China must develop a clear effective punishment strategy to ward off continuous Western leaders meeting with the Dalai Lama

By China Watcher

Every time there is a meeting of foreign leaders with the Dalai Lama, the Chinese government representing the 1.3 billion Han Chinese would lodge “solemn representations” and diplomatic protest to the ambassador of that country. The Western governments are fully aware of such a reaction and were able to minimize the fallout in the bilateral ties by choosing to make it less official, thus rendering such move as ineffective.

A “low-key meeting” with the Dalai Lama is still a MEETING regardless of whether it less formal as the West chooses to describe it. The symbolic gesture of a handshake or “pat on the back” is what the Dalai Lama and its hordes of rebels in Northern India would call it as a political or moral support that they truly believe would keep whatever hopes alive (in the exiled political base and elsewhere) to seek secession from the Chinese motherland.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader is a wily fox. The Tibetan exiles in Daramsala are going all out to ensure that he gets all the respect from the West to attain its objectives of “full independence” from the Han Chinese.

The meeting by foreign leaders with the Dalai Lama is actually a “slap in the face” for all Chinese, both in China (1.3 billion) and overseas Chinese (100 million) throughout the world. A Tibetan commented that a Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to a Tibetan numbering only 6 million and there is no Nobel Prize for even a single Han Chinese numbering almost 1.5 billion! If this is not a slap on the face of the Han Chinese, I really do not know how to phrase it differently. Human rights activists of Chinese origins, I am asking you to wake up from your slumber and not become a tool of the Western governments.

If the Western governments recognizes that the “one-China” policy espoused by China and that Tibet and Taiwan is part of the People Republic (as always in its official joint statement), then how come they conveniently and ever willing to meet up with such outcast “figures” who are deemed not representative of the people. The meeting of such “Western glorified figures” will only promotes a harden stance from the exiles to accept a national reconciliation. What happens if Chinese leaders choose to meet up with the Governor of Hawaii and supported his move to secede from the United States of America?

The Dalai Lama says he is merely seeking greater autonomy but I have seen through his actions and the demands at the talks that he is asking for “almost full autonomy” – the independency to control foreign affairs and religious matters, which I do not think any central government would readily agree to. Just ask the Russian or Canadian governments whether they agree to allow the province of Chechen and Quebec such federal control actions?

If the Tibetans refuse to accept Chinese leadership, then a more radical approach is needed. The movement of Han Chinese to Tibet and Qinghai over the past decade would help to break up any tracts of Tibetan objection to integration. National integration of the 56 ethnic races in China should not be taken as an act to wipe out the cultures and traditions of the minorities. In fact, in festivities across China, all the 56 cultures and its associated traditions are promoted openly and accepted by the Han Chinese. I am fully supportive to preserve the 56 different cultures and dances of its people. The diversity of its cultures and traditions is what makes China an interesting place to explore and live in. Chinese civilization is 3000 years old and the Han Chinese can wait for another 500 years if need to promote national reconciliation and integration.

China reaction towards Western persistence to meet with unacceptable Chinese separatists and rebels must be effective. Chinese leverage against the West at this moment is quite limited as the economy is still largely dependent on the Western demand for its goods. Even Chinese’s holdings in US Treasury bonds are not that big to put the chill on the US economists. China did in fact reduce its holdings of US Treasuries to US$755.4 billion in November, seen by some analysts as a sign of protest at US policies but it is not an effective tool.

I have always emphasized that it is very critical for the Chinese to diversify its markets away from the West and to develop strategies to grow its own internal consumption. It should also explore military alliances with friendly countries and to continue to develop more sophisticated weapons, not to fight a war, but to increase its bargaining chip at the negotiation table in the near future.

The world should not be dominated by the West.