Applaud President Trump For Tibet Bill – OpEd
The weakening of China’s muscle power is absolutely necessary to curtail China’s territorial expansionist greed and to protect neighboring countries from its economic, political and military aggression.
Weakening China’s muscle power effectively and adequately is a pre-condition for the liberation of Tibet from China’s occupation, which was done by aggression and the massacring thousands of Tibetan protesters.
In today’s geopolitical condition, only the USA has the strength and power to checkmate China and show its place. More than any other past President of the USA, President Donald Trump has understood the urgent need to confront China and he has taken various measures to do so, including launching a trade war. Certainly, China has not yet given up its aggressive stance, but it certainly has been made to realize that its aggressive ambitions will not remain unchallenged.
President Trump has stood by the cause of Tibet in his four years of administration, though it has largely been sort of indirect support to Tibet by trying to weaken China in various ways. One can understand the approach of President Trump with regard to the Tibet issue, if his stance is compared with that of the former President Barack Obama, who received tHis Holiness the Dalai Lama through the back door of White House, so that China would not be displeased.
Now, at the end of his presidency, Trump has passed the Tibetan Policy and Support Act (TPSA), which is a landmark legislation in the USA, that calls for the opening of a US consulate in Lhasa and also underlines the US backing for the Holiness the Dalai Lama to determine his successor. The Act clearly states that such decisions “should be made by the appropriate religious authorities within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition”.
As expected, China has opposed the enactment of the Act in the USA, since it exposes China’s aggression in Tibet and continued suppression of the rights and freedom of Tibetans living in Tibet. China cannot afford to let the outside world enter Tibet, as it would expose is unethical and oppressive regime in Tibet.
With characteristic arrogance, China has said that it would anoint its own successor to the Dalai Lama, just as it did by naming its own 11th Panchen Lama in 1995.
Certainly, Tibet is not an internal issue of China, as it is an aggressively occupied territory of China and it is holding Tibet unethically and against the wishes of the Tibetans. Undoubtedly, China is an aggressor in Tibet and it should be deemed as aggressor in the eyes of the world, until such time that Tibet is freed from China, whatever the number of years it may take.
Artificially anointing the Panchen Lama and now trying to appoint the next Dalai Lama will not get the approval of Tibetans and Buddhists all over the world, though China with its brute force would ignore the world opinion and continue to conduct itself in Tibet with an aggressive posture, as if the world opinion does not matter.
Now, the question is whether the next US President Joe Biden will follow the Tibet policy of President Trump or adopt a posture similar to what President Obama.
To ensure that the Tibet policy of the USA is not diluted in the future, President Trump has passed the TPSA before laying down the office. For this understanding and proactive approach, Tibetans and those supporting the cause of Tibet all over the world should applaud the move of President Trump.
One should be fair to incoming President Biden and need not think that Biden will dilute the Tibet Bill.
In any case, it is necessary that the Tibetans and sympathizers of the Tibetan cause all over the world should submit an appeal to Joe Biden to continue the support of the US government for the cause of Tibet and take the policy to the logical end, so that the free Tibet would become a reality and satisfy the conscience of the world.
