Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who will takeover as president next year, seems to have realised that the past policy of repression can't solve the long-pending Tibetan issue, says Claude Arpi.
In the slow-moving historical chess game that underlies the Sino-Indian border dispute, last month saw an important public acknowledgment in Beijing of an important concession from London that kicked the legs out from under the McMahon Line, which India claims as the Sino-Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh.
'The road from Zhangmu via Nyalam to Tingri is everything a Himalayan drive should be. With tall peaks as the backdrop, switchbacks yielding to roads that stretched into eternity, passing by some of the most scenic views on the planet.'
It is on the exact spot where the Guru is said to have created 108 waterfalls, that the Yangtse clash took place between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA on the night of December 9, 2022. As it had done in Ladakh in May 2020, the PLA tried to change the unmarked LAC in the Yangtse sector in Arunachal Pradesh. It was the most serious border incident since the Galwan Valley clash in June 2020, notes Claude Arpi.
The Tibetans were participating in a global 'Solidarity Rally for Tibet' initiated by the Tibetan Parliament in Exile on Monday, coinciding with the World Human Rights Day, which was also declared as the Tibet Solidarity Day.
It is not clear yet what impact the blockade of the river will have on the flow of water from the Brahmaputra into the lower riparian countries like India and Bangladesh as a result.
Director of Operations Christopher Stokes said the non governmental organisation was withdrawing for "operational and human resources reasons".
A young boy, who disappeared after being appointed as second highest Tibetan Buddhist religious leader by the Dalai Lama, is living with his family somewhere in Tibet, a top Chinese official said on Sunday.
China "illegally" refers to Arunachal Pradesh as south Tibet and claims around 90,000 sq km of Indian territory there, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. "China disputes the international boundary between India and China in the eastern sector and claims approximately 90,000 sq km of Indian territory in the state of Arunachal Pradesh," Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed said in a written reply.
The move took place late last month and involved hardware being moved simultaneously by road and rail from across the entire region.
'Given Chinese sensitivity to anything to do with Tibet -- and the fact that in the 1950s it was the Tibet issue which led to the deterioration of India-China relations and the border war in 1962 -- India should be particularly careful in not triggering a Chinese reaction which it may not be able to handle,' says former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
An article in The New York Times recently speculated that Beijing would try to legitimise its hand-selected (and therefore illegitimate) Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu, by sending him to study in the Labrang Monastery in Xiahe at the somewhat advanced age of 21.
Chinese officials and the Dalai Lama's 'private representatives' agreed to hold another round of 'contact and consultation at an appropriate time', state run Xinhua news agency said after the meeting in the booming southern city of Shenzen. During the meeting, officials Zhu Weiqun and Sitar told the Dalai Lama's envoys that the riots in Lhasa on March 12 had given rise to 'new obstacles' for resuming contacts and consultations with the 'Dalai side', it added.
"We are alarmed by recent incidents in Tibet of young people lighting themselves on fire in desperate acts of protest, as well as the continued house arrest of the Chinese lawyer Chen Guangcheng," Clinton said in her remarks at the East-West Centre in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Hundreds of Indian pilgrims have been stranded in Nepal on their way to Kailash-Mansarovar in Tibet as Chinese authorities stopped them at the border entry point saying that their vehicles did not have route permit.
"At present on paper there is autonomy but in reality every key position is occupied by Chinese who have no idea of past events, of Tibetan culture or Tibetan habits or mentality," he said.
Struggling to gain entry to the top global beauty pageants due to objections from China, Miss Tibet 2011 Tenzin Yangkyi has said the best way for her to highlight the Tibetan question in the international arena is through participation in such contests.
"China is our enemy, not Pakistan. Pakistan can do us no damage," he said.
China said on Wednesday that the Olympic torch would go through the Himalayan region as planned on its way to August's Beijing Games. The crackdown on the protests in Tibet and neighbouring Chinese provinces, which may have killed dozens of people, have sparked calls for a boycott of Beijing's showcase Games.
Seven people were killed and 136 others injured in Tibet after the region was jolted by Sunday's powerful 6.8 magnitude temblor that centered in Sikkim, the Chinese government said on Wednesday.
At least seven people have been killed and 22 others injured in Tibet as the earthquake that hit Sikkim and other North Eastern states in India also rocked the Chinese autonomous province leaving trail of destruction.
'Tibet remains a prickly issue between the giant Asian nations. China still claims more than 80,000 sq kilometres of Indian territory in the Northeast. Why? Just because Beijing refuses to acknowledge the McMahon line which separates India and Tibet, and this, simply because the 1914 Agreement delineating the border was signed by the then government of independent Tibet with India's then foreign secretary (Sir Henry McMahon),' says Claude Arpi.
The 7.9 Richter Scale temblor that struck Nepal on Saturday also affected parts of Tibet. The two border ports to Nepal were seriously affected.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Friday held talks with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama who raised the issue of human rights violation in Tibet and the recent unrest in his Himalayan homeland. Brown met Dalai despite protest from China and discussed many issues pertaining to Tibet. The closed door parleys between the two leaders was held at the Lambeth Palace, the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Anglican church.
Visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping has asked United States to honour its commitment of 'One-China' policy on Taiwan and oppose Tibetan independence.
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has told the Kentucky Fried Chicken fast food chain to stay out of Tibet over alleged cruelty to animals, an animal rights group said on Thursday.
Tibet is not this desolate, god-forsaken land that you have imagined it to be, discovers Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
It would be rather surprising if the CIA was not taking more than just a passing interest in Tibet. That is after all what it is paid to do.
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Wednesday expressed concern over China's proposed mega hydropower project on the upstream of Siang River in Tibet, stating it will have a cascading effect on India and Bangladesh in the near future.
The Dalai Lama's proximity to the Chinese border will anger the Communist dictators in Beijing, who despise the Tibetan spiritual leader who retains his influence in his homeland 64 years after he fled Tibet.
amed Hollywood actor Richard Gere, Iyengar yoga exponent Deidra Demens, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and prominent American singer Mary Millben were among the eminent personalities who joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a unique yoga session at the UN Headquarters.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has warned the United States to keep away from Tibet or else bilateral ties would be greatly affected, a day after his American counterpart Barack Obama asked him to talk to representatives of the Dalai Lama to resolve the issue.
Should New Delhi sacrifice Tibet at the altar of its ties with Beijing or should it adopt a more pro-active stance on the issue?
Bush said America had a 'strong commitment to support the preservation of Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity'.
The death toll in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region due to Saturday's earthquake and its aftershocks, climbed to 25 on Tuesday, even as rescuers continued to reach out to the affected people in the remotest of areas.
US President Barack Obama would skip the mention of Tibet when he talks about human rights situation in Asia and the countries he is visiting on his maiden Asia trip, a US official has said. "He (Obama) will not mention Tibet (in his speech). He will, of course, mention our commitment to the rights and freedoms that we believe all people should have, and I'll leave it at that," Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Advisor for Strategic Communications told reporters in Tokyo.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who along with members of the bipartisan Congressional delegation met the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile in India recently, introduced the House Resolution. In a statement on Thursday night, Pelosi said, 'Leaders around the world have called for the Chinese government to take steps to end its crackdown on peaceful Tibetans and enter into a dialogue with his Holiness the Dalai Lama.'
India should emulate the US and not allow Beijing to open any more consulates until it permits us to open a consulate in Tibet, opines B Raman
The Chinese government has ordered security forces in Tibet to crush any signs of support for the Dalai Lama, as the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan spiritual leader's escape to India draws near.
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