THE DALAI LAMA’S ATTEMPT TO EXPAND HIS INFLUENCE THROUGH FOREIGN CONNECTIONS WILL CERTAINLY FAIL

 Yi Duo

　　For more than 50 years, the 14th Dalai Lama has lived a life in exile devoted to the scheme of drawing on the support of foreign forces to internationalize the so-called Tibet question and put pressure on the Chinese government in order to ultimately achieve “Tibetan independence.” In recent years, the Dalai Lama has scurried around the world using every conceivable pretext to meet with state leaders. On February 18, 2010, he ignored the stern warning of Chinese government departments and went to the United States to meet with President Obama, purposely damaging China-US relations. In addition, he pompously declared, “I have the responsibility to speak for six million Tibetans.” However, he forgot that history long ago proved that the future of Tibet has always been determined by all the Chinese people including all the ethnic groups living in Tibet, and not by the Dalai Lama together with a handful of foreigners.

　　The so-called Tibet question

　　is a pseudo-problem

　　Tibet has been a part of China since ancient times. The so-called Tibet question that the Dalai Lama and some foreign forces try to raise simply doesn’t exist. The so-called Tibet question was concocted by imperialists in order to invade, carve up and stymie China. Great Britain mounted an armed invasion of Tibet twice, in 1888 and 1904. However, both times the people of Tibet with the support of all Chinese people resisted bravely and foiled the attempt of the invaders to sever Tibet from China by military force. After that, foreign forces shifted their tactics and tried to cultivate advocates of “Tibetan independence” within Tibet's ruling circle to represent their interests. The United States directly meddled in Tibet affairs after World War II, interfering with and undermining China’s unity and the cause of the people’s liberation. Unfortunately, the reactionary clique in Tibet’s ruling class colluded with foreign forces first by opposing the peaceful liberation of Tibet with armed force, and later by opposing democratic reforms by reactionary armed rebellion in order to perpetuate the system of feudal serfdom under which church and state were integrated. In 1954, the American CIA recruited operatives in Tibet, whom they sent to Guam, the Ryukyu Islands and Colorado for training; after which the CIA secretly returned them to Tibet and supplied them with weapons and explosives smuggled over the border or delivered by airdrop to launch a rebellion to split the country. When the defeated Dalai Lama clique fled Tibet after the rebellion was quelled in March 1959, he was accompanied by a CIA radio operator who maintained secret contact with contacts abroad and arranged for supplies to be airdropped to the Dalai Lama clique. 

　　Since the Dalai Lama fled abroad, he has always been totally dependent on foreign forces for support. Declassified American documents reveal that the US government spent $1.66 million on Tibet projects in 1964, including: support for 2,100 Tibetan guerilla fighters, equipping and training recruits and paying training staff, maintaining the secret training facility in Colorado, maintaining the CIA network in Tibet, and training high-level CIA managers of the Tibet operations. The Dalai Lama was also given an allowance of $180,000 at a time when the US president’s salary was only $100,000. If it weren’t for this lavish support, the “Tibet question” would have vanished like smoke then. In recent years, the foreign financial supporters of the Dalai Lama clique have become more discreet but they haven’t lessened their level of support. Even when faced with the severe repercussions of the financial crisis, the US government gave the Dalai Lama clique $16.8 million in 2009, an increase of 25% over the previous year. In addition, all kinds of NGOs and foundations provide a steady flow of funds to the Dalai Lama clique in various ways such as paying the Dalai Lama large sums for speaking engagements.

　　Beautifying and elevating the Dalai Lama is another stratagem some foreign forces use to promote the “Tibet question.” The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Dalai Lama in 1989 at the time the international situation was changing dramatically, and an endless stream of honors has been bestowed on him ever since. This “halo” provides a pretext for some political figures to be seen with the Dalai Lama. The parliaments of some countries are among his most avid supporters, and some of their members ignore the most basic principles of international relations and their own government’s position in openly advocating “Tibet independence.”

　　In the past when China was extremely weak and poor, imperialists abroad and separatist forces in Tibet could not split Tibet off from China. Today when socialist China is growing stronger by the day, 　any “Tibet independence” plot is nothing more than a farce. Quite the reverse, such plots inflame the fervor of the Chinese people to safeguard the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and natural honor.

　　The Dalai Lama clique

　　is devoid of any legitimacy whatever

　　Being a chess piece in the anti-Chinese strategy of some foreign forces gives a cloak of legitimacy that the Dalai Lama throws over himself and his clique. In 2008, the Dalai Lama clique disseminated the so-called “proposal to make Tibet autonomous in the full sense of the word for the benefit of all Tibetan people” and again declared, “The Tibetan Government in Exile stands for the interests of the Tibetan people and is their representative.” After this proposal was completely rejected by the relevant bodies of the Chinese government, the Dalai Lama clique concocted a “clarification,” declaring “His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the legitimate representative of the Tibetan people, and this can never be called into doubt.” In fact, there is no distinction between the Dalai Lama and the so-called Tibetan Government in Exile. The full English name of this government is the Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In fact, this government in exile and its head the Dalai Lama do not have a shred of legitimacy. It is only a small political clique that strives to split the motherland and subsidizes its existence by means of support from foreign forces.

　　In 1951, the central government and the former local government in Tibet signed the Seventeen-Article Agreement on a procedure for the peaceful liberation of Tibet. The Dalai Lama personally sent a telegram to the central government stating, “The Tibetan government and the monks and laymen of the Tibetan ethnic group all give their support, and under the leadership of Mao Zedong and the Central People’s Government will actively assist the People’s Liberation Army to enter Tibet and consolidate national defense, expel imperialist forces from Tibet, and safeguard the motherland’s sovereignty and unity.” Because he signed the Seventeen-Article Agreement, the Dalai Lama was the first underwriter of the legitimacy of the Tibetan local government.

　　On March 10, 1959, armed rebellion flagrantly broke out in the ruling group of the former Tibetan local government, and the so-called Independent Tibet People’s Congress declared “Tibet’s independence.” The Dalai Lama fled, but he paused long enough in Lhtinze, Shannan, Tibet to declare that he was head of the “Provisional Tibetan Government,” after which he engaged in a series of “Tibetan independence” activities abroad. On March 28, Premier Zhou Enlai issued a State Council order stating, “A majority of officials in the Tibetan local government and a high-level reactionary group … tore up the Seventeen Article Agreement concerning the peaceful liberation of Tibet … this kind of action that betrays the country and subverts unity is not tolerated by state law”; and “It is hereby decided that the Tibetan local government be disbanded, and the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region shall exercise the functions of the Tibet local government.” Therefore, the former Tibetan local government was long ago disbanded by the central government in accordance with the law, and the so-called Tibetan Government in Exile by rebels who fled abroad is directly contrary to the interests of the Tibetan people and completely violates state law. In October 1963, the so-called Tibetan Government in Exile promulgated a “Tibetan Constitution” in India in which it was stated that Tibet is an independent country and the “functions of the government of Tibet are performed by the Dalai Lama.” “The future system of government and the main gist of the constitution of Tibet” the Dalai Lama wrote asserts that “The claim that Tibet belongs to China is false” and demanded that China withdraw from Tibet. All this proves that this form of illegal “government” and “legislation” is completely divorced from and at odds with the Chinese constitution and other laws. On December 17, 1964, a plenary session of the State Council passed the Resolution to Remove the Dalai Lama from His Post. The resolution stated, “The Dalai Lama betrayed the country by launching an anti-revolutionary armed rebellion and fleeing the country in 1959, after which he organized a government in exile and promulgated a sham constitution. All this proves that he long ago severed his relations to the motherland and its people.”

　　Therefore, if we look at the situation from the perspective of the interests of the people from the legal standpoint, only the Chinese central government and the people’s government of the Tibet Autonomous Region under its leadership can be said to represent Tibet and its people. The Dalai Lama and his “government in exile” have no legal standing whatever and have absolutely no qualifications to represent Tibet and its people. There is no country on earth that recognizes this “government in exile.” Any foreign political figures who meet with the Dalai Lama under any pretext are thereby supporting this political organization whose purpose is to split China. The recent meeting the president of the United States had with the Dalai Lama is a serious violation of the basic principles of international relations, violates the principles set forth in the three China-US Joint Communiqués, violates the acknowledgement the US government made on numerous occasions that Tibet is a part of China and its promise not to support “Tibet independence,” and completely violates the spirit of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, in which he abolished slavery.

　　The Dalai Lama considers himself

　　to be a “son of India”

　　While a number of foreign forces assert they support the Dalai Lama in order to “preserve the unique character of Tibetan religion, culture and language,” it is an open question which the Dalai Lama is actually Tibetan.

　　On March 31, 2009, the Dalai Lama told reporters in New Delhi, “I consider myself to be a son of India.” At an international conference on November 22 of the same year he repeated this assertion, saying, “I have lived in India for the past 50 years, and that makes me a son of India.” At the opening ceremony of an international conference on Buddhism in Gujarat on January 16, 2010, he stated this position even more directly: “I am a son of India. For the past 50 years, I have depended on India for my sustenance, and India’s autonomy has afforded me great opportunities. For these reasons, I consider myself a son of India, which makes me extremely proud. However, my parents are both pure Tibetan, so I am Tibetan in appearance. But in my heart, I am an Indian. I am fully prepared to serve India in any way I can.”

　　If anyone thinks these statements of the Dalai Lama’s are just impulsive expressions of feelings, they are wrong. On January 23, 2007, the Dalai Lama told Indian reporters, “In 1914 the Tibetan government and the British colonial government in India acknowledged the McMahon Line. According to the treaty signed at that time, Arunachal is a part of India.” The situation of the McMahon Territory really is complex. Even though it belonged to different countries at different times, since 1914, it has belonged to India.” The principal figures in the so-called government in exile all expressed the same view. The places the Dalai Lama refers to, Arunachal and the McMahon Territory, historically were under the jurisdiction of the Tibetan local government. They cover an area of more than 90,000 square kilometers, contain temples built by the 5th Dalai Lama, and are the birthplace of the 6th Dalai Lama. The Chinese government has never recognized the illegal McMahon Line. The Dalai Lama is attempting on the one hand to create a Greater Tibet that never existed comprised of Tibet and parts of four other provinces where the Tibetan ethnic group is in a majority, and on the other hand to hand his ancestral land to a foreign country on a silver platter. This distortion of his motherland’s history clearly reveals that his basic intent is to rely on foreign forces to split China. What right does this kind of person have to “represent the Tibetan people”? What qualifications does he have to talk about religion, culture, language and human rights in Tibet? Conversely, this shows that Chinese central government’s insistence that the Dalai Lama must acknowledge that Tibet has been an inseparable part of Chinese territory since antiquity is completely correct and necessary.

　　At a press conference in Tokyo on October 31, 2009, the Dalai Lama said, “The Chinese government views me as a troublemaker, so my job is to create more trouble.” The Dalai Lama thinks that sowing discord and undermining relations between China and other countries can pressure our central government to deal with him, but all it does will worsen his relations with us and arouse the loathing of all Chinese people for him, so that in the end he will have to swallow the bitter pill of his own making.