By Saibal Dasgupta
BEIJING – China wants India to dissolve the Dalai Lama’s government in-exile at Dharmashala, according to an expert at a state-run think-tank that advises the Chinese government on Sino-Indian relationship.
“India is a sovereign country. Why should it allow another government to function on its soil?” Zheng Ruixiang, senior researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, told TOI in an interview. Zheng had earlier worked as the Chinese counsel-general in Mumbai and authorised a few books on India.
Zheng also contested the view in certain circles that the recently launched Tibet railway has security implications for India.
Some Indians were unnecessarily paranoid about many issues concerning China. Even the movement of Chinese goods were facing stiff checks on the Indian side of the recently opened Nathu La border route on the Tibet-Sikkim border, he said.
“The Tibet problem is a major obstacle in the normalisation of relationship between India and China. India made a mistake in the fifties by welcoming the Dalai Lama when he fled Tibet. It is now time for correcting the past mistake and build real and sustainable relationship with China,” he said. What happens if New Delhi really concedes to this request?
“The Dalai Lama will become a political refugee. But the problems between India and China would get much closer to a solution than it is today,” he said.
Zhang accused the Dalai Lama of using his government in exile to spread the idea of independent Tibet on the pretext of working for a higher level of autonomy of the Tibetan people. The Dalai Lama also has links with political elements in Taiwan, which Beijing regards as part of its own territory, he said.
“I appreciate the boldness of your former Prime Minister Vajpayee for recognising Tibet as an integral part of China. Before he did that, all earlier regimes in India had refused to do that,” Zheng said. “China responded to the gesture by agreeing to open the Nathu La point between Tibet and Sikkim. In doing so, we recognised that Sikkim is part of Indian territory,” he said. Some observers contest this view pointing out that Sikkim was never an area of dispute between the two countries, and Beijing’s indirect recognition of it being part of India need not be seen as a major concession.
“Prior to Vajpayee’s China visit, the Chinese government had shown Sikkim as a sovereign state and not part of India. After his visit, we stopped doing that and began to show it as part of India. This is an important gesture,” Zhang said.
Zhang said that some observers in India were were unnecessarily anxious that China would use the Tibet railway that has connected Lasha with Beijing and Shanghai for the first time, to transport military personnel and hardware to the border.
“Some people in India seem to think that the railway would be used to bring military forces to the Indian border. This is a very surprising point of view. No one in China ever thinks along these lines. We think of it as a tool for economic development of the Tibet region and for encouragement of tourism,” he said.
Even the opening of the Nathu La pass has not proved to be a smooth affair for bilateral trade, he said. “I have heard that the border checkposts on the Indian side are making it very difficult for Chinese goods to enter India. They want paper authorisation for little things like batteries used in torches. If you start looking at every little thing as a security threat, there will be no end of it. Almost anything could be described as military hardware,” Zheng said.
The Chinese government did not exercise this kind of stiff control over Indian goods coming from the other side of Nathu La, he said.
