Living Tibetan Spirits Welcome The Resolve Tibet Act
I am not a “Separatist.” I am not seeking the Separation of Tibet from China. Tibet is not and has never been a part of China. Separation is not the issue. Tibet is seeking its own existence and its own identity. Tibet is not asking for a new identity or creation of a new state from Chinese territory. Tibet is not demanding a surgical operation to carve out a new nation from an existing nation known as People’s Republic of China. The Problem of Tibet simply relates to the military occupation of the Land of Tibet by China. This Problem could be resolved by the Eviction of the Occupier. It is just to demand such eviction of an illegal occupier. Military occupation is the cause of this Problem of Tibet and eviction of this military force is the resolution that I want in Tibet.
Resolve Tibet Act: Bipartisan Legislation Enhancing U.S. Support for Tibet Passes Congress
Resolve Tibet Act Helps Counter Chinese Government Misinformation about Tibet; Pushes for Negotiation Between Chinese Government and the Dalai Lama to End Longstanding Dispute
Washington, June 12, 2024
WASHINGTON—The House has passed a bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Todd Young (R-IN) to enhance U.S. support for Tibet and promote dialogue between the People’s Republic of China and the Dalai Lama toward a peaceful resolution of the long-standing dispute between Tibet and China.
The Resolve Tibet Act first passed the House last February, clearing the Senate last month before today’s final procedural vote. It now goes to President Biden, who is expected to sign it into law.
The Resolve Tibet Act enhances U.S. support for Tibet— empowering State Department officials to actively and directly counter disinformation about Tibet from the Chinese government, rejecting false claims that Tibet has been part of China since “ancient times,” pushing for negotiations without preconditions between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama or his representatives or the democratically elected leaders of the Tibetan community, and affirming the State Department’s responsibility to coordinate with other governments in multilateral efforts toward the goal of a negotiated agreement on Tibet.No formal dialogue between Tibetan and Chinese authorities has happened since 2010, and Chinese officials continue to make unreasonable demands of the Dalai Lama as a condition for further dialogue.
“Let the overwhelming passage of our strong, bipartisan bill be a clear message to the Tibetan people: America stands with you on the side of human dignity, and we support you in your quest to secure the basic rights to which you are entitled under international law,” said Ranking Member McGovern.
“The People’s Republic of China has systematically denied Tibetans the right to self-determination and continues to deliberately erase Tibetan religion, culture, and language. The ongoing oppression of the Tibetan people is a grave tragedy, and our bill provides further tools that empower both America and the international community to stand up for justice and peace.”
“Tibetans, like all people, have the right to religious freedom – which includes freedom from CCP surveillance, censorship, and detention,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul.
“If the CCP truly does respect ‘sovereignty’ as it claims to do then it will engage in peaceful dialogue with the Tibetans to resolve this conflict, not force the Tibetans to accept a CCP proposal. Passing this bipartisan bill demonstrates America’s resolve that the CCP’s status quo in Tibet is not acceptable.”
“The people of Tibet deserve to be in charge of their own future, and, today, Congress has voted to stand with Tibetans in their struggle for freedom and self-determination,” said Senator Merkley, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
“The Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act helps counter misinformation from the Chinese government about Tibet and pushes for negotiations between the People’s Republic of China and Tibet to end this longstanding dispute. I look forward to President Biden swiftly signing this bill into law—the people of Tibet cannot wait any longer.”
“Our bipartisan bill will refresh U.S. policy towards Tibet and push for negotiations that advance freedom for the Tibetan people and a peaceful resolution to the CCP’s conflict with the Dalai Lama,” said Senator Young. “Congressional passage of this legislation further demonstrates America’s resolve that the CCP’s status quo – both in Tibet and elsewhere – is not acceptable. I look forward to this important effort becoming law and working with my colleagues and the Administration to ensure swift and effective implementation.”
THE LAND OF TIBET – “THE ROOF OF THE WORLD” :
Tibet is the highest plateau in the world and it came into existence when the landmass of India joined the Asian landmass. All the major rivers of Asia have their origin in Tibet. These rivers support the lives of about 2 billion human beings. The ecology of Tibet is critical in view of global warming and scarcity of water. It has been recorded and found that the rate of warming is faster in Tibet. The mountains are experiencing less snowfall, and the glaciers that feed the rivers are melting and fading away. The extraction of mineral resources, the exploitation of natural resources like forests, and hunting of unique, native animals, the construction of dams and barriers across rivers flowing in Tibet pose dangers to fragile Tibetan ecology. The problem of Tibet is not merely an environmental issue.
What is the Problem of Tibet?
Historically, Tibet has existed in a serene and unperturbed state for several centuries. Tibetan people are naturally born free and maintained their traditional sense of Freedom in spite of invasions by foreign forces. In October 1950, Communist China’s People’s Liberation Army invaded Tibetan soil and occupied it. This military occupation of Tibet poses a direct threat to Tibetan way of life; a direct threat to Tibetan Culture, Tibetan Religion, Tibetan Language, and the ethnic composition of the people of this Land. The problem of Tibet is not simply a concern about Human Rights and Religious Freedom. The Problem of Tibet involves Human Freedom and Human Dignity. Military occupation of Tibet is the very opposite of Human Freedom and Human Dignity.
The Resolution of the Problem of Tibet:
I am not a “Separatist.” I am not seeking the Separation of Tibet from China. Tibet is not and has never been a part of China. Separation is not the issue. Tibet is seeking its own existence and its own identity. Tibet is not asking for a new identity or creation of a new state from Chinese territory. Tibet is not demanding a surgical operation to carve out a new nation from an existing nation known as People’s Republic of China. The Problem of Tibet simply relates to the military occupation of the Land of Tibet by China. This Problem could be resolved by the Eviction of the Occupier. It is just to demand such eviction of an illegal occupier. Military occupation is the cause of this Problem of Tibet and eviction of this military force is the resolution that I want in Tibet.
Tibet Equilibrium 2020. Evict the military occupier of Tibet
I coined the phrase ‘Tibet Equilibrium’ to bring the Balance of Power between the Natural Force and the man’s physical force acting upon the lives of the Tibetan People. This balance can be accomplished by the eviction of the military occupier of Tibet.
Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada
Special Frontier Force-Establishment No. 22-Vikas Regiment
India is now working to free Tibet
WION Web Team New Delhi, Delhi, India Sep 07, 2020.
Written By: Gautam Mukherjee
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
India has revamped its military posture. The Rubicon has been crossed politically. By going up well behind the LAC, over 4 km deep, capturing the territory and features in between, India has turned the tables.
The liberation of Tibet 2020 has claimed its first martyr, a 51-year-old Company Leader, Nyima Tenzin, of the Special Frontier Force (SFF). Founded in 1962, the SSF is a special commando group of Tibetans in exile, integrated with, and working alongside the Indian Army.
Tenzin, a father of three, died, some reports say, after stepping on a Chinese landmine planted under the snow, not now, but back in 1962. Other reports state he was shot in the neck by the Chinese. His funeral, with full military honours, will take place today on September 7. His body was draped in both the Indian flag and the flag of free Tibet.
This death, and the outflanking of the entire LAC issue it symbolizes, is the new strategic landscape in Ladakh.
India has revamped its military posture. The Rubicon has been crossed politically. By going up well behind the LAC, over 4 km deep, capturing the territory and features in between, India has turned the tables. The Chinese now have to contend with a proactive India that has abandoned its defensive game.
India now controls as many as 39 of the high points along with the Pangong Tso. These give India oversight and military advantages all along the Pangong Tso, from South to North. There is a line of vision in other strategic directions as well.
These heights, connected valleys, roads, and passes, have not been captured in a token sense, but for the purposes of exerting pressure on the ongoing negotiations. They are designed to affect military domination of the theatre of confrontation and are to be seen as a signature to a new policy.
The initial capture of the heights began on August 29-30, after a Chinese attempt to unilaterally alter the status quo on the South Bank of the Pangong Tso. It was reinforced with heavily armoured vehicles, tanks and missiles, some of it in place within hours.
These took up position in the valley overlooking both Pangong Tso and Chushul.
This rapid deployment has taken away the initiative from the PLA and the Chinese leadership in the CCP back in Beijing. Four months after the latest Chinese intrusions began in May, the ground situation has been radically altered.
All Chinese positions after the intrusions, and even in the massed areas behind the front lines have been rendered vulnerable. In fact, the recapture of territory lost in 1962 has begun.
India is no longer acting for a restoration of the status quo as it was in April 2020. There will be no Indian pullback, no giving back of captured territory. The changed scenario has put the focus on the reclamation of over 1,000 sq.km in Ladakh encroached upon since the late 1950s.
By using the SSF as the spearhead, India is gaining from its legendary ferocity, prowess, its considerable knowledge of the terrain, and ability to fight at elevated heights in extreme conditions.
Underlining the new thrust which has cut through the stalled talks, is a bid to free Tibet and undo a historical wrong from the 1950s.
India has always had a peaceful Indo-Tibetan border for centuries. And the disruption, destruction, murder and humiliation wrought by Chairman Mao’s China will have to be obliterated if India is to see peace along its northern borders once more.
India has begun a process that apparently has the full diplomatic backing of the United States. This, given the bellicose stand taken by President Xi Jinping with multiple countries simultaneously, in the region, and the world. Both The NATO allies and the EU are now clear they will have to resist Chinese imperialism.
Meanwhile, President Xi Jinping has unleashed a new wave of repression in Tibet as China fears a groundswell of rebellion.
India will have to free the occupied territories in Siachen, Akshai Chin and Ladakh first. And this is the face of hysterical threats from the Chinese.
But India’s priorities have changed beyond going back and forth on an undefined LAC. China is fond of citing obscure historical and cultural precedents, even as it refuses to honour treaties or recognise any of the older or colonial-era protocols.
India has now moved on. It has decided not to engage with ever-changing Chinese maps of the LAC region, all 4,000 km or so of it.
The Chinese, on their part, think the LAC is only 2,500 km. long, because they claim Arunachal Pradesh as theirs, calling it South Tibet.
China has also advanced unsustainable claims in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and the Sikkim/Bhutan areas. These have become ever more aggressive over the years and made a mockery of negotiations at all levels of interaction. In addition, China is playing a predatory role in PoK, Gilgit-Baltistan directly, and via Pakistan as well.
India has no choice but to outflank existing Chinese strategies and tactics. To place China on the mat the best course is to put Tibet, captured by Red China as recently as the 1950s, back into contention.
This will no doubt see India foraying across the LAC regularly, and at various points along with it, to create military advantages and pursue the broader objective. Every excursion will hopefully result in a gain of territory that will not be returned to China.
All this cannot happen without a fight or perhaps many skirmishes to come. But China is already aware, judging by its agitation at its Defence Minister level, that it is a battle ignited out on the fringes of its empire that it will find hard to sustain and win. The hostile Tibetans, armed and trained by India and its allies, will do everything to help themselves.
It could turn into a debacle for China going forward, no less humiliating than the defeat of the USSR in Afghanistan. Certainly, the dragon is not likely to see a day’s rest from now onwards.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)
Gautam Mukherjee
Gautam Mukherjee is a perceptive commentator on current affairs based in New Delhi
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