(TibetanReview.net, Feb11’25) –China has responded with a dismissive reiteration of its position on talks with the Dalai Lama when asked about the death on Feb 8 of the Tibetan spiritual leader’s elder brother Gyalo Thondup, his key interlocutor with it since 1950. Gyalo Thondup had no known contacts with the current crop of top Chinese leaders headed by Xi Jinping.
China has expressed what it has called its “hopes” that the Dalai Lama can “return to the right path,” while claiming to be open to discussions about “his future” as long as certain conditions are met.
The Dalai Lama needs to openly recognise that Tibet and Taiwan are inalienable parts of China, whose sole legal government is that of the People’s Republic of China, Reuters Feb 10 cited Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun as saying at a regular press conference in Beijing. And he should abandon his position of splitting the “motherland”, abc.net.au Feb 19 further cited Guo as saying.
While it remains doubtful whether China would indeed hold talks with the Dalai Lama even if those conditions were met, an exile Tibetan parliament leader has said such demands are a non-starter.
“It is not feasible for His Holiness to tell lies, that’s not going to happen,” Ms Dolma Tsering Teykhang, deputy speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, has said.
“If they dictate that His Holiness should speak about Tibet being an inalienable part, that is a distortion of history. By distorting history, you cannot have a peaceful and amicable solution.”
The Dalai Lama stepped down as the political leader of Tibet in 2011, handing over the temporal authority held by him and his reincarnate-predecessors since 1642, to the elected leadership. Nevertheless, he continues to remain the symbol of Tibetan identity and nationhood, which is why China continues to attack him as a separatist even though he only seeks genuine internal autonomy for his homeland.
China insists that any talk with the Dalai Lama would be about his personal future. But the latter has made it clear that he had no such issue to discuss, except on the preservation of the Tibetan cultural and ethnic identity through internal self-rule.
Official talks with his representatives have remained stalled since 2010. However, Teykhang has said back-channel discussions have been ongoing. The Sikyong (executive head), Mr Penpa Tsering, of the Central Tibetan Administration previously said these contacts have remained not worth talking about.
The Dalai Lama, who turns 90 on Jul 6 this year, has long hoped to visit China for a pilgrimage, especially to the Wutaishan in Shanxi province, with the possibility to discuss Tibet with the Chinese leadership.
The Dalai Lama’s are enthroned after religious processes for recognizing his reincarnation based principally on instructions and clues left behind by his immediate predecessor. But China has made it clear that it will choose its own next Dalai Lama in defiance of this centuries-old Tibetan Buddhists practice.