Avoid Past Mistakes

14 Apr 2008 , 0000 hrs IST , G PARTHASARATHY

For centuries, India 's heartland, on the basins of the Indus and Ganges rivers has faced invasions from across its north-western frontiers. The Himalayas were, however, regarded as an impregnable barrier to security threats from India's north-east. Thus, when China's People's Liberation Army marched into Tibet in 1950 and overcame the monastic order led by the Dalai Lama, which had ruled Tibet since the 17th century and had proclaimed its total independence from China in 1911, Indian policymakers did not know how to react to the presence of a strong and assertive power on the country's doorstep. While Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the romanticist, but naive ambassador to China K M Panicker, saw the emergence of Mao's communist-ruled China as heralding a new era of Asian resurgence, others like deputy prime minister Sardar Patel and C Rajagopalachari were deeply concerned at the Chinese having penetrated the Himalayas.

A crucial blunder in dealing with Tibet occurred in April, 1954, when India signed a border trade agreement with China, categorically acknowledging Tibet as a "Region" of China. Nobody in New Delhi bothered to ask the Chinese where the borders of the "Tibet Region of China" extended to. Barely few months later, Indian border patrols found Chinese soldiers intruding into Bara Hoti, on the Tibet-Uttar Pradesh border. Indian diplomats also discovered that Chinese maps were showing large parts of Ladakh and Assam (now Arunachal Pradesh) as parts of Tibet. Premier Chou en Lai piously assured Nehru that the maps in question were "old" and that he would have them reviewed.

Half a century later we are finding that despite successive prime ministers from Rajiv Gandhi to Atal Bihari Vajpayee categorically assuring the Chinese that the "Tibetan Auto-nomous Region" is a "part of the territory of the People's Republic of China", our northern neighbour persists in declaring that the entire Arunachal Pradesh and large chunks of Ladakh are parts of Tibet and, therefore, integral parts of China. In response, India's prime minister pointedly avoids visiting the monastery town of Tawang and New Delhi meekly stomachs the insult of China protesting against the prime minister's visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

China's duplicity on its territorial ambitions is not confined to its dealings with India alone. Its guile in concealing "racial, national and historic claims" manifested itself after the 1950 occupation of Tibet. The Tibetans were compelled to sign a Seventeen Point Agreement affirming Chinese sovereignty over Tibet on May 23, 1951. This agreement contained explicit Chinese assurances that the Central Authorities would not alter the existing political system in Tibet. The Chinese pledged that they would not alter the established political status, functions and powers of the Dalai Lama, with Tibetan officials continuing to hold office.

The Chinese also pledged to protect the freedom of religious beliefs and the income of Tibetan monasteries and promote the development of the Tibetan language and culture. China violated all these assurances and Tibetan anger and frustration resulted in a full-fledged uprising in 1959. The resulting brutal repression led to the Dalai Lama fleeing to India, where he now resides.

The Chinese describe the Dalai Lama as a "splittist", determined to secede from China. The reality is different. In September, 1987, the Dalai Lama proposed a demilitarised and denuclearised Tibet, while recognising that independence for Tibet is no longer an option and that the most that the people of Tibet can aspire for is genuine autonomy, within a united China. Tibet is now witnessing yet another uprising, which is being crushed by the People's Liberation Army. China evidently believes that use of brute force and a massive settlement of Han Chinese, coupled with its status as a permanent member of the Security Council, gives it the right to do as it pleases in Tibet. China also believes that it now has the power to remain intransigent on its territorial claims along its land borders with India and its maritime frontiers with Asia-Pacific neighbours like Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines.

India has belatedly commenced improving its infrastructure and defences along its eastern borders. While fostering economic cooperation and maintaining peace and tranquility along its borders with China, India should stop mouthing the mantra that " Tibet is an Autonomous Region of China", till China renounces its territorial claims that Arunachal Pradesh, and vast tracts of Ladakh, are integral parts of Tibet. The Dalai Lama and his supporters have given up claims to Arunachal Pradesh by asserting they respect the frontiers agreed upon between Tibet and India in 1914.

Further, given constant Chinese allegations that the Dalai Lama is plotting against China from Indian soil, India should ask China to facilitate the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet in safety and security, by implementing the terms of the 1951 agreement that it signed with his representatives and thereafter negotiating autonomy for Tibet akin to that granted to Han Chinese entities like Hong Kong and Macao.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that he regarded the Dalai Lama as the "personification of non-violence" and as the "greatest living Gandhian". Despite this, his government has denied the Dalai Lama customary courtesy calls on the president and vice-president of India. Would this not be regarded by the Middle Kingdom's rulers as a manifestation of weakness — an Indian readiness to submit to their pressures?

The writer is a former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan.