Calls for China to make concessions on Tibet fall on deaf ears, writes Clifford Coonanin Dharamsala
TIBETAN EXILES meeting in northern India have agreed to keep supporting the Dalai Lama's "Middle Way" of seeking autonomy, while acknowledging that calls for full independence from China were growing among a frustrated younger generation.
The plenary session of the special meeting gave strong support for Tibet's spiritual and political leader, whom China characterises as a dangerous splittist.
The findings are seen as a display of unity by the exile community, but there is little the Tibetan movement can do unless Beijing changes its stance, a prospect that looks unlikely, especially since violent anti-Chinese protests in March. Beijing yesterday issued a hardline document reiterating its stance that Tibet was, is and always will be part of China.
"All voices have been heard and what's coming out is the determination to go on with the freedom struggle. We have different voices but are united behind the Middle Way," said Youdon Aukatsang, a member of Tibet's exiled parliament in Dharamsala.
Eight rounds of official talks with Beijing have made no headway, so the Dalai Lama called for hundreds of exiles to meet in the Himalayan hill station to see what the next step should be.
"We are where we are now and the onus is on the Chinese," said Ms Aukatsang.
Tibetans wanted a stronger response to China, including the introduction of a deadline by which China should react.
Lhadon Tethong, director of Students for a Free Tibet, which carried out bold demonstrations during the Beijing Olympics, described the outcome as a stark response by the Tibetan people to attacks on their beloved spiritual leader by the Chinese.
"It's been very refreshing and exciting to see discussion of independence coming back into the mainstream.
"Independence is what the Tibetan people really want and this shows that the people are prepared to make massive compromise, but China has to react. This is a turning point," she said.
If the Chinese do not make reciprocal moves towards the Tibetan position, then events will turn towards independence, Ms Tethong said.
In Dharamsala, a recent arrival from Tibet spoke of his part in the protests against Chinese rule in Lhasa, which erupted into violence against Han Chinese settlers in March and spread to other areas of western China with Tibetan populations.
Tibet's government-in-exile said more than 200 Tibetans were killed in a subsequent Chinese crackdown.
Beijing blames the Dalai Lama for inciting the unrest.
"In the beginning everyone was shouting 'Long live Tibet', but it was peaceful," said Punsang Sunam, from the Tibetan Kham area of Sichuan.
"After a few minutes the Chinese started shooting, and my friend and a nun fell down.
"As soon as the shooting started I could see many Tibetans falling down but I don't know if they were shot or pushed over, or alive or dead," he said.
"Later, things got a lot worse and people got angry. I got angry when I saw the shooting," Mr Sunam continued, adding that he set a police car on fire.
He had been jailed twice for political activities, and said on one occasion he was kept in a flooded cell and tortured with electric cattle prods.
There was a feeling among younger delegates of frustration about the "Middle Way", as it has failed to produce any results, and there had been calls for a move towards demanding outright independence.
But there is little sense of what form a more aggressive response should take.
Tsering Thuntso came over the mountains 14 months ago to see the Dalai Lama and become a monk. His view on the meeting highlights the problem facing the delegates - what approach is best now.
"When we say we want independence, it doesn't mean we're against the Dalai Lama. I believe non-violence is the best way, but China has never responded. Something will change after this meeting but I don't know what it will be," said the young monk.
He travelled in a large group of 21. However, their guide lost his way and the journey ended up taking a month and a half. During the trek he became snowblind, and he still can only see bright lights, despite several operations.
China's official Xinhua news agency issued an opinion piece yesterday reiterating Beijing's view that the "Dalai and his clique" were seeking independence and acting unconstitutionally.
"Tibet was peacefully liberated in 1951 and with the democratic reform in 1959, the feudal serfdom under theocracy was overturned and the people's democratic government was established and more than one million serfs were emancipated," the article stated.
Beijing says it is helping the territory by investing billions of yuan in the local economy, though Tibetans say the Chinese are sending ethnic Han Chinese to the region to exploit its resources.