By ARDY VERHAEGEN

Prime Minister Paul Martin's decision to meet the Dalai Lama, despite strong protests from China, is highly commendable. He will be the first Canadian prime minister to do so, joining a growing list of other world leaders, including U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Like the others, Martin is stressing that his meeting with the exiled spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet will deal with spiritual rather than political issues.

While many of the Dalai Lama's legions of followers would wish it otherwise, I am sure the Dalai Lama is comfortable with such an arrangement. He is, after all, coming to Canada next week at the invitation of the Canada Tibet Committee primarily to conduct the Kalachakra initiation, a special form of blessing to promote the development of peace and kindness. He has presided over such initiations many times in venues around the world.

The Dalai Lama, who says kindness is his religion, is universally recognized as an apostle of peace and is the recipient of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent stance towards the resolution of the Tibetan problem.

According to officials at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa, China is opposed to foreign government officials meeting with the Dalai Lama because it considers him neither a political figure nor a religious figure, but someone involved with separating China.

This position seems ludicrous considering Dalai Lamas have been the spiritual and temporal heads of Tibet from 1642 until the escape of the current Dalai Lama from Communist-occupied Tibet in 1959.

In today's world, the Dalai Lama is revered as an outstanding spiritual figure and, despite the recent transfer of his temporal powers to the parliament of the Tibetans-in-exile, he remains the de facto heart of the Tibetan body politic. And in his role as the protector of Tibetan culture, the Dalai Lama takes his religious responsibility seriously. Tibetan culture is synonymous with Buddhist culture, which places a great emphasis on compassion and wisdom.

Tibet has suffered greatly under Chinese suzerainty. More than one million Tibetans died as a direct result of the Chinese occupation and repression, described by Russian Nobel laureate Alexander Solzhenitsyn as "more brutal and inhumane than any other communist regime in the world."

Religion was outlawed, monasteries destroyed, torture became endemic, huge numbers were held in prisons, women were sterilized, entire populations were forced into labour and re-educated to communist ideology, threatening Tibetan language and culture.

Traditional and sustainable agricultural practice was replaced with environmentally destructive large-scale farming and resource extraction. Harvests were sent to China, resulting in famine in Tibet. Huge population transfers of Han Chinese into Tibet have turned Tibetans into a minority in their own land. Only the poorest of jobs and little educational opportunity are available to native Tibetans today.

The United Nations Human Rights Commission, the U.S. State Department and Amnesty International have again concluded that China's record in Tibet is abysmal.

China's claim to Tibet is not based on sovereignty established after its armed invasion of Tibet in 1949-50. It claims Tibet became an integral part of China 750 years ago. Prior to that, Tibet had been one of the great powers in Asia, even overrunning China and receiving tribute from it at one point.

The warrior nation of Tibet was eventually tempered by Buddhism, becoming a relatively peaceful society in the process. Tibetan high lamas, seeking to avoid the conquest of Tibet, entered into a relationship with Mongol rulers. In exchange for political loyalty and religious instruction, they received patronage and protection.

The Mongol emperor, Kublai Khan, who conquered China and established the Yuan Dynasty, awarded temporal authority over Tibet to one of these high lamas. In 1960, the International Commission of Jurists, looking at the legal status of Tibet against Chinese claims, concluded historical documents show that the Mongol emperors never merged the administration of Tibet and China, nor did they append Tibet to China.

Tibet broke its political ties with the Yuan dynasty before China regained its independence. It was not until the 18th century that some measure of foreign influence was exercised in Tibet to any significant degree and even then, according to the commission's findings, Tibet remained an independent nation until the Chinese invasion 55 years ago. Its final conclusion is Tibet is an independent nation under illegal occupation.

The Dalai Lama, against the wishes of many of his followers, but with full endorsement of the parliament of the Tibetans-in-exile, has taken a decidedly Buddhist "middle way" approach to resolving the problem of Tibet.

His five-point peace plan, first presented to U.S. Congress and European parliament, calls for the transformation of Tibet into a zone of peace, abandonment of China's population transfer policy, respect for democratic freedoms and human rights in Tibet, the restoration and protection of Tibet's environment, including the removal of China's nuclear weapons and waste facilities, and negotiations on Tibet's status and relations with China.

Despite China's continual refusal to even acknowledge the Dalai Lama's legitimacy, talks between envoys of the Dalai Lama and China towards the establishment of terms of future negotiations signal a softening in the attitudes of the Chinese leadership.

Chinese experts have acknowledged that developmental models and environmental policies thrust on Tibet have failed. China is experiencing the effects of rapid growth and its people, allowed to view the freedoms available in the west, are starting to demand greater environmental accountability and more self-determination.

A case in point is the recent cancellation of a major dam project on one of the few unspoiled river systems in China in response to public pressure and environmental reviews. So there is some hope a policy shift towards greater Tibetan self-determination is possible.

Canada could play a supporting role in this process by offering itself as a friendly mediator, a move proposed by the Canada Tibet Committee and endorsed by more than half the sitting members of Parliament, including several cabinet ministers.

This could simultaneously further Martin's pledge to restore Canada as a significant player on the world stage while demonstrating Canada's concern for sustainable development in China and the plight of the Tibetan people.


Ardy Verhaegen of Wellesley Township is the author of The Dalai Lamas: The Institution And Its History. He is an independent scholar and writer interested in outstanding spiritual figures and contemplative spiritual practices.

Summary - "In today's world, the Dalai Lama is revered as an outstanding spiritual figure and . . . he remains the de facto heart of the Tibetan body politic. "