India’s neutral stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine when all the democracies of the free world were united in full condemnation, should give us a true sense of how compelling one’s own national self-interest could become.
History has it that back in the early fifties, Tibet was placed as a sacrificial lamb on the altar of India’s geopolitical self-interest when dealing with China.
History also has it that before the United States recognized the One China Policy, its strategic ambiguity of the past once led them to recognize Taipei and not Beijing as the Capital of the People’s Republic of China.
On wishful thinking, if Nehru tries to resurrect himself from his grave today, I am sure he will in retrospect look back at his blunders with uttermost remorse vis a vis in dealing with China with its diplomatic recognition of the One China Policy.
But in the same breath, I am also forever thankful for giving political asylum to His Holiness and thousands of Tibetan who followed him and also for laying the plan and the vision to preserve Tibetan culture and civilization by opening up Tibetan settlements, schools, and monasteries.
Believe me or not, during Pandit Nehru’s reign, India was one of the first Asian countries to recognize the Chinese Communist Party as a legitimate ruler of China in 1950, at a time when the invasion of Tibet had just started from its western frontiers. Even after the invasion had intensified, Nehru’s India also helped parachute rice to feed the hungry Chinese soldiers caught up in the treacherous terrains of Tibet. It is safe to say without fear that one of the greatest tragic blunders Prime Minister Nehru made was sacrificing Tibet on the altar of a geopolitical gambit and accepting Chinese unchallenged authority over Tibet.
A statement made by an Indian Minister Raveesh Kumar quoted here “We do not expect other countries, including China, to comment on the matters which are internal to India, just as India refrains from commenting on internal issues of other countries” speaks volumes about Indian Foreign Policy playbook of reciprocity at the cost of sacrificing countries like Tibet for its own geopolitical self-interest.
Until 1950, India never shared a border with China. Tibet historically had a Guru-Chela connection with India as His Holiness makes it imperative all the time wherever he speaks. But when Tibet looked to India for help from the clutches of invading Chinese Communist troops, India totally ignored safeguarding her own self-interest of the time first and ended up signing the suicidal Panchsheel agreement with China, legitimizing Chinese control of Tibet which has now come to haunt them time and again as China hovers behind their shoulders to stab them anytime.
Only when India rejects its One China Policy now will the historical place of Tibet as a sovereign buffer state will be restored. This one act alone will be more powerful in standing up against China’s defiance and assertive expansionist craze than having thousands of troops stationed at the Indo-Chinese Occupied Tibet Border. We have already witnessed a bloodbath on the gateway to the roof of the world couple of years ago.
India’s continued ambiguous support of the One China Policy is fueling and welcoming China’s aggression and hunger to grab more former Tibetan areas that lie within the borders of India today. If India wants to fold China backward into the pages of history pushing them into their Middle Kingdom, behind their Great Wall, rejecting the One China Policy is the key and call of the hour.
India must rise now to the truth. China’s incessant lies have no boundaries and limits. With their countless lies, they have already upended the world with the Wuhan Virus. When the whole world was up in angst against China, I have always noticed India from the days of the fifties to the eighties when Tiananmen happened, when Hong Kong happened, and when the rage of the world against the incarceration of million Uighurs happened, India always chose to remain a silent witness to it all when all the free democratic world were trying to speak up against China.
China has fooled India once in 1962 and a few more times when it encroached on the Indian territories. Unless India wakes up and realizes that China will never reciprocate for their support of the One-China policy, one day, this will come to haunt India when they start claiming Indian territories as their own too. What will India do then? The simplest fight is the fight with the shield of truth. And re-recognizing Tibet as an independent country and denouncing the One-China policy is the way forward. Wake up Modi, Wake up India before it is too late.