Tibet should be on the table in Sino-India talks, says Dr Sangay

[Ensapa]

At least LS is travelling around to champion the Tibet cause these days as opposed to feasting on momos and butter tea in dharamsala. But what is worrying is that him demanding that countries intervene in the Tibet issue -- but with nothing to offer them. At least LS should explain why the international community should help CTA.

Tibet should be on the table in Sino-India talks, says Dr Sangay
Phayul[Sunday, October 07, 2012 23:52]

DHARAMSHALA, October 7: Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay, the elected leader of the Tibetan people, has said the issue of Tibet should be “on the table” during talks between India and China.

Dr Sangay was talking to reporters in the Indian capital New Delhi enroute to a 20-day visit to the United States and Europe, Friday.

“I believe Tibet should be on the table as a foreign issue,” media reports quoted Dr Sangay as saying. His statement comes days after the Indian Defence Minister AK Antony said negotiations with China over the Indo-Tibet border dispute were in the “final stages.”

Speaking on the ongoing wave of self-immolations in Tibet, Dr Sangay blamed China’s “repressive” policies for the crisis.

"There is no space for any form of protests and hence Tibetans are resorting to self-immolations. The Tibetans are sending a message not only of tragedy but also urgency," he said. "We seek and need support from the international community to push China to stop oppression in Tibet."

The Delhi and Harvard educated Tibetan leader called the issue of Tibet a "test” for Chinese government.

“If they really say we believe in moderation then Tibet is the test, it's not Hong Kong it's not Macau, it's not Taiwan. Tibet is the test because if Tibetans are granted autonomy then that is an indication that finally the Chinese leadership or the Han Chinese people have accepted diversity," Dr Sangay said.

He also cautioned India on China’s military activities on the Tibetan plateau, pointing out that Beijing has already built five major airfields in Tibet and has 23 military divisions stationed there.

Dr Sangay noted that China should stop the migration of Han Chinese into Tibet and gave details of the extent of the migration.

"More than 50 percent of people in urban areas of Lhasa, Tibet’s capital are Chinese, 70 percent businesses in Lhasa are owned by Chinese, 50 percent of the public sector jobs and posts in the Communist Party in Tibet belong to Chinese. On the other hand, 40 percent of Tibetan high school and college graduates are unemployed," he said.

He went on to criticise China's policy of "forcibly rehabilitating" hundreds of thousands of Tibetan nomads from their ancestral grasslands to cemented buildings, cutting them off from their traditional way of life, while leaving them “no source of earning money.”

According to the Central Tibetan Administration, Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay will be visiting Harvard, Columbia, New York, Virginia and Minnesota from October 6 – 19 on the first leg of his tour.

He will then leave for visits to Prague, Czech Republic on October 21, followed by London on October 23 and Rome, Italy from October 24-26.

Sikyong Dr Sangay will return to Dharamshala on October 29.

[vajratruth]

Tibet should be on the table in Sino-India talks, says Dr Sangay
Phayul[Sunday, October 07, 2012 23:52]

DHARAMSHALA, October 7: Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay, the elected leader of the Tibetan people, has said the issue of Tibet should be “on the table” during talks between India and China.

“If they really say we believe in moderation then Tibet is the test, it's not Hong Kong it's not Macau, it's not Taiwan. Tibet is the test because if Tibetans are granted autonomy then that is an indication that finally the Chinese leadership or the Han Chinese people have accepted diversity," Dr Sangay said.

Dr Lobsang Sangay needs to have a serious reality check of what he is asking. India is under no obligation whatsoever to host the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans in exile for as long as it has. In fact Tibet has become an issue in Sino-Indian relations over the years as China looks suspiciously at India's support of what China deems as "splittist" elements. Officially India recognizes Tibet to be under the sovereignty of China but has provided asylum to the Tibetans in exile and the Dalai Lama out of humanitarian concerns. Tibet is in no position to demand anything more of India.

India needs to look at China either as a friend or an adversary and India has its own geopolitical and economic worries to contend with. In fact, one way for India to mend its fence with China is to give up Tibet. The quicker the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans in exile leaves their asylum in India, hopefully to return to Tibet under whatever conditions, the better it is for India. This is a fact.

Lobsang Sangay also erred seriously in asking India to fight its battles. India has far more serious border issues to deal with and these issues are not Tibet, Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan. But instead, India has to worry about issues such as Kashmir, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkhim, not to mention Pakistan. Tibet offers no military or economic support to India whatsoever. As it is, India is walking a fine line between its humanitarian obligations to Tibetan refugees and irking China at great costs. What if China were to support separatist forces in say Kashmir or Pakistan in retaliation to India's stance on Tibet? How can the Tibetans in exile contribute?

The Sikyong's attitude is reflective of that of the Tibetans in exile, which is thinking that the world owes them a duty to return Tibet to them. That is not the case. The CTA needs to work out its own problems and then seek India and the world to broker a deal. That will be a reasonable request. Lobsang Sangay's statement belies the confusion within the exiled Tibetan Government as to what is actually the "Tibetan Cause":

“If they really say we believe in moderation then Tibet is the test, it's not Hong Kong it's not Macau, it's not Taiwan. Tibet is the test because if Tibetans are granted autonomy then that is an indication that finally the Chinese leadership or the Han Chinese people have accepted diversity".

What is the CTA's fight now about? Tibetan Independence or Tibetan Autonomy, per the Dalai Lama's "Middle Way"? The Tibetan's themselves first have to decide once and for all. And if there is a test, the test is upon the CTA to show that they are ready to govern their own people with a moderate and just hand and accept religious diversity. The CTA has totally failed to demonstrate that they understand and value the meaning of democracy. On both sides of Tibet,  India and China have shown that they are able to protect the people's rights to practice their own religion. The CTA needs to get its own house right and stop demanding anything more from a generous host.

[dsiluvu]

What is the CTA's fight now about? Tibetan Independence or Tibetan Autonomy, per the Dalai Lama's "Middle Way"? The Tibetan's themselves first have to decide once and for all. And if there is a test, the test is upon the CTA to show that they are ready to govern their own people with a moderate and just hand and accept religious diversity. The CTA has totally failed to demonstrate that they value to concept of democracy. On both sides of the Tibet, both India and China has shown that they value the people's rights to practice their own religion. The CTA needs to get its own house right and stop demanding a generous host of anything more.

Well said and well put... I could not have said it better. I am actually quite appalled by the arrogance of LS. How thick skin are the Tibetans??? How could you be so demanding towards India who has provided, land, food, shelter, safety as well, they've protected His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Tibetans in exile for soo long now... otherwise I believe China would have invaded India to go after HHDL. India has done the best they can. Tibetans has offered nothing back except political stress, bad behaviors during the Ban, chaos, problems after problems and expecting India to solve their problems.

Yes if Tibet themselves can't decided on what they want autonomy or independence... and cannot even follow anyone's instructions, even His Holiness instructions of autonomy is being ignored... then how could any sane country's leader trust that Tibetans would listen to anyone?

It's funny how within themselves on the Tibet issue there is 2 minds... and this attitude is cause for people to be destroyed and Dharma to be destroyed from within. Clearly Tibetan do not practice Dharma and is any one bit concern about Dorje Shugden practice, they are merely using this a scapecoat issue to talk about to divert their people's disappointments in them. What their people want and what their Govt in exile wants are different... hence within themselves there is conflict.

So CTA needs to clean out their own pile of mess first before being so arrogantly demanding towards India or any other country for that matter!

Why does the world owe Tibet??? We're against anything that is none compliance to "HUMAN RIGHTS" not "TIBETAN RIGHT" only.  I'm against double standards and biasness in a government that calls themselves democratic but acts like a communist. How different is Tibet from China really?

[Ensapa]

Dr Lobsang Sangay needs to have a serious reality check of what he is asking. India is under no obligation whatsoever to host the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans in exile for as long as it has. In fact Tibet has become an issue in Sino-Indian relations over the years as China looks suspiciously at India's support of what China deems as "splittist" elements. Officially India recognizes Tibet to be under the sovereignty of China but has provided asylum to the Tibetans in exile and the Dalai Lama out of humanitarian concerns. Tibet is in no position to demand anything more of India.

India needs to look at China either as a friend or an adversary and India has its own geopolitical and economic worries to contend with. In fact, one way for India to mend its fence with China is to give up Tibet. The quicker the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans in exile leaves their asylum in India, hopefully to return to Tibet under whatever conditions, the better it is for India. This is a fact.

Lobsang Sangay also erred seriously in asking India to fight its battles. India has far more serious border issues to deal with and these issues are not Tibet, Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan. But instead, India has to worry about issues such as Kashmir, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkhim, not to mention Pakistan. Tibet offers no military or economic support to India whatsoever. As it is, India is walking a fine line between its humanitarian obligations to Tibetan refugees and irking China at great costs. What if China were to support separatist forces in say Kashmir or Pakistan in retaliation to India's stance on Tibet? How can the Tibetans in exile contribute?

The Sikyong's attitude is reflective of that of the Tibetans in exile, which is thinking that the world owes them a duty to return Tibet to them. That is not the case. The CTA needs to work out its own problems and then seek India and the world to broker a deal. That will be a reasonable request. Lobsang Sangay's statement belies the confusion within the exiled Tibetan Government as to what is actually the "Tibetan Cause":

“If they really say we believe in moderation then Tibet is the test, it's not Hong Kong it's not Macau, it's not Taiwan. Tibet is the test because if Tibetans are granted autonomy then that is an indication that finally the Chinese leadership or the Han Chinese people have accepted diversity".

What is the CTA's fight now about? Tibetan Independence or Tibetan Autonomy, per the Dalai Lama's "Middle Way"? The Tibetan's themselves first have to decide once and for all. And if there is a test, the test is upon the CTA to show that they are ready to govern their own people with a moderate and just hand and accept religious diversity. The CTA has totally failed to demonstrate that they understand and value the meaning of democracy. On both sides of Tibet,  India and China have shown that they are able to protect the people's rights to practice their own religion. The CTA needs to get its own house right and stop demanding anything more from a generous host.

I think it is pretty clear that CTA wants complete independence from China because they want things to be in Tibet before the Chinese invaded. They could have requested autonomy like how Hong Kong is governed at this time but they decided that it would be better to inspire more Tibetans to burn themselves up to make a statement, then demand governments around the world to talk about the Tibetan cause...and even have the cheek to ask the indian government to help them out with that when the indian government has helped them so much. that shows what kind of people who run the CTA and why will they continue to fail.

[Big Uncle]

Well, I agree with Ensapa on this one. I think what Lobsang Sangye's statements are pretty sound especially since he backed it up with statistic and a pretty sound argument regarding Tibetans. However, I think his plea for India to take up Tibet's cause would most likely have fallen on deaf ears. India has nothing to gain from championing the cause and everything to gain from focussing on more pressing economic rewards from its ties with China.

The Indians have been very kind to accomodate the Tibetans for so long and although accepting the Dalai Lama and his people, they are really by no means responsible for their cause. They will not be so cruel as the evict the Tibetans but they will continue to forge bridges over the often rocky relations they had with China. With the allure of fostering diplomatic and economic ties with China, India would definitely rather stay away from the topic of the Tibetans. A sure sign of this would have been the Indian pressure that resulted in renaming the Tibetan Government in Exile to Central Tibetan Administration - a sign of India's wish to walk the tight rope of being the kind host to the Tibetans and fostering relations with the Chinese.

Lobsang Sangye would be better off trying other ways to reopen fresh talks with the Chinese direct instead of relying on India to champion their rights.

[Ensapa]

Lobsang Sangye would be better off trying other ways to reopen fresh talks with the Chinese direct instead of relying on India to champion their rights.

Unfortunately, instead of making peace with China, he is irritating China more and more with self immolations and going to european nations and pleading them to fight for Tibet's cause, as if the world owns the Tibetans a huge favor and that it is their responsibility to help Tibet regain their independence. LS could very well just play his hand into China's trust and at least gain a chance to talk with China on how to resolve the Tibetan issue. Their unwillingness to do so shows that they are either too stupid to realize this or that they are way too stubborn to actually just use the more diplomatic way.