Hindustan Times, April 3, 2008

WITH THE Tibet repressions in the background and months to go before the Summer Olympics in Beijing, Hindustan Times talks to Chinese Consul General Mao Siwei.

Q: Soccer icon Bhaichung Bhutia has declined to carry the Olympic torch in protest against the recent crushing of Tibetan demonstrations by the Chinese. Do you think China's image has taken a beating after this incident?

A: You will see a rainbow after the storm.

Q: Do you apprehend that Bhutia's stand may influence other sports personalities who are scheduled to carry the torch? Do you think sportspersons should dissociate themselves from politics? Are you anticipating a boycott of the Olympics?

A: To mix politics with Olympics is akin to a cold war. Both the 1980 Moscow Olympics and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics were tainted by boycotts. Olympics are hosted by individual cities (and nations), but they belong to the world. I believe Indian sports stars have a greater understanding.

With tears and joys, efforts and dreams, China will be organizing the Olympics. The national feelings of one-fifth of humanity deserve to be respected. I also believe that India, as the largest democracy and the second largest-developing country, understands better than many others the meaning and significance of national glory and national humiliation.

Q: Why is there so much of bloodshed in Tibet?

A: Please make sure that you get a true picture of what really happened in Tibet recently. The international media reported that we cracked down on a peaceful protest on March 14 in Lhasa where around 100 Tibetans were killed. However, the truth is just the opposite. Now, it has become widely known that there were anti-Chinese riots and hundreds of Han Chinese and Muslims were attacked and wounded, a score killed and their shops gutted. A report of The Times on March 19 said, "Western tourists who fled Lhasa said mobs of Tibetans turned on anyone and anything that looked Chinese." Now Dharamsala has issued an explanation and claimed that China was staging the violence. "They all look like Chinese people dressed like Tibetans," the Dalai Lama said. It is just like some people said that Americans plotted the 9/11 attacks.

Q: Do you see Dalai Lama as a religious guru or an ambitious political leader?

A: Nowadays, the Dalai Lama repeatedly says he is not seeking Tibetan independence. But there are reasons to doubt his sincerity. In his autobiography Freedom in Exile published in 1990, a year after he got the Peace Nobel, there was a map that not only marked "greater Tibet" as an independent country but also cut off Sinkiang, called East Turkestan, Inner Mongolia and Northeast, called Manchuria, from the territory of the People's Republic of China. It's quite an ambitious vision indeed. A few days ago, in an interview with Newsweek, the Dalai Lama said, "The Chinese government wants me to say that for many centuries Tibet has been part of China. Even if I make that statement, many people would just laugh. And my statement will not change past history. History is history."

Q: Bengal has a problem in Darjeeling and it has formed an autonomous body, the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, to govern the area. Does your government have any such plan for Tibet?

A: I have to admit that I don't have much knowledge about Darjeeling. But I do know something about other parts of India. I'm sure that Indians know better than anyone else that elections cannot solve the problems of separatism.

(Courtesy: Hindustan Times)