(TibetanReview.net, Jan11’25) –Pro-China countries like Pakistan have been accused of using the tragic earthquake that hit Tibet’s Mt Everest county of Dingri on Jan 7 morning to help spread China’s “Xizang” propaganda. And they addressed their messages of condolences to China, which has a well-documented record of being out to destroy the entirety of the civilizational identity of the historically independent territory even as it seeks to present itself as its saviour.
But not so India, which mentioned neither “China” nor “Xizang” – China’s Sinicized name for Tibet, designed to suggest that the historical latter no longer exists – in its condolence message Jan 8.
“Government and people of India express condolences on the tragic loss of life and property caused by the devastating earthquake in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” India’s external affairs ministry spokesperson Mr Randhir Jaiswal said in a brief post on X.
The Indian government’s message made no reference to China, which had stepped up efforts in recent months to rename Tibet as “Xizang”, noted the hindustantimes.com Jan 8.
China said it had received messages of condolence from leaders of 22 countries, namely Russia, Pakistan, Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Maldives, Japan, Cuba, Venezuela, Serbia, Belarus, Spain, Italy, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Oman, Grenada, El Salvador, and Uzbekistan.
Besides, condolence messages had also been sent by foreign ministries of countries including India, Brazil, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Türkiye, Bahrain and Iran, as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Nurlan Yermekbayev, and President of the Central American Parliament Carlos Hernandez, China’s official Xinhua news agency Jan 8 cited Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun as saying at a daily press briefing.
Because of China’s stand on Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and other contentious issues, India stopped explicitly mentioning its commitment to the “One China” policy in official statements and joint-communiques around 2010.
More recently, though India and China reached an understanding in Oct 2024 that paved the way for ending a tense military standoff in Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the former last week flagged its serious concerns over the latter’s clearance of a plan to build the world’s largest dam and infrastructure project on the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra river in Tibet, just before the river enters India, and the creation of two new counties in the illegally occupied Aksai China region of Ladakh.
Independent media are banned from Tibet and China’s official reports say the earthquake has so far claimed 126 lives, maimed 337 others, damaged over 27,200 houses (of which 3,612 have collapsed), and affected 61,500 people, with 47,500 having been relocated at 224 sites.
Besides the epicentre Tsogo, Dramtso (including Gurong and Senga villages) and Chulho have been specifically mentioned as being among the worst affected townships in Dingri county.
There is still no mention of the number of people missing after the earthquake, with rescuers having reportedly widened their search outside the epicentre area – which has 27 villages – only yesterday.