Hindustan Times
Sutirtho Patranobis
April 13, 2017
Arunachal Pradesh is not Indian territory but is a disputed part of the Sino-Indian border, China said on Wednesday, adding that by allowing the 14th Dalai Lama to visit the region, New Delhi has violated its commitments on Tibet and the border dispute.
The ministry of foreign affairs (MFA) also claimed that the Dalai Lama and Indian officials made provocative statements, which will have a “negative impact” on settling the territorial disputes through negotiations.
“We have lessons to learn from history,” Lu Kang, MFA spokesperson said in a press briefing, which could be interpreted to be a warning about what could happen if the protracted Sino-India talks on the border question collapse.
Earlier in the day, the state-controlled China Daily wrote an editorial saying the people of South Tibet — their name for Arunachal Pradesh — were leading hard lives under India’s “illegal rule”.
“Under India’s illegal rule, the residents of Southern Tibet live difficult lives, face various kinds of discrimination, and look forward to returning to China,” the editorial said.
Both the article and the MFA, however, glossed over the periodic protests in Tibetan areas of China, where more than 130 Tibetans have self-immolated against Communist China’s policies in the region.
The Dharamsala-based Tibetan leader, Dalai Lama left Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday after spending more than a week in the border state amid the well-tuned dual attack of the Chinese government’s constant criticisms and the Chinese state media’s harsh editorials.
A day after the Dalai Lama left, Beijing fired another loaded salvo of criticism. Much of it was directly aimed at New Delhi.
“I said the Dalai Lama is visiting the disputed eastern section of the China-India boundary. It is not Indian territory,” Lu said, when asked what commitments India had violated by allowing the visit.
“The Indian government made solemn commitments on Tibet-related issue and boundary question. We have lessons to learn from history. The Indian side violated commitments on the relevant issue and insisted on arranging the Dalai’s activities in the disputed section of the China-India border and indulged in provocative political statements.
“We have made our solemn representations (to the Indian government) and it will of course have negative impact on bilateral relations.
“We have already reached important consensus on the boundary question through dialogue and consultation. Indian side also has commitment on Tibet related issues. We hope Indian side will bear in mind the fundamental interests of the two countries and two peoples, safeguard political foundation of bilateral relations and not take any provocative actions,” he said.
Lu reserved his most critical adjectives for the Dalai Lama, calling him “disgraceful”.
“The Dalai Lama has had a disgraceful performance on the boundary question. He called himself a son of India and backed up the unfounded statement of so-called Arunachal Pradesh. He also attacked the Chinese government on Tibet related issue and advocated political view on splitting China. It shows the Dalai clique has already viewed itself as foreign,” Lu said.
Calling the Dalai Lama’s statements a “performance”, Lu said it will not change China’s position on the boundary question or on Tibet-related issues.
Echoing the China Daily editorial, he said neither will it change “the fact that local government of Tibet has been exercising effective administration of eastern section of the boundary. Still less could it change the fact that Tibet is achieving faster growth. It will only make people see clear his nature, that he is attempting to split China and damage interests of all ethnic groups of China under the cloak of religion.”
