The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Tibet issue

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Monday, Apr 14, 2008
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Tibet issue

The letter published in these columns by a group of writers on the Tibet issue (April 10) has major errors. Data appear to suggest that only 6 per cent of the population of the Tibet Autonomous Region is non-Tibetan, which hardly amounts to any “demographic engineering.” Andy Newman, in a recent piece, notes from a U.S. State Department document that 74 per cent of all government employees in Tibet are ethnic-Tibetans. Further, the number of ethnic-Tibetans in TAR is noted to have increased by 35.3 per cent between 1982 and 1999. Newman notes, interestingly, that while the rest of China has a one-child policy, Tibet still has a three-child policy, which is in any case laxly enforced. There are three further issues. First, the most important achievement of the Chinese government in Tibet is the abolition of feudal relationships and bondages, which helped to usher in rapid economic development in TAR. The Dalai Lama group in India appears, of course, to be in alliance with these feudal forces.

Secondly, the Dalai Lama group in India, far from being an anti-imperialist entity, appears to be in close contact with the imperialist forces. Deep U.S. involvement in a bordering region has ominous foreign policy consequences for India.

Thirdly, the bogey of human rights violations has always been raised by the West in order to encourage anarchist elements and further a neo-liberal agenda in these countries. It is in the nature of the United States to attack the sovereignty of other states, especially large and stable states with avowed anti-imperialist agendas. This is evident from the examples of Iraq, Kosovo, Cuba, and other countries. In this case, as Hugo Chavez pointed out, the effort is mainly to derail the smooth conduct of the Beijing Olympics. All democratic and anti-imperialist forces need to join hands to rebuff this agenda.

R. Ramakumar,

Mumbai

* * *

It is unfortunate that the Dalai Lama’s position on Tibetan autonomy amounts to a sleight of hand. On the one hand, he claims that he is willing to negotiate for a Tibet within the Republic of China. But on the other hand, the Tibet that he wants is a “greater Tibet” that will set up obvious strains and tensions that your editorial “The question of Tibet” (March 26) has justifiably warned against. In this scenario, Indians, and indeed the world, must ask whether the Dalai Lama is negotiating in good faith towards a solution or in reality trying to keep a dying anti-China movement alive by such attempts to confuse world public opinion.

Shweta Shetty,

Mumbai

* * *

It is extraordinary how many intellectuals fall for the propaganda of the Dalai Lama and his followers regarding so-called “cultural genocide” by the Chinese government in Tibet. The Chinese government has taken a significant number of initiatives to preserve Tibetan language and culture. At the same time, the government has clearly undertaken a programme of social and economic reform that was initiated many decades ago. To refuse to acknowledge the importance of socio-economic reform and to attack it under the broad label of “cultural genocide” is, as one Chinese Tibetologist has put it, arguing to “keep black slavery in the United States just in order to enjoy the Blues.” The editorial of March 26 clarifying China’s policy in Tibet was indeed very educative and welcome.

Bheemeshwar,

Hyderabad

* * *

The arguments of some readers against the letter by Ramachandra Guha, Shashi Tharoor and others on the Tibetan issue are as dismaying as the editorial itself which they seek to support. It is inappropriate to cite the separatist movements in Kashmir, Nagaland or Assom in order to persuade readers against supporting the Tibetans’ struggle. India did not invade Kashmir or any of those states put forth in the argument to rake the readers’ nationalist conscience. Every struggle in any part of the world will take in support from every quarter that offers them. The Tibetan struggle too must have, at some time in the past, received such support from the CIA. But that doesn’t take the validity out of their cause. Do you denounce Subhash Chandra Bose and his sincerity for scheming with Adolf Hitler in his pursuit to overthrow the British? That even some Buddhist monks resorted to violent means (nobody justifies violence, take note) shows that a people pressed to the wall will have no other go but to hit back. What do you expect of a population of a country where even carrying the picture of the Dalai Lama is a criminal offence?

Sham Sankar,

Thiruvananthapuram

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