 1990s of such protests being foiled by police during the visit of any Chinese leader.

However, during Xi’s visit, India bungled on the Tibet question and another issue relating to the small Indian Himalayan state of Sikkim. The diplomatic goof-ups escaped media attention.

In response to China’s increasing belligerence — reflected in a rising number of Chinese border incursions and Beijing’s new assertiveness on the two Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir — India since 2010 stopped making any reference to Tibet being part of China in a joint statement with China. It has also linked any endorsement of “one China” to a reciprocal Chinese commitment to a “one India.”


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Why Tibet remains the core issue in China-India relations - Forbes

 

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Tibetan self-immolates over Chinese policies in Himalayan region...

Tibetan burns himself to death in China: reports
Thu, Dec 18, 2014 - A Tibetan has died after setting himself on fire to protest against China’s rule of the Himalayan region in the first self-immolation in three months, a rights group and overseas media outlets said yesterday.

Sangye Khar reportedly set himself alight outside a police station in Xiahe County in western China’s Gansu Province, the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) and US-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA) both said. The 33-year-old set fire to himself in Amuqu Township on Tuesday morning, and died “in protest against Chinese policies in Tibetan areas,” RFA said, citing anonymous local sources. The protest took place as authorities were reported to have stepped up a security crackdown while Tibetans gathered to mark a major religious festival.

Tuesday’s festival was the anniversary of the death of Tsongkhapa, who founded the Gelugpa — or Yellow Hat — school of Tibetan Buddhism in the 15th century. Using the area’s Tibetan name, RFA said authorities had: “stepped up security in Amchok and clamped down on communications, including the Internet,” in the wake of the self-immolation. “The situation in the area is tense,” the ICT said. Calls to police and local government officials in Xiahe by reporters were not answered.

There have been more than 130 such acts in Tibet and elsewhere since 2009, most of them fatal, the ICT and RFA said. Self-immolations peaked in the run-up to the Chinese Communist Party’s pivotal congress in November 2012 and have become less common in recent months. The most recent such act was also outside a police station in a Tibetan-populated area of Gansu. Student Lhamo Tashi died after setting himself on fire in front of a police station in Hezuo County in September, reports said. A previous immolation was reported in April.

Tibetan burns himself to death in China reports - Taipei Times

See also:

Dalai Lama: China Hardliners Hold Xi Back on Tibetan Autonomy
December 17, 2014 — The Dalai Lama says Chinese President Xi Jingping may be willing to consider more autonomy for Tibet but is being held back by Communist Party’s hardliners.

The Tibetan spiritual leader told France 24 television in an interview Wednesday that change is difficult because the old thinking is still entrenched, although the Chinese leader is quite “active and realistic.” “There is a lot of hardliner thinking still there," so the president "sometimes finds it's a difficult situation,” he said.

But China, which labels the Dalai Lama a separatist, denies there is a split within the government over the issue of Tibet. Indeed, the exiled leader's remarks drew a sharp rebuke from China’s Foreign Ministry. "The Dalai Lama must stop undermining the unity of China," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang was quoted as saying during a press conference, adding that the Dalai Lama needs to take concrete actions and create specific conditions to establish any contact between himself and the Chinese officials. "Inside China’s party or the government there is no such thing as the hardliner or dove," the official said. "China’s unity is one common aspiration shared by all Chinese people."

The Dalai Lama has long denied Beijing's charges of separatism, saying he only seeks true autonomy for his homeland, which he fled in 1959 when China’s Communist troops crushed a Tibetan uprising. Chinese troops had occupied the remote region as early as 1950. Nine rounds of talks between representatives of the Nobel Peace laureate and ruling communist party officials between 2002 to 2010 stalled due to protests in Tibet and a subsequent crackdown by the Chinese government.

Dalai Lama prays during Ganden Ngachoe, the death anniversary of 14th Century Tibetan Saint-Scholar, Lama Tsongkhapa in New Delhi

Isabel Hilton, head of Chinadialogue.net, an independent, non-profit organization based in London and Beijing, says the Dalai Lama’s recent comments may not reflect China’s willingness to grant Tibet autonomy, but they do signify a desire for renewed talks. “He sends a signal that the Tibetans are still open to talks with the Chinese, talks that never got very far and have not really happened substantively for several years now,” she said.

According to Hilton, the Dalai Lama was encouraged when Buddhism was mentioned recently by President Xi, whose mother was a Buddhist. Hilton also says Xi’s family background, including the fact that his father was friendly with the Dalai Lama, has raised hopes for improved ties. “I think he is signaling that the situation continues badly, and with a new leader there may be a hope to start again, more in hope rather than in expectation,” she said. Protests in Tibet against Chinese rule continue. This week a Tibetan man set himself on fire and died in Gansu Province, becoming the 134th person to self-immolate as a form of protest of the Chinese government.

Dalai Lama China Hardliners Hold Xi Back on Tibetan Autonomy

 

[Vikrant]

An improvement along the India-China land border: Reuters reports that China has inaugurated a new land border crossing from India into Tibet to enable pilgrimages to Mount Kailash, a holy site in both Hindu and Buddhist belief. The opening of the route was agreed to during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India. Both he and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have set out to improve the state of the long-standing border dispute between the two Asian giants, but numerous obstacles remain in the way of a comprehensive agreement. Steps like this opening of the border to religious pilgrims will serve as an important confidence-building measure. According to Xinhua, the move will “further promote religious exchanges between the two countries.”

China Launches Land Border Crossing From India Into Tibet for Religious Pilgrimages The Diplomat