China slams Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal

Updated on Saturday, September 12, 2009, 08:47 IST
New Delhi: China has sought to provoke India once again by raising severe objection to the visit of Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh, parts of which it claims as its own. The Dalai Lama plans to visit soon the northeastern state, an aide said on Friday, in a trip that could again rile Beijing after it denounced his visit to Taiwan this month.
Chhime Chhoekyapa, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader's aide, told news agencies that the Dalai Lama would be in Arunachal Pradesh in the second week of November. "He is going there for teaching. This has nothing to do with politics, there is nothing political about it," Chhoekyapa said. The intended visit has already sparked consternation in China, which claims about 90,000 sq km of Arunachal Pradesh along their border as part of its territory, and could become another irritant in ties already dogged by a border dispute. "China expresses strong concern about this information. The visit further reveals the Dalai clique's anti-China and separatist essence," Jiang Yu, the spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry, said in a statement faxed to Reuters. "China's stance on the so-called 'Arunachal Pradesh' is consistent. We firmly oppose Dalai visiting the so-called 'Arunachal Pradesh'," Jiang said. The Dalai Lama's travel plan was announced a week after the completion of his visit to Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by Beijing. China denounced the trip. A visit to Arunachal Pradesh could now draw further attention to China's treatment of Tibetan activists and the Dalai Lama's calls for cultural and religious freedoms and autonomy. China considers the Dalai Lama a "splittist" who seeks to separate nearly a quarter of the land mass of the People's Republic of China. The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, denies the charge and says he seeks greater rights for Tibetans. India and China fought a short war in 1962 and, despite burgeoning trade in recent years, mistrust remains. This year, the two countries have faced off at multi-lateral forums, including Chinese objections to a $60 million Asian Development Bank loan for a project in Arunachal Pradesh. There have been incursions by Chinese soldiers patrolling the 3,500-km (2,200-mile) border, in air and on land. Bureau Report


If India does not put its foot down and tell China not to interfere in India’s affairs, China will start playing the big bully. China may be more powerful than India, but India is not a pushover either. If necessary, India must move its nuclear warheads towards China. However, India must be very clear that its enemy is not the Chinese people, but the Communist regime there, which India must seek to overthrow and set up a democratic and secular government by rallying the Buddhist forces in China.

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