Tibet: Canards vs Facts

Ramakrishnan

Tibet and Dalai Lama have been in the news again. An article, ‘A Forgotten People, The Tibet Question Returns’, by Yeshi Choedon was published by Frontier (Mar16-22, 2025), ‘marking March 10 as their uprising day every year’. The fact is, they were not forgotten in any sense. They have been a subject for propaganda, misleading in many ways: ‘Converting Tibetans into Chinese’ by Lobsang Gelek is one such example (Feb 23–Mar 1). These are part of canards to damn China led by CPC, spread by America and Delhi. Yeshi Choedon wrote: “Tibet became an occupied country following the defeat of the Tibetan army in the Battle of Chamdo in October 1950 and the subsequent Chinese military advance. Tibet was first considered at the UN in 1951… discussed at various international forums (not UN) for over 7 decades,” but ignored due to “reluctance to confront China’s overwhelming power.” The author also mentions “the contentious issue of the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation.”

 Tibet is not forgotten, nor would it be allowed to be forgotten by the US and India, who have always meddled with Tibet. In fact, the meddling is intensified, and it has little to do with the Tibetan people’s interests. Gyalo Thondup (1928-2025 Feb), brother and Advisor to the Dalai Lama and a leader of CTA (Govt-in-exile), who had worked for long with the CIA against China led by Mao, lamented that the USA always exploited Tibet for its own global strategic interests. YeshiChoedon wrote: “The UN had deferred discussion on the pretext of Tibet’s unclear status,” and because of “China’s overwhelming power”. That power was Taiwan, not the PRC, headed by the Chiang Kai-shek clique in the Security Council, and Taiwan claimed Tibet belonged to it. Taiwan has always been US’s cat’s paw against the PRC. The Battle of Chamdo was fought and won by the Red Army, which was fighting imperialism and feudalism. ‘Left and democratic friends’ forgot it all; they also relish and, promote canards, knowingly or otherwise; they see in it a futile ‘struggle against capitalist roaders’ of the Deng school. It is forgotten, also by the veterans, that until 1971, China, led by the CPC (PRC) itself, had no seat at the UNO. that March 28 is celebrated by millions of Tibetans as their Day of Emancipation from serfdom. Dalai Lama (90), who had presided over the rule by the class of slave-owners, still wants to be “re-incarnated,” he wrote in his latest 2025 book, in the “free world,” i.e, not in China, where 95% Tibetans live. That is the US script, and hence a “contentious issue.”  

Even now, “in the current era of wasteland of morality in international relations”, as Choedon calls it, the ‘Forgotten People’ were brought to light, courtesy a notorious CIA media outlet, Radio Free Asia (RFA), which on March 7 revealed: “Tibet’s struggle for autonomy in China is ‘one of the front lines’ in America’s battle with the Chinese Communist Party,” said Albert Gombis, a senior US State Department official, on March 4, at a function in USA, marking Tibetan New Year. Gombis was frank: “US national security was “inextricably bound to the battle of ideas and influence” with Beijing, which he alleged, annexed Tibet in the early 1950s, a pet theme in the pack of ‘white’ lies. Gombis was “calling for a renewed American focus on Tibet”. Never forgotten: “It was the annual US State Dept gathering, the 11th (since 2015) such event organised by the dept, and the first held since Trump 2.0 arrived and continued Biden’s policy, it has been bipartisan: Gombis said “Tibet should not be forgotten as America “tries to counter Chinese, such as its expansionist claims on the South China Sea and Taiwan”.

Evidently, all this is part of the Asia Pacific strategy of the USA to “contain” China, not to help the people of Tibet nor of India. In their Great Game, it’s called wielding the “Tibet card.” The learned Choedon knows it. But Alka Acharya, also a JNU Professor, former Director, Institute of Chinese Studies, had warned in March 2018: “For this one so-called ‘Tibet card’ that we appear to hold, the Chinese have six in their hand.” And that is all the more dangerous given the volatile and inflammable situation in North-east, aggravated by the divisive politics of the sanghpariwar. Like Biden, Trump is also keen on fanning it. They are all aware Tibet has been part of China for centuries, under various dynasties like the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), and America always recognised Tibet as part of China; so also almost the whole world.

Tibet continued to be part of China, led by the CPC, even after the battles of the 1950s, waged by the slave-owner class, admittedly aided, armed and funded by the CIA. It is not as if communists newly annexed Tibet. What changed was that they only abolished centuries-old serfdom presided by the Buddhist Lama, who was advised and guided by the CIA to flee from his homeland. Neither the USA nor India is really interested in the welfare of the Tibetan people. The present generation cannot even imagine some facts: That Tibet was ruled by Buddhist Lamas who were slave-owners, who owned almost all the arable land in Tibet. 95 % population was slaves who could be sold and purchased legally. The present Dalai Lama’s family “owned” up to 20 slaves and huge gold, silver, and jewelry. Their enlarged family owned 6000 serfs and herdsmen. The slaves could be punished drastically by slave-owners, even up to death; it was all legal. Their eyes could be, and were indeed, gouged for certain ‘crimes’. Blinding, limb-chopping, ear-cutting, lashing, and drowning in water were among punishments. It was a ‘Saudi’ of Buddhists. That cruel system was curbed by the CPC led by Mao, when the Red Army marched there in 1950, and was totally abolished by democratic reforms in 1959, a century later than in the West. About one million serfs (i.e, almost the whole population in 1950) were liberated. There were about 200 such aristocrats, erstwhile slave-owners in 1959. There is a permanent open exhibition in Tibet where historical records, photos, equipment, etc, are displayed and viewed by visitors, domestic and foreign. CharanShandilya was one Indian author who regularly visited Tibet and published books (Pandit Sundarlal Institute of Asian Studies had an edition in 1999) on the subject. Anna Louise Strong (1885-1970) wrote ‘When Serfs stood up in Tibet” (1960), but less publicised. There were over 40 million tourists before Covid, and 30 million in 2022, and tourism is a major source of revenue ($ 5.6 billion post-Covid) for Tibet. Tibet’s ‘independence’ and backwardness are myths sustained by sections of the media. Almost 95% of UN Member countries do not recognise Tibet as a country. The USA, EU, in fact, none among the developed countries–not even Taiwan- recognise it; nor India does.

The 17-Point Agreement, on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, was one between the Local Govt of Tibet and the Central Govt of China. The Red Army was greatly supported and welcomed by serfs who constituted 95% of Tibet’s population. Signed on 23 May 1951 in Beijing, it was ratified by the 14th Dalai Lama, on 24 Oct 1951. Both parties agreed: “The Tibetan people shall unite and drive out invading imperialist forces from Tibet, and shall return to the big family of the motherland–the PRC.” The Buddhist monk had accepted socialism, and in September 1954, he joined the PRC as one Vice-Chairmen, Mao being the Chairman. Later, under US pressures, the Buddhist Lama lied, reneged, and led an armed revolt with US aid, arms and training, acknowledged officially as a notorious CIA operation. That involved using child conscripts, too. The slave-owner class of Tibet in 1959 band-wagoned themselves with American imperialism, and the Dalai Lama fled to India, when their revolt was crushed. It is well known to the elderly readers of Frontier to inform the younger generation, and to refresh past events.

There are a lot of motivated campaigns against China, more so on Tibet, that flood the Big Media in India, manipulated by the US and the West. Facts, however, are revealing: Once most backward, with serfdom and the most difficult climate and terrain, today Tibet is highly developed, unbelievable but more than much of India, as seen below. The Tibetan diaspora who grumble against China number about 1.5 lakh, 75% of them being in India, and around 10 % within South Asia. In comparison, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) has a population of around 3.64 million population (lowest density of 2 per sq km), thriving and up from 1.2 million in 1954. In TAR, ethnic Tibetans are 86%, other small (over 15) tribes (Christian, Muslim, etc) 2%. Hans constitute around 12%, including 8% ‘locals’ who were driven out by UK invaders from Central (outer) Tibet; other Hans from mainland China are only 4%, who include government and other services. There are around 7 million Tibetans in China, and half of them live inside TAR. The life expectancy of Tibetans was 36 in 1951, and is now nearing 70. PRC developed Tibet, where per capita government expenditure, also on education and health, is the highest, as compared to any region in China. Tibet had double-digit growth for 25 consecutive years. Tibet’s GDP per capita is $ 9315 (India 2500), highest in South Asia. Not merely numbers: Absolute poverty was mostly curbed by 2013, and eradicated from all counties of TAR in 2019. For its small population, it has four universities, including one for Medicine and Agriculture; four civilian airports, and over one lakh km of developed roads. It has the world’s highest (5070 metres) railway, an engineering marvel; the capital Lhasa has a bullet train to Nyingchi near the Indian border that covers 435 km in 3.5 hours (160 km per hour), faster than any in India.

In “Converting Tibetans into Chinese,” Lobsang Gelek charged: “China is ‘allegedly’ forcing 1 million Tibetan children to forget about their language and culture. The lessons are in Mandarin, with Tibetan courses limited to a single language class. Young children who attend Chinese boarding schools are unable to easily communicate with older relatives who grew up studying Tibetan. etc.” Irrespective of the facts, what is big news about it? ‘We’ love it and take pride when our own children, not only NRIs, can’t communicate well in their mother tongues, sing Nursery rhymes in English, and a few children know numbers in their native languages. That is what most of India witnesses, what is hailed, where native cultures and mother tongues, even Hindi in North India, are relegated by English medium, ostensibly for better livelihood opportunities. In China, it may be Mandarin, rather than English, with ‘China Rising’. And that is the complaint, also of Lobsang Gelek, a regular in the notorious RFA. Some facts regarding education and culture are given below.

HDI of backward Tibet is 0.648 in 2022 (India’s is 0.644 in 2023-24). Literacy in Tibet, for age group of 15-60, was 99.5% in 2015 (like Kerala?), enrolment in public schools in 2010 was 98.8% at primary, and 82% at senior school level. At the primary level taught entirely in Tibetan, at higher levels it is bilingual, Tibetan and Mandarin. Tibetan is the official language in TAR, even the CIA Factbook acknowledges. Prof Barry Sautman, an American professor and expert on ethnic and Tibetan politics of China, refuted motivated claims that Mandarin is imposed, or that Tibetan is imperiled. Colin Mackerras, an Australian expert who visited and studied Tibet and TAR for over 35 years, refuted claims of neglect of traditional Tibetan culture. Tibet has over 46,000 resident monks and nuns, and 1700 religious sites, visited by millions every year. Suppression of religion is a canard, particularly after 1980; the mistakes of the Cultural Revolution period were then corrected.

The CIA’s Tibetan programme, acknowledged by the NYT, etc, has been notorious for around seven decades: Wikileaks too had recorded it. Canards are part of that. Human Rights issue is a stick to beat China, or any dissenter. USA, which butchered millions of people for decades across the world through perpetual wars, seeks to work for human rights in China! The Buddhist Lama, projected by the USA and admittedly aided by the CIA, never condemned American wars of aggression, even when Buddhists in Vietnam, etc, condemned the wars.

Choedon raised “Dalai Lama’s reincarnation”, and rightly said it is a “contentious issue”. Contrary to Indian media’s stories, “His Holiness” is no less notorious: “Noisy Protests: Wherever the Dalai Lama travels these days, devotees of the Dorje Shugden (Buddhist) sect accuse him of being a religious bigot, Reuters reported July 9, 2015. There were scores of such protests across Europe, Australia”. The Lama is accused of corruption and nepotism, too. His own late brother and sister, among other relatives, were CTA officials for many years. He was accused of pedophilia in 2023 Feb when he asked a boy to suck his tongue; he offered an apology on Twitter. He acknowledged sexual abuse by monks. The Delhi High Court, in July 2024, dismissed a PIL on the issue and noted his apology. Earlier in 2009, the Monk was embroiled in another case filed in the AP Human Rights Commission when a Telugu school girl aged 7 was sought to be projected as “re-incarnation” of a Buddhist goddess; the case was sensational news viewed by millions for several weeks in Big TV media channels. There were child conscripts of the Dalai Lama forces in the 1950s, etc. “Dalai Lama is not a pure religious figure, but a political exile engaged in anti-China separatist activities under the cloak of religion,” Chinese MEA said, and warned: “China will take resolute measures to firmly defend its sovereignty,” etc. (19 Jun 2024, SCMP).

India and its media cook up stories about the status of Tibet and the Lama. Delhi’s official position, as amplified by PM Vajpayee, and his MOU, June 2003: “India recognised Tibet (TAR) is part of the territory of China.” It is a continuation of the policy PM Nehru had adopted, but he tampered with his Forward Policy during the late 1950s. It was explained then that Vajpayee got in return the first-ever recognition by China that Sikkim, a territory India annexed in 1975, is part of India. It is implied that both countries should not reopen Tibet and Sikkim. The agreement reiterated that Delhi would not allow Tibetans to engage in anti-China political activities in India. Modi-led India ditched the policy adopted by Vajpayee and joined the US in open anti-China activity, along with CTA and the Dalai Lama. There is nothing “spiritual” or Buddhist in this. And Modi emulates Nehru with his own itch for a new Forward Policy. Congress and the BJP have been basically one in their anti-China policies.

‘Self-determination’
Tibet is developed, well, but what about the principle of Self-determination (SD) of nationalities? There are concerns, genuine even if ill-informed, that need some clarification. The nationality question was never static, but evolved in a historical context of rising capitalism, it is well known. The Russian revolution and its path, born in European experience, left a big, welcome impact on Indian Marxists. But that had elements of dogmatism, including on SD. A deeper study, rather a re-study, is necessary, but that is a subject by itself. It is mechanically applied to multi-national countries of the third world, most of them being victims of variants of feudalism and colonialism.

“In the national struggles of the proletarians of the different countries, the communists point out and bring to the front the common interests of the entire proletariat, independently of all nationality,” stressed the Communist Manifesto. Lenin likewise stressed that all questions, including SD, should be viewed in relation to fighting imperialism. He stressed specific analysis and concrete application. Both Marx and Lenin differentiated their approaches accordingly. They stressed national ‘unification’ in some cases, national ‘liberation’ in other cases. Lenin stressed SD in a context when the Russian empire was a ‘prison house of nations,’ assuring SD, including the right of secession; thus keeping various nationalities united for 7 decades. After the Soviet collapse, imperialists exploited the SD to break up countries like Yugoslavia, even while backing German unification. Germany itself is a multi-national country where Germans constitute only 71%, ten percent being others; there are small ethnic groups, almost 200, who constitute 19 % of the population. France has more than 20 ethnic groups. Canada has much greater diversity. In comparison, China has Han nationality, who constitute 91.5 % of the population (2010), while the rest (8.5%) consist of more than 10 ethnic groups. Hans were 94% in 1953, but family planning (not applicable to small ethnic groups) brought it down. Within Tibet, Tibetans constitute the majority, but there are at least 8 other ethnic groups. Hans in the TAR population are 12%, but 8% of them were ‘locals’ who arrived there decades before communist rule, driven out by UK colonial invaders from ‘outer Tibet’. Thus China had devised its own Line for revolution and construction too; it did not copy things from Russia, including on the nationalities question. The 8th Congress of the CPC in 1956 discussed and adopted a policy of unity with minority nationalities. It urged to “overcome Great Hanism,” to ‘respect the freedom of religious beliefs’ of minorities; and ‘never to interfere with them in the name of social reforms,’ even while pursuing development. The guiding principle was to fight imperialism and feudalism, and achieve unity of all ethnic groups based on equality, opposing oppression.

(The author is a political observer)

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Frontier
Vol 57, No. 46, May 11 - 17, 2025