Dharamsala, October 8 – The Tibetan Government in exile here today welcomed the decision of the Chinese leadership to accept Sikkim as a part of India as was evident from the changes made in the website where Sikkim was deleted from the list of independent countries.
Prof Samdong Rinpoche, Chairman of the Kasag (Tibetan Cabinet), told this correspondent here today that the Tibetan Government welcomes the move. He said Chinese leadership should have accepted the reality far earlier.
He said, “We are happy that the Chinese leadership has accepted the reality and I hope it will facilitate the improvement in the Indo-Chinese relationship”.
He further hoped that it would also help in paving the way for solving the Tibetan issue under the negotiated settlement based on the Dalai Lama’s middle way approach.
Prof Rinpoche said the approach of the Dalai Lama advocates that the Tibetans should be given a self rule within the peoples Republic of China.
The Tibetan Cabinet held a meeting under the Chairmanship of Prof Rinpoche as the news of Sikkim being accepted as part of India trickled in this hill town, the seat of the Tibetan Government in exile.
The President of the Tibetan Youth Congress, Mr Kalsang Phuntsok godrukpa, said today that the Sikkim issue was blown out of proportion during Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to China in June this year. He said China had today towed to the universal line of accepting the reality. He said, “If China and India are serious about sorting out the border issues the testing points will be the much waxed border issues of Arunachal Pradesh and Ladkah in Jammu and Kashmir”.