Chinese War Strategy And HistoricTalks With Dalai Lama (pictures and video)

“Here begins our tale: The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been.” This opening adage of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, China’s classic novel of war and strategy, best captures the essential dynamism of Chinese geopolitics. At its heart is the millennia-long struggle by China’s would-be rulers to unite and govern the all-but-ungovernable geographic mass of China. It is a story of centrifugal forces and of insurmountable divisions rooted in geography and history — but also, and perhaps more fundamentally, of centripetal forces toward eventual unity.

This dynamism is not limited to China. The Scottish referendum and waves of secession movements — from Spain’s Catalonia to Turkey and Iraq’s ethnic Kurds — are working in different directions. More than half a century after World War II triggered a wave of post-colonial nationalism that changed the map of the world, buried nationalism and ethnic identity movements of various forms are challenging the modern idea of the inviolable unity of the nation-state.

Yet even as these sentiments pull on the loose threads of nations, in China, one of the most intractable issues in the struggle for unity — the status of Tibet — is poised for a possible reversal, or at least a major adjustment. The long-running but frequently unnoticed negotiations have raised the possibility that the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, may be nearing a deal that would enable him to return to his Tibetan homeland. If it happens, it would end the Dalai Lama’s exile in Dharamsala, India — an exile that began after the Tibetan uprising in 1959, nine years after the People’s Republic of China annexed Tibet. More important, a settlement between Beijing and the Dalai Lama could be a major step in lessening the physical and psychological estrangement between the Chinese heartland and the Tibetan Plateau. Read more

Since Tibet’s integration into the PRC in 1959, theDalai Lama has traditionally been poorly seen by the socialist regime, who sometimes calls him a “devil in a robe.”

At the end of August, however, the Tibet Autonomous Region’s deputy Party Secretary, Wu Yingjie, revealed to a delegation of South Asian journalists, that Beijing was negotiating with the spiritual head “about his own future”: his return to China and Tibet. Then on  September 17th, an unsigned blog piece posted on the website Sina.com (removed the next day – full translation here), quoting “insider sources,” suggested that Xi Jinping was  “probably” about to let the Dalai Lama “abandon Tibetan independence and come back to China on pilgrimage” (to Wutaishan, one of China’s holiest mountain).  MOREHERE

Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, praises Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying he is the only communist leader to show respect to Buddhism and to accept that the religion has an important role to play in Chinese culture.

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Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Monday (September 22), praised Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying he was the only communist leader to show respect to Buddhism and who accepted that the religion had a very important role to play in preservation of Chinese culture.

Delivering a lecture entitled ‘One World, One Vision, One Future’ in New Delhi, the Dalai Lama said things were changing as no communist leader to date had spoken about Buddhism on different platforms.

“10, 15, 20 years ago, no one expect communist leader showing some respect or appreciation of Buddha dharma (religion). Things are changing,” he said.

The Dalai Lama had also called Xi, who was on his three-day Indian trip last week, more open-minded and realistic, who could learn from India’s democratic practices. During Xi’s visit, he had also called for talks to resolve the border dispute as an unsettled border with China encompassing large parts of the Tibetan plateau is a problem for India.

Meanwhile, the exiled spiritual leader claimed that many Chinese Buddhists were following Tibetan Buddhism.

Talking about Tibetans residing as illegal migrants in Canada, the U.S and few European countries, the spiritual leader said they were not seeking spirituality, but money.

He said Tibetans should remain in China and seek economic help but also make sure that the Asian giant was also giving them freedom for preserving culture, language and traditions.

“Seek material help to build Tibetan economy and material development, provided they must give us genuine freedom regarding preservation of our culture, our language, and our rich Buddhist tradition,” said the Dalai Lama.

In longer run, he added, it will be helpful to even Chinese Buddhists.

The presence of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader in India, who has lived in the north of the country since fleeing a failed uprising against Chinese rule of his homeland in 1959, is a major irritant for China, apart from a border dispute with India, that led to a brief war in 1962 where Indian forces suffered major reverses.

A government of exiled Tibetans and tens of thousands of refugees are also based in India.

China, which regards the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist, has ruled Tibet with an iron fist since Communist troops marched in 1950. The Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule.

China says its rule has brought much needed development to poor and backward Tibet. Exiles and rights groups accuse China of failing to respect Tibet’s unique religion and culture and of suppressing its people.

China regularly applies diplomatic pressure on its allies to reduce privileges offered to the Dalai Lama, who it labels a separatist seeking an independent Tibet. The Dalai Lama says he only seeks more autonomy for his Himalayan homeland. MOREHERE