By Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Aug 2: The President of the Central Tibetan Administration, known also as the Tibetan government-in-exile, Penpa Tsering said that China has misinterpreted the ‘One China Policy’ when it comes to Tibet and that its application to Tibet has no historical basis, during his keynote speech at the ‘Weaponisation of One China Policy’ seminar organised by Foundation for Non-Violent Alternatives (FNVA) at India International Centre, New Delhi on Tuesday.
“One China policy or One China principle has nothing to do with Tibet and for Tibet; you will have to look at it from a totally different prism or historical perspective,” he told the congregation that included veteran diplomats and prominent experts from various institutions to discuss multiple aspects of the One China Policy and its implications.
He quoted an extract from the memoir of the late Tibetan diplomat Lodi Gyari, emphasising that the One China Policy’s application to Tibet has no historical basis. He explained that the policy originated from the United States’ efforts to establish relations with both the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the 1970s. The President criticised China for misinterpreting the One China Policy and extending its application to Tibet. This misinterpretation has resulted in misleading other governments into restricting interactions with Tibetan leaders in exile, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The One China Policy is a diplomatic principle that asserts the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole legitimate government of all China, including Taiwan and opposes any recognition of Taiwan as a separate sovereign state. The issue of Tibet has been a longstanding concern, with Tibetans seeking greater autonomy and recognition of their cultural and religious rights. China considers Tibet an integral part of its territory and uses the One China Policy to suppress dissent and exert its authority.
Sikyong Penpa Tsering urged the audience to consider the historical events from 1945 to 1951 and 1954. He emphasised that Tibet’s history is distinct from that of China and should be viewed separately from the One China Policy. His address also shed light on the 17th point agreement signed between Tibet and China under duress. Despite the Tibetan government’s efforts to comply with the agreement, China eventually disregarded it, leading to the forced exile of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans.
Tibet has nothing to do with so called one China policy. It was a cunning communist Chinese ploy to insert Tibet in the “one China” policy to get international support for its illegal occupation of Tibet. The US acknowledged the “one China” policy in the Shanghai communique of 1972. It states: “The United State acknowledges that Chinese on either side of the Taiwan strait maintain there is but “one China”. The reason behind this is that Republic of China Government was ruling China during the civil war from 1927 until the communist take over in 1949. It lost the civil war and fled to Taiwan and set up its Government on the island. The US recognised the Republic of China in Taiwan island as the legitimate representative of China and also retained its seat in the United Nations. The Chinese communists on the other hand had won the civil war but the United States was in no mood to entertain communist take over of China and suspended diplomatic ties with the PRC. The US and PRC didn’t find common ground to have diplomatic relations owing to domestic politics and global tensions such as the Korean War. So, for more than twenty years after the Chinese revolution, there were few contacts, limited trade and no diplomatic ties between communist China and the US.
After the Sino-Soviet split in 1956, the US saw it necessary to court external allies to counter balance the power of the Soviet Union to gain more leverage over relations with the USSR. President Nixon therefore visited communist China in 1972 after 25 years of isolation, ending no communication and no diplomatic recognition of the PRC. The agreement between the US and the PRC is known as the Shanghai communique in which the so called one China policy was coined. It was in the context of having two rival claimants as the representative of China. The PRC claimed it was the representative of China while the Republic of China under the Kuomintang in Taiwan made the same claim. However there can be only one representative of China and thus came the terminology “one China” inextricably between The PRC and ROC and TIBET HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT BY ANY IMAGINATION. ITS ANOTHER IMPERIALIST DESIGN TO DENY THE TIBETAN PEOPLE’S INDEPENDENCE AND KEEP IT UNDER PERENNIAL SERVITUDE OF IMPERIALIST COMMUNIST CHINA!!! All nations who value truth and respect history should reject the inclusion of Tibet in the so called “one China” narrative since Tibet has no claim whatsoever to represent China and in fact TIBET HAS ALWAYS CLAIMED ITS INDEPENDENCE THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY FROM 127 BC until it was illegally occupied by communist China in 1949/50. TIBET WAS NEVER PART OF CHINA AND ITS HISTORY IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM THAT OF CHINA!