The border talks between India and China will always play its part in the international politics of the two countries. China, despite the state media and its increasing devotion to the Communist Party, has to sustain the machinery that will enable its citizens to remain faithful to its style of governance in face of growing shift towards democracy. Within this established way of doing things, a border dispute and a chance encounter with the Indian Army is nothing short of being a fluke.
The only tension – it seems – that the Chinese government is keen to pacify is the tension of patriotism and its people’s perception of the government. India does not stray far away from this execution of governance since disputes only heighten one’s sense of nationality, leading the way towards a more controlled mass of people faithful to one single party. Trump, whose political stance on North Korea has earned him reward points as a leader, has already jumped on the same bandwagon.
Although it may seem too much of a farfetched notion, business is lucrative and most profitable when the leader is unequivocally supported by his followers. Trump’s recent visit to China clearly highlights how China plans to engage with the United States to establish a better global market for themselves – one that the United States would find satisfactory under the leadership of an ill-favoured Trump.
For the Dalai Lama to say that Tibet does not seek independence and rather seeks development, it is a statement that exposes how leaders around the world look at long-term benefits of amicable international relations. Tibet is a costly situation for China, one that would take more than His Holiness to find a solution or an alternative for. The Dalai Lama’s statement came immediately following Donald Trump’s visit to China, a development that marked the strengthened ties between two of the most powerful countries in the world.
The interpretation around the Tibetan freedom struggle will always remain shrouded; it will be entertained as long as it does not gain the traction to derail an entire system. The Dalai Lama, while being considered by some as a novice in political affairs, perhaps knows the cards already spread on the table.