China Demands That You Forget Tibet
Tibet's Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is now 74 years old and in declining health. But the People's Republic of China still covets not only his Himalayan domain; it also wants what is, for him, the core of his life. They want him to renounce his title. And China won't stop until he's given up or he's dead. Why do you think giant Communist China so desperately wants his title?
Tenzin Gyatso was barely more than a child when Mao's Red Army brigades invaded the peaceful Buddhist mountain kingdom in 1950. And neither he nor many others recognized China's claim to the vast territory.
But China's economic as well as military power quickly overcame initial objections by most countries.
Now China exercises its enormous economic clout in a so far vain attempt to force other countries to refuse admission of the Dalai Lama into their countries.
Today, Beijing is using strong language in an attempt to force neighboring India into barring a visit by the Dalai Lama.
The Dalai Lama himself is reported by Voice of America to be accusing China of Misleading World About Tibet.
And the Times of India reports:
"There is no strain in bilateral ties," foreign secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters here when asked whether the Dalai Lama's scheduled visit to Arunachal Pradesh Nov 8 had strained ties between the two countries.
"Our position is very clear," Rao said while alluding to New Delhi's stance that the Dalai Lama, who has been living in exile in the hill resort of Dharamsala for the last five decades, can go anywhere in India provided he does not indulge in political activities.
Why do you think a nation as large and powerful as China is still pressing the issue of the Dalai Lama after more than half a century?
[Views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of CompuServe, Netscape, any government, agency, or news organization.]
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