Published by: World Tibet Network News Tuesday, November 25, 1997

The Hindustan Times: 14 Nov. 97

Tibetans in exile while seeking a dialogue with China on the Tibet issue have simultaneously started building bridges with the Chinese pro-democracy activists as well as the independence movements going on in Xinjiang and inner Mongolia. An internal movement towards a federated China will greatly facilitate in solving the Tibet issue, they believe.

At least three Sino-Tibetan dialogues have been held between the Chinese pro-democracy activists and Tibetans in exile. The last one was held in London on October 11 and 12 this year. The joint statement issued at the end of the dialogue said, "The two parties call upon the Chinese Government to negotiate the future status of Tibet based on His Holiness the Dalai Lama's middle way approach and a federalist system approach as advocated by the alliance for a democratic China as reflected in its Federated China Constitution." The differences in approach of the Chinese pro-democracy activists and Beijing, which is suspicious of both the Dalai Lama and the demands for greater regional autonomy , are apparent.

The Tibetan exiles maintain contact with the Uighur movement in Xinxiang and the relatively less vocal movement in Inner Mongolia through a joint working group "to co-ordinate and to air grievances'' together; but on an irregular basis. They say that their meetings with the pro-democracy Chinese groups have been much more fruitful. They discern three distinct political views among themselves: support for an independent Tibet, self-determination for Tibet and greater autonomy for while being a part of China. But what is even more important, the Tibetan leaders feel, is that a section of politically aware Chinese is finally willing to look at the Tibet issue realistically.

The appointment of Gregory Craig the US Special Co-ordinator for Tibet, the exiles believe, can only facilitate the process of persuading the Chinese leadership also to engage realistically with the Tibet issue. Craig, the Clinton Administration's newly appointed point person for Tibet, has an unenviable single line brief of promoting a dialogue between an intransigent China and an ever accommodating and pragmatic Dalai Lama.

Craig will be arriving in New Delhi this Sunday accompanying US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during her visit to India. Whichever hat Craig publicly wears during his visit to India-he is also the Director of the Policy Planning Bureau in the State Department- it is unlikely that the Tibet issue will be far away from his mind.

Reacting to some concerns expressed in the Indian media about Craig's visit, chairman of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile (Kashag) Sonam Topgyal said, "The Special Co-ordinator 's mandate is not to help Tibet become independent ,but to facilitate a dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama. This is in keeping with the well known Indian position on Tibet. Therefore, we don't see how India can be unhappy with any efforts to peacefully resolve the Tibet issue". There is no reason for India to believe that it is caught up between the US and China on the issue of the Special Co-ordinator , he felt.

Criag's appointment by the Clinton Administration comes under pressure from the US Congress which has been very vocal and sympathetic to the Tibetan cause and critical of what it calls the Clinton Administration's appeasement policy towards China on the issue. The US public's awareness of the Tibet issue has also been heightened no end by Hollywood's new-found obsession with what may turn out to be the last exotica.

While Jean Jacques Annaud's Seven Years in Tibet has already been released, there are atleast six other films on Tibet which have either finished or are in production. These include Martin Scorsese's Kundun (meaning "presence") about the life of the present Dalai Lama and Steven Seagal's Dixie Cups about the CIA-sponsored Tibetan rebellion in the 1960s from bases on the Nepal border. Given this and the growing awareness about human rights violations in the US, The appointment of a middle-level State Department functionary with a diffused brief as Special Coordinator for Tibet is likely to earn extra points in opinion polls for Bill Clinton.

Craig's appointment could well be a sop to the US Congress, but the Tibetan exiles more than welcome it. This development has once again given them hope for a dialogue with China, although they do not seem very clear about how Craig will fulfill his mandate.

The Tibetan exiles do not see economic ties between the US and China coming in the way of solving the Tibet issue. "In fact, the greater economic interaction between the US and China will make Beijing more prone to listening to US urgings. The Dalai Lama has always said that more China engages with the international community, the more likely is it to become open to international suggestions". Sonam Topgyal said. But what the Tibetans earnestly hope for is a dialogue with China. The Dalai Lama has in fact constantly de-escalated his demands for facilitating a dialogue.

Ever since his escape to India in 1959 till 1979, the basic policy of the Tibetans was to work towards the complete independence of Tibet. With the ascendance of Deng Xiaoping to power in China, a new chapter was opened between Beijing and the Tibetan Government in exile. Deng invited the Dalai Lama's elder brother, Gyalo Thondup, to Beijing and assured him that except for the question of Tibetan independence, China was willing to resolve all other issues through discussion.

The Dalai Lama followed this up with his Five Point Peace Plan in 1987 and a year later by the Strasbourg Proposals in an address to the members of the European Parliament. From this emerged what is called "the Middle Path" approach, giving up the notion of independence from China.

The whole of Tibet-the provinces of Kham, Amdo and U-Tsang, some parts of which were incorporated in provinces other than Tibet by the Chinese-was to become a self-governing political entity "in association with the People's Republic of China". Tibet's foreign policy was to be China's responsibility. The Dalai Lama went to the extent of suggesting that China "could maintain a restricted number of military installations in Tibet" for defense purposes.

The period from 1979 to 1993 is broadly described by the Tibetans as that of the Middle Path approach even though a large section among them felt that the Dalai Lama had compromised on the question of independence. In his annual policy speech of March 10,1993, the Dalai Lama, taking into account the lack of progress with the Middle Path approach, suggested a referendum on the future course of action.

The churning that went on in the Tibetan community between 1993 and 1997-both in exile and within Tibet-finally resulted in the Tibetan exiles overwhelmingly expressing their views this June against the referendum and leaving the decision of how to deal with China with the Dalai Lama. Emerging clearly stronger than before in terms of the faith that his people repose in him, the Dalai Lama has, however, said he would not take a final decision till he has more information on what the Tibetans within Tibet think on the issue.

However, many Tibetan leaders think that unless there is internal reform in China and it moves towards a federal structure, the Tibet issue cannot be resolved easily. The slogan which encapsulates this approach, they say, is "Democracy for China, Freedom for Tibet".