A Grand Illusions
With all the heavy duty news coverage of Tibetan affairs which began in November and is still continuing, one would have thought all the traditional about the subject have been clearedup. But misconceptions no, that was hoping for too much. It seems. Two items in the papers last month showed how short the editorial memory is.
When the Chinese announced, via the Panchen Lama, the Dalai Lama will be permitted to live in Tibet—opposed to being restricted to Peking—provided he stops talking about independence, there was much excitement in the air. There were unsolicited advices to the Tibetan leader to grab this opportunity since independence, after all, is an ‘unrealistic’ goal. This assumption nicely led up to the second item—Dalai Lama’s statement about ‘compromise within a year,’ which stunned the Tibetan exile community into utter incredulity. As far as many newspapers are concerned, it’s all in the bag now the Dalai Lama has given up demanding independence and, within a year, the two sides will work out a formula whereby he can return to Lhasa.
All protestations by the Dalai Lama in the past, that the question is not about where he will be allowed to live but the ‘maximum happiness of the Tibetan,’ have been conveniently shelved. None of his published statements have over mentioned the word ‘independence,’ but stressed on the desire of the majority of the Tibetans. His followers, of course, find it difficult to believe that ‘maximum happiness’ will result from anything less than total independence from China. Nonetheless, it is important to note that ‘independence’ does not figure anywhere in the Dalai Lama’s five point peace proposal either, although it has been universally hailed by all Tibetans as well as their well-wishers. It is clear that when the Dalai Lama talks about ‘compromise’ he means this proposal. As for the 12-month deadlines, who knows he may have reasons to believe that the Chinese will accept the proposal within that period.
So nothing has changed. There is no need for the Tibetan community to panic, non need for anyone to think the five-point proposal has been abandoned. That still remains the bargaining chip from the Tibetan side. And there is certainly no need for anyone to be sidetracked by Chinese efforts at misrepresenting the whole issue.
With all the heavy duty news coverage of Tibetan affairs which began in November and is still continuing, one would have thought all the traditional about the subject have been clearedup. But misconceptions no, that was hoping for too much. It seems. Two items in the papers last month showed how short the editorial memory is.
When the Chinese announced, via the Panchen Lama, the Dalai Lama will be permitted to live in Tibet—opposed to being restricted to Peking—provided he stops talking about independence, there was much excitement in the air. There were unsolicited advices to the Tibetan leader to grab this opportunity since independence, after all, is an ‘unrealistic’ goal. This assumption nicely led up to the second item—Dalai Lama’s statement about ‘compromise within a year,’ which stunned the Tibetan exile community into utter incredulity. As far as many newspapers are concerned, it’s all in the bag now the Dalai Lama has given up demanding independence and, within a year, the two sides will work out a formula whereby he can return to Lhasa.
All protestations by the Dalai Lama in the past, that the question is not about where he will be allowed to live but the ‘maximum happiness of the Tibetan,’ have been conveniently shelved. None of his published statements have over mentioned the word ‘independence,’ but stressed on the desire of the majority of the Tibetans. His followers, of course, find it difficult to believe that ‘maximum happiness’ will result from anything less than total independence from China. Nonetheless, it is important to note that ‘independence’ does not figure anywhere in the Dalai Lama’s five point peace proposal either, although it has been universally hailed by all Tibetans as well as their well-wishers. It is clear that when the Dalai Lama talks about ‘compromise’ he means this proposal. As for the 12-month deadlines, who knows he may have reasons to believe that the Chinese will accept the proposal within that period.
So nothing has changed. There is no need for the Tibetan community to panic, non need for anyone to think the five-point proposal has been abandoned. That still remains the bargaining chip from the Tibetan side. And there is certainly no need for anyone to be sidetracked by Chinese efforts at misrepresenting the whole issue.
posted by editorla at
9:13 PM
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