A Friend in Need
The Tibetan struggle for freedom is not well over two decades old. They have tried everything from appealing to the United Nations and other International organisations to canvassing individual nations for support. Demonstrations, writing to newspapers and other civilized forms of protest are regularly made. All with no concrete results in sight yet. Although these activities have had an effect on the Chinese government, it is not of the kind that the Tibetans had hoped for. Instead of allowing them self-determination, Peking has introduced some policy changes which, when viewed in practical terms, have turned out to be designed only to lure the exiles back home so that their voice would no more be heard in the outside world. This is the Chinese idea of solving the problem and the Tibetan are understandably unwilling to accept it. Their only hope lies in continued publicising of the Tibetan cause so that ultimately enough outrage will be generated throughout the world making feasible a formal demand to the People’s Liberation Army to vacate the Tibetan territory.
This is the context in which the Tibetan plea for Soviet support must be seen. It is not that the Soviet Union is the only country that the Tibetan approached. Rather, the only sympathetic governmental response we received have come from the Soviet Union. It is only natural that the Tibetans should feel a certain amount of gratitude to them. The enemity between Moscow and Peking is not in itself the reason why Tibetans lean towards the Russians. Otherwise Taiwan would also have fallen in this category. The difference between the Soviet Union’s and Taiwan’s standpoint is that while the former speaks for the Tibetan right to self-government, the latter specifically rejects it.
Of course, the Tibetans are well aware of the Soviet brutalities, as recorded diligently in the Western press. They do read about the Russian acts of aggression and oppression and are duly shocked by them. However, they remain unconvinced that these are comparable in scale and magnitude to the Chinese acts in Tibet. To them, therefore, the prospect of a Soviet-Tibetan frienship is not all that abhorrent.
Well-meaning friends of Tibet have expressed genuine concern at this seeming Tibetan proclivity towards jumping from the Chinese frying pan into Russian fire. This is a danger the Tibetans are not oblivious to and is, in fact, the reason why their approach to the Soviet Union have never amounted to more than expressions of gratitude. There have been no moves to strike a political bargain with them. The significance of the declared Soviet desire of reconciling it’s difference with the People’s Republic is not lost upon them either. They have no illusion that if such a situation came to pass the Soviet view of the Tibetan problem will remain unchanged.
It would indeed be unfortunate if the Tibetan cased is weakened because of the tarnished record of their only current friend. It is necessary, therefore, for the Tibetans to make the reasons for and the nature of their friendship with the Soviets clear in all publicity materials on the subject. In the absence of active support from the United Nations and “respectable” governments. Tibetans can hardly be blamed for accepting any hand proferred to them in friendship However, they should be careful not to get carried away with it and give the wrong impression that this friendship is anything approaching a “collusion” or that the Tibetans approve of everything that the Russians do.
The Tibetan struggle for freedom is not well over two decades old. They have tried everything from appealing to the United Nations and other International organisations to canvassing individual nations for support. Demonstrations, writing to newspapers and other civilized forms of protest are regularly made. All with no concrete results in sight yet. Although these activities have had an effect on the Chinese government, it is not of the kind that the Tibetans had hoped for. Instead of allowing them self-determination, Peking has introduced some policy changes which, when viewed in practical terms, have turned out to be designed only to lure the exiles back home so that their voice would no more be heard in the outside world. This is the Chinese idea of solving the problem and the Tibetan are understandably unwilling to accept it. Their only hope lies in continued publicising of the Tibetan cause so that ultimately enough outrage will be generated throughout the world making feasible a formal demand to the People’s Liberation Army to vacate the Tibetan territory.
This is the context in which the Tibetan plea for Soviet support must be seen. It is not that the Soviet Union is the only country that the Tibetan approached. Rather, the only sympathetic governmental response we received have come from the Soviet Union. It is only natural that the Tibetans should feel a certain amount of gratitude to them. The enemity between Moscow and Peking is not in itself the reason why Tibetans lean towards the Russians. Otherwise Taiwan would also have fallen in this category. The difference between the Soviet Union’s and Taiwan’s standpoint is that while the former speaks for the Tibetan right to self-government, the latter specifically rejects it.
Of course, the Tibetans are well aware of the Soviet brutalities, as recorded diligently in the Western press. They do read about the Russian acts of aggression and oppression and are duly shocked by them. However, they remain unconvinced that these are comparable in scale and magnitude to the Chinese acts in Tibet. To them, therefore, the prospect of a Soviet-Tibetan frienship is not all that abhorrent.
Well-meaning friends of Tibet have expressed genuine concern at this seeming Tibetan proclivity towards jumping from the Chinese frying pan into Russian fire. This is a danger the Tibetans are not oblivious to and is, in fact, the reason why their approach to the Soviet Union have never amounted to more than expressions of gratitude. There have been no moves to strike a political bargain with them. The significance of the declared Soviet desire of reconciling it’s difference with the People’s Republic is not lost upon them either. They have no illusion that if such a situation came to pass the Soviet view of the Tibetan problem will remain unchanged.
It would indeed be unfortunate if the Tibetan cased is weakened because of the tarnished record of their only current friend. It is necessary, therefore, for the Tibetans to make the reasons for and the nature of their friendship with the Soviets clear in all publicity materials on the subject. In the absence of active support from the United Nations and “respectable” governments. Tibetans can hardly be blamed for accepting any hand proferred to them in friendship However, they should be careful not to get carried away with it and give the wrong impression that this friendship is anything approaching a “collusion” or that the Tibetans approve of everything that the Russians do.
posted by editorla at
9:09 PM
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