| Trailokya Aryal |
Posted
on 12-Dec-00 03:48 AM
Namaste Bishwoji,
Here's a paper that I wrote while at school for my NEGOTIATING CONFLICTS class. I guess it was in my first semester junior year. Being from Nepal, and having spent some time in China, I decided to write my paper on China-Tibet issue. I hope the web-master wouldn't come after me witha samurai sword for posting a long message and that otehrs won't get offended.
Introduction
One of the most talked-about issues of this century, the issue of Tibetan Freedom is yet to be resolved. For almost 50 years, the Tibetan government in exile and millions of Tibetans living abroad have been demanding their independence from Chinese rule. China, on the other hand, has claimed that Tibet has always been a part of China. Both sides have their own versions of history (dating as far back as 7th century) that are , obviously, contradictory to each other. The purpose of this paper is not to look at each versions of history that is creating confusion for the masses but rather to examine what happened after 1959 and what is being done to resolve this conflict between one of the most powerful countries of the world and one of the weakest countries(?) that now exists primarily in the heart of millions of Tibetans living abroad and people who have a strong faith on Buddhism. In the process of doing so I gathered various news reports and articles on China and fortunately found the official Web site of the Tibetan government in exile which proved to be a valuable resource. I looked into the Web site of REUTERS (a private news agency) and it proved valuable and kept me updated with the recent events. This paper is an assimilation of different news reports and articles that were accessed from these two Web sites.
The geographic location of Tibet :
Tibet has a very strategic geographic location. The Autonomous Tibet Region of China today shares borders with India, Nepal, Bhutan and Burma. Since the latter three countries are smaller and pose no security threat to China or have any security threat from China, they are not concerned with the Tibet issue . India not only poses a threat to China, as they both are regional superpowers, but also houses the Tibetan government-in-exile. These two factors have resulted in a deteriorating relationship between China and India since the 1960s when both countries fought a war relating to border issues. The relationship between India and China plays an important part in resolving this conflict in the same manner that the relationship between Israel and Arab countries of Syria and Lebanon play an important role in determining Palestine’s future.
The start of conflict
In 1959, ten years after the formation of the People's Republic of China, the PLA (People's Liberation Army ) marched into Lhasa which led His Holiness the Dalai Lama to flee to India along with his supporters. The Chinese government in Beijing claimed that the purpose of sending the PLA troops to Lhasa was to free Tibetans from their feudal government and to develop their living standards. On the other hand, the Tibetan government took it as an assault by the Chinese government on its sovereignty. Since then, the Tibetan government- in-exile led by His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been raising its voice over this issue but anything significant is yet to happen as both sides are adamant on their stands, a situation which is making it harder to bring both of them to the same table to negotiate. The five point peace plan proposed by the Tibetan government-in-exile has yet to get the attention it deserves from its Chinese counterpart as it has been getting from other countries.
Interests of each party involved
Tibet , as mentioned earlier, has a very strategic geographic location and is tightly controlled by the Chinese government to prevent anything from happening from the Indian side. A huge number of military personnel are deployed in this area as there have always been security threats from India to China and vice-versa. Apart from the security reasons, natural resources (forests, rivers and mines) have made Tibet the most important province of the People’s Republic of China. Therefore the Chinese interest is and always has been to use the Tibetan plateau as a safeguard against any possible military attack from India and to exploit the natural resources.
On the other hand, Tibetans have been protesting China’s tight control over Tibet and demand the immediate withdrawal of the Chinese troops and nuclear weapons from Tibet and respect for the natural environment. There are concerns over religious freedom and human rights issues which the Tibetan government- in-exile raises from time to time. These issues are clearly stated in the five points peace proposal developed by the Tibetan government-in-exile under the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama which received favorable attention from the international community and for which the Tibetan leader was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 1989. However the Chinese government has been denying the accusations made by the Tibetan government-in-exile. This game of accusation and denial has been responsible for the failed negotiations between China and Tibet for the last twenty years.
The negotiations between China and Tibet
According to the Web-site of the Tibetan government-in-exile the official negotiation process between China and Tibet began when Deng Xiao Peng took control of the Chinese government following the demise of Chairman Mao.
The official negotiations between the Chinese and the Tibetan government- in-exile began in the year 1979 when Deng Xiao Peng invited Gyalo Thondup, elder brother of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and said that apart from the issue of total Tibetan independence he was willing to negotiate on any issue. This gave hope to millions of Tibetans living in Tibet and around the world. The first negotiation between China and Tibet concluded with an invitation from the Chinese government to the Tibetan government-in-exile to send their fact finding groups to Tibet to find out exactly what was happening. Immediately after this invitation, a series of Tibetan fact-finding groups began touring Tibet. The first fact finding delegation of the Tibetan government-in-exile arrived in Tibet on August 5, 1979 and began investigating the situation. The second fact-finding delegation of the Tibetan government-in-exile led by Tenzing N Tethong arrived in Tibet in May of 1980 and the third fact-finding group led by Mrs. Jetsum Pema, began touring Tibet immediately after the second delegation returned.
In 1981 based on the reports of the three fact-finding delegations His Holiness the Dalai Lama wrote a letter to Deng Xiao Peng explaining about the sad and bad situations his delegations had witnessed in Tibet.
There, after three fact finding delegations were able to find out both the positive and negative aspects of the situation in Tibet. If the Tibetan people’s identity is preserved and if they are genuinely happy, there is no reason to complain. However, in reality, over 90 percent of the Tibetans are suffering both mentally and physically, and are living in deep sorrow. These sad conditions have not been brought about by natural disasters, but by human actions. Therefore, genuine efforts must be made to resolve the problems in accordance with the existing realities in a reasonable way. …The time has come to apply our common wisdom in a spirit of tolerance and broadmindedness to achieve genuine happiness for the Tibetan people with a sense of urgency (The official web site of the Tibetan-government-in exile).
The Chinese government responded to this letter positively and in April 1982 a high level delegation of the Tibetan government-in-exile arrived in Beijing to negotiate with the Chinese government. However, the negotiation ended without reaching any agreements. The third negotiation delegation of the Tibetan government-in-exile arrived in Beijing in October of 1984 but this negotiation, too, ended up without reaching any agreement.
Following those two failed negotiations, the Tibetan government-in-exile in 1985 decided to send their fourth fact-finding group to Tibet to find the truth and validate the findings of the previous fact finding groups.
By then, Tibet was slowly gaining the attention of the international community. In 1985, 91 members of the US Congress signed a letter addressed to the Chinese President Li Xian Nian urging him to hold negotiations with Tibetan government in exile. However, this letter did not receive any favorable attention from the Chinese government. While the Tibetan government-in-exile was awaiting an invitation from their Chinese counterpart for further negotiation, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was invited by the US government to address the Congress. In his speech to the US Congress on September 21, 1987, the Tibetan leader proposed his Five-Point Peace Plan for solving the Tibetan problem. The Five Points were :
1. Transformation of the whole of Tibet into a zone of peace ;
2. Abandonment of China’s population transfer policy which threatens the very existence of the Tibetan’s as a people;
3. Respect for the Tibetan people’s fundamental human rights and democratic freedoms;
4. Restoration and protection of Tibet’s natural environment and the abandonment of China’s use of Tibet for the production of nuclear weapons and dumping of nuclear waste ;
5. Commencement of earnest negotiations on the future status of Tibet and of relations between the Tibetan and Chinese people.
In his speech His Holiness the Dalai Lama criticized the Chinese government for not taking his requests of negotiations seriously. He further made it clear that he was not asking for the independence of Tibet from China but was asking the Chinese government to grant a totally autonomous status to Tibet; a true autonomy in the sense that Tibetans choose their own legislature and make their own rules according to their religion and traditions. He said he did not have any objections whatsoever to giving the Chinese government responsibility to handle Tibet’s foreign and defense policy. Further elaborating on his five points, he said that declaring Tibet as a zone of peace will help in sustaining peace throughout the Indian Sub-continent by lowering the conflict between China and India. Among other issues, such as human rights, was also the inclusion of Amdo and Kham (the regions which were cut off from Tibet after 1949) into the proposed Tibetan Autonomous region. His Holiness the Dalai Lama once again made it clear that he was willing to negotiate with the Chinese government as soon as possible.
However there was no reaction to this from the Chinese side. Shortly after his speech to the Congress he was invited by the European Parliament in Strasbourg to deliver a speech. There he stated his Five-Points peace Plan again and was able to win the sympathies of the European nations.
The Chinese government indirectly responded to the proposals made at the European Parliament and issued a press statement saying “ We welcome the Dalai Lama to have talks with the central government at any time, and talks may be held in Beijing, Hong Kong or any of our embassies or consulates abroad. If the Dalai Lama finds it inconvenient to conduct talks at these places, he may choose any place he wishes”. The Tibetan government-in-exile responded to this enthusiastically and proposed Geneva as the venue but in January 1989 when the peace talks were scheduled to begin the Chinese government backed off without providing any explanation. Then the Tibetan side issued a statement saying that they were ready to send a negotiating team to Hong Kong to negotiate on the venue for further negotiations but there was no response to this from the Chinese government. For his Five Point Peace Proposal His Holiness the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel peace Prize in 1989. While accepting the peace prize he once again made it clear that he still awaits the Chinese government’s invitation to hold negotiation based on this Five Points Peace Plan. However there was no response to this from the Chinese side. In his 1991 speech at Yale University His Holiness the Dalai Lama once again expressed his desire to negotiate with the Chinese government and to visit Tibet. The next day the Chinese government issued a statement saying that “… If Dalai Lama stops his activities aimed at splitting China and undermining the unity of its nationalities, and abandons his position on Tibetan independence, he was more than welcome to visit Tibet.” This was obviously a little hard for the Tibetan side to digest. In response to the Chinese allegations that he was trying to split China by demanding the independence of Tibet, His Holiness issued a press statement on September 4, 1993 in which he clearly stated that :
The ideas put forward during discussions my representatives held with Chinese officials in and later made public in the Five Point Peace Plan for Tibet (1987) and the Strasbourg Proposal (1988), envisage a solution which does not ask for independence of Tibet. Yet, China has refused to enter into negotiations of any kind or otherwise to seriously discuss any of those proposals or to constructively respond to them.
As His Holiness the Dalai Lama awaited response to this from the Chinese government he was once again invited to the United States to meet with President Clinton in 1994. The White House press release after the meetings stated that “The United States continues to urge high level talks between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama.”
However, the Chinese government did not show any desire to resume negotiations in spite of the US and the growing international community’s requests. The United States realizing the importance of negotiations between China and Tibet, established a separate position in the Department of State to co-ordinate Tibetan affairs whose sole objective was and remains to promote dialogues between the Chinese government and the Tibetan government-in-exile to resolve this issue. The US has on many occasions made it clear to the Chinese government that Tibet is a top priority of the American government. Last year when US President Bill Clinton visited China, during his speech at the Beijing University, which was televised live all over China, he once again made it clear that “Tibet is the top most priority of the American government and [he] would like to see negotiations resume between the Chinese government and the Tibetan government in exile.” The Chinese President Jiang Zemin responded to this by saying the “door to negotiation is open.”
The Latest development in this issue
When I started writing this paper I thought I would end it with that quote from the Chinese President but in the course of writing this paper many different events relating to China and Tibet took place and many new things came into light. A group of Tibetan Students who were on hunger strike in Geneva , outside the UN building for 26 days called off their strike on May 1 , 1999. Those youths were demanding solution for the Tibetan problems through peace talks/negotiations between the Chinese government and the Tibetan Government in exile. The Chinese government hasn’t commented on that strike yet. Another interesting thing that came to my light while writing this paper (right now) that the dynamics of international negotiations are really complicated. This February His Holiness the Dalai Lama made a statement that there were informal channels working to bring both the parties into a negotiating table. He didn’t disclose for how long those informal channels were working and the names of the people involved but he said that those informal links with China has come to a total halt. When I read this I could not believe that this was happening and was undisclosed from either side for many years. His Holiness the Dalai Lama attributed this breakdown of communication to the Chinese celebration of the 50th anniversary of the formation of the PRC. “But 1999 is the 50th anniversary of founding of PRC (People’s Republic of China, and the 10th year since the Tianmen (uprising) and also for the Tibetan case 40th anniversary, and so I think the Chinese government is taking every sort of precautions.” Answering the queries of the journalists he made it clear that he was ready to negotiate with China based on his five points peace plan provided that the Chinese government do not impose pre-conditions. He once again made it clear that he was not asking for independent Tibet . “ I am ready to talk…. Anywhere, any time, without pre-conditions. That’s my middle way approach, strictly non-violent. I am not seeking independence.”
The Chinese government positively reacted to this statement of His holiness the Dalai Lama and on March 11, 1999 released a press statement which stated that the doors have always been open to the Dalai Lama. The statement once again stressed the Chinese government’s stand that anything except for the independence of Tibet can be negotiated. “The channel for contact between the central government and the Dalai Lama has always been unblocked” Spokesman of the Chinese foreign ministry told reporters while releasing the statement.
The Tibetan side has once again expressed their willingness to negotiate with China as a reply to the Chinese government’s statement of March 11. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, last month during his visit to Brazil stated his willingness to negotiate with China. “As soon as some positive indication comes, I am ready to talk, to dialogue, any where, any time.” The Chinese government is yet to reply to this and set a date or place for further negotiations. Hopefully this time some serious negotiations will occur that will resolve this problem for once and ever and start a new era of friendship between the Chinese and the Tibetan people. Amen.
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 12-Dec-00 10:35 AM
Hi Trailokya:
Man,you are an encyclopedia for Tibetan issue!
I don't want to put myself in evaluator's position,because
clearly your expertise in the field surpass myknowledge gained by
occasional forray into the subject.Still,to comment:the article
is very well written.
Except for one thing.I don't understand what natural resources
of Tibet you are talking about!Tibet is not resource rich region.
No minerals,no thing,no fertile land,I mean absolutely nothing
except stretch of grassland or those ugly mountains without any
greenery!A surreal plateau,and thin air welcomes you everywhere
you go.To make a rope way from Golmud to Lhasa,PLA estimates the
casualty of 20 persons or something like that before starting any
work(I have heard,not official).
But Tibet certainly acts as a big bufferzone for China.None of
Indian missiles can surpass Tibet and hit the populous cities
of China.Tibet,being almost empty land with ten times of Nepal's
size,proves a useful land for nuclear disposals also.Given the
ubiquity of PLA everywhere in Tibet,it is easy to guess Tibet
is at present a far cry from what Dalai Lama wanted to make it
:peace zone!
Again,thanks for sharing your presentation with us.
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