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By Bai Xu, Norbu Cering and LI
KEYONG
, XINHUA
BEIJING: After violence erupted
in Lhasa and other Tibetan towns in China, the Dalai Lama, who has
called himself an “innocent monk,” repeatedly called on for
“non-violence” and “dialogue” with the Chinese government
and said he would “resign as leader of Tibet’s exiles if there
are more violent anti-Chinese protests.”
There is the pacifist image of a
man with “remarkable restraint”, as a foreign editorial said.
Not everyone in China is convinced that this is the reality.
Since he fled to India in 1959,
the Dalai Lama has advocated “Tibetan Independence.”
He has delivered speeches every
March 10 to commemorate a rebellion in 1959. From 1960 to 1977, he
mentioned Tibet as independent—historically and culturally—in 12
of these annual addresses.
In the late 1970s, western
countries began improving relations with China. The Dalai Lama then
embarked upon a “middle course”—greater autonomy in “Greater
Tibet” featuring his five-point peace plan presented to members of
the US Congress, and his seven-point Strasbourg proposal.
His “Greater Tibet” covers
not only the present Tibet Autonomous Region but also the adjacent
Qinghai Province, the southern part of Gansu Province, the western
part of Sichuan Province and the northwestern part of Yunnan
Province, which takes up about a quarter of China’s territory.
This so-called “Greater
Tibet” never existed, said experts.
“Tibet has been part of China
since the Yuan Dynasty in the 13th century,” said Ngagwang Cering,
head of the institute of contemporary studies of the Tibetan Academy
of Social Sciences. According to this researcher, the term “Tibet
Independence” came about only some 20 years after the British
invasion of the area in 1904.
“A Britophile force in Tibet
stood out after the invasion,” said Xu Tiebing, professor with the
International Communications College of the Communication University
of China, who cited this as the beginning of the Tibetan issue.
Therefore, “Greater Tibet”
doesn’t reflect any historical division, nor does it fit the
living patterns of the Chinese people, said Gyaidam Lodain Puncog
with the China Tibetology Research Center.
“Chinese ethnic minorities
congregate in different regions, where, however, they are mixed with
the Han,” said the professor.
“With such a proposition, the
Dalai Lama’s real intention is to eliminate the rule of the
Communist Party of China,” he said.
The intention was shown in
remarks of the Dalai Lama’s younger brother and follower, Tendzin
Choegyal.
During an interview by French
reporter Pierre-Antoine Donnet, Tendzin Choegyal said: “We will
first seek autonomy, and then run the Chinese out! Just like Marcos
was run out of the Philippines, and the British were run out of
India! We are thinking of the world, of coming generations. Autonomy
or self-rule is the start.”
The Dalai Lama’s elder brother,
Gyalo Thondup, explained greater autonomy like this: “Twenty years
after greater autonomy, a referendum is to be held in the “Greater
Tibet” region to push Tibet from ‘semi-independence’ to
independence.”
The Dalai Lama’s long-cherished
dream for independence has been seen even by foreign politicians. J.
Stapleton Roy, former US Ambassador to China, said in the Human
Rights Situation of the Tibetan People on Oct. 14 1987 that “the
Administration disavows any support for the Dalai Lama’s
five-point program”, as “neither the United States nor any other
member of the United Nations recognizes or has ever recognized Tibet
as a sovereign state independent of China.”
But the Dalai Lama continued his
association with some western countries and criticized China and
development in Tibet.
“With the help of international
forces, he wants to pressure the Chinese government and force it
give in, so as to achieve his goal,” said Zhou Yuan, research
fellow with the China Tibetology Research Center.
Sometimes, he takes advantage of
a favorable international atmosphere, said Zhou, who cited the
period from 1989 to 1993 when drastic changes took place in eastern
Europe and the former Soviet Union, the latter of which broke up.
During this period, the word “independence” reappeared in the
annual March 10 speech.
Therefore, the professor said,
the Dalai Lama’s appeal for dialogue with the Chinese government
has never been and may never be sincere.
As Premier Wen Jiabao pointed out
at a press conference earlier this month, the door of dialogue
remains open to the Dalai Lama, so long as he gives up “Tibet
Independence” and recognizes Tibet and Taiwan as inalienable parts
of the Chinese territory.
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