By Choekyi Lhamo and Tenzin Lekhden
DHARAMSHALA, Nov. 8: Retired army officer Major General Gagan Deep Bakshi on Monday expressed solidarity with Tibetans in and outside Tibet during a goodwill function at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA), where he said that China’s illegal occupation of Tibet is the sole cause of the border dispute that India is currently facing. The military analyst and commentator along with representatives of Bharat- Tibet Sahyog Manch called for an independent Tibet and urged fellow Indians to support the Tibetan struggle.
“I think in the 1990s, when India and China were exchanging dialogues; we thought that we also could benefit from the economical structure of China. We could not focus on the border security because China was also developing and we also benefited from it. But now, the situation has changed. That time we had to temporarily shift the discussion to avoid conflict. Indian government stance will change according to circumstances and also keep in mind our national interest,” General G.D. Bakshi responded to a query from Phayul on the official One-China policy stance.
In a passionate speech, punctuated by humour and laughter, he condemned China’s construction of several large water dams across Tibet’s transnational rivers and accused China of developing the coronavirus that put the whole world in quarantine.
The awardee of Vishisht Seva Medal highlighted the importance of a Free Tibet from a strategic geopolitical point of view. A theme prevalent throughout his speech. “Tibet must be free for the simple fact that Chinese cannot be trusted with the roof of the world. The water tower of the world. 10 major rivers originate from Tibet,” General Bakshi said in his speech.
According to phys.org, China plans to build a record-breaking mega-dam across the Brahmaputra, known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet, before the waterway leaves the Himalayas and flows into India. The project in Tibet’s Medog County will dwarf the record-breaking Three Gorges Dam and is expected to produce 300 billion kilowatts of electricity each year. This project according to the same report from phys.org is harmful to the unique biodiversity in the area and might prove disastrous in a seismic heavy zone.
But for India, according to General Bakshi, the construction of a mega-dam of this scale could mean disaster for the northern states. The Brahmaputra river although merges with other major rivers originating from India, is crucial for the river’s overall flow during winter. Hence, under China’s control, the river already flood-prone, could be used strategically to harm India and Bangladesh. The General expressed his contempt for China saying “we don’t like our waters being stopped.”
The retired army man also talked about the death of over a million people caused by Covid-19 that originated in China, and assured the audience that the virus is a biological weapon used by the Chinese government. “The greatest recent event to hit the world in the last hundred years is Covid-19 pandemic. I believe that the coronavirus originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” he further remarked. However, there are no clear-cut evidence of such claims in the scientific community, except that the CCP government was responsible for covering up its severity in initial stages, which led to the unfortunate pandemic deaths.
Major General Bakshi, from the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, had served two tenures at the Directorate General of Military Operations and was the first BGS (IW) at HQ Northern Command (India). The former Indian Army officer was at the China front during 1971, in Punjab at the height of militancy in 1985, Kaksar in Kargil in 1987, Kishtwar, J&K, in 2000. His war-time experience has earned him both the Sena Medal and the Vishisht Seva Medal for his service.
One Response
India and China never shared a border until 1951 when Tibet was forced to sign the so called “17 point treaty” at the point of a gun! Those who doesn’t have an understanding of the situation at the time can deduce their understanding by watching the Chinese threat, intimidation and coercion applied to Taiwan today. Tibet was forced to sign on the dotted line through military intimidation just as it is doing to Taiwan.
The Taiwanese have a powerful ally in the US and Japan who are concerned about their own security if Taiwan becomes another Chinese province. They anticipate that if Taiwan falls, the Chinese will pause existential threat to the Japanese island of Okinawa and also threaten US troops stationed there. The US also fears that with the fall of Taiwan, it will not only open the gateway to the Pacific Ocean which the US sees as a vital waterway for its national security but that will ultimately seal the fate of US supremacy in the Asia Pacific region. As it were, both the US and Japan are bound to thwart any attempt by communist China to invade Taiwan. Added to this is the vibrant democracy of Taiwan which the US feels must be protected as a part of containing the totalitarian ideology that the CCP espouses and propagate as part of its ideological war against democratic, open and rules based international order.
Tibet in 1951 had no support of any kind from any country, India included. The Indian leadership was besotted by communist China and Nehru felt inclined to be with the socialist bloc of communist China and the erstwhile USSR. The Chinese duped him into believing that Communist China was a friend and a comrade in arms! Nehru bought the cunning communist rhetoric and believed in the solidarity of India and China. He didn’t know the duplicity of the Chinese communists but when he did, it was too late. He died a broken hearted man after Chinese aggression on India.
Nehru totally failed to see the looming danger to his own nation and went with the Chinese without questioning the bonafides of Chinese claims over Tibet. He was happy to use Tibet as a sacrificial goat in order to achieve Sino-India detente. Nehru believed the Chinese deception that “socialist countries don’t invade each other”!!!
Thus, India gave up all its rights in Tibet which it had inherited from the British without any quid pro quo about Arunachal Pradesh, the border issue and continued to cozy up with the Chinese communists. He gave a free hand to the Chinese in Tibet and turned a blind eye to the gut wrenching atrocities communist China committed in Tibet.
Today, the disastrous foreign policy of Pandit Nehru and his cohorts have come to haunt the Indian nation as the greatest challenge to its national sovereignty and territorial integrity since independence in 1947. China is an imperialist country that is hell bend on expansion and there will be no solution on the Indo-Tibet border without restoring Tibet as the historical buffer. Few Indian commentators like Major General Gagan Deep Bakshi, Veteran journalist Vijay Kranti and former ambassador and diplomat Deepak Vohra have summoned the courage to speak the truth about Tibet and its illegal occupation by communist China. These gentle men are speaking up because they are very concerned about the security of India. These are true Indian patriots who doesn’t love Tibetans less but love India more.
Today, the CCP’s focus is on Taiwan but a day will come when China will threaten and intimidate India. It’s planning to fight on two fronts. It may well start a war by taking one of the islands close to Taiwan and simultaneously invade Arunachal Pradesh with force.
Remember, Tibet was invaded while the Chinese were engaged in the Korean War in the early 1950s. Taiwan is reporting that China had planned to invade Pratas islands which is only 400 kilometres from China. Such a move will lead to all out war between China and Taiwan. China is likely to make its move on Arunachal in such an event to deflect criticism just as it did with Tibet in 1950s.
As the chorus of condemnation of China becomes more strident across the world for its megalomaniac adventurism, the Tibetan Government must change its track in accordance with the prevailing international political climate. It will go a long way to boost the morale of the Tibetans and will also be in perfect consonance with international public opinion. Just imagine. If the Taiwanese stuck to their old policy espoused by the Kunmintang Party to unite with China, the Taiwanese would have got stuck in the rut and would have gained no international support to speak of. But thanks to the emergence of the DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) and its enigmatic leader, Tsai Ing-win, Taiwan has become the darling of the democratic west!!! The emergence of AUKUS and QUAD strategic alliances are no accident. It’s the direct result of Taiwan’s strategic importance to the security of the Indo-Pacific nations including India. Tibet holds immense strategic value for the national defence of India which General Bakshi has elucidated and the rivers of Tibet holds the fate of millions of littoral nations in South Asia and beyond. In order to assure the safety of the precious water resources that is the life blood of more than a billion human beings living down stream, in order to retain peace on the Asian continent and in order to reinstitute the inalienable rights of the six million Tibetans, Tibet must restore its independent status as a buffer State between India and China. We must revive the spirit of 1959 when Tibetans demonstrated in the streets of Lhasa calling: CHINESE QUIT TIBET, TIBET BELONGS TO TIBETANS!!! THIS WAS OUR HISTORICAL WAR CRY! THIS WAS OUR GOAL AND SHOULD REMAIN OUR GOAL IN THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE! We must be prepared to fight for it because there is no victory without sacrifice.