DHARAMSALA – It has recently emerged that Tibetans in exile have been spying for China. In an article on Phayul.com titled “China recruiting “disgruntled” Tibetan refugees to spy on India: Intelligence Bureau” (published January 5, 2018), it was noted that Tibetan youths are now spying on India and sending “strategic information about the area” to the Chinese leadership.
This report was borne out of alerts issued by the Intelligence Bureau (India’s internal intelligence agency) which is among the best in the world so it is unlikely that this information is incorrect. It would therefore seem that the patriotic lessons of the past generation have not filtered down to those born in exile.
The author would bid you to suspend your disappointment for the moment and consider these salient points:
- First and foremost, it should be noted that the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA; Tibetan leadership in Dharamsala) are very fond of accusing people of being a Chinese spy when those people do not toe the line with the CTA’s official policies. Anyone whom the CTA perceives to be an enemy, or who dares speak up against the CTA is immediately branded a Chinese spy. As soon as someone is labelled a Chinese spy, they become identified with the enemy of the so-called Tibetan cause and therefore justified targets of Tibetan hatred against them. This is one of the methods that the CTA used 20 years ago to direct violence and hatred against Dorje Shugden practitioners. To this day, one of the most targeted people to have received this accusation are Dorje Shugden practitioners who refused to give up their practice when an illegal ban on it was first imposed in 1996. The irony now is that it is the CTA’s own people who are actually confirmed to be Chinese spies. What will the CTA do now that there is proof from one of the world’s top intelligence agencies (i.e. India) that Tibetan youths have been caught spying for China?
- The fact Tibetan youths will now spy on India for China is a clear indication that they have lost hope. Thanks to greater awareness of the CTA’s lies and corruption, these Tibetans youths who are now disgusted by their leadership’s ineptitude and six decades of no political or social accomplishments, have no reason to be loyal to the CTA. In a time when His Holiness the Dalai Lama is aging and dialogue with China has stalled with no signs of revival any time soon, the Tibetan youths have given up on hope for progress in the so-called Tibetan cause. And having witnessed their government’s self-serving nature, what reason do the youths have to be loyal to the Tibetan cause when their own leaders do not set a good example? In fact, these youths are merely taking a cue from their own government, thinking about money and how to provide for their families, and securing their own future.
- When Tibetan youths can be coerced into spying for China, it is because of the severe lack of opportunities in the Tibetan settlements. After 60 years, the CTA have failed to provide any kind of sustainable economy for their people. Tibetans all throughout India continue to languish either as sweater sellers, or go on to start their own small home-based businesses. It is sad that the CTA would be so engrossed with in-fighting that they would neglect the economic and social development of their people, and the talent of their youth.
- What the youth demonstrate is that Tibetan loyalty is fickle and can be bought by the highest bidder, even if that bidder is the enemy. Is it any wonder then that the Dalai Lama’s representatives in Beijing signed away Tibet’s sovereignty in 1951? They claim that they were under duress when signing the 17-Point Agreement, but more patriotic individuals would have given up their lives in lieu of signing the document.
- There is little wonder also that human rights’ groups in North India like Students’ United Movement of All Arunachal (SUMAA) would be unhappy with the Tibetans, if the news is that Tibetans are spying on India for China. These Tibetan youths, who would probably be in their peer group, were recruited from the same North Indian regions where local Indians have recently been protesting against Tibetans. At a time when the China-India relationship is so tense, groups like SUMAA have every reason to be upset with the Tibetans for aiding the so-called enemy against their host country.
In 2017, India saw the first anti-Tibetan protests carried out by local Indians and members of the Students’ United Movement of All Arunachal (SUMAA). Now that it has emerged that Tibetan youths are spying on India for China, why should foreign observers be surprised at scenes like this when Indians have always known that many Tibetans have taken advantage of the Indian government’s kindness and generosity towards them?
- The question on everyone’s lips is, would it be fair to call mere children “traitors” and will they receive the same treatment as other so-called traitors have? After all, they have been selling information about India to the Chinese authorities. Within the Tibetan community, people have been called worse things and treated in worse ways for doing much, much less. For 20 years, Dorje Shugden practitioners have been accused of being Chinese spies, without any proof being produced. They were kicked out from the settlements, expelled from their monasteries, refused service in shops and restaurants, bullied in school, refused medical treatment. Will these youths undergo the same difficulties? Note that the author is not asking for these children to be sanctioned. They are vulnerable youth who do not know any better, thanks to the poor leadership from the Tibetan administration. Rather, this is to point out just how hypocritical and full of double standards the Tibetan leadership’s own ‘traitor’ label is.
- One has to wonder what the Tibetan people have to be disgruntled with. Unlike millions of Indians who continue to live below the poverty line, Tibetans and their leadership were given safe refuge and free land in the form of the 27 major settlements across India. In the years since they came to India, they have received millions of dollars in grants, scholarships, funding and donations. That Tibetan youth could betray India, who has been so kind to them, in such a disloyal manner, is a clear failure of the CTA to teach their people to have gratitude for India.
Sikyong Lobsang Sangay, the proud American who became the Tibetan Prime Minister. Why does he carry an American passport and not, say, an Indian one? Was India not good enough for him? And will it really be effective when an American citizen teaches Tibetan refugees to have gratitude for India?
- The CTA also jeopardizes India’s own internal security by their failure to provide for the Tibetan people. Because Tibetan youth are desperate for employment and a better lifestyle, the CTA have created a group of people whose loyalties, efforts and attentions can be traded. If the CTA has any sense of gratitude towards India for all the generosity they have received from the Indian government and people, they would immediately seek to provide employment opportunities for their own youth, to make other temptations less attractive.
Ultimately, the Tibetan youth of today are attracted more by wealth and the promise of a better future than by the spiritual values which were once the essence of Tibetan culture. It is this very essence which is being lost, thanks to the Tibetan administration’s poor leadership and the example that leaders like Lobsang Sangay have set for style over substance.
And when leaders like Sangay show that it is okay to abandon one’s so-called Tibetan identity by carrying foreign passports, why should vulnerable Tibetan youth behave any differently or any more loyally to the concept of a Tibetan identity? 60 years ago, it would have been unthinkable for any Tibetan to consider spying FOR China. As time passes, things do not improve for the Tibetans in exile and this latest incident is the strongest proof yet of this.
China recruiting “disgruntled” Tibetan
refugees to spy on India: Intelligence Bureau
Published 5th January 2018. Click to enlarge (Source: http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=40007)
MORE NEWS LIKE THIS
