In Exile From the Land of Snows

by John Avedon

  JAN. 1989 China backs out of the proposed talks.

  APRIL 20, 1989 The Tibetan Government-in-Exile announces that “His Holiness the Dalai Lama is prepared to send representatives to Hong Kong at any time” to meet with Chinese representatives in order to resolve any procedural issue with regards to starting negotiations.

  MAR. 15, 1989 U.S. Senate Resolution 82 calls upon the Chinese government to “meet with representatives of the Dalai Lama to begin initiating constructive dialogue on the future of Tibet.”

  1991–2000

  OCT. 9, 1991 In an address at Yale University, the Dalai Lama appeals to the world for support in pressuring China to allow him to return to Tibet on a short trip. He states that he is ready to go “as soon as possible.”

  OCT. 10, 1991 The Chinese Foreign Ministry imposes the following conditions before the Dalai Lama can return to Tibet: “The most important thing is that the Dalai Lama stop his activities aimed at splitting China and undermining the unity of its nationalities, and abandon his position on Tibetan independence.”

  JUNE 22, 1992 Ding Guangen, head of the United Front Department of the CCP Central Committee, meets Gyalo Thondup and reiterates the CCP’s 1979 statement that they are willing to discuss any issue with the Tibetans except total independence.

  MAY 28, 1993 White House report to Congress on most favored nation (MFN) extension lists “[s]eeking to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives” as a favorable step that China should take to ensure MFN renewal.

  APRIL 28, 1994 The Dalai Lama meets with U.S. President Bill Clinton and Vice President A1 Gore in the White House. The White House press release states that President Clinton met the Dalai Lama “to inquire about efforts to initiate a dialogue with the Chinese leadership,” among other topics. It also says: “The United States continues to urge high-level talks between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama.”

  NOV. 1995 China tries to claim the right to choose the next incarnation of the Panchen Lama. Relations between Beijing and Dharamsala plummet.

  JULY 1997 The Clinton administration announces its intention to establish a new position in the Department of State to coordinate Tibetan affairs. A central objective is to promote dialogue to resolve the issue of Tibet.

  OCT. 1997 During the Sino-American Summit in Washington, D.C., President Clinton presses Chinese President Jiang Zemin to initiate talks with the Dalai Lama. The Tibetan problem emerges as one of the top issues that the American people identify with Sino–U.S. relations.

  OCT. 31, 1997 Greg Craig is appointed the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

  APRIL 30, 1998 U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright makes it clear to President Jiang Zemin that Tibet is a high priority of the U.S. government for the June Summit in Beijing. “What we urge is a dialogue with the Dalai Lama,” Albright tells a news conference after her meeting.

  JUNE 27, 1998 President Clinton urges Jiang Zemin to open talks with the Dalai Lama at a press conference in Beijing, televised live throughout China. Jiang Zemin admits to the existence of unofficial channels of communication and says “[the] door to negotiation is open.”

  2001–2008

  JAN. 28, 2001 The Dalai Lama tells Agence France-Presse that his latest efforts to send a delegation to China to pursue a substantial dialogue with Chinese leaders have produced no response from Beijing.

  The Dalai Lama’s elder brother had traveled to Beijing in late October 2000—reopening contact after a two-year freeze—after which the Dalai Lama proposed sending a full delegation to the Chinese capital. He said the Chinese welcomed his brother to return, but, the Dalai Lama added, “If my brother goes again, some people might get the wrong impression.… This is an issue for the whole Tibetan community, so sending some people from a Tibetan organization would be more appropriate.”

  SEPT. 9–24, 2002 Following a nine-year impasse, contact between Beijing and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile resumes when the Dalai Lama’s special envoy, Lodi Gyari, leads a four-member delegation to Beijing and Lhasa. The trip is intended to create an atmosphere conducive for substantive negotiations.

  The delegation includes the Dalai Lama’s envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen, and two senior assistants, Sonam N. Dagpo and Bhuchung K. Tsering.

  SEPT. 30, 2002 U.S. President George W. Bush signs into law a foreign policy bill that includes the Tibetan Policy Act. The Tibetan Policy Act expresses both programmatic and political support for the Tibetan people, including that the president and secretary of state should initiate steps to encourage the government of the People’s Republic of China to enter into a dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives leading to a negotiated agreement on Tibet; and after such an agreement is reached, the president and secretary of state should work to ensure compliance with the agreement.

  MAY 25-JUNE 8, 2003 A second round of talks is held between envoys of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese leadership during the Tibetan team’s trip to Beijing and parts of Tibet. The Tibetans characterize the nature of these trips as “confidence building measures.”

  SEPT. 12-29, 2004 A third round of talks is held between envoys of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese leadership during the Tibetan team’s trip to Beijing and parts of Tibet. The international community views these visits as positive steps forward, but few international governments make legitimate efforts to bring both parties to the negotiation table.

  MAY 23, 2004 The Chinese government issues a thirty-page white paper on Tibet aimed at dampening expectations by Tibetans for genuine autonomy. The white paper is seen as a negotiating tactic intended to underscore the resistance of hardliners to move forward in good faith.

  JUNE 30–JULY 1, 2005 A fourth round of meetings between the Tibetan team and the Chinese leadership is held in Bern, Switzerland. The Tibetans say that the trip is designed to “move the ongoing process to a new level of engagement aimed at bringing about substantive negotiations to achieve a mutually acceptable solution to the Tibetan issue.” Meanwhile, China continues to publicly criticize the Dalai Lama and reiterates its long-standing preconditions to negotiations.

  JULY 10, 2005 During a visit to China, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asks Chinese leaders to “reach out to the Dalai Lama,” saying that the exiled Tibetan leader is no threat to China.

  OCT. 11, 2005 In its annual report for 2005, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China says, “The future of Tibetans and their religion, language, and culture depends on fair and equitable decisions about future policies that can only be achieved through dialogue. The Dalai Lama is essential to this dialogue. To help the parties build on visits and dialogue held in 2003, 2004, and 2005, the President and the Congress should urge the Chinese government to move the current dialogue toward deeper, substantive discussions with the Dalai Lama or his representatives, and encourage direct contact between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese leadership.”

  FEB. 15–23, 2006 The Dalai Lama’s envoys meet in Guilin, China. In previous meetings, the envoys had requested to visit other autonomous regions of China, which is why the Guangxi Autonomous region was chosen. After the meetings conclude, Lodi Gyari reports that there was “a growing understanding between the two sides, though fundamental differences persisted.” However, he makes clear that the Tibetans remain committed to the dialogue process and are hopeful that progress will be possible by continuing the engagement.

  MARCH 2007 At a U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Gyari focuses on the status of the dialogue, stating that “the difference in viewpoints are numerous,” but that “each now have a clearer grasp of one another’s divergent perspectives.” He goes on to say that, “We have now reached the stage where if there is the political will on both sides, we have an opportunity to finally resolve this issue.”

  JUNE 29–JULY 5, 2007 The Dalai Lama’s envoys are hosted by the United Front Work Department (UFWD) in Shanghai and Nanjing. Following this meeting the envoys report that “our dialogue process has reac
hed a critical stage,” and that “we … made some concrete proposals for implementation if our dialogue process is to go forward.”

  MAY 8, 2008 After the Dalai Lama’s envoys report back on talks with officials from the UFWD in Shenzhen, China, on May 4, Special Tibet Envoy Lodi Gyari, speaks to press in Dharamsala, India. He highlights the significance of a comment by Chinese President and Party Secretary Hu Jintao that China’s “attitude towards contacts and consultation with the Dalai Lama is serious.” Lodi Gyari says, “It is welcome that the leader of such an important nation stands in front of the world and says that China is serious about the relationship at the highest level.”

  JULY 2, 2008 A daylong discussion between the Dalai Lama’s envoys and Chinese Vice Minister Zhu Weiqun and Vice Minister Sithar takes place “at a crucial time in the dialogue process,” according to envoy Lodi Gyari.

  OCT. 30–NOV. 5, 2008 Special Envoy Lodi Gyari and Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen, accompanied by senior aides Sonam N. Dagpo and Bhuchung K. Tsering, both members of the Task Force on Negotiations, and Kalsang Tsering from the Secretariat of the Task Force, visit China for an eighth round of talks. The Tibetan envoys

  NOV. 2008 The first Special General Meeting of Tibetans is held in Dharamsala November 17–22, 2008. Over 581 delegates from nineteen countries participated.

  The Tibetans reaffirm their commitment to follow the Middle Way Approach. The meeting calls upon the Tibetan leadership to terminate the ongoing talks with the Chinese leadership if the Chinese Government does not reciprocate positively to the overtures of the Tibetan people.

  2009–2013

  MAR. 10, 2009 In his statement on the fiftieth anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day, the Dalai Lama says, “The Chinese insistence that we accept Tibet as having been a part of China since ancient times is not only inaccurate, but also unreasonable. We cannot change the past no matter whether it was good or bad. Distorting history for political purposes is incorrect.”

  He adds, “We Tibetans are looking for a legitimate and meaningful autonomy, an arrangement that would enable Tibetans to live within the framework of the People’s Republic of China.”

  AUG. 27, 2009 Professor Samdhong Rinpoche, head of the Central Tibetan Administration, explains the misperception about “Greater Tibet” during a keynote address to a roundtable discussion in Delhi. “[Since 1979] the authorities of the PRC [have used] the new term, ‘Greater Tibet’ to refer to the total areas habited by Tibetan nationality which are at divided into the Tibet Autonomous Region and other Tibetan autonomous prefectures and counties.” He adds, “There is no greater or smaller Tibet. All Tibetans belong to one minority nationality among the fifty-five minority nationalities of the PRC.”

  JAN. 26–31, 2010 Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, accompanied by two members of the Tibetan Task Force on Negotiations, Tenzin P. Atisha and Bhuchung K. Tsering, and Jigmey Passang of the Task Force Secretariat, visit China for the ninth round of discussions with representatives of the Chinese leadership. This follows a gap of near fourteen months.

  On January 26, 2010, they formally present to the Chinese side a Note on the Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People that had been given during the previous eighth round in November 2008. The Note contains seven points addressing fundamental issues raised by the Chinese leadership during the previous round of talks.

  There have been no further rounds of discussions between the two sides.

  FEB. 18, 2010 U.S. President Barack Obama meets the Dalai Lama in the White House for their first meeting in defiance of Chinese wishes. In a subsequent statement, the White House says, “The President commended the Dalai Lama’s Middle Way approach, his commitment to nonviolence, and his pursuit of dialogue with the Chinese government.”

  MARCH 5, 2010 Lodi Gyari gives a talk at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., titled “The Way Forward on Tibet: The Status of Discussions Between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Government of the People’s Republic of China.”

  He outlines the thinking behind the presentation of the Memorandum and the Note by the Tibetan side to the Chinese leadership. He mentions that the Dalai Lama has offered, and remains prepared, to formally issue a statement that would serve to allay the Chinese Government’s doubts and concerns as to his position and intentions on matters contained in the Tibetan Memorandum and the Note.

  MAR. 10, 2011 In his statement on the fifty-second anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising Day, the Dalai Lama announces his intention to devolve his political authority to an elected Tibetan leadership.

  MAY 28, 2011 The Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile amends the Charter of Tibetans in Exile reflecting the devolution of the Dalai Lama’s political authority to the elected Tibetan leadership. The Dalai Lama assents to the amendment on May 29, 2011, making it effective.

  AUG. 8, 2011 Dr. Lobsang Sangay takes over the reins of the Central Tibetan Administration as the newly elected Kalon Tripa, or prime minister, at a ceremony in Dharamsala.

  SEPT. 24, 2011 The Dalai Lama issues a statement outlining the process for finding his reincarnation. He says, “When I am about ninety I will consult the high Lamas for the Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the Tibetan public, and other concerned people who follow Tibetan Buddhism, and reevaluate whether the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue or not.” The statement adds, “Bear in mind that, apart from the reincarnation recognized through such legitimate methods, no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People’s Republic of China.”

  OCT. 10, 2011 A one-day meeting of the Tibetan Task Force on Negotiations is held in Dharamsala. This is the first meeting of the Task Force under Dr. Lobsang Sangay.

  NOV. 3, 2011 The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the United States Congress in Washington, D.C., hears testimony from Dr. Lobsang Sangay and Kirti Rinpoche, the spiritual head of Kirti Monastery, about the critical situation in Tibet and how the United States could respond.

  MAR. 10, 2012 In his statement on the fifty-third anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising Day, Dr. Lobsang Sangay refers to the ongoing crisis in Tibet and says,” To address the tragedy in Tibet, I call on Beijing to accept our Middle Way Policy, which seeks genuine autonomy for Tibetans within the framework of the Chinese constitution and as proposed in the Memorandum and Note of 2008 and 2010 respectively.”

  JUNE 3, 2012 Dr. Lobsang Sangay accepts the resignations of Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama Lodi G. Gyari and Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen.

  SEPT. 2012 The second Special General Meeting of Tibetans is held in Dharamsala September 25–28, 2012. Over 432 delegates from twenty-six countries participate.

  The meeting makes thirty-one recommendations to deal with the critical situation in Tibet and find a lasting solution to the Tibetan issue. It resolves to pursue the Middle Way Approach to find a meaningful solution through dialogue with the Chinese government.

  NOV. 2, 2012 The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, releases a statement that urges “the Chinese authorities to promptly address the longstanding grievances that have led to an alarming escalation in desperate forms of protest, including self-immolations, in Tibetan areas.”

  DEC. 15, 2012 EU’s High Representative Catherine Ashton issues a declaration concerning the Tibetan self-immolations and supports the statement of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay of November 2, 2012. The EU statement says, “Finally, the EU encourages all concerned parties to resume a meaningful dialogue.”

  JAN. 2013 A two-day meeting of the Task Force on Negotiations is held in Dharamsala from December 31, 2012–January 1, 2013, chaired by Dr. Lobsang Sangay.

  The meeting reviews the deepening political crisis in Tibet, specifically the tragic spate of self-immolations, and discusses the urgent need for peaceful resolution of the issue of Tibet. The meeting also discusses the changes in the Chinese leadership and their implications for the Tibetan issue.

  MAR
. 10, 2013 The Tibetan Government-in-Exile, in a statement on the occasion of the fifty-fourth anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day, asks China to “Accept that the Sino-Tibetan dispute deserves to be, needs to be, and can be solved and begin at once peaceful negotiations on the basis of the mutually beneficial middle way approach.”

  MAR. 18, 2013 Senator Robert Menendez, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee releases a statement on the situation in Tibet, “to express my concerns about the continuing unrest in Tibet and the tragic trend of Tibetan self-immolations.”

  APRIL 9, 2013 Members of Parliament from three major political parties of Canada—the New Democratic Party, Liberal Party, and Conservative Party—urge Prime Minister Stephen Harper to make Tibet a priority for Canadian foreign policy in light of the recent rise in self-immolations there.

  APRIL 11, 2013 To coincide with a visit to China in April 2013 by U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry, twenty-one U.S. Senators urge to him to “make Tibet an integral issue in your engagement with your Chinese counterparts.” July 1, 2013 - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, responding to questions on BBC’s World Have Your Say program, underline that the situation in Tibet requires a political solution, and that the suffering of the Tibetan people has to be examined by China and addressed.

  AUG. 2, 2013 U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State Uzra Zeya, who led the U.S. side in the annual human rights dialogue with China on 30–31 July, says, “We also expressed deep concern about China’s stepped-up attempts to silence dissent and tighten controls over Tibetans and Uighurs, emphasizing that policies ostensibly designed to maintain stability are counterproductive when they deny Chinese citizens their universal human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

  AUG. 8, 2013 On the the second anniversary of his administration, Dr. Lobsang Sangay announces his team’s three-phase approach of consolidation, action, and dialogue has completed its first two phases. He says he will now direct his efforts on the dialogue phase and pledges to make continued efforts to resume contact with the Chinese government.