The visit of the Dalai Lama to Arunachal Pradesh has sharpened the focus on India’s commitment to the “One-China” policy, amid accusations by the Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday that the Tibetan leader’s visit to the “disputed areas” was fueling tensions between the two neighbours.
Asked whether Beijing saw any linkage between the Dalai Lama’s visit and New Delhi’s position on the “One-China” policy, foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said: “I want to re-emphasise that on issues concerning China’s major concern and core interests, territorial and sovereignty, China’s position is consistent.”
She added: “By inviting and approving (the) Dalai Lama to (visit) disputed areas between China and India, India has damaged our interests and the India-China relationship and it has fuelled tensions.”
“We oppose the visit to relevant areas and oppose attempts by relevant countries to arrange a platform for (the) Dalai (Lama) to conduct anti-China activities. We urge relevant country to stop such erroneous actions and stop undermining Chinese interests,”
An editorial in the state-run China daily drew a parallel between Taiwan — at the heart of the “One China” controversy briefly triggered by US President Donald Trump’s earlier remarks — and Tibet.
“New Delhi not only allowed the 14th Dalai Lama to visit Southern Tibet, a historical Chinese territory India has illicitly occupied and refers to as ‘Arunachal Pradesh’, but the spiritual leader of ‘Tibetan independence’ was also escorted on the trip by India’s junior minister of home affairs. To Beijing, that is a double affront,” the edit said.
The daily took exception to remarks by the Minister of State for home affairs, Kiren Rijiju that, "China should not object to the Dalai Lama's visit and interfere in India's internal affairs."
“(Mr.) Rijiju might think himself cute in borrowing a line from Beijing's diplomatic representations, but he has ignored the fundamental distinction here: Like Taiwan and any other part of China, Tibet is a part of Chinese territory no matter whether New Delhi agrees or not. Southern Tibet, on the other hand, was stolen from China by his country's former colonial master taking advantage of China's internal strife.”
Earlier in an interview with Reuters , Pema Khandu, Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh was quoted as saying that ,“As far as the boundary issue is concerned, I have also maintained that we don’t share our boundary with China, but we share our boundary with Tibet”. Analysts say that the statement can be interpreted as questioning the “One-China” principle.
Ms. Hua in her briefing confirmed that China had lodged a diplomatic protest regarding the Dalai Lama’s visit with the Indian Ambassador to China Vijay Gokhale, and with the “competent officials” in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi.
In response to a question regarding the linkage established by a section of the Chinese media between the Dalai Lama’s visit and China’s earlier moves to block India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Ms. Hua said, “China will not make any assumptions on India’s intentions.”
She reiterated that India’s NSG bid should be resolved by all the 48 members of the group. “We should achieve a solution that applies indiscriminately to all non-Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty countries through consultation and discussion.”
