Relatively Speaking

April 1982

The official explanation for the high-powered Dharamsala delegation presently visiting Peking is “to continue relations started in 1979.” The only “relations” that exist, as far as we know, is the arrangement of sending fact-finding teams from India to Tibet. Because three such teams were sent in rapid succession and none since August 1980, the only inference we can draw is that continuing relations mean, to begin with, sending of fourth delegation.

The previous delegations went to Tibet without the aid of Cabinet-level pathfinders. Which makes it difficult for us to believe that the work of the preset team in Peking is confined to this. Moreover, there are a couple of indications that something bigger may be in the offing. Sometime ago a Hongkong weekly quoting “reliable sources” reported that the Tibetan government is negotiating terms for the return of the Dalai Lama. While that publication is not always known to be accurate on Tibetan affairs and while it had previously run a similar story which proved to be baseless, it cannot be dismissed entirely in view of the latest move. It is also remarkable that no denial was issued to this report.

Next, during a visit to Dharamsala earlier this month, a curious incident there gave me further food for though. Purely by chance I discovered the Cabinet Office making surreptitious enquiries about the meaning of abbreviations SSR and FSSR. Could it be that the Chinese have offered Dharamsala a Soviet type of federation to settle the question of Tibet and that the delegation is in Peking to determined the advisability of accepting it?

Of course, I have to admit that this last piece of evidence—even in the context of the present goings on—is a tenuous one. After all, the Kashag might have been merely trying to increase its grasp on world affairs. Dharamsala is the past is sometimes known to have assigned big people on small jobs and vice versa. So it should not come as a complete surprise if the high-ranking team in Peking really turns out to be only arranging the route for the fourth delegation. Or something even more innocuous—such as opening a new branch of Hotel Tibet.