Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Aug. 18: Tibetan activists staged a series of protests in the Indian capital on Monday against the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who arrived in New Delhi for a two-day trip from August 18 to 19.
Members of the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) demonstrated outside the Chinese Embassy, raising slogans against Beijing’s repressive policies in Tibet. Police quickly intervened, detaining seven activists, including TYC Vice President Tashi Dhargay, prominent activist Dorjee Rangzen, and students from Delhi’s Tibetan Youth Hostel. TYC, the largest Tibetan grassroots organization in exile, said the protest was aimed to urge China to end its crackdown in Tibet and to press for a resolution of the Tibet issue as a step toward lasting peace between India and China.
Student activists from Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) India unfurled a large banner reading “Wang Yi: Free Tibet” from the Dhaula Kuan footbridge as Wang Yi’s motorcade passed beneath. The activists urged India to move beyond short-term border strategies and address what they described as the root cause of tensions—China’s occupation of Tibet. They stated that a peaceful and lasting resolution requires recognition of Tibet’s historical status and the voices of the Tibetan people.
“The situation in Tibet is dire, and our action today has a clear and direct message: Wang Yi: FREE TIBET!” said Tenzin Passang of SFT India. “Wang Yi’s visit for border trade talks is an empty gesture while Tibet remains occupied. From the betrayals of 1962 and the escalations at Doklam and Galwan to the ongoing ‘five-finger strategy,’ China’s promises cannot be trusted. Tibet’s independence is not only a moral issue; it is also India’s best security.”
SFT Delhi Board Member Tenzin Choetso further condemned Beijing’s claim of authority over the future reincarnation of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. “His Holiness has made it unequivocally clear that the power to recognize his next incarnation rests solely with him and his office, not with any external party—least of all an atheist government. We urge India to condemn this move and play a constructive role in protecting and honoring the reincarnation process in respect of the faith of millions of Himalayan Buddhists and the shared spiritual heritage preserved under India’s care.”
Wang Yi is in India at the invitation of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. During the visit, he is scheduled to meet External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, participate in the 24th round of the Special Representatives’ Talks on the India–China border dispute with Doval, and likely call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to brief him on the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit agenda and bilateral ties.
It’s sad to say but the Tibetan Freedom Movement is dying a slow death! After 64 long years of exile, the older generation who bore the scars of Chinese communist brutality, invasion, occupation and colonisation is a distant past and the new generation has no inkling of the horrors visited by communist China on Tibet! The Tibetans who are born in exile have never set foot in occupied Tibet nor have they ever been confronted by the occupiers savagery. As it were, there is no hurt that rekindles the anger and hatred against the enemy who stole our country and brutalised and enslaved the Tibetan people. The Tibetan struggle has been given a Buddhist philosophical twist whereby, Tibetan people’s resistance against the occupier is dented by portraying the enemy as a friend གཉེན་ Such theories have blunted Tibetan resistance and patriotism. Tibetan protest against Chinese occupation is at an all time low! The only organisations such as TYC and SFT that protest whenever Chinese communist leaders visits across the world has seen drastic reduction! One of the reason is that the Tibetan authorities have come to the conclusion that protesting against the Chinese occupiers only exercebated the situation in occupied Tibet! In other words, according to their assessment, it only plays into the Chinese hand whereby, the Chinese vent their anger on the hapless Tibetans in occupied Tibet and therefore it is unhelpful! The other factor is the Middle Way advocates like the Kumintang Party in Taiwan are in favour of remaining with communist China and therefore, they don’t want to antagonise them. As a result, there are only two organisations who are organising protests against visiting Chinese leaders. They are the Tibetan Youth Congress and Students for a Free Tibet! They claim to have quite big numbers of members but on the field only a couple of them turn out. If you watch all these protest across the world, New Delhi, New York, Toronto, Paris and London, there would not be more than 30 to 40 people at any one single protest with exception of Paris! As things are at the moment, the protest movement is likely to fizzle out in the not so long distant future. On top of it, America, who wore the mantle of protector of human rights has been anything but as it gives a free hand, weapons, diplomatic cover and thwart international scrutiny to Israel’s slaughter of Palestinian children and women in the thousands! As the ICT notes the hollowness of US report on occupied Tibet demonstrates, America has forfeited the right to speak on human rights with its own dismal performance in protecting the lives of Palestinian civilians. It knows that it cannot pontificate to others when it’s guilty of the same offence! Communist China feels that now it can do what likes in occupied Tibet, East Turkistan or Hong Kong. The human rights across the world is now taking a battering owing to western nations complicity in the Genocide of the Palestinians and their conflation with Israel! Now, the Chinese will be even more brazen in their oppression of the Tibetans and other conquered people! Trump has no notion of human rights! He himself is willing to trample over the rights of migrants by deporting them en mass without due process! Therefore, as long as Trump is in the White House, human rights across the world will take a drubbing!
The US under Trump has turned against India which it courted as a counter weight against communist China since the days of George W Bush. Today, it is turning towards Pakistan for reasons most political commentators are baffled! Owing to this development, India is once again cozying up to communist China with Wang Yi’s visit to New Delhi! As India finds itself isolated from America and its allies, it might be forced to make concessions. Today, according to Chinese media, India is supposed to have said, “Taiwan is part of China”! This is how India cozied up to communist China in the 1960s 70s and 80s by repeating the mantra, “Tibet is part of China” until a decade ago. As India is dependent on Taiwanese semi-conductors chips, it bolstered relationship with Taiwan and did not make any mention of the so called one China charade, but as it turns out once again India is back to square one with its stand dictated by Beijing. Tibetans should be wary as India is not finding itself in favour of western nations, it might carry out Beijing’s dictate on Tibetans protesting against the CCP regime. We can only hope that the new Indian leaders DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE OF TRUSTING THE CCP RHETORIC THAT DUPED PANDIT NEHRU WHO ENDORSED BASELESS CHINESE CLAIMS OVER TIBET AND WHO DIED A BROKEN HEARTED MAN AFTER COMMUNIST CHINA INVADED INDIA DESPITE INDIA’S GOOD WILL AND HAND OF FRIENDSHIP. COMMUNIST CHINA IS THE MAIN ANTAGONIST IN INDIA’S BIT FOR A PERMANENT SEAT AT THE UN DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT WAS INDIA WHO HELPED THE PRC TO BE ADMITTED TO THE AUGUST BODY IN 1971! THIS IS THE TRUE COLOUR OF THE CCP!