India can push for diplomatic solutions between China and Tibet, says ex-envoy to Beijing

India can push for diplomatic solutions between Tibet and China, despite bearing the brunt of the conflict for decades, a former high ranking diplomat has said on Thursday. Appearing in a recently released interview, India’s former ambassador to China Nirupama Rao said, “I think that India can do a little more in being an advocate for negotiations and for discussions and for conversations between the Tibetan community in exile and the Chinese.” The interview was conducted as a part of the International Campaign for Tibet Talks series that premiered on May 26.

In the episode, Roy further emphasised that countries like India and the US should look at policy options that ensure the best outcomes for the Tibetan people. Notably, the interview came as Rao launched her book ‘The fractured Himalaya: India, Tibet and China 1949-62” 

“I can say from experience that it is a richly detailed and extremely readable account of a seminal period in relations between China and India, and it also provides a look at the centrality of Tibet and China’s invasion of Tibet to relations between the two countries at the time and since,” International Campaign for Tibet Board Member and Asia expert Ellen Bork, who interviews Rao on the Tibet Talk, said of the book.

Chinese invasion of Tibet 

Beijing annexed Tibet in 1951 and since then claims it to be a part of its territory. Eight years later, Tibetans and Chinese soldiers clashed violently. Following a failed revolt against Chinese sovereignty, the 14th Dalai Lama escaped to India. Tensin Gyatso was the most prominent Buddhist leader, also called the Dalai Lama, who fled China and set up the government-in-exile in Dharamshala, India. The oppression continued for over eight years until the Tibetans, aiming to overthrow the Chinese, initiated a full-swing civil uprising. 

In 1960, the 14th Dalai Lama, with the help of more than 100,000 Tibetans, established the Tibetan Government-in-exile, headquartered in Dharmshala, Himachal Pradesh. At present, there are more than 10,000  Tibetans living across Dharamshala while roughly 1,60,000 from the community live in exile across the world. More recently, the Chinese have stepped up their efforts to illegally seize land on the Tibetian plateau. 

(Image: Twitter/Nirupama Rao)