CTA’s Response: IICTA’s Response to Beijing’s Comments that His Holiness the Dalai Lama does not represent the Tibetan people:The
official Chinese claim that His Holiness the Dalai Lama “does not
represent the Tibetan people” seems to be a simplistic remark aimed to
undermine the popularity of the Tibetan Nobel Peace Laureate. Not only
the Tibetans in and outside occupied Tibet regard His Holiness as their
spiritual and temporal leader but also many Chinese through better
awareness and information are showing respect for His Holiness and
commend his efforts at seeking an amicable resolution of the issue of
Tibet keeping into consideration the long-term interest of both the
Tibetan and Chinese peoples.  More importantly, because of the Tibetan
people’s faith and trust in him, His Holiness the Dalai Lama also
considers himself the free spokesperson for the Tibetan people. History
is witness to the fact that following Communist China’s invasion of
Tibet in 1949, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was called upon to assume
full political power by the Tibetan National Assembly.  It was as a
leader of the Tibetan people that His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1954
went to Beijing for peace talks with Mao Zedong and other Chinese
leaders, including Deng Xiaoping and Chou Enlai.  So for the Chinese
government authorities to now claim that His Holiness does not
represent the Tibetan people falls flat even on past historical facts
relating to Sino-Tibetan relations.  As for the Tibetan people,
wherever His Holiness the Dalai Lama lives, that place automatically
becomes the seat of the Tibetan government headed by the Dalai Lama.   The
distinctive feature of His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the leader of the
Tibetan people is that in most parts of the world people shed blood and
sacrifice their lives to get democratic rights from their leaders. In
the case of the Tibetan cause His Holiness, who enjoys unqualified
support from the people, has tried many times to give up all his
legitimate powers to the Tibetan people and parliament but they in turn
have been requesting him to continue being their undisputed leader!Since
coming into exile as early as in 1963, His Holiness presented a draft
democratic constitution for Tibet that was followed by a number of
reforms to democratise the Tibetan administrative set-up in exile.  In
1992 His Holiness issued guidelines for future Tibetan polity wherein
he announced that when the Tibetans, including himself, are able to
return to Tibet with a certain degree of freedom, he will give up all
his political authority.  He has also expressed the hope that Tibet,
comprising of the three traditional provinces of U-Tsang, Amdo and
Kham, would be federal and democratic.  Currently with the blessings of
His Holiness the Dalai Lama the democratic administration in exile is
headed by the Tibetan Kashag, which is led by the Kalon Tripa who is
democratically elected by the Tibetan people.  The Tibetan democratic
set up, with an elected parliament in exile is admired by many
governments, parliaments and people in the free world and even many
Chinese admire the openness with which the Tibetan set up in exile
under the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, headquartered in
Dharamsala in northern India functions. Another example to
show how His Holiness represents the Tibetan people is when Tibetans
held peaceful demonstrations all over Tibet last March, the key slogans
included, “Long Live the Dalai Lama” and “We want return of the Dalai
Lama”.  The Tibetans inside Tibet raised these slogans even of being
arrested and imprisoned. It is encouraging to note that more
and more Chinese, especially intellectuals, are refusing to succumb to
the official Chinese propaganda. For example on 22 March 2008 in the
wake of the demonstrations in Tibet, a group of Chinese intellectuals
petitioned the Chinese leadership in Beijing. They urged the Chinese
leaders to resolve the Tibet issue by entering into a dialogue with His
Holiness the Dalai Lama. They also urged the Chinese government to
“show proof” of their claim that the alleged riots that took place in
Lhasa on 14 March 2008 “was organized, premeditated, and meticulously
orchestrated by the Dalai clique.” The Chinese intellectuals said, “We
hope that the government will show proof of this. In order to change
the international community’s negative view and distrustful attitude,
we also suggest that the government invite the United Nation’s
Commission on Human Rights to carry out an independent investigation of
the evidence, the course of the incident, the number of casualties,
etc.”  So far the Chinese government has yet to allow any independent
international investigation in occupied Tibet. The Institution of the Dalai Lama If
we start with the first Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Gendun Drub, the institution
of the Dalai Lama is some 600 years old. If we start with the third
Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso, on whom was conferred the title of the Dalai
Lama by Altan Khan, the Tumed Mongol chieftain, the institution of the
Dalai Lama is more than 450 years old. If we start with the Great Fifth
Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso who combined in his person both
spiritual and political authority of all Tibet in 1642, the institution
of the Dalai Lama is exactly 367 years old as of 2009. There are very
few governments in the world today, which can trace their institutional
and legal origins so far back in history. The institution of the Dalai
Lama has survived Ming, Manchu and Republican China and, in our
considered opinion, is competing the marathon of longevity very well
with Communist China. China and CCP Compared
to this illustrious lineage, the Chinese Communist Party was founded in
the early 1920’s. After a devastating civil war, amid famine,
dislocation and the WW II, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) emerged
victorious to found the People’s Republic of China in 1949. This year
on 1 October, the CCP gave itself a grand party to commemorate its 60
years in power. This is not to deny the achievement of the CCP. This
achievement is made more remarkable by the fact that this was preceded
by a prolonged period of warlordism. During the period of warlordism,
Beijing or Nanjiang pretended to rule the whole of China and the whole
of China pretended to be ruled from these two capitals. But the
warlords were very much on their own, sometimes leading the two
capitals by their noses. The 1949 achievement of a unified China has
been squandered by the CCP in the past 60 years. Ideology took
precedence over good governance, political campaigns over the economy
and personality cult over collective decisions. A great nation was
nearly reduced to its knees. Then came Deng Xiaoping. He put
the economic development over everything else. Thus came about the
current transformation of China into the world’s fastest growing
economy. However, this is being done within a legal vacuum. With no
rule of law and institutional checks and balances, China’s economic
miracle is a free-for-all. China’s economic miracle is being achieved
at the expense of the welfare of the toiling masses. Their labours are
exploited for personal gain by the growing collusion between party and
government officials who provide protection to rapacious businessmen
who provide bribes to their official protectors. Certainly, people are
getting richer. However, the source of this wealth is based on this
fundamental injustice of the current Chinese social system. Some
commentators call this system a “predatory state.” What the Tibetans Have Done in ExileAgainst
the background of the CCP’s diminishing legitimacy, the 14th Dalai Lama
of Tibet has transformed the Dalai Lama institution into a global one.
The Dalai Lama institution began as a Tibetan institution. The third
Dalai Lama converted the whole of Mongolia to Tibetan Buddhism. The
fourth Dalai Lama was born a Mongol. With these two events, the
institution of the Dalai Lama became a Central Asian institution. The
Great Fifth Dalai Lama made it into a Central Asian plus Himalayan
institution with deep roots into Buddhist China. The Fourteenth Dalai
Lama has made it into a global one. On top of this, His Holiness the
Dalai Lama has set his people free. He has given them the gift of
democracy and choice. This explains the vitality of the Tibetan exile
community. The Arrogance of Empire: When Rome Ruled the WorldJesus
Christ said, “Render unto Ceasar what’s Ceasar’s. Render unto God what
God’s” when asked whether it was right for ordinary people within the
empire to pay taxes to Rome. Despite this Middle-Way Approach in
dealing with political problems, Jesus was crucified, his followers
persecuted throughout the empire. Many were thrown into lions’ dens.
All these were done to suppress new ideas from affecting the stability
of the empire. At the end of the day, the once mighty Roman Empire
crumbled and Christianity spread throughout the world. The Pope,
Christianity’s grandest lama, was installed in the Vatican in Rome. And
Jesus Christ started on his mission of peace, goodwill and tolerance
with just twelve disciples. In the end his teachings subdued an empire.In
term’s of endurance and relevance, no empire can compete with religion
and the power of the human heart.  This is what the Manchu emperor
K’ang-si understood. In his message to the seventh Dalai Lama, he said,
“The Dalai Lama is like a ray of sunshine, which is impossible for any
one group of people to obscure. The ray of Buddhist faith will shine on
everyone through him.” His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings on the
eternal message of the Buddha and the personal example he sets on how
to lead individual lives has changed and touched the lives of millions
across the globe. Most importantly, this message of hope, tolerance and
goodwill is creeping into China through Chinese translations of his
teachings. Ordinary Chinese are coming to India to attend his
teachings. The final document of the Sino-Tibetan Conference, Finding
Common Ground, held in Geneva from 6-8 August this year declared, “The
undeniable right of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to return to his
homeland must be respected.” The document also recommended to the
Central Tibetan Administration “to create favourable conditions for His
Holiness the Dalai Lama to promote his values to the Chinese community
as a contribution to the renewal of spiritual values amongst the
Chinese people.”The power of religion was poignantly shown in
2006. That year His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave a Kalachakra teaching
in Amravati in south India. It was attended by Tibetans and Buddhists
from all over the world, including more than 8,000 Tibetans from Tibet
and about 250 Chinese from the Mainland. His Holiness the Dalai Lama
urged the Tibetans from Tibet not to wear clothes trimmed with animal
skins and asked those gathered on the occasion to pass this message to
Tibetans in Tibet. Within a week of this request, Tibetans in all parts
of Tibet made bonfires of clothes trimmed with animal skins. This is a
measure of Tibetans’ devotion to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Even if
this is not considered proof positive that His Holiness the Dalai Lama
is the legitimate representative of the Tibetan people, then the simple
way to resolve the issue is for the Chinese authorities to conduct a
plebiscite amongst the Tibetan people to let them decide who their
legitimate leader is.Related:CTA’s Response to Beijing’s Comments on De-militarisation and ‘Ethnic Cleansing’