A letter from a Chinese student in Austria: What makes Tibet so charming?

The "3.14" incident in Lhasa last year is engraved in my memory. As I was the only Chinese student in my class, I was mocked by some of my class mates who were unaware of the truth. At that time, I knew little about Tibet and had no choice but to swallow my resentment rather than fight back. Since then, my dream of personally seeing and feeling Tibet became increasingly strong.

During the summer vacation this year, my dream came true. We chose the difficult journey of traveling to Tibet by train, aiming to physically adapt to the altitude gradually and enjoy the spectacular scenery of the Plateau through the train window over a long period.

On August 15, we set out from Shanghai and met many people who shared our dream during the journey, including elderly people of over 70 and preschool kids. There were also tourists from New Zealand and students from the U.S. and Germany studying in China. We finally realized a long-held dream, arriving in Lhasa after a 52-hour journey and the test of the Tanghla Mountain Pass with an altitude as high as 6,000 meters.

What makes Tibet so charming?

The unique religious atmosphere fills Tibet with mystery. The Potala Palace is an ancient palace and chateau complex constructed at the highest altitude in the world and the residence of generations of Dalai Lamas. It is also the most sacred place in the hearts of the Tibetan people. The Tashilhunpo Monastery is the residence of generations of Panchen Lamas. These two places have been carefully protected and renovated, and have become not only centers to disseminate Tibetan Buddhism culture, but also two art treasure houses. Visiting them in person deepened my understanding of Tibetan religion and culture.

The beautiful scenery endowed by nature to Tibet is incomparable and amazing. The Namtso Lake, a salt lake with the highest altitude in the world, the Yamdroke Lake, which is called "jade," the Karola Glacier and the Yalu Tsangpo River all reflect the line in a poem: "This scenery exists only in heaven."

During my one-week visit to Tibet, I also discovered a power there, the power of ethnic harmony. Streets and schools named after Chinese provinces or municipalities that aided their construction can be seen everywhere in Lhasa and Shigatse. Gymnasiums and hotels constructed under the assistance of the Chinese mainland can also be found everywhere. Talented people are often reported on television and newspapers. Austrian friends traveling with us agreed that without the support and assistance of the Chinese mainland, today's prosperous Tibet would not exist.

The power of religion, nature and ethnic harmony constitute Tibet's unique charm. Tibet is a massive land and what I experienced is only the tip of the iceberg. The true Tibet I saw has enriched my mind and helped me to be confident and capable enough to face possible prejudice and challenges in the future. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, I sincerely hope our country will become increasingly dynamic and prosperous, and the Tibetan people and compatriots will achieve common prosperity and share various benefits brought about by reform, opening-up and economic development.

By People's Daily Online

Why India Fears China

On June 21, two Chinese military helicopters swooped low over Demchok, a tiny Indian hamlet high in the Hima-layas along the northwestern border with China. The helicopters dropped canned food over a barren expanse and then returned to bases in China. India's military scrambled helicopters to the scene but did not seem unduly alarmed. This sort of Cold War cat-and-mouse game has played out on the 4,057-kilometer India-China border for decades. But the incident fed a media frenzy about "the Chinese dragon." Beginning in August, stories about new Chinese incursions into India have dominated the 24-hour TV news networks and the newspaper headlines.
China claims some 90,000 square kilometers of Indian territory. And most of those claims are tangled up with Tibet. Large swaths of India's northern mountains were once part of Tibet. Other stretches belonged to semi-independent kingdoms that paid fealty to Lhasa. Because Beijing now claims Tibet as part of China, it has by extension sought to claim parts of India that it sees as historically Tibetan, a claim that has become increasingly flammable in recent months.
Ever since the anti-Chinese unrest in Tibet last year, progress toward settling the border dispute has stalled, and the situation has taken a dangerous turn. The emergence of videos showing Tibetans beating up Han Chinese shopkeepers in Lhasa and other Tibetan cities created immense domestic pressure on Beijing to crack down. The Communist Party leadership worries that agitation by Tibetans will only encourage unrest by the country's other ethnic minorities, such as Uighurs in Xinjiang or ethnic Mongolians in Inner Mongolia, threatening China's integrity as a nation. Susan Shirk, a former Clinton-administration official and expert on China, says that "in the past, Taiwan was the 'core issue of sovereignty,' as they call it, and Tibet was not very salient to the public." Now, says Shirk, Tibet is considered a "core issue of national sovereignty" on par with Taiwan.
The implications for India's security—and the world's—are ominous. It turns what was once an obscure argument over lines on a 1914 map and some barren, rocky peaks hardly worth fighting over into a flash point that could spark a war between two nuclear-armed neighbors. And that makes the India-China border dispute into an issue of concern to far more than just the two parties involved. The United States and Europe as well as the rest of Asia ought to take notice—a conflict involving India and China could result in a nuclear exchange. And it could suck the West in—either as an ally in the defense of Asian democracy, as in the case of Taiwan, or as a mediator trying to separate the two sides.
Beijing appears increasingly concerned about the safe haven India provides to the Dalai Lama and to tens of thousands of Tibetan exiles, including increasingly militant supporters of Tibetan independence. These younger Tibetans, many born outside Tibet, are growing impatient with the Dalai Lama's "middle way" approach—a willingness to accept Chinese sovereignty in return for true autonomy—and commitment to nonviolence. If these groups were to use India as a base for armed insurrection against China, as Tibetan exiles did throughout the 1960s, then China might retaliate against India. By force or demand, Beijing might also seek to gain possession of important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries that lie in Indian territory close to the border. Both politically and culturally, these monasteries are seen as key nodes in the Tibetan resistance to Chinese authority.
Already Beijing has launched a diplomatic offensive aimed at undercutting Indian sovereignty over the areas China claims, particularly the northeast state of Arunachal Pradesh and one of its key cities, Tawang, birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama in the 17th century and home to several important Tibetan monasteries. Tibet ceded Tawang and the area around it to British India in 1914. China has recently denied visas to the state's residents; lodged a formal complaint after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the state in 2008; and tried to block a $2.9 billion Asian Development Bank loan to India because some of the money was earmarked for an irrigation project in the state. All these moves are best understood in the context of China's recent troubles in Tibet, with Beijing increasingly concerned that any acceptance of the 1914 border will amount to an implicit acknowledgment that Tibet was once independent of China—a serious blow to the legitimacy of China's control over the region and potentially other minority areas as well.
The reports of Chinese incursions can be read as a signal that it is deadly serious about its territorial claims. The exact border has never been mutually agreed on—meaning one side's incursion is another side's routine patrol—but the Chinese have clearly stepped up their activity along the frontier. The Indian military reported a record 270 Chinese border violations last year—nearly double the figure from the year before and more than three times the number of incidents in 2006, says Brahma Chellaney, an expert in strategic studies at New Delhi's Centre for Policy Research, an independent think tank. Noting that there was a reported incursion nearly every day this summer, Chellaney says this amounts to "a pattern of Chinese belligerence." In June the People's Daily criticized recent moves by India to strengthen its border defenses and declared: "China will not make any compromises in its border disputes with India." It asked if India had properly weighed "the consequences of a potential confrontation with China."
To many Indians, China is an expansionist power bent on thwarting India's rise as a serious challenge to Beijing's influence in Asia. They are haunted by memories of India's 1962 war with China, in which China launched a massive invasion along the length of the frontier, routing the Indians before unilaterally halting at what today remains the de facto border, known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC). They are fearful of China's expanding naval presence in the Indian Ocean, seeing its widening network of naval bases as a noose that could be used to strangle India. They blast Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for alleged weakness in the face of this growing threat. Bharat Verma, editor of the Indian Defence Review, predicted in a widely publicized essay this summer that China would attack India sometime before 2012. With social unrest rising within China due to the worldwide economic slump, he says, the leadership in Beijing needs "a small military victory" to unify the nation, and India is "a soft target," due to Singh's fecklessness. In recent weeks India's defense minister and the heads of the Army and Air Force have felt compelled to reassure the public that "there will be no repeat of 1962."
These warnings completely misread China's intent. While India worries about the larger army and wealth of China, China worries about the larger military and economy of the United States. In Asia, its stated aim is to follow a "peaceful rise" that benefits all its neighbors, India included, and there's little reason to doubt this goal. Beijing is an insecure power, not an aggressive one, because of the real threat of social and economic unrest at home. China's growing naval presence in the Indian Ocean reflects a legitimate interest in protecting the sea lanes upon which Beijing depends for its supply of oil and natural resources from Africa and the Middle East. The border movements should be seen in the same light: it's not about an external threat from India per se, but India's relationship to the internal threat from Tibet.
Still, if Tibet is the new Taiwan, it requires extremely delicate diplomacy. If anything, the West tends to under-estimate China's willingness to fight independence moves in Taiwan—it has fired missile warning shots as recently as 1996—and the same may now be said of Tibet. Taiwan, however, has maintained the parlous status quo by arming itself to the teeth, while avoiding any rhetoric or action that crosses Beijing's red lines.
India is trying a similar approach. Last year it denied the Dalai Lama permission to visit Tawang—ostensibly because of parliamentary elections—and now he has scheduled another trip in November. It would be prudent for New Delhi—and perhaps others with influence on the Dalai Lama, such as the United States—to find a face-saving reason for the Dalai Lama to indefinitely postpone the trip. India needs to be especially vigilant against militant activity within the Tibetan exile community, the single most likely trigger for a Chinese attack, and it might be wise to end the policy of simply avoiding any discussion of Tibet in its dealings with China. "There are ways to highlight the centrality of Tibet without being provocative or confrontational," says Chellaney. "If New Delhi were to say in public that Tibet has ceased to be the political buffer between India and China, and India would like Tibet to be the political bridge between New Delhi and Beijing, that, in one stroke, would change the narrative fundamentally."

India's position in talks needs to be backed by strength in arms. New Delhi has already started repositioning border forces, launched a road-building program to match the roads and airfields that China has built on its side, and recently conducted a three-day combined air-and-land war game, seemingly designed to show that it is on guard. But India needs to be careful not to overreact: it views with alarm the tens of thousands of troops China has deployed to the border region since the 2008 Lhasa riots, but most of these moves are designed to reassert control over Tibet. M. Taylor Fravel, an MIT expert on the India-China border dispute, says many of the troops deployed in Tibet are internal-security forces, lacking heavy armor or artillery, representing less of a threat to India than Indian hawks believe.
India would be wise to invest in -longer-range weapons—such as missiles and advanced-strike aircraft—that allow it to maintain a standoff deterrent, without the need to go toe-to-toe with Chinese troops on the border. India has also begun deploying sophisticated radar systems along its frontier with China—a way to police inhospitable terrain while avoiding direct confrontation. India might also seek to share intelligence with other nations—such as the United States, Japan, and Taiwan—about China's actions and troop movements in Tibet, both to prevent being taken by surprise and to avoid an accidental conflict.
A final lesson from Taiwan is that New Delhi should pursue ways to open the border to commerce and communication, binding itself closer to China. Shirk says China is now opening ties to Taiwan, as part of an effort to "win the hearts and minds of the people," raising hopes that China may eventually pursue a more tolerant approach toward Tibet and other minority regions. Amid all the reports of border incursions, both India and China have sought to lower the volume. Chinese military officials invited Indian generals from all three of the regional commands that face off against it across the LAC to visit China for confidence-building measures, including a rare visit to Lhasa. Indian officials have pleaded with news organizations to tone down reporting on border incursions. Indian national-security adviser M. K. Narayanan warned that the beating of war drums might become a self-fulfilling prophecy, leading to "an unwarranted incident or accident" with China. This is now an issue that should be handled at the highest levels—not left to hotheads—on all sides.

Dalai Lama Honored in Washington With Human Rights Award

By Chris Simkins
Washington
06 October 2009


Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was honored by U. S. lawmakers with a human rights award on Tuesday. But for the first time since 1991, the Dalai Lama will not meet with the sitting president of the United States.

The Dalai Lama received a warm reception and the first Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize from U.S. lawmakers.

Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The medal, in memory of the late Congressman and longtime human rights activist, honored Tibet's exiled spiritual leader for his achievements.

Accepting the award, the Dalai Lama said he will continue to champion human rights.

"Although now I am 74-years-old, the rest of my life I dedicate for the promotion of human values, emotional human affection, human compassion, equality and basic human rights in Tibet or in mainland China or everywhere," he said.

House of Representatives speaker Nancy Polosi praised the Dalai Lama's work in pressing China to improve its human rights record.

The Dalai Lama, left, is congratulated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, right, and Annette Lantos, widow of California Rep. Tom Lantos, in Washington, 06 Oct 2009
The Dalai Lama, left, is congratulated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, right, and Annette Lantos, widow of California Rep. Tom Lantos, in Washington, 06 Oct 2009
"Unless we speak out for human rights in China and in Tibet we loose all moral authority to talk about human rights anywhere in the world," she said.

But President Obama has decided to postpone his meeting with the Dalai Lama.

The spiritual leader's representatives were informed last month that the president would not meet with him until after Mr. Obama's first official trip to Beijing, scheduled for November.

Meanwhile, Tibetan exiles living in northern India protested against the 60th anniversary of China's communist takeover. The demonstrators want China to stop what they called decades of violence and oppression of Tibet.

TENZIN (ACTIVIST): "Over the last 60 years the Chinese not only illegally occupied Tibet, they also violated human rights. They [people in Tibet] has no rights of freedom, no rights of the freedom movement, they have no freedom [of] the religious movement."

Beijing accuses the Buddhist leader of being a separatist.

During Mr. Obama's meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in April, the Chinese leader repeated Beijing's demand that no foreign officials meet with the Dalai Lama.

Political analysts say a White House visit now would cast a shadow over talks next month between Mr. Obama and Mr. Hu. The US administration is seeking greater cooperation with China on foreign policy, the global economy and the environment.

China improving: Dalai Lama Says environment more important than oil sands wealth

By Jamie Komarnicki, Canwest News ServiceOctober 2, 2009
As the Dalai Lama expressed optimism over China's progress in recent years, a group of protesters in Calgary said a more forceful message is needed to prompt change in the Communist country.
Speaking Thursday in Calgary, the Tibetan spiritual leader said he had "nothing much to say" about the 60th anniversary of Communist China. The Dalai Lama noted the country has left behind its socialist past in favour of capitalism. He also told reporters that meetings with influential Chinese have left him optimistic about progress in China's attitude toward him and Tibet.
"Judging from a wider perspective, things are moving," he said.
But a group of about 30 Uighur protesters outside the Chinese Consulate said the Dalai Lama's message of peace and compassion is ineffective in China.
"We are here today because China's government today is celebrating 60 years of communism," said Abduluhat Nur, of the Alberta Uighur Culture Society.
"But eastern Turkistan is crying because they are under oppression."
The Uighurs, a Muslim Turkic ethnic group in China's Xinjiang region, staged anti-Chinese riots last year that resulted in violent unrest. Similar violence erupted in Tibet in March.
At Thursday's protests, members of the local Uighur community said they aren't advocating violence, but said messages of peace and harmony do little to motivate China to change.
"We would like to see more strongly the demand against China," said Gheyret Aush.
"Compassion, it works for the democratic countries. It doesn't work for the communist countries."
The Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in 1959 after Chinese troops invaded Tibet, said he believes he will one day return to his homeland.
In the city for a University of Calgary conference, the Tibetan spiritual leader broached a wide range of topics in a question-and-answer session with reporters.
He called military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq "a failure."
The billions of dollars spent on war would be better used in health care and education, the Dalai Lama said.
Asked about the development of Alberta's oilsands, he said given a choice between "destruction of environment or losing money, then we have to choose losing money."
He said leaders must find a middle ground, "using nature's resources with maximum care of environmental protection."
(CALGARY HERALD)

China strikes back on Arunachal

Pranab Dhal Samanta
Posted: Friday , Sep 18, 2009 at 1439 hrs New Delhi:

Barely weeks after it failed in its attempt to block Asian Development Bank (ADB) funds to a project in Arunachal Pradesh, China has successfully struck back.
Last month, in a development New Delhi has been quiet about, China won a vote on a “disclosure agreement,” which prevents ADB from formally acknowledging Arunachal Pradesh as part of India. (A disclosure agreement is a formal notification of a project once it’s approved by the ADB Board).
On June 16, India had successfully isolated China — the entire ADB Board except Beijing had voted in India’s favour — and secured approval for its $2.9-billion country plan. China had raised objections to the plan because it included $60-million projects in Arunachal Pradesh. It argued that ADB cannot fund projects in “disputed areas” like Arunachal Pradesh.
Clearly, China did not give up after that defeat and the reversal is symptomatic of its growing clout. It’s learnt that India lost the vote despite US and most of the Western bloc voting in India’s favour. In what was relatively a narrow margin, the scales were tilted in China’s favour by Japan, Australia and a group of other South East Asian countries. Despite US support, India was also surprised by the fact that Australia chose to go with China. Pakistan, of course, also went with China.

FILM SCREENING ON TIBET; A Report

Pune: Well at least the plan was to have a packed auditorium with people jeering China and applauding and giving us standing ovation but, it didn’t happen. There were quite a few empty seats and the screening went by rather quietly, and lesson learned that support comes seldom and in meager measures.

With a total of( 20 members), the film screening was held in Symbiosis college auditorium and three films, two documentary films and a feature film was shown. An introductory SFT footage was shown first and then another titled ‘leaving fear behind’, filmed by Dhondup Wangchen who has been arrested for filming the same. The last motion picture shown was ‘Kundun’ a biographical film on His Holiness The Fourteenth Dalai Lama , followed by a speaker who thanked the guests and let them know the vacancy for SFT’s membership if they were willing to join and concluded the evening saying ‘thank you’.

The evening had ended officially except for the guests that included students from different countries including Bhutan, Ethiopia, Belgium and even China who came to us and told us to continue the good work and put pen to paper joining the organization which is at the end of the day is fruit to our labor and aid to our cause. SFT Pune thus stepped its first step and we know there is a much longer walk to go.

Tenzin Dharpo
SFT Pune, reporter.

Freedom calling

Mustafa Naley’s Tibetan friend once told him, “I can’t go back to my country. If I go, I will be killed. We are fighting to get our country back and I am confident that we will get it back once.”

Naley, a Somalian national and a graphic design student in the city, who until then, had no knowledge of the history of Tibet and its present crisis, did a research on the Tibetan struggle and decided to join Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), an organisation of students which works in solidarity with the Tibetan people in their struggle for freedom and independence.

SFT, formed world wide in 1994, is soon going to have the formal launch of its Pune chapter as more and more non-Tibetan students like Naley, are coming forward to support the cause of Tibet.

“It all started with the informal talks we have had with our classmates and their friends on Tibet. Most of them didn’t know anything about the country. Some even thought that Tibet is part of India. That is how we thought we should have a forum where even non-Tibetan students can support us that will strengthen our fight for justice,” says Tenzin Dolkar, a Tibetan member of SFT.

The SFT had been active during Olympic protests and uprising day marches across the world in support for a free Tibet. Up till now, the city had only a Tibetan Students' Association, which had close to 15 members. The association also will be merged in SFT now. So far, nearly 30 students in the city have registered with SFT, which include students from countries like Sudan, France, Mauritius, Somalia, Yemen, Ethiopia, Bhutan and Eritrea. “I could relate to Tibetan struggle better. The ongoing civil war has shattered my country. I too cannot go back to my homeland. So, I know how it feels like,” says Naley, 25, who has lived most of his life in Saudi Arabia. He added that he is trying to create awareness among as many friends as he could on the Tibetan issue and bring them under SFT's fold.

“I have nothing against China. But, I am against Chinese policies on Tibet. A country should have its freedom. Its people should be allowed to live peacefully,” says Naley, who is also the cultural co-ordinator of International Students’ Council, Symbiosis University.

Dolkar, who was the vice president of the erstwhile Tibetan Students Association, Pune, says they would like to have more Indians in SFT as well. “We live in India and we are grateful to the country. But, it is sad that most Indians do not even know that there exists a country called Tibet. Also, SFT would serve as a platform to discuss various international human rights issues. There will be more voices and more ideas now and we are confident that we have support from across the world,” she says.

Until the Beijing Olympics torch reached his country, which invited widespread protests from the supporters of Tibet, Joseph Danamme, a French national and now a student of Symbiosis Law College, didn’t know what Tibetans were fighting for.

But, as he started learning more about it, he felt students should be educated on the subject and thus, he joined SFT. “Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, was a spiritual city and China converted it into a business capital. There were lots of temples then but now pubs are aplenty. This is cultural genocide. SFT can do a lot to create awareness,” he says.

SFT will be organising a movie screening on Tibet at Symbiosis, SB Road, 5 pm onwards today, as part of the organisation’s worldwide screening of the same. “It will serve as a platform for many to get to know about Tibet,” says Dolkar. This is also SFT’s maiden event in the city.

WHY.. MY COUNTRY???

I lost my homeland even before i was born,
under the oppression of mighty empire.
I've been taught that truth always holds the victory,
But why there are no ears listening to the truth of my country?
People are executed if convicted of single murder,
But why hundreds of murders in my country are being ignored?
Young kids anywhere are always embraced by their parents,
But why kids of my country have to leave their parents in search of freedom?
Freedom of religion is observed in any part of the world,
But why my countrymen are stopped from following their religious leader?
Everyone is born with the birthright of freedom of speech,
But why people in my country are not allowed to voice their heart out?
Laws are passed to protect the endangered species everywhere,
But why species in my country are still brutally hunted?
This poses a serious question the world's CONSCIOUS...
Where is the justice 21st century claims to give???
TENZIN CHUNZIN
B.sc nursing

"TIBET FILM FESTIVAL" pune

Event: Screening of movie “KUNDUN”

What: Informational Meeting
Host: SFT Pune
Start Time: Friday 28th.august.09 at 5:00pm
End Time: Friday 28th.august.09 at 8:30 pm
Where: symbiosis auditorium, SP ROAD.

contact : +91-9970219257,+91-9975691757

www.studentsforafreetibetpune.blogspot.com
Email-sftpune@gmail.com

ENTRY FREE

p:s- i request all the visitor to wear "MASK" during the film. symbiosis authority have requested us to do so..
thank you

Student For a Free Tibet,Pune

In our Fourth Group meeting since we started our Chapter we formally got organised and distributed responsibilities in the core group.Tenzin Tselha and Tenzin Rigten was elected as the joint coordinator, Tenzin Ngodup as a accountant, tenzin tsewang incharge of merchandise, tenzin darpo as a media coordinator,Tsering Topgyal as a photographer
In this meeting we welcome Tenzin Palden as a new member in the group, also in this meeting Shibayan Raha Outreach Coordinator from SFT,India who had come down from Delhi too meet the Chapter, also briefed us about the coming projects in the India network and also highlighted the present condition inside Tibet.
We pay our sincere thanks to him for coming down to Pune even though the swine flu scare was there and giving us the guidance for our activities in Pune.
Till now we have 12 members and we expect more people to join us in the coming days.
Any one interested in joining the SFT,Pune can contact us by email or call us.Our contact details are on the left hand side of the blog.

fim screening delayed

i am really very sorry to inform you all that the film screening on the 14th august in symbiosis auditorium has been delayed due to swine flu scare in the city. so we will let you know about our film screen program soon.

invitation for a movie

Event: Screening of a movie
What: Informational Meeting
Host: SFT pune
Start Time: Wednesday, August 14 at 5:00pm
End Time: Wednesday, August 14 at 8:30pm
Where: symbiosis auditorium,SP ROAD.

RSVP-+919970219257,+919766488100

www.studentsforafreetibetpune.blogspot.com
Email-sftpune@gmail.com

Autonomy? Think Again

As if any further evidence were needed of the ways in which China has been running rings around the Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile,

recent events have made the situation abundantly clear. Last November the Tibetans presented a memorandum to China, meant to demonstrate that the Dalai Lama's position on Tibetan autonomy was wholly compatible with China's existing laws on regional nationality autonomy. The memorandum was vehemently rejected and the dialogue process between the two sides screeched to a halt.

On June 22, there were reports that exiled Tibetan officials were meeting to draft a statement clarifying their stand and, it was hoped, would open a way out of the impasse. The new statement is intended to demonstrate that the Tibetans want to reach an accord with China on the basis of Chinese autonomy laws. Unfortunately, the ignorance with which the authorities in exile deal with China is now on display in embarrassing detail.

The Dalai Lama's chief negotiators, Kelsang Gyaltsen and Lodi Gyari, have met with other officials to hammer out a position that they fantasise will interest China, and Lobsang Sangay, a Harvard-trained expert, has been reinforcing the exiled government's views with his own analysis of the law. But the fact is that all of these people are functionally illiterate in the hundreds of articles and books all in Chinese that constitute the body of interpretive literature on regional nationality autonomy in China. That never seems to have perturbed the Dalai Lama's people as they wander quite blindly around major issues of Chinese policy.

Since the spring of 2008, China has responded to criticism of its historical claims to Tibet by scrapping its common line, that 13th-century Mongol conquerors made Tibet part of China, with the more forceful, take-no-prisoners position that Tibet has been a part of China "since human activity began". Much as this exemplifies the attitude that history is not an objective measure against which to weigh Chinese claims, so too a new debate has opened in China that demonstrates that the laws on autonomy are not to be considered fixed standards against which the government can be challenged. To the contrary, they are tools of the government and party, dispensable when they are not serving the desired political ends.

In April, seemingly unbeknownst to the Dalai Lama's authorities, Ma Rong, a scholar who often writes on minority demographic and population issues, proposed a drastic measure, akin to what was done in the area of history: scrap the regime of regional nationality autonomy laws. The real problem, according to Ma Rong, is that China's autonomy laws derive from a Stalinist heritage (which, in the Soviet Union, included rights to secession and independence), saddling China with a system that alienates minorities from the notion that they are part of the larger Chinese nationality. Now, with uncanny timing, the recent unrest in Xinjiang has underscored his contention.

As Ma Rong puts it, the nationality laws encourage minorities to exclude others from their regions, privilege their own language, assert economic rights of their own and maintain and strengthen the historical consciousness, religions and practices that differentiate them from others, all in accord with Stalin's definition of "nationality". For Ma Rong, this is the crux of the problem: the current system leaves minorities with little or no sense that they are Chinese. Only three other countries, he notes, ever implemented a similar system with specific geographical regions for minority nationalities: the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. It goes without saying that the historical track record is not good.

In contrast, India and the United States provide useful counter-examples. Jawaharlal Nehru in particular is cited for imbuing the members of various groups with the sense of being part of "the Indian nation", while at the same time dulling the areas of ethno-national conflict between them. In the US, the election of Barack Obama is presented precisely because his platform was directed at the benefit of all Americans, with no taint of racial interest. Neither country has regional minority nationality autonomous structures.

The debate that Ma Rong opened up in April is of critical importance to China's Tibet policy. But no one in Dharamsala seems to have noticed. Rather than devote resources to acquiring the databases that would allow them to access the wide range of Chinese materials available online, the Dalai Lama decided in May to send $1,00,000 to Florida International University to support its religious studies programme. Though American dharma students are hardly an endangered species, such are Dharamsala's priorities.

Sonam Dagpo, of the Dalai Lama's Department of Information and International Relations, told a news agency towards the end of June that the Tibetans "want to settle the issue mutually and within the framework of the Chinese constitution, law and national regional autonomy". Best of luck with that one, guys.

The writer directs the Tibetan Studies programme in the Department of Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana University, US.