Let Us See Tibet As it is Behind Bamboo Curtain

President Barack Obama finally met His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the Map Room of the White House in Washington DC. It was like taking a step forward in the right direction. But the meeting of two international level dignitaries took place in anadjoining room and not in the Oval Office of the President of the United States of America is like taking a step backwards. Of course, the pro-President political analysts will defend it by saying that the President did not kowtow to the Chinese government when the latter wanted Obama to shun meeting Dalai Lama. At the same time the meeting was held for 45 minutes without any fanfare to emphasise that on the issue of Tibet America is pursuing its own independent line.

AMERICAN STAND ON CHINA'S TIBET

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA RECOGNISES TIBET AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF CHINA. OF COURSE, THE OFFICIAL NOMENCLATURE IS : Tibetan autonomous region of people's republic of china. In other words the identity of the Tibetan people, their Buddhist religion, their Tibetan language and their Tibetan culture will be given full freedom to flourish and not merge with the numerically superior Han Chinese language and culture. At the same time America reiterated that it does not support the movement for independence of Tibet. Fair and fine. But China sees the meeting of the American President with the Dalai Lama as a shot in the arm of the Liberation movement of Tibet. Hence China always mounts an international media campaign against such a meeting.

Nevertheless all American presidents in the recent past like Clinton and Bush have followed an independent line and received the Dalai Lama in a private meeting in the White House. The press has been barred from covering the meeting directly and no Photo Opportunity was offered either. Instead a phot taken by a White House photographer was released officially along with an account. In the diplomatic language it amounts to downgrading the event and not making it an international meeting of political significance.

WILL INDIA TAKE A CUE

Indeed His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been having his residence and holding a govt in exile in India since he fled Tibet under Chinese pressure in 1959. It has been a tradition with India to receive with open arms whenever any political bigwig or a common man seeks asylum or asks for political shelter in India to save his life and limb, India never says NO. Same hospitality was extended to the Dalai Lama despite the bad blood that it caused in the diplomatic relationship of the two neighbours. In fact in 1962, India and China fought a bloody war on the border issue and asylum granted to the Tibetan leader was a major cause therein.

Once upon a time India-China had fraternal close relations but not now. never mind that, the Dalai Lama is still an honoured guest in India..

All said and done, one wonders why China is so touchy about the Dalai Lama meeting politicians and govt leaders of international repute. Is China afraid of getting a bad image about handling the Tibetans rather roughly? I think that is the primary reason why China wants to put the Dalai Lama in a closet and not being seen and heard by anyone outside Tibet, China and India.

May I mention from my personal experience of life in Tibet. Well, the political situation is rather bad. The Tibetan people had only that much freedom that the Indian people had under the British Raj. In the pre-1947 days, all important officers from the District level to all-India level were British people. Today in Tibet all officers from the District level to the all-Tibet level in Lhasa are ethnic Chinese of Han descent. The lowly employees are Tibetan.

In view of the above facts, the Chinese govt in Beijing wants to keep Tibet and top Tibetan leaders kept away from the prying eyes of world leaders and journos.

By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM