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Tibetan diplomat
disputes Ma’s peace deal claims
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff Reporter
The de facto representative of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Taiwan
yesterday took exception to claims made by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) that
Tibet had signed its 17-point peace agreement with China as a local government
in 1951.
Ma made the comments yesterday when responding to Democratic Progressive Party
Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) remarks on Wednesday comparing the cross-strait
peace agreement that Ma has proposed signing to the agreement signed between
China and Tibet.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Tsai said a peace agreement with China would
not necessarily guarantee cross-strait peace and security. Using the 17-point
peace agreement Tibet signed as an example, Tsai said that despite promises to
ensure genuine autonomy, freedom of religion and Tibetan culture, the Chinese
occupation of Tibet only brought repression on the Tibetans, their religion and
culture, forcing the Dalai Lama into exile in 1959.
Responding to Tsai, Ma said her remarks were “downgrading” Taiwan’s status as a
sovereign country, as the title of the Sino-Tibetan agreement shows that the
agreement was signed between the “central government” and the “Tibetan local
government.”
However, Dawa Tsering, chairman of the Tibet Religious Foundation of His
Holiness the Dalai Lama, disagreed with Ma.
“Tibet was forced to sign the peace treaty with China because the Tibetan army
was defeated and Chinese troops were right outside the city of Lhasa at the
time,” Dawa told the Taipei Times by telephone. “A delegation was sent to
Beijing to hold talks with the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] regime and the
delegation was forced into signing the agreement without receiving prior
authorization from the government in Lhasa.”
The delegation had to make a new seal in Beijing to stamp on the agreement as
they were not able to get authorization and the official seal from Lhasa, he
said.
Aside from the title and how the Sino-Tibetan agreement was signed, Dawa said
that what happened to Tibet afterwards, despite the “beautiful promises” by
China, “should teach anyone or any country in the world that tries to make a
deal with China a lesson.”
“The Chinese government is insincere, dishonest and it upholds no moral values,”
he said.
A Tibetan living in Taiwan, Tashi Tsering, who is a member of the Taiwan Tibetan
Welfare Association, shared Dawa’s views.
“We Tibetans don’t trust the CCP regime at all, no one should trust them,” he
said. “I actually agree with what Tsai said.”
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