(TibetanReview.net, Feb06, 2017) – China has responded with rebuff at US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s remarks during his Senate confirmation hearing that he will commit to encourage dialogue on Tibet and to receive the Dalai Lama. The US should stop using Dalai Lama to create trouble for China, which brings no benefit to the US but damages Sino-US relations, China’s official mouthpiece globaltimes.cn Feb 2 cited Zhu Weiqun, head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), as saying. Tillerson was confirmed by the Senate on Feb 1.
CPPCC is a toothless body whose role is to give political advice to the Chinese National People’s Congress, whose own role as the nation’s parliament is only to rubberstamp the decisions of the Communist Party of China. However, Zhu’s remarks are in line with China’s current Tibet policy.
It’s impossible for the Chinese government to “have a dialogue” with the illegal group that is aiming to split China, and Tillerson’s remarks shows he is a complete amateur on Tibet-related questions, the report cited Zhu, one of China’s most outspokenly bellicose voices on the exile Tibetan leadership, as saying.
“The one and only sensible thing the ‘government-in-exile’ can do is to dissolve itself,” Zhu was quoted as saying.
Zhu had led the Chinese side in a series of talks with representatives of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, over the period of Sep 2002 – Jan 2010. It ended in a bitter spat and fallout between the two sides after the Tibetan side had claimed encouraging signs from the Chinese side midway.
Zhu has said China will not change its policy to support the development of the Tibetan society, nor will the country stop protecting its sovereignty over the region.
China’s development policy for Tibet, carried out on the basis of a series of directives issued during Tibet Work Forums held by China’s very top leadership, includes massive investments to build infrastructure facilities, resource exploitations, and active encouragement of Chinese immigration. These forums have been held since Feb 1980, with the sixth one, the latest, having been held in Aug 2015.
Zhu has warned that the new US government should carefully study its policy and that its “attention” to the Tibet question will only bring endless trouble and burden for the US.