The Dalai Lama was recently hospitalized due to a chest infection. The world renown Buddhist leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient has since recovered but this incident has brought focus to a core doctrine in Buddhism: impermanence. All things are transient, Buddhist scripture states, and that includes the Dalai Lama.
When the Dalai Lama has passed on before, senior monks would go on journey to find his reincarnation, a practice that allowed the legacy to live on through the generations. For fourteen reincarnations, this quest was accomplished without hindrance.
But times have changed.
China invaded Tibet, the home of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism, in 1950. In the course of annexing the nation, they murdered hundreds of thousands of Tibetans. As a result of their control of the region and tight dominance, this long-standing tradition may, itself, suffer its own impermanence.
Chinese leadership has now weighed in on reincarnation, clearly indicating their intention to interfere with the succession.
According to CNN, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said there are “clear rules” regarding the reincarnation of “the living Buddha.”
“Reincarnation of living Buddhas, including the Dalai Lama, must comply with Chinese laws and regulations and follow religious rituals and historical conventions,” Lu said.
It’s not the first time the Chinese Communist Party has involved itself in a long-standing tradition. Three days after the Dalai Lama identified the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the Chinese government kidnapped him. He has not been seen in over 20 years since.
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“The exile Tibetan community is like a flowing river,” said City University of New York Professor Ming Xia “Although they have left the mountains of Tibet, they have still remained connected to their homeland like a snow and continue to provide feedback to Tibet. What I am trying to say is the Tibetan tradition and heritage is like a great mountain and through evolution and adaptation to the new environment, the Tibetan community in exile, like a dynamic and creative river, has remained connected with the mountains.”
“If we look at the Middle-Way Approach, if we look at how we are here today with the people of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang, we have to ask one fundamental question whether we are going to be a mountain and be separated, or we are going to be like a river, where we are converging and going to create a strong new future, not only for the Chinese, but also for Tibetans and Uyghurs as well as the people of Taiwan and Hong Kong.”
Dhardon Sharling, the Information Secretary (equivalent) of the Department of Information and International Relations of the Central Tibetan Administration, told the audience that the peaceful resolution to the Tibet issue will elevate China’s standing due to Tibet’s values of non-violence and mutual respect.
“Under the guidance and leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Middle Way Approach demonstrates these Tibetan values in application,” he said. “The Tibetan approach to its freedom struggle can be a powerful inspiration and example to others around the globe as an alternative to the cruelty of war, violence, and terrorism if the international community supports those efforts and Tibetans achieve their freedom and the return of His Holiness to Tibet.”
Edward Chin, the convener of Hong Kong 2047 Monitor, said: “It has already been close to sixty years since His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been in exile. The whole world is watching as China is getting more and more powerful. We wish that China would respect human rights and have dialogue with His Holiness and in doing so, China is inviting bigger challenges in the near future.”
]]>The 13-story palace has stood for 1,300 years. It was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1994 and is now the most popular tourist attraction in Tibet. Its 45 rooms are seen by so many that tourist numbers are now restricted to 1,600 per day to avoid overcrowding.
State media quoted an official from the palace administration who reported that once approved by China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage, renovation projects will focus on repairing the gold-plated roof and enhancing the security surveillance system.
]]>An eulogy for Ren Rong, who briefly served as party secretary for the autonomous Tibet region in the early 70s, noted him as a beacon of “determination and…glorious deeds.” Somebody the “masses of all nationalities in Tibet can never forget.”
Sophie Richardson, China Editor for Human Rights Watch News, believes Tibetans will remember him for entirely different reasons.
She penned another depiction of him in an article for the rights group’s website.
Richardson notes that Rong rose to power under Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution, one of the most brutal periods of Communist rule in China. He later helped oversee the extension of martial law in 1970, following the violent suppression of the 1969 uprisings throughout the Tibet autonomous region. He later became Party Secretary of the region in 1971.
She writes, “Yet Rong’s and others’ rule was so heavy-handed it prompted a rare public apology by the party’s general secretary, Hu Yaobang, during a 1980 visit to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.”
]]>“This century should be a century of dialogue,” the spiritual leader said in the Indian capital. “One-side victory, one-side defeat is old thinking. Destruction of your neighbor is destruction of yourself. The only way is through talks.”
Chinese and Indian militaries are currently facing each other at a standstill on the disputed Doklam Plateau. It all started in June when India’s army moved into the region to expel a Chinese construction crew building a road that would give Beijing more influence in the region than India was willing to allow. Even though those close to the situation have reported to journalists that closed-door diplomatic efforts between the two countries have stalled, analysts are describing this instance as the most tense since the bloody 1960s border clash between both sides. Since then, the two have often disputed over the 3,500-km-long mountain border.
“Two big nations don’t have the ability to eliminate the other or defeat the other,” argued the Dalai Lama who has won support from India’s government. “So you have to live side by side.”
Meanwhile, China still disregards the spiritual leader as a dangerous separatist.
Still, the Dalai Lama believes another door for dialogue may open following the next Communist Party Congress.
]]>Indian border guards were accused of crossing into its territory from the state of Sikkim on India’s northeastern border with Tibet. In a statement, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said Indian guards “obstructed normal activities” by Chinese forces on the border and called on India to pull out at once.
In a separate statement, the Chinese Defense Ministry said “China is dedicated to developing bilateral relations, and will staunchly defend its legitimate rights … China hopes India will meet it halfway, not do anything to complicate the border issues and jointly maintain the good momentum of relations.”
This latest episode adds more pressure to the already tense relations between Beijing and India. China has suspended pilgrimages at the Nathu La Pass, which lies on the frontier between Sikkim state and Tibet. Nathu La was also the setting of border clashes between Chinese and Indian soldiers in 1967. India remains angered by China’s support of Pakistan. Indian officials also backed out of attending the Belt and Road summit aimed at ramping up economic development and political ties in the region.
Adding fuel to the fire, the Dalai Lama – spiritual leader to Tibetans and war mongering separatist to the Communist Party – attended a region controlled by India but claimed by China.
The Indian government is expected to make a formal statement on the recent border matter.
]]>Some analysts believe this is merely another mark in the changing face of international relations and geopolitics, as China emerges on the world stage, and the United States struggles to co-exist. Dr. Pradeep Nair, journalism professor at Central University of Himachal Pradesh writes, “The U.S. decision to withdraw its financial support to the Tibetan community may be seen as an initiative to normalize its relations with China under the changing geopolitical circumstances.”
At the same time, China is growing the dominant force in the Southeast Asia region and even extending its influence into South Asian countries in the form of aid and trade relations. Meanwhile, the United States has few reliable partners in China’s space of influence and she is losing its patience in trying to push Beijing to take a harder stance on the ever-erratic and global nuisance North Korea. Add to that the nationalist agenda proposed by President Trump and Tibet can become a playing chip in easing friction between the world’s two biggest economies.
The latest move marks a stark contrast from the last major episode in Tibetan-American relations: The U.S. “Tibetan Policy Act of 2002” enacted into law by President George W. Bush. The document lays out a road map to “support the aspirations of the Tibetan people to safeguard their distinct identity,” including by supporting “projects designed … to raise the standard of living for the Tibetan people and assist Tibetans to become self-sufficient.”
However, it stayed true to the status-quo that has remained stable in the last few decades. The U.S. supports China’s notion that Tibet is under China. The U.S’s role in Tibetan affairs is merely one of human rights and not statehood. But the new chapter essentially closes the door entirely leaving the U.S. with no role in Tibet whatsoever. Or is it closing that door to open a bigger one? Can it be just another part of Trump’s nationalist domestic agenda, or does it have international implications?
Nair maps out a brief history of American-Tibetan relations to examine these ideas.
On the eve of Communist China’s takeover of Tibet, the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi advised the State Department that the U.S should side with the Tibetans in such an event. The request was turned down. The Chinese came in and the “17 Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet” sealed the deal following a not-so-peaceful episode.
Later in the midst of the Cold War in 1959, the U.S. began arming Tibetan rebels who began revolting in western China. This led to the exile of the Dalai Lama, whom the U.S. had previously recognized as the spiritual leader of Tibet having noticed his influence as a potential benefactor of the anti-Communist struggle.
The Dalai Lama’s call for autonomy as opposed to independence resonated well with the international community, which began to see him as leader effective at compromising. And the idea of protecting autonomy laid down the frame work for what would become American-Tibetan relations until now.
Of course there is always the possibility that closing the door on Tibet won’t turn the tide against China. The timeline of these relations may suggest the U.S. could gain from either ignoring or supporting Tibet — depending on what’s happening somewhere else.
]]>Lobsang Sangay, the president of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), said the invasion and occupation of Tibet has failed because the Chinese thought they would defeat Tibetans or force them into assimilation. “But it did not work,” he said.
“Since 1980s, we have rebuilt voluntarily mainly by Tibetans inside Tibet and Buddhism has revived. And our sense of culture, civilization and identity has also been revived in Tibet,” Sangay said yesterday at a public event organized by The Heritage Foundation, an American think-tank.
“Buddhism has revived. Tibetans in Tibet are not just embracing Buddhism even the second and third generation of Tibetans are very much conscious of their identity,” he proclaimed. Still, he acknowledged China’s “hellbent” intention to drive Tibetan culture to the ground.
“Unfortunately, what is happening is that the Chinese government is reviving something akin to the cultural revolution in Tibet,” he said pointing out monasteries in Tibet “from where monks and nuns are being expelled” including the Larung Gar monastery home to 12,000 monks.
Although he says the … discourage setting oneself on fire, he added: “Because of this and other repressive policies of the Chinese government, 149 Tibetans have committed self- immolation of which nearly 130 have died.”
He noted that not a single Chinese person has been harmed by Tibetans and reiterated the “middle way” of the Dalai Lama in resolving the dispute. Nonetheless, Sangay called for Tibetans to be granted “genuine” autonomy within China, within the framework of the Chinese Constitution.
“If the Chinese government implement their own laws listed in the Constitution and minorities nationalities act, we could take that as genuine autonomy,” he concluded.
]]>Jamyang Losel, who was reportedly about 22-years-old, set himself ablaze near a prayer wheel in Chengtsa County of northeastern Tibet, according to a TPI source speaking on condition of anonymity.
“He died of severe burn injuries after setting himself on fire. His family approached the authorities for the body but they were not give the custody of his body,” he told reporters.
According to the source, Losel is a monk of Jerteng Monastery, coming from the Nangra Dhungkya village in Chengtsa County of northeastern Tibet.
Following the incident, Chinese authorities reportedly moved in to place heavy restrictions in the area.
The latest self-immolation would bring total verified self-immolations inside Tibet to 149. Of these, 125 have died. Most of the self-immolators called for the return of the Dalai Lama and freedom for the Tibetan people.
The Chinese Communist Party views the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist and says Tibet remains in its territory. The people of Tibet say they had belonged to an independent nation for centuries until Chinese troops invaded in the 1940s.
Since then, more than 6,000 monasteries have been looted and destroyed. Tibetans accuse China of leading torture, rape, starvation, and forced marches under what China calls a “Peaceful Liberation.”
]]>“As we visit His Holiness the Dalai Lama, our bipartisan delegation comes in his spirit of faith and peace. We come on this visit to be inspired by His Holiness and demonstrate our commitment to the Tibetan people, to their faith, their culture and their language,” Pelosi said.
China, which took control of Tibet in what it calls a “peaceful liberation” long has been accused of suppressing Tibetan culture. Throughout Tibet, reports come out of people engaging in isolated protest against Beijing. Recently, a 16-year-old boy set himself on fire while yelling “Tibet wants freedom” and “Let His Holiness the Dalai Lama come back to Tibet.”
Representative Jim McGovern, a Democrat traveling with Pelosi, has called for a new U.S. policy toward Tibet to safeguard the identity of the Tibetan people and hold China accountable for human rights abuses.
However, these issues out Washington in a sticky situation. President Donald Trump is now looking toward China as a potential piece of leverage to use against North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
The Dalai Lama is still considered a dangerous separatist by the Chinese government. He has spent a lot of his life as technically a refugee. “Here the last 58 years I am the longest guest of Indian government,” the Dalai Lama said. “But, emotionally, some concern about deep inside Tibet, and in China proper there are 400 million Buddhists.”
Following Trump’s victory in November, the spiritual leader said he was interested in meeting the president. That invitation, however, may not be coming considering recent issues especially continued provocations by North Korea and China’s willingness to work with the United States.
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