DHARAMSHALA, July 11: The exile Tibetan administration has rejected comments made by Yu Zhengsheng, number four in the ruling Chinese Communist party’s hierarchy, that the Middle-Way Approach proposed by the Dalai Lama seeking genuine autonomy for Tibet is “completely opposite” to China’s constitution.
In a statement released by the Department of Information and International Relations of the Dharamshala based Central Tibetan Administration, Secretary Tashi Phuntsok said Yu’s skepticism on the proposal for genuine autonomy for Tibet reflects his “evasion of the constitutional responsibilities.”
“The CTA had explained in its January 26, 2010 Note on the Memoradum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People how Middle-Way Approach does not contravene Chinese constitution,” Secretary Tashi said.
Yu, China’s leading official in charge of religious groups and ethnic minorities, had stated that the Dalai Lama’s Middle-Way Approach aimed at achieving genuine autonomy for Tibet is “completely opposite to China’s Constitution and the country’s system of regional ethnic autonomy.”
Speaking to local officials and religious leaders in Gansu region of eastern Tibet he also called for an “absolute fight” against the Dalai Lama and noted that only when the exile Tibetan spiritual leader “publicly announces that Tibet is an inalienable part of China since ancient time, gives up the stance of ‘Tibet independence’ and stops his secessionist activities, can his relations with the CPC Central Committee possibly be improved.”
Secretary Tashi stated that Chinese government’s “repressive policies and reality in Tibet are completely contrary to assertions made by Yu.”
“The CTA reiterates that the Chinese leadership should bring change in its policies on Tibet as per the wishes of the Tibetan people if it genuinely wants to bring lasting stability in Tibet. Political freedom is the issue and not the livelihood,” the senior Tibetan official said.
Sikyong Dr Lobsang Sangay, the elected head of the Tibetan people, also reaffirmed CTA’s firm commitment to MWA in resolving the issue of Tibet during his meetings with the Tibetan community in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.
According to an official report, Sikyong called the MWA “a far-sighted and pragmatic solution envisioned by His Holiness the Dalai Lama through soliciting feedback from Tibetans inside Tibet and approved by the Tibetan parliament through a democratic process.”
“The approach seeks genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people within the framework of the People’s Republic of China,” the de facto Tibetan prime minister was cited as saying. “It is in sync with the then China’s paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s position that ‘except for independence of Tibet all other issues could be discussed and resolved.’”
While asserting that the policy is gradually winning support from Chinese intellectuals, he pointed out that it is also enabling many governments to “support a solution-oriented Tibet policy and helps them to raise the Tibet issue in their bilateral dialogue with China.”
Speaking of some of the key achievements of the Middle-Way Approach, Sikyong Sangay said it “established contact and a series of dialogues between Chinese representatives and envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It facilitated thousands of Tibetan students and monks in Tibet to visit India and receive secular and monastic education, which also contributed to the revival of Buddhism inside Tibet and awareness about the Central Tibetan Administration.”
