Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09CHENGDU248
2009-11-06 07:33:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Chengdu
Cable title:  

TIBET PARTY OFFICIAL DERIDES DALAI LAMA, YET WELCOMES HIM

Tags:  PHUM PGOV CH 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO0805
RR RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHCN #0248/01 3100733
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 060733Z NOV 09
FM AMCONSUL CHENGDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3493
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 4195
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENGDU 000248 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/CM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/6/2019
TAGS: PHUM PGOV CH
SUBJECT: TIBET PARTY OFFICIAL DERIDES DALAI LAMA, YET WELCOMES HIM
"HOME"

CHENGDU 00000248 001.2 OF 003


CLASSIFIED BY: David E. Brown, Consul General, U.S. Consulate
General Chengdu.
REASON: 1.4 (d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENGDU 000248

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/CM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/6/2019
TAGS: PHUM PGOV CH
SUBJECT: TIBET PARTY OFFICIAL DERIDES DALAI LAMA, YET WELCOMES HIM
"HOME"

CHENGDU 00000248 001.2 OF 003


CLASSIFIED BY: David E. Brown, Consul General, U.S. Consulate
General Chengdu.
REASON: 1.4 (d)

1. (C) Summary: The Dalai Lama bears exclusive responsibility
for the breakdown in talks with PRC officials, which Beijing is
open to resuming once the Dalai Lama abandons his "hidden
agenda" for independence and accepts "history" that Tibet has
always been a part of China, a Tibet Communist Party United
Front Department official told Consul General October 20 in
Lhasa. The Dalai Lama should focus on religion, following the
path of the Buddha, and should "get out of politics." The Dalai
Lama was behind the 2008 unrest, but China does not fear him.
In fact, the Dalai Lama should recognize his historical
responsibility and return to China, the official said.




2. (C) Comment: Despite the requisite rhetoric, the official
displayed a nuanced level of sensitivity uncommon in our TAR
interlocutors. Given the particularly heavy Party fervor we
have encountered from TAR United Front officials in the past,
this meeting was actually modestly encouraging for its tone, if
not its substance. End Summary and Comment.




3. (SBU) Consul General and PolEconOffs met October 20 with
Sonam Rinzin (Suolang Renzeng),Executive Vice Director of the
TAR Chinese Communist Party United Front Department. (Note:
The role of the United Front Department is to "implement the
Party Central Committee's policy on the United Front; implement
the Party's minorities policy; maintain contact between the CPC
and important people outside the Communist Party including
intellectuals, religious people, and local leaders; and
implement Party initiatives to promote the unity of the
nationalities." The United Front Department has had the lead in
PRC talks with the "personal representatives of the Dalai Lama".
End Note.)



Breakdown in Talks "All the Dalai Lama's Fault"

-------------- --




4. (SBU) The Dalai Lama bears full and exclusive responsibility
for the breakdown in talks with PRC officials, Rinzin asserted,
emphasizing that the negotiations regard the latter's personal
status rather than the status of Tibet per se. The Dalai Lama

ended the talks in 1989 because he was confident the Chinese
Communist Party would soon fall. From 2002-2008, there were
nine rounds of talks held with the personal representatives of
the Dalai Lama, but a memorandum presented to the Chinese side
by these representatives from the Dalai Lama was simply a hidden
scheme for independence. It was the Dalai Lama who decided to
end the talks, but Beijing remains open to dialogue with the
Dalai Lama, he continued.




5. (SBU) For the talks to resume, the Dalai Lama must end his
"splittist" activities, recognize that Tibet has always been
part of China, and recognize that Taiwan is part of China,
Rinzin said. The Dalai Lama's stance, that he can recognize
Tibet is now part of China while not admitting it was
historically part of China, is not realistic. The Dalai Lama
must accept history. It is now and "has been part of China just
as a tree has roots," he said. "History is history." (Note:
The Dalai Lama, in his May 10, 2009 speech on the 50th
anniversary the Tibetan uprising, said, "The Chinese insistence
that we accept Tibet as having been a part of China since
ancient times is not only inaccurate but also unreasonable. We
cannot change the past no matter whether it was good or bad.
Distorting history for political purposes is incorrect." Post
will report further septel on the PRC's fairly recent adoption
of language that Tibet has been part of China "since ancient
times." End Note.)



Dalai Lama Must Separate Church and State

--------------




6. (SBU) The Dalai Lama continues to act as both a political and
a religious figure, but he should become a true disciple of
Sakyamuni (the historical Buddha) and concentrate on religion. ,
Rinzin stated. The Dalai Lama gives a talk every March 10, the

CHENGDU 00000248 002.2 OF 003


anniversary of his departure from Lhasa in 1959 - "I listen to
it every year, this talk is always political." (Note: March 10
is actually the anniversary of the start of the 1959 Tibetan
Uprising in Lhasa, which triggered the Dalai Lama's escape to
India on March 17. End Note.) The Dalai Lama should turn to
the very strict principles of Tsongkhapa, who founded the Gelug
school of Tibetan Buddhism, and meditate on Tsongkhapa's
teachings on cause and effect. (Comment: It is ironic that PRC
officials place so much emphasis on this point of separating
church from state while simultaneously claiming the Communist
Party has sole authority to recognize reincarnations of Tibetan
lamas. End Comment.)




7. (SBU) Rinzin said the Dalai Lama's purported suggestion that
the Communist Party should retire having reached its 60th
birthday, was further evidence of his political activity, and
concluded that "The Dalai Lama should get out of politics."
(Note: Rinzin was referencing Zhu Weiqun, China's top negotiator
for Tibet issues and Executive Deputy Director of the Central
United Front Work Department in Beijing, who alleged in an
interview with the German magazine Focus (URL
tinyurl.com/zhuweiqun-focus ) that the Dalai Lama had made these
unwelcome birthday comments. End Note.)



Dalai Lama's Goal: Autonomy, Independence, or "Power"?

-------------- --------------




8. (SBU) The Dalai Lama says that he has given up on Tibetan
independence, Rinzin continued, but you must pay attention to
his actions, not his words. The Dalai Lama wants to increase
both the size and the degree of Tibetan autonomy, and wants
Tibet to become a Special Administrative Region like Hong Kong.
Yet many of these Tibetan areas outside the TAR were never under
the administrative authority of the Dalai Lama. This is the
Dalai Lama's "Middle Way." It is a recipe for overturning the
PRC and creating chaos, Rinzin argued.




9. (C) Comment: While true that historically Lhasa was not
always able to exert political control over the Tibetan areas of
Kham and Amdo, which are now incorporated into Qinghai, Gansu,
Sichuan, and Yunnan Provinces, Rinzin's point is misleading, as
Tibetans in these areas were the first to take up arms against
the People's Liberation Army in 1959 and given a choice between
Beijing or Lhasa would almost certainly choose the latter.




10. (C) The Dalai Lama's 1988 proposal, delivered in a speech in
Strasbourg to the European Parliament proposed creation of a
self-governing democratic Tibet "in association with the
People's Republic of China" as a middle choice between current
autonomy and full independence, borrowing the central Buddhist
tenet of the Middle Way. Though the Dalai Lama said in 1992
that due to lack of progress from the PRC side he was no longer
bound by the 1988 proposal, in a second address in Strasbourg in
1996 he reiterated these same principles, adding his
"willingness to start negotiations with China anytime, anywhere
without any preconditions." End Comment.




11. (SBU) Dalai Lama wants to give a so-called higher degree of
autonomy to the children of his old serfs, people whom China has
now educated, Rinzin said. The Tibetan people suffered under
the Dalai Lama, under a regime worse than that of medieval
Europe. The Dalai Lama left Tibet in 1959 and he has not helped
Tibet since, but has instead caused many problems for Tibet's
stability. He says make Tibet a zone of peace -- why? It is
already free. The Tibetan people already have power, they are
now on a road suitable to their development needs. The Dalai
Lama cannot accept this. The Dalai Lama's proposals are for
semi-independence -- he wants Tibet to split away from China.
It is not autonomy that the Dalai Lama really wants, it is his
own power, Rinzin said.



"We Are Not Afraid of the Dalai Lama"

--------------

CHENGDU 00000248 003.2 OF 003






12. (SBU) Eighteen people died after the March 14, 2008 riots,
Rinzin continued. This was caused by the Dalai Lama. The Dalai
Lama has stirred up Tibet, but we in China are not afraid of one
man. We are not afraid of the Dalai Lama. (Note: This
sentiment of not fearing the Dalai Lama was repeated
vociferously to PolEconOff by a TAR Foreign Affairs Office
official during a separate trip to Ganden Monastery in a
conversation questioning the purpose of security cameras all
over the monastery. End Note.) The Tibetan people don't want
violence, he said. The Dalai Lama clique must not move to
violence as it did in 1959, 1989, and 2008. We hope that the
Dalai Lama will make a contribution to Tibet. Violence does
great harm to innocent people. The Tibetan people hope that the
Dalai Lama will do good for Tibet. Yet we are confident of
Tibet's future regardless of what the Dalai Lama does, Rinzin
said.



Dalai Lama "Welcome" in China

--------------




13. (SBU) China has long wanted for the Dalai Lama to find his
place here, Rinzin reported. Even after the Dalai Lama left in
1959, the official position of the deputy director of China's
National People's Congress was held in reserve for him until

1964. In 1989 China invited the Dalai Lama to attend the
funeral of the 10th Panchen Lama in Beijing, but he refused. I
worry that some countries and some NGOs support the Dalai Lama,
Rinzin said. The Dalai Lama needs to recognize his historical
responsibility -- the Dalai Lama is moving further and further
away from China, he added.




14. (C) Comment: Despite the harsh rhetoric and requisite
propaganda, Rinzin displayed (or was willing to display) a
nuanced understanding of Tibetan history and a level of
sensitivity uncommon in our TAR interlocutors. In discussing
history, for example, he accurately noted the various historical
points where Tibetan religious and secular rule were melded, and
where discussing the Dalai Lama he generally used the actual
term "Dalai Lama" rather than the usual politicized and less
respectful usage of just "Dalai" or "Dalai clique." Given the
particularly heavy Party fervor we have encountered from TAR
United Front officials in the past, this meeting was actually
modestly encouraging for its tone, if not its substance. End
Comment.
BROWN