The Dalai Lama's recent visit to Tawang came at a time when Sino-Indian relations had touched a new low. The Chinese double speak on its relations with India came to a boil when it objected to Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh, visiting Arunachal Pradesh, a state of India, because the Chinese have been claiming it as part of India.
Although India tried to play down the issue, the Chinese appear to have decided to further embarrass the Indian leadership with a lot of proxy sabre rattling. But Indian leadership for a change appear to have had enough of this. The Prime Minister made it clear that the Dalai Lama was an honoured guest and spiritual leader and India would not stop him from visiting Arunachal Pradesh and Tawang.
Claude Arpi, well known friend of Tibet, and an expert familiar with the issues and the region has analysed the fall out of Dalai Lama's visit to Tawang in his own inimitable way. His article 'Sun shines in Tawang' published in the op-ed column of Pioneer on November 25, 2009 is reproduced here with the newspaper's courtesy for your reading.
Sun shines in Tawang
Claude Arpi
[The Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh was a huge success, showcasing his popularity and his message of peace. India did well to ignore China’s protests by re-asserting its sovereignty over this State. Let Beijing grumble, we need not be bothered about Chinese indignation]
Despite Chinese protests, the Government of India cleared the Dalai Lama’s visit to Tawang, allowing him to travel to Arunachal Pradesh where he received a tumultuous welcome. What lessons can we draw from this event which has been extensively covered by the national media?
First, though the visit has ‘upset’ the Chinese, nothing dramatic has happened. Most of the so-called Indian experts who are regularly taken for lavish trips to China had predicted that hell would break loose if the Dalai Lama were permitted to go to Tawang. Nothing like that has happened. On the contrary, as the Times of India reported, “China tried to be deliberately subdued… The Chinese Foreign Ministry restricted itself to expressing strong dissatisfaction with India on the issue.”
For India, it has been an occasion to discover that even if the Chinese are ‘upset’ it is not the end of the world. This has apparently percolated to the Government’s psyche; the media and the people are also gradually becoming aware of it.
Till recently, if India opened an airport or had to send troops to its northern frontier or if the Prime Minister had to visit Arunachal Pradesh, the Chinese would inevitably be ‘upset’. But if India dared to say anything about infrastructure projects in Tibet or about Beijing’s plans to built huge dams on the Brahmaputra, the Chinese spokesman would immediately state, “Please, it is our internal affair, don’t interfere.”
This constant rage is not healthy; the Chinese leaders have a serious problem. Could someone suggest to them to take some lessons in vipasana and equanimity from a Buddhist teacher?
While it is good that India always maintains its proverbial calm and practices samata, usually at the end of the day the Government vacillates under Chinese pressure. This time, it remained firm; it did not budge under veiled threats or melt under sweet smiles.
Unyielding under pressure, New Delhi has reiterated its decade-old position on the border issue. It was enunciated in 1959 by Jawaharlal Nehru in a letter to Zhou Enlai, his Chinese counterpart. Nehru wrote: “Contrary to what has been reported to you, this (McMahon) Line was, in fact, drawn at a Tripartite Conference held at Simla in 1913-1914 between the Plenipotentiaries of the Governments of China, Tibet and India. At the time of acceptance of the delineation of this frontier, Lonchen Shatra, the Tibetan Plenipotentiary, in letters exchanged, stated explicitly that he had received orders from Lhasa to agree to the boundary as marked on the map appended to the Convention. The Line was drawn after full discussion and was confirmed subsequently by formal exchange of letters; and there is nothing to indicate that the Tibetan authorities were in any way dissatisfied with the agreed boundary.”
It may seem strange today, but Zhou Enlai had told Nehru in 1957 that he had no objection to the McMahon Line (he just did not like the British connotation of the name), but that the Tibetans were unhappy about it. Nehru rightly pointed out: “There is no mention of any Chinese reservation in respect of the India-Tibet frontier either during the discussions or at the time of their initialling the Convention (in 1914).”
Nehru reminded Zhou Enlai: “In our previous discussions and particularly during your visit to India in January1957, we were gratified to note that you were prepared to accept this line as representing the frontier between China and India in this region and I hope that we shall reach an understanding on this basis.”
It is much later that the Chinese, wanting a bargaining chip to legalise their occupation of Aksai Chin, decided to play the ‘Tawang card’ and started clamouring about Arunachal Pradesh. For a time, they even argued that the residents of Arunachal Pradesh did not need Chinese visas to ‘visit their own motherland’.
By allowing the Dalai Lama to visit Tawang, New Delhi has made clear its position on the border. It will be greatly helpful when Special Representatives MK Narayanan and his Chinese counterpart Dai Bingguo meet the next time.
But there is another lesson from the visit: It has demonstrated the magnitude of the popularity of the Tibetan leader among the Himalayan people. People not only from the North-East, but also from Ladakh, Lahaul, Spiti, Kinnaur and Sikkim often feel (rightly or wrongly) that they are second class citizens in India. This sentiment has been prevailing for a long time and is accentuated by Delhi-centric policies which have often ignored the feelings of these people.
By agreeing to let the Tibetan leader visit Arunachal Pradesh, the Government has offered a wonderful gift to the local people. Can you imagine the entire population of a district stopping all activities for four days to listen to a leader preaching the tenets of their own culture? The Dalai Lama’s words resonated in the ears of each person who had come to hear him speaking about their Buddhist roots.
On the last day, a friend sent me a message: “His Holiness left for Itanagar this morning; almost everyone was crying. A Monpa housewife said, ‘This could be the last time that we are getting his blessing.’ Guruji’s visit to Tawang is always made difficult. Look at the weather now; there is no sun today, how sunny and pleasant it was yesterday and the previous days when he was here!”
The Chinese leadership always speaks of the ‘masses’, but does the totalitarian regime in Beijing have the faintest idea of what the word means? To convince US President Barack Obama about China’s claim to Tibet, Beijing now compares the 1959 Communist takeover of the area to the American Civil War. The inferrence, to quote a Reuters despatch, is that “Mao freed Tibetans from slavery”.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that Mr Obama should understand China’s Tibet policy better: “He is a Black President and he understands the slavery abolition movement. In 1959, China abolished the feudal serf system (in Tibet) just as President Lincoln freed the Black slaves.” Despite Beijing’s lame arguments, the masses have shown where their hearts turn to for solace and advice.
While the media was busy covering the Dalai Lama’s visit to Tawang, not far away, in Gangtok several Tibetan and Sikkimese NGOs organised a ‘Tibet Festival’. Incredible crowds thronged the venue. The opening ceremony was attended by no less than three Ministers of the Chamling Government and on the last day, the Chief Minister personally declared the festival closed.
While Tibetan culture is being erased in Tibet, there is a cultural renaissance in the Himalayan belt. It is mainly due to the presence of the Dalai Lama in India who for the past 50 years has been teaching tolerance and non-violence. One can imagine what would happen if the Dalai Lama were allowed to cross the McMahon Line and visit his native land.
Courtesy: http://www.dailypioneer.com/218170/Sun-shines-in-Tawang.html
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