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8 July 2015

The Dalai Lama and the changes in modern China

6 July 2015

The Dalai Lama celebrated his 80th birthday in Dharamshala, where he has been staying since he fled Tibet in 1959

Talking to one of the Chinese guards that guard Norbulingka, the Dalai Lama’s home in Lhasa, Tibet, that has been turned into a museum for some years now, a visiting Indian scholar asked him, “how things are,” in Mandarin. 

The guard shrugged his shoulders. “Even when we arrest them,” he said, referring to Tibetans protesting the Chinese Communist Party’s (CPC) supreme control over Tibet, “some of them continue to mediate, even in jail…What are we supposed to do in that situation?” he added. 

This has been an interesting fortnight in the India-China-Tibet space. The Dalai Lama first celebrated his 80th birthday on June 21 (according to the Buddhist calendar) in Dharamshala, where he has been staying since he fled Tibet in 1959. 

The Indian government, initially circumspect about the position and presence of the Tibetan spiritual leader and how it would impact the Sino-Indian relations, sent Union Minister for Culture Mahesh Sharma and junior home minister Kiren Rijiju to participate in the celebrations. 

CPC anniversary 

Then on July 1, the Chinese celebrated the 94th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, on the eve of which President Xi Jinping reminded the assembled senior leadership of the need to implement the “Four Comprehensives” — comprehensively build a moderately prosperous society, deepen reform, govern the nation according to law and strictly govern the party — through the elimination of corruption. 

“We must make sure officials dare not be corrupt, cannot be corrupt and do not want to be corrupt,” Xi said according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua. 

It is easy to see why Prime Minister Narendra Modi would like to be friends with a man like that. 

President Xi is a “princeling”, the son of a first-generation Communist party leader, but one who has put his own distinctive stamp on the Party. 

His anti-corruption drive is part of his vision for the remaking of China, as is the recent regulation which allows your boss to sack you for “ineptitude” or doing your job half-heartedly. 

And then there is the sweeping new security law unveiled in Beijing last week, which refers to the protection of the national ‘core interests’ or ‘hexin liyi’ in Mandarin. 

Until recently, this referred to the defence of Tibet, Xinjiang and Taiwan, but as a rising China becomes one of the world’s most powerful nations, the leadership is beginning to see an expanded role for three “sacrosanct rights” — the sacrosanct position of the Communist Party in the one-party political system, the defence of territorial integrity and the sacrosanct right to economic development. 

Clearly, China has a certain image of itself as a pre-eminent power and will not let a foreign power diminish that image in any way. 

That kind of self-perception demands respect from the world, which the world is ready to give, except that several poorer and weaker nations and communities would also like the Chinese to understand their own unique historical and cultural experiences. 

Reopening talks 

For example, in an exclusive interview with India Today on the occasion of his 80th birthday on July 6, the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said that he would very much like to reopen talks with the Chinese leadership — especially with his old friend, Xi Zhongxun’s son, Xi Jinping — so as to honourably integrate Tibet’s heart, mind and soul with the People’s Republic. 

Of course, the Dalai Lama realises that this is not a Hindi movie and the ending may not necessarily be a happy one. 

The Chinese leadership in general, and Xi Jinping, in particular, may reject the talks offer outright and continue to deliberately diminish the Tibetan leader. 

Asked why he is a red rag to the Chinese leadership, the Dalai Lama told this reporter: “They think I am a demon in Buddhist robes.” 

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Talks: The Dalai Lama, said that he would very much like to reopen talks with the Chinese leadership

Does the Tibetan leader feel bad when the Chinese deliberately insult him, publicly? How does he, an aspiring Bodhisattva, deal with the feelings of helplessness that must wash over him, especially when he sees how card-carrying countries of the “free world”, like India, the US and the European Union, have so easily capitulated to the PRC? 

If it were up to the Chinese, they would keep the Dalai Lama out of sight, and hope that if that was done long enough, he would also become out of mind and thereby, irrelevant. 

But as my colleague Ananth Krishnan found during a visit to Lhasa recently, the Tibetans still remember their spiritual guru fondly and will take the risk to commemorate his banned birthday. 

No matter that the Chinese are building a huge mall in the heart of Lhasa, near the Jokhang and the Barkhor, the Tibetan leader is still alive in the hearts and minds of China’s Tibetans. 

Element of respect 

It seems as if Xi and his comrades are waiting for the Dalai Lama to pass on, so that they may either reincarnate their own Dalai Lama — just as they did with the Panchen Lama in 1995 — and permanently delete this old man from the mind of the Tibetans. 

Perhaps President Xi should rethink his “Four Comprehensives” to incorporate the element of respect in the remaking of his great nation. 

Respecting a senior spiritual leader and according the idea of difference due recognition will only enhance China’s credibility worldwide. 

As for Modi, he must realise that the Chinese will treat him, and India, with respect on all the issues that divide us, for example the Dalai Lama’s presence in India, if he draws a ‘lakshman rekha’ on this matter. 

Getting vocal: The Dalai Lama speaks to the crowd during singer Patti Smith's (left) performance at the Glastonbury music festival in the UK 

Moreover, the Dalai Lama is connected with India’s strategic bottomline in several other ways — the Tibetan leader’s flight to India was followed by the 1962 border conflict with Beijing, and the ongoing territorial dispute between the two countries is intimately connected to Tawang district in Arunachal Pradesh, where the sixth Dalai Lama was born; which is why Delhi’s unhappiness over Beijing stalling talks over the border dispute is rather counter-intuitive. 

According to the Chinese, the border dispute can be settled as soon as India is willing to give up Tawang and some additional territory in Arunachal. Is Modi prepared to do that? 

Since his Government will most definitely fall if he even contemplates that possibility, perhaps the PM can start by treating the Dalai Lama, an extraordinary person by any standards, with respect.

He’ll find that he will be able to meet Xi, eye to eye, with much less irritation. 

The author is Senior Writer, India Today 

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