‘India can make a difference in Tibet’

Claude Apri was born in Angoulême (France) but made (Auroville) India, his home after graduating in dental surgery from Bordeaux University in 1974. His interest in the subcontinent began more than three decades ago when he journeyed to the Himalayas. Since then he has been an enthusiastic student of the history of Tibet, China and the subcontinent. Writing on Jawarharlal Nehru’s China policy has not been easy for Mr Apri, especially since all documents pertaining to Tibet are still classified, and the Nehru Papers belong to the Nehru family and Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s permission has to be obtained to access them. “The main difficulty was that the Indian archives are still closed to scholars and this despite the fact that the RTI Act was passed by the Indian Parliament in 2005.” However, that did not stop Mr Apri from writing numerous books on the subject such as The Fate of Tibet: When big insects eat small insects, le pays sacrifié, La politique française de Nehru: 1947-1954, and Born in Sin: the Panchsheel Agreement and India and Her Neighbourhood. His sources have mainly been Nehru’s own published works and documents in British and American archives. Apri is also a close friend of the Dalai Lama. In an interview with SANGEETHA NAIR, he speaks of the current situation in Tibet.
Excerpts:

Q: The Dalai Lama has often spoken of following the middle path, of not wanting independence and only seeking a ‘high-degree of autonomy’ for Tibet. Clearly, Beijing will never allow Tibet to practice a different political system. Should the dream of a sovereign Tibet be abandoned?

A: Why should the people of China not decide one day to have a more transparent, democratic system? Democracy has been percolating all over the world. Why not in China? In the 1980s, nobody had predicted that the Soviet Union would collapse so fast. The Dalai Lama recently mentioned the European model, where member-nations decided to surrender part of their sovereignty and share it with other members. While each nation keeps a large autonomy within the Union, more and more topics or subject matters come under the Union’s jurisdiction. It is a model that has brought peace and prosperity to Europe for the past 50 years. Other models can be envisaged more suited to particular circumstances and historical background. One thing is certain; a totalitarian regime has no future in the long run, especially in an era of globalisation. I would like to add that even the Chinese Constitution recognises the autonomy of the different “nationalities” within the People’s Republic of China. The Communist leadership in Beijing should first implement its own Constitution. Were they to do so, it would be a great step forward towards a long-term solution to the Tibetan issue.

Q: Reports appearing in the Western media seem to suggest that Tibet is on the path of a mass uprising against Han Chinese communist rule. As a foreigner, do you consider the West is biased in its reportage of China?

A: One cannot say that the West (or India) is biased in its reportage, because we are living in the Internet yuga (age). A Google search on “Tibetan unrest” throws up thousands of nuggets of information. It is up to people to choose which information is relevant. I think it is interesting to have different points of view on the same topic; however, it is true that the West has double standards, particularly in the economic field. Whether it is Bush or Sarkozy, most Western governments are ready to condemn Beijing, but nobody is ready to go a step further in order to not spoil opportunities of big contracts in China. I will tell you a story showing the double standard of most heads of state.

In 1998, the world community celebrated the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the General Assembly of the United Nations: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” Paris, the heart of the French Revolution, had logically been given the responsibility to organise the festivities to which all the Nobel Peace Prize laureates were invited. But while sending the invitations, the office of the French President “forgot” one inconvenient laureate, the Dalai Lama. When the matter got known to the media, the French daily Libération was the first to break the story. The Elysée Palace had to quickly backtrack and pretend that the postal service had “lost” the invitation and that a fresh one would be sent to the Dalai Lama. The latter then decided to attend the celebrations. During a private function, President Chirac was introduced to the Nobel laureates one by one. When he reached the Dalai Lama, instead of shaking his hand and saying a few words of welcome, he simply ignored him and passed on to the next dignitary. I heard the story from someone who was present. Just a few years earlier, Chirac was always speaking of “my friend the Dalai Lama”. I must say that the situation is not much different in India.

Q: In Bylakuppe, Mysore, many third-generation Tibetans appear to lead fairly content lives. The residents of the Dickey Laorsoe Tibetan Settlement have registered themselves under a cooperative society and earn a living through farming, making incense and handicrafts, and the more enterprising lot has taken to breeding dogs! When asked if they would like to return home, to Lhasa, the answer was always: “No. But maybe for a visit.” Comment?

A: It will probably depend on the “deal” (if any) that the Dalai Lama will get from China. One can envisage that Tibet will have tens of thousands NRTs (Non-resident Tibetans), living abroad, often visiting and investing in their motherland. This is particularly true for those who are today settled in the West.

Q: The young are the future of every community, it is said. Here’s a what a Chinese student in the USA has to say: “My piece of advice to the Chinese government is to dramatically raise education levels for Tibetan women. Female Tibetans having been educated in Chinese universities, will not be satisfied returning home to Tibet to live with their hick husbands…”

A: From day one, when the Dalai Lama took refuge in India, his main preoccupation has been education of the youth. In fact, during his first meeting with Nehru, the Indian Prime Minister told him: “I will not do anything politically for you, but I will educate your children.” The government of India has followed this policy. Though always over-cautious politically, it has greatly helped the Tibetan community in receiving a good education.

In a recent interview the Dalai Lama told me something interesting about women: “Today, I feel that education alone cannot solve all our contemporary problems, we need more emphasis on compassion. Due to biological factors, women are more sensitive about others (human beings), and they are more compassionate. Men are more aggressive, often tough. Take war heroes for example, they are mostly men. Therefore, female rule for humanity is perhaps more important than ever, not only do we need education but also warmth, sensitivity and compassion. Women are more equipped for this.”

Q: The Dalai Lama has said he is considering breaking with centuries-old tradition and naming a successor while still alive. More recently, he threatened to quit should the violence escalate in Tibet. What are the implications of his statement for the future of Tibet?

A: Tibetans consider the Dalai Lama to be the reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and Saint-Patron of Tibet. His “job”, as the Dalai Lama would put it, is to protect the land and the people of Tibet and make sure that the Buddhist tradition flourishes in the Land of Snows. The Dalai Lama is perfectly aware of the weakness of the Tibetan system of “rule by incarnation”. During the interregnum between the death of a Dalai Lama and the attainment of majority by the newly reincarnated child, there is a political vacuum lasting between fifteen to twenty years. The regency has been the weak link in the governance of the Tibetan State during the past 150 years. Once the Dalai Lama admitted to me that regency was a disruption: “Many unfortunate things happened during regencies. After the death of 13th Dalai Lama, I had 2 regents. Of course, both of them were my teachers, my gurus and I respected them and had full faith in them, but their conduct was not always up to the mark, sometimes even harmful [to Tibet’s interests].” That is also why he stated that if in certain circumstances, a female form is more useful; he could certainly come back in a woman.

When he recently mentioned the possibility of naming a new Dalai Lama while he was still alive, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman immediately declared that it would blatantly violate the historical conventions of Tibetan Buddhism. But the Tibetan tradition is undoubtedly less rigid than the rules propounded by Marx. Whether the Dalai Lama returns as a man or woman will not change the situation. The present struggle for genuine autonomy needs continuity and naming a successor could go a long way in solving the regency gap.

Q: The Dalai Lama believes “the past is past” but India’s negligence leading to the war of 1962 must be acknowledged…

A: If one goes through whatever historical record is available in India, there is absolutely no doubt that Nehru and his advisors sacrificed Tibet for the sake of a chimerical friendship with China. One could quote hundreds of his statements. Already, in 1950, Nehru considered the invasion of Tibet as a fait accompli: “China is going to be our close neighbour for a long time to come. We are going to have a tremendously long common frontier.” It was a surprising statement made when the Chinese troops had not gone further than Chamdo and were still several weeks walk away from Lhasa, but for him: “I think it may be taken for granted that China will take possession, in a political sense at least, of the whole of Tibet.” And then, for the Tibetan people: “autonomy can obviously not be anything like the autonomy, verging on independence, which Tibet has enjoyed during the last forty years or so.” About the border issue, speaking of Aksai Chin, Nehru said: “All these are high mountains. Nobody lives there. It is not very necessary to define these things.”

Q: Do you think that India’s China policy needs an overhaul with regard to Tibet?

A: Since the words of Nehru quoted above, the policy of the GoI has not changed. It is high time to review this policy in the present context, without any aggression towards China, but with great firmness. For example, the incursions into Indian territory in Arunachal and Ladakh are unacceptable. India could also help a great deal to find a sustainable solution to the Tibet imbroglio. It would be to the advantage of India, of China and also the Tibetans.