By LOBSANG
SANGAY
 |
| Dr. Lobsang Sangay, the head of Tibetan people |
The Burma stop is
meaningful to Tibetans because that country's struggle for freedom so closely
tracks Tibet's efforts to secure greater autonomy from Beijing. Mr. Obama's
presence will offer a firm gesture of support to the forces of democracy and
freedom as symbolized by Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democracy leader. In
partnership with President Thein Sein, she is working under extremely delicate
circumstance with the junta lurking in the shadows.
The Burmese people and
their leader, Ms. Suu Kyi, have suffered greatly. The 8888 Uprising was
brutally crushed and the military junta killed thousands of Burmese democracy
activists. Ms. Suu Kyi remained under house arrest for 15 years despite winning
the 1990 general elections overwhelmingly. Her father, Aung San, the father of
modern-day Burma, was assassinated in 1947.
Ms. Suu Kyi's struggle and
experience has many parallels with the Dalai Lama, a fellow Nobel Peace Prize
laureate. In spite of being forcibly separated from his people in Tibet, the
Dalai Lama established a democratic system within the Tibetan refugee
community, separating church and state, and transferring his political power to
a democratically elected leader, the Sikyong. This model of a functioning
democracy is unique among refugee communities.
Mr. Obama should use his trip in part to make a broader point about the compatibility between Buddhism and democracy. Just as the Burmese people and the Thais, Tibetans in exile have worked to build a democracy. Indeed, as with the upsurge of the Saffron Revolution in Burma, Tibetan monks have been at the forefront of a non-violent struggle for freedom in Tibet for the last 60 years.
Mr. Obama should use his trip in part to make a broader point about the compatibility between Buddhism and democracy. Just as the Burmese people and the Thais, Tibetans in exile have worked to build a democracy. Indeed, as with the upsurge of the Saffron Revolution in Burma, Tibetan monks have been at the forefront of a non-violent struggle for freedom in Tibet for the last 60 years.
The Obama administration
also could take up the issue of Tibet more seriously with the new Chinese
leadership appointed at the 18th Party Congress. Tibetans in Tibet are crying
out for justice, including the autonomy and freedom to worship they have been
promised by Beijing over the years. Some 72 Tibetans have set themselves on
fire, 70 of them since March 2011, and five in one day this month alone. The common
cry of all self-immolators is the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet and freedom
for Tibetans.
Tibetans have invested in
democracy and non-violence for the last five decades. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton has made reassuring statements on U.S. commitment to human
rights and democracy, and Ambassador Gary Locke recently visited Tibetan areas.
The next four years present an opportunity for the Obama administration to
build on the positive start from the visit to the three Asian Buddhist
countries and make its Asia pivot even more meaningful by raising the issue of
Tibet with China.
Helping resolve the issue
of Tibet is not only in synch with American values, but it is also a strategic
imperative. America and the rest of the world have a vital stake in China's
rise from an economic giant to a potential superpower. With regard to the
development of real stability in China and peace in Asia, a litmus test will be
China's willingness to grant genuine autonomy for Tibet within the framework of
the constitution of the People's Republic of China.
Solving the Tibet problem
will help improve relations between China and India. It will allow Tibetans to
resume their traditional role of being responsible stewards of Tibet's immense
natural resources, including the management of Asia's great rivers that
originate in Tibet and on which hundred of millions of Asians depend for their
livelihood and their very survival.
A successful American
engagement with China on Tibet will also be welcomed by millions of Indians, Nepalese,
Bhutanese and Mongolians who at one time looked upon Tibet as the source of
their culture and home of their faith. Today there are reportedly more than 300
million Chinese Buddhists and millions of other Asians.
America's ability to
engage China on Tibetan autonomy also accords with the thinking of the best
minds in China. When peaceful and sustained protests swept Tibet in 2008, many
Chinese intellectuals, writers and human rights activists, including Liu
Xiaobo, the imprisoned Nobel laureate, signed an open letter to the Chinese
government calling on the authorities to stop its one-sided propaganda and to
resolve the issue through dialogue.
This I believe is the
current sentiment of many in China and the aspiration of Tibetans in Tibet.
President Obama's leadership on this shared sentiment will give a much-needed
human rights dimension to America's Asia pivot.
Editor’s NOTE—Dr. Lobsang
Sangay is the head of Tibetan government in exile, and the above article is
originally published on the Wall Street Journal. The Tibetan leader used to
write articles for the international journals, more often after being elected
as head of the government.
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as a tibetan i have no enimosity and jelosy towards chinese achievement..... but it need to address tibetans problems realistically.... if china becomes rich and prosperous, as dalai lama says, we tibetans and all others around it will benefit from it.... and its good for us.... it is a historic roll that China and India so deserved to inherent (although India is in a bit shakky mode right now) as the source of almost all that is Asian..... this two cilizations are really what Asia is all about...... we all others like tibetans mongols, kazaks, japan, korea etc drawn our cultures and intelectual inspiration from paths shown by these two great civilizations..... i hope they will show the new age of asia as a more prosperous and peacefull place in reality rather than ratorics.... here is a chance to china to rise above among equals and claim its rightful place in history..... i hope the new leaders will sieze the oppertune moment.....
ReplyDeleteSekyong Dr. Lobsang singye is the shine of the Tibet and represents the voice of Tibet.I am very much positive the time he become campaigned and the the leader of the country. I can hear those voices which i really don't like to hear, but as a democratic society one can criticize but with the judgement in justice and most appropriate solution for the matter will add for planes.So, If it makes sense, I am requesting Mr. Sekyong will discuss issue of China and American policy, review the policy of immigrant of the Chinese citizen to America. I am sometime confusing that America is supporting and protecting human rights in the world but with the china, USA have economical co-Human rights value added(VAT)and that policy and strategy is between the China and US. if US really wants China in Change for more openness and democratic society, US foreign policy must review Chinese citizen to migrant to US. Whose who migrant from mainland china to abroad in west are middle and rich families. so IS the US government really supporting and protecting human rights in the world? Stopping migrant mainland chines citizen to the west specially to America will immensely helping the voice of millions truth heart of Chinese people. if those professionals aren't their at strategy planning, its like missing a eye. so Chinese citizen needs them at the critical movement! But US too is capitalist! if US continues to immigrant Chinese citizen the editorship under the injustice won't be achieved justice. MY request to make for Mr. sekyong is change inside china, review the policy of US-Chinese migrants.
ReplyDeleteSekyong Lobsang sagay la,
ReplyDeleteit was an honor to have you as our prime minister and we always look up with respect whenever you appear before us. i feel as if there is still a hope, a hope not of getting back our nation, but a hope of awakening our youth from the modern drugs which seems to have made our youth a way too busy to even realize about our present stage. if we did work together as a team, then hoping and wishing for a freedom would not be an impossible task. so i like to suggest you to first wake up our youth in total with a thorough education at every Tibetan school on our nation's where about and its politic and then we can plan together on how we are going to tackle china instead to waiting for the America to do something for us.
what you say? you can also throw my junk into the garbage if you did nt see any point in it.
With regard
yangchen
Firing journalist, n he himself is acting as journalist, huh!
ReplyDelete