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February 23, 2010

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Dalai Lama's foreign backers seek to destabilize China

IN his five decades of exile, the Dalai Lama has never stopped plotting to seek "Tibet independence" through allying with foreign forces to internationalize the so-called "Tibet issue" and press the Chinese government.

In recent years, he tried desperately to make international appearances, begging for visits to foreign countries and meeting with state leaders. Last Thursday, US President Barack Obama met with the Dalai Lama despite stern warnings from China.

After the meeting, the Dalai Lama claimed that he had the responsibility to speak for the 6 million Tibetans.

However, he must have forgotten that the fate of Tibet never relies on him and a few foreigners but has always been decided by all the Chinese people, including all ethnic minorities in the region.

The so-called "Tibet issue" was fabricated by imperialists to serve their intention of invading, partitioning and containing China.

Back in 1888 and 1904, troops of the United Kingdom intruded into Tibet twice, but failed to take it away from China due to a strong revolt from the Tibetan people backed by the whole Chinese nation.

Since then, foreign forces turned to cultivating their agents for "Tibet independence" in the upper strata of Tibet's local ruling echelon. After World War II, the United States directly interfered with Tibetan affairs, sabotaging China's cause of national unification and liberation of the people.

In order to maintain the theocratic feudal serfdom, local rulers in Tibet colluded with foreigners to first violently resist the peaceful liberation of Tibet and then start an armed rebellion against democratic reforms.

In 1954, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruited spies among Tibetans, sent them for training and then secretly took them back to China. The US had been supplying weapons and ammunition to these spies through secret border transport and air-dropping.

In March 1959, when the Dalai Lama and his followers failed in an insurgency and fled Tibet, he was closely accompanied by a CIA radio operator who helped keep contact with outside forces and guided them to air-dropped materials for the fleeing group.

'Tibet project'

Since 1959, the Dalai Lama has been relying on foreign forces. A declassified document showed the US spent up to US$1.66 million in 1964 on the "Tibet project" alone. The money was spent supporting 2,100 "Tibet guerrillas," buying equipment and educating senior "Tibet officials." Other expenditures included transport and intelligence training.

Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama received an allowance of US$180,000, a huge amount of money compared with a salary of US$100,000 dollars for the US president at that time.

We can say the "Tibet issue" would have vanished long ago if the foreign forces had not gone all out to support the Dalai Lama.

In recent years, foreign financial support to the Dalai Lama and his followers became a little more hidden, but remained equally strong.

Despite the serious financial crisis, the US government's 2009 fiscal budget planned US$16.8 million for the Dalai clique, an increase of 25 percent over the previous year. It also "paid" the clique in the name of non-governmental organizations and foundations or by inviting the Dalai Lama for sermons.

Political clique

Another approach adopted by foreign forces to sensationalize the "Tibet issue" is to prettify the Dalai Lama and heighten his status.

In 1989 when the world witnessed drastic changes, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Various "honors" came to him afterwards, which became "reasons" for some politicians to meet with him.

The Dalai Lama tries very hard to legitimize his clique, but in fact he is just a card in the hand of foreign forces to serve their China strategies.

In 2008, the "Note Relating to the Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for All Tibetans" spread by the Dalai Lama clique once again claimed that the "Tibetan government-in-exile" symbolized the interests of Tibetans and represented the Tibetan people.

After the "note" was rebutted by the Chinese government, the clique recently made up an interpretation, claiming it is beyond doubt at any time that the Dalai Lama is the legal representative of Tibetan people.

In fact, the Dalai Lama and the so-called "Tibetan government-in-exile," which is the "Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama," are the very same thing. Neither is legitimate at all. They are merely a political clique raised by foreign forces to be engaged in activities aimed at splitting the motherland.

In 1951, the local government of Tibet signed with the central government the 17-Point Agreement on the peaceful liberation of Tibet.

The Dalai Lama telegraphed the central government with pledges to advocate and assist the People's Liberation Army in strengthening national defense, driving out imperialist forces and safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the motherland.

Given the agreement, the local government headed by the Dalai Lama was legitimate at the time.

On March 10, 1959, the ruling class of the Tibetan local government launched an armed rebellion and declared "Tibet independence." The Dalai Lama announced the founding of a "provisional government" headed by him when he was fleeing from the Norbulingka palace in Lhasa. He worked out a string of activities demonstrating "Tibet independence" when he was later outside China.

On March 28, premier Zhou Enlai issued a State Council decree to dismiss the local government of Tibet given their rebellious act that defied the 17-Point Agreement.

Therefore, the so-called "Tibetan government-in-exile" that lumped together the rebels was against the interests of all ethnic groups in Tibet and also illegal.

Consequently, the Dalai Lama and his "Tibetan government-in-exile" are illegal in nature and are not eligible to represent Tibet and the people living there.

US President Barack Obama's meeting with the Dalai Lama grossly violated the basic norms governing international relations, and ran counter to the principles set forth in the three China-US joint communiques and the China-US joint statement.

It also went against the repeated commitments made by the US government that the US recognizes Tibet as part of China and gives no support to "Tibet independence." It was markedly inconsistent with the spirit of abolition of slavery upheld by US President Abraham Lincoln.

'Son of India'

When some foreign groups are claiming that they support the Dalai Lama for the protection of the distinct Tibetan religion, culture and language, it is also a question as to whether the monk himself is a Tibetan.

On March 31, 2009, the Dalai Lama said to media in New Delhi that he was a son of India. He repeated the claim at an international conference on November 22 later that year. He put it more clearly at the opening ceremony of an international Buddhist conference held in Gujarat State in India on January 16 this year, saying: "It is indisputable that I am a son of India. In the past 50 years I have been living on Indian foods and India has presented great opportunities for me. For these reasons, I see myself as a son of India and I am proud of that. I am a Tibetan in appearance because my parents are Tibetans, but spiritually I am Indian."

The statements should not be judged as words on a whim. On January 23, 2007, he told the Indian media that in 1914, both the then Tibetan government and India, which was under the British rule, recognized the McMahon Line, which meant, according to the then agreement, "Arunachal Pradesh" was part of India.

He said to the British media on August 10, 2009, that the McMahon region was indeed a rather complicated problem but the place belonged to India after 1914 though there were different claims in history.

The monk's statement was echoed by senior officials of the "Tibetan government-in-exile." Actually, the so-called "Arunachal Pradesh" and McMahon region, which cover more than 90,000 square kilometers, were all governed by the local government in Tibet in the Chinese history.

It is the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama and boasts temples built by the fifth Dalai Lama. The McMahon Line has never been recognized by the Chinese government at any time.

How can the Dalai Lama, who on the one hand seeks a "Greater Tibet" that would cover not only the Tibet Autonomous Region but also all other Tibetan-inhabited areas in China, and on the other present the land of ancestors to foreign countries, be representative of the Tibetan people?

(The author is a Xinhua writer)




 

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