(TibetanReview.net, Jan05’21) – China appears to view the exile Tibetan election as a challenge, with a commentary in its party mouthpiece globaltimes.cn saying Jan 4 that whatever the result will be, “it will not affect Chinese central government’s policies in Tibet and related issues”.
“China has built comprehensive systems and measures to face any possible challenge, and will focus on the high-quality development, safety and stability of the Tibet Autonomous Region,” said the commentary by one Shan Jia, citing Chinese observers.
Seeking to belittle the top executive post in the exile Tibetan set-up, Xiao Jie, a deputy director at the Institute for Contemporary Tibetan Studies under the China Tibetology Research Center, has said, “Sikyong is similar to a general manager of the exiled organization. It deals with Western governments, asks for money and does some administration work.”
He has sought to dismiss the Dalai Lama’s announcement in 2011 that he would retire from politics, contending that “he is still the supreme leader of the Tibetans-in-exile’.
Unity is an abiding theme of the exile Tibetan election and its importance is not lost to the Chinese leadership. The commentary quoted Zhu Weiqun, former head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and China’s favourite political point man on Tibetan matters, as saying, “These Tibetans are split based on different origins, sects and opinions toward the ‘exiled government’.”
His prediction is that after the Dalai Lama is no more, the exile community will lose its cohesion, that “his death will be beyond their imagination,” “will likely trigger a huge mess inside the organization,” and “the young generations in the group could hardly handle it as they are getting worse.”
His ominous contention is, “All forces are dormant and gathering power.”
Meanwhile, claiming that all counties in Tibet had shaken off poverty in 2020, Xiao Has said, “China will next focus on the high-quality development of the region, and the chaos from overseas will hardly have any influence.”
“China has a comprehensive legal system and measures to respond to the Dalai Lama reincarnation issue, so the overseas election result will not influence China’s policies in the Tibet region,” he has added.
