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Chinese plan to move Tibet train close to Sikkim |
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The rail link between Tibet and Beijing which connected the Chinese capital with Lhasa a month ago through Orient Express, is now proposed to be extended to Xigaze, close to Sikkim in India’s North-East. Xigaze is the second largest city of Tibet and is about 100 kilometres, as the crow flies, from the North Sikkim border. For record, it is being said that Beijing is planning to take the line all the way from Xigaze to Nepal, another stretch of 276 km to be built at a cost of $3.7 billion. According to Xinhua news agency, work on the extension to the city of Xigaze, which is 3800 metres above sea level, would begin next year and take three years to finish. The move to connect the rail to Xigaze is also being seen as an attempt to build up the image of Panchen Lama even as the country asks the world to look beyond the Dalai Lama. Xigaze is his traditional seat, even though the government-appointed Panchen Lama lives mostly in Beijing.
But, as far as India is concerned, the extension is being seen in military circles in New Delhi as definitely giving China significant strategic edge, as India’s North-East is poorly connected by its railways. Chinese officials in Tibet are quoted as saying the Tibet railway link may be later stretched to an area close to Nathu La Pass which was opened on July 6 for border trade after a gap of 44 years. Critics including Khedroob Thondup, nephew of the Dalai Lama and members of the Tibetan Parliament in exile, have said, the railway project has serious military significance. “Strategically, Tibet will become one of China’s biggest military zones, primarily to combat India’s influence”, he was quoted a saying.
Tibetan doors to be thrown open
Meanwhile, with an eye to flooding the roof of the world with tourist dollars, China is moving to scrap a strict entry regime for Tibet and make it easier for visitors, including those from the Tibetan Diaspora in India, to come in with a single Chinese visa. But, a top government official said in Lhasa, as far as the Dalai Lama is concerned, the “no entry” board would remain.
As of now, visitors to Tibet have to apply for an entry permit either at Chinese embassies in their country or at a special cell after reaching Beijing. While the process is routine for Western travellers and for Indian tourists who want to trek through the Lhasa Valley, permission often gets mired in complicated background checks. For Tibetans in India, the process has been complicated and is often time-consuming because of suspicions Chinese authorities have about people linked to the Dalai Lama’s Dharmsala-based government-in-exile. Now, Ho Peng, Deputy Chairman of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, says Tibetans settled in India are free to travel to Lhasa and other towns in the region and even seek citizenship but only if they pledge to eschew political activities and abide by the Chinese Constitution. As for the Dalai Lama, he said a flat no saying he was a “political exile”.
Dalai Lama dialogue with China
Despite China stepping up the heat with personal attacks on the Dalai Lama, the sixth round of dialogue between the two sides is expected to start in a few months time. According to officials of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, the fifth round of talks was useful in moving towards a solution within the constitutional framework of China. “Talks should continue for finding a solution”, said Sandhong Rinpoche, Prime Minister of the Government-in-exile. At the talks, the Tibetan community in exile will be represented by Gyari L Gyaltsen, the Dalai Lama’s envoy to the US and Kelsang Gyaltsen, the envoy in Europe.
The talks seem to have zeroed in on a workable framework within which further negotiations can take place. There is an increasing feeling among Tibetan community leaders in Dharmsala that time is running out for their cause. The Dalai Lama himself went to to the extent of saying he is ready to accept even a demand of his not going back to Tibet if a solution can be achieved.
The Dalai Lama is seriously thinking about his successor. The spiritual and temporal leader of Tibetan Buddhists says the candidate should ideally be from the Tibetan community in exile in India, though he is quick to add that the name should be acceptable to all Tibetans. The Dalai Lama believes a successor from the community in exile will be in a better position to “fulfil the objective” of getting the homeland back for the Tibetans. On the future of the institution of the Dalai Lama, he says instead of searching for an incarnation, a system similar to the election of the Pope by Roman Catholics could be an option.
The Dalai Lama has said he was not disturbed by the latest Chinese tirade against him and said he has stuck to the idea of a middle path: autonomy for Tibet under the constitutional framework of China. An article published by China’s Tibet Information Centre recently had come down heavily on his attempts to reject the political system in Tibet. Asserting that the solution is through a dialogue with China, he said he would resign the moment the Tibetan freedom movement took a violent turn. “Time is running out for us. Our demand is autonomy for Tibet, for preserving and following our religion, culture and environment”, said the Nobel Peace laureate who fled Lhasa for India in 1959. Since then every year around 3000 Tibetan refugees have been arriving in India.
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