Tibetan Delegates Travel to Beijing

Six Tibetan delegates travelled to Beijing on Thursday, October 30, 2008 to present the Chinese government with a detailed description of the Central Tibetan Administration’s (CTA) demand for autonomy within the People’s Republic of China (PRC).


The CTA is asking for an autonomy in which a democratic Tibetan administration be allowed to form and to regulate all domestic issues of the Tibetan people, leaving control of foreign policy and relations in the hands of the Chinese government. The delegates representing His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the CTA are senior envoy Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, junior envoy Gelsang Gyaltsen, and three senior assistants Sonam Norbu Dhepo, Bhuchung Tsering, and Kelsang Tsering.


Secretary of the CTA Department of Information and International Relations Mr. Thubten Samphel said that in Beijing the delegates will spell out in detail to the Chinese exactly what is meant by autonomy. “What we want is on the table and there is nothing hidden behind our proposal. His Holiness is a Buddhist monk—he cannot, he does not play this sort of cat-and-mouse game,” he said. Since the 1980s His Holiness and the CTA have conceded demands for complete independence, taking up instead a middle-ground approach for autonomy within the PRC. “What we have and what we consider precious is our culture. Because of this, political things like independence do not matter to the extent that we gain enough freedom to protect and promote this culture. Then we can live with the Chinese government,” Samphel said. Still, Chinese accusations that the Dalai Lama is separatist have inhibited previous talks between the Tibetan delegation and China. “Right now what China is doing is indulging in this blame game saying His Holiness is the cause of all the problems in Tibet. And our position is that these problems are there because of the implementation of wrong and shortsighted policies,” Samphel continued.


The Tibetan delegation will also petition the Chinese government to let Tibet be open to international media, to send an international delegation to investigate who is behind the unrest in Lhasa instead of placing accusations on His Holiness, and to provide free medical care to those injured in the uprisings back in March of this year.


In a series of recent public appearances, His Holiness has lashed out at the Chinese accusations and their unwillingness to cooperate through dialogue, and is considering retiring from his responsibilities of dealing with the Chinese central government, to be discussed in a meeting on November 17 in Dharamsala. In a speech delivered at the 48th anniversary of the Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) His Holiness said, “I have reached a decision that I can no longer bear this responsibility. I see no useful purpose being served by my continuing to take up this responsibility.” After his statement received worldwide attention, the CTA maintains that the media misrepresented him.


“His Holiness said he is impatient. He said his faith and trust in the Chinese leadership is growing weaker. But at the same time he qualified his statement [at the TCV] by saying if there is a positive response from the Chinese then he will bear the burden of trying to resolve the issue,” Samphel clarified. “If there is this will then he is willing to carry forward, push forward the dialogue process,” he said.


This week’s meetings are the eighth round of talks between Beijing and the Tibetan delegation since the first meeting in September of 2002, and are the first face-to-face exchange since the closing ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Olympic games and the March political unrest that preceded the games with a series of protests and demonstrations staged in Lhasa. “If there is one thing that is very clear, it is that there is this widespread, deep support and sympathy for the concerns of the Tibetan people. This is something good that came out of the Olympic games and the protests that followed the torch,” said Samphel.

(article running in "Compassion in Action" Newsletter, November 2008)