TPI Conference on China's Leadership Transition: Inaugural Session (Transcript)

Transcription

1 TPI Conference on China's Leadership Transition: Inaugural Session (Transcript) 28-December, 2012 Please note that this is an unedited, rushed transcription of the conference Introduction by Dhondup Gyalpo Good morning everybody. My name is Dhondup Gyalpo, I am a senior research fellow at Tibet Policy Institute. First of all I would like to begin by extending a warm welcome to the maiden International Conference on Tibet Policy Institute themed on Chinese Leadership Transition and its Implications on Chinese, Tibetans and other minority nationalities of the People s Republic of China. It is our great honor and pleasures that Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay, despite his very busy schedule, is attending the inaugural session of this conference. We are also very pleased and honor to have various dignitaries of Central Tibetan Administration attending today s event. As you would all know Tibet Policy Institute is one of the selective initiatives of the current administration of Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay, the democratically elected first political successor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Since its formal inauguration in February this year, Tibet Policy Institute has been functioning as a Think Tank, an intellectual research oriented, intellectual platform for Central Tibetan Administration. It has been conducting research on various issues and challenges facing the Central Tibetan Administration. It has been conducting research on the overall position of Central Tibetan Administration in the next five or fifty years and also on various issues related to the welfare of Tibetan people in exile all over the world. Despite the fact that Tibet Policy Institute is today at a very nascent stage, some outstanding China s scholars from across the world are attending the first International Conference. We are therefore deeply honored and grateful for their enthusiastic support and we look forward to their expert presentations on various issues related with the Chinese leadership transition. During the course of this conference, several prominent Tibetan scholars as well a whole new generation of young Tibetan scholars will also present Tibetan perspectives on various issues related with the generational shift in the Chinese leadership. Just as the entire world is trying to figure out the significance and ramifications of once in a decade Chinese leadership transition, it is our hope that this conference will shed some light on the global, ongoing global discourse on the whole host of spectacular economic, political, social changes and contradictions that have come to define the so called peaceful rise of China or to use the Xi Jinping s word, the great rejuvenation of Chinese nation. With these words, I would now like to invite honorable Kalon Dekyi Choeyang Lak, the Kalon of Department of Information and International Relations, who is also the Vice Chair of the Tibet Policy Institute to kindly deliver her welcome address for today s event. 1

2 Welcome Address by Kalon Dicki Choyyang Welcome, my name is Dicki Choyyang, I am responsible for the department of Information and International Relations for the Central Tibetan Administration. Behalf of CTA, I would like to restate a warm welcome to all our guests, I know that some of you have been here several times, as for others, is it maybe your first time so welcome in this cold weather of Dharamsala. We ensure that you are not at the coldest time of the year, it is actually getting much colder in February so you are just at the beginning of the cold. So before I, I don t want to take too much time, but I want to say a few thing about the Tibet Policy Institute. Mr. Gyalpo already stated a little about this initiative that we have. Since its inception, the Tibet Policy Institute has so far hosted two conferences, this is the third one. The previous two, one was about environment and the other was about Taiwan. This initiative is very important although we have modest resources, it was initiated because we felt a very strong need to have Think Tank that proper to Central Tibetan Administration, that could conduct the necessary research to advise the Central Tibetan Administration leadership on policy making. We want this institute to reach international standards in terms of intellectual rigor and objectivity. What we don t want is the equivalent of the Chinese propaganda machine but on the Tibetan side. We want the researchers to do the research with as much emotional detachment as possible. During the next few days, you will hear several of the staff of the Tibet Policy Institute and we welcome your feedback on how we can reinforce our institutional capacity, what are the kind of institutional linkages that we can create between the institute and other international institution to reinforces capacity and train the staff and build its staff, recruit new staff. Because this is such a new initiative, we are really at a very modest beginning but we are very confident that this will become a very important institution in feeding our thinking about the future of the Tibetan community, the Tibetan people at large not only in the Diaspora but also inside Tibet. Many of you are involved in your day to day life in research, some of them, some of you through professional engagement and responsibility other than direct research so your feedback after you hear some of our research and thoughts is really important and we welcome it. The context of today s conference over the today and the next two days is very interesting. We have held, conferences have taken place about leadership, transition in China at other times even with this leadership transition there has been several meetings and discussions. I want to highlight some of the contextual factors that make this discussion very, not only timely but very particular and quite different from the other times where we have discussed leadership transfer. One is of course the wave the of self immolations inside Tibet, two is the Chinese economy slowing down and then as I discussed when I attended last month South East Asian Human Right Conference 2

3 in Jakarta, there were some people from mainland China who work in the field of Human Rights. The general context within China where there is a within the general population, there is a general sense of hopelessness. So, and then also of course, I am sure you are all following the growing tension in the South China Sea between China and the neighboring countries. So without elaborating any further, I would like to close by saying that the work that you are a part of by being here and the link, the relationship that you have now with the Tibet Policy Institute and the exchanges are also very important in the sense that are community with the devolution of political power from His Holiness to the elected leadership, political leadership is now resting on the shoulder of the people when they elected leadership. As I have stated frequently when I have had exchanges with the Tibetan community in Europe, in North America even here in India, we are moving from the connection between the Tibetan Diaspora and Tibetan people inside Tibet from a faith based connection to try to take it to one that is a political based connection where we want this to be based on political leadership essence of a shared vision as a people and for that the quality of the thinking that comes out and the leadership, the vision that comes out of Dharamsala is going to be critical. So I thank you for all of you, all our guest speakers for travelling so far and I look forward to exchange with you individually over the next few days. And I would like now to hand the microphone over to Dhondup Gyalpo Lak. Thank you. Dhondup Gyalpo: Thank you, honorable Kalon Dicki Choyyang Lak. Now I would like to request Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay Lak to kindly deliver his key note address for today s event. 3

4 Key Note Address from Dr. Lobsang Sangay Colleagues of the Kashag, members of the parliament and many of the civil servants, dedicated civil servants of Central Tibetan Administration and special welcome to experts from different countries and as we say in India and today we really mean it, when we say warm welcome to our experts because this is the time in Dharamsala when it is quite cold and as we normally say in winter in Dharamsala its warmer outside the house than inside the house. It seems that organizers have whether deliberately or not just made you sit right next to the door where wind will be blowing quite hard and I am sure you will feel the chill so really warm and hearty welcome as we say in India. As per our protocol normally, we always get introduced as saying, oh the Sikyong has given his busy time that he is here, actually I have been in India, actually it is you who actually have spared your precious time, in fact come all the way to Dharamsala, the fact that it is Christmas, the fact that now in few days it will be new year meaning you have not only given up your Christmas break and New Year break to come all the way to Dharamsala to be with us, means a lot. It reflects your true friendship, commitment and support for Tibet and Tibetan people. I do know many people will spare even a single holiday for normal formal engagements but the fact that you have now spared your time from your family members to come here means a lot to us and also particularly Professor Chong Pinlin, we all know about his writing and we also want to hear his views so that we will get a perspective that is profound as well as very helpful to Tibetans particularly maybe the Buddhist as well maybe there might be some Buddhist element or interpretation to his statement and obviously Dr. Gordon G. Chang, very famous around the world for his book, Coming Collapse of China, and as myself being a member of the China Poll and Gordon Chang s theory still holds and we would really like to hear his substantive analysis from economic point of view and social point of view, political point of view, what is going on in China that is relevant to us because as a Tibetan we have to be at least prepared for all kinds of possibilities in coming years and decade. So in that sense, your perspective will be very important and Professor Madubala Ji and Avanti Bhatacharya Ji, we also want to hear, hopefully maybe a counter theories to other tools so that we can have a, in this cold Dharamsala, we will have a heated debate and then everybody will feel warm and hot. And very old time friend, Professor Micheal Van Walt, he is our, I remember reading some, maybe China and Pakistan call themselves as well attested friendship but Micheal is in fact a well attested friend, supporter of Tibet and Tibetan people. Even though now as per His Holiness vision, the new or the younger generation have taken over the leadership but people like Micheal and others around the world who still feel so much committed to Tibet and Tibetan people and they are willing to do to the best they can which they have been doing and continue to do so for Tibet and Tibetan people. So in that sense, heartfelt appreciations and we have other friends like Zhu Ru and other Tibetan 4

5 speakers will be speaking so you all are very much welcome and your expertise will help us also prepare and think through as how we should prepare ourselves in coming months and years, especially with the changes in the Chinese leaderships now, it will have global implications, regional and very much to India as well as Tibetan people. So all we know is now seven people have taken over in the 18 th party congress, we know their names, XI Jinping, Li Keqiang, Wang Qishin, Zhang Gaoli, Zhang Dejiang and Yu Zhengsheng and Lui Yunshan but then we know bit of sketches of their background as well who leans towards what and the person who is, at least some the people or leaders who are relevant to us, directly relevant to us, of course all seven but then Xi Jinping is the key and then person who is head of the National People Political Consultative Conference, Yu Zhengsheng, he is reportedly representative of Deng Xiaoping family but he is also the eldest, I think seven years old in the seven members maybe he will act as the Mediator or the Gravitas in the seven members of the leadership so how does it affect the Tibet issue and then someone who is directly relevant to us is also Ling Jihua of the United Front. Now how we came about the position is also very interesting, at one time he is reported to be appoint all the way to seven members, if not to the seven, Standing Committee then at least with the Politburo. Now he is just the member of Central Committee but then right hand man of Hu Jintao. So we have Xi Jinping who is the son of Xi Zhongxun, who had again connection with His Holiness Dalai Lama mainly with Panchen Lama and also Tibet and then Yu Zhengsheng with Deng Xiaoping family, again Deng Xiaoping relevance to Tibet is he and when Gyalo Dhondup, the eldest brother of His Holiness Dalai Lama, met in early 80s, Deng Xioping said, other than independence, anything can be discussed as far as Tibet is concerned, so if he is the representative of Deng Xiaoping s family, there is Deng Xiaoping legacy to it but then we have Ling Jihua who is the representative obviously right hand man till recently of Hu Jintao in the last decade of Hu Jintao s leadership, not much progress happened as far as Tibet issue is concerned and when he was appointed the Party General Secretary it coincided with the Marshall Law being imposed on Tibetans and then there was some reports saying that it was Ling Jihua who told Hu Jintao to go to Lhasa and crack down on Tibetans and impose Marshall Law so that it could be his one chance for him to show his leadership so that Song Ping, his mentor could promote him and present him to Den Xiaoping at that time and he could take over from Wen Jiabao because they are of similar age except for month Hu Jintao was younger and then Hu Jintao was, I think at that time 49 years and 11 months and Wen Jiabao was 50 years and couple of months older and they were looking for someone below the age of 50 and then how Song Ping presented Hu Jintao to Deng Xiaoping effected because he did followed the party s directive and imposed Marshall Law in Tibet Autonomous Region at that time mainly in Lhasa. So some say the mastermind behind that idea was Ling Jihua if he is the head of the United Front with whom we have the direct leaning, how does it affect, so this is 5

6 something we have to analyze and follow because personnel again is very important and unfortunately Ling Jihua son, the way he met with an accident some say one Tibet movement or two Tibet movement. I don t know how the father would react to that I mean there is psychological dimension, I don t know we should have psychiatrist here they might help us but then all these are very important in any kind of negotiation, lot of dynamics and lots of factors involved. Now as a whole, how does the Chinese government and Chinese leadership react or response to or treat Tibetans at particular in code on code minorities in general, perhaps it reflected in the composition of the Politburo and Central Committee. In the Politburo, in the last Politburo there used to be at least one representative on code on code minority, there was (22:29). Now in this Politburo there is none, so what does it mean. Even the Central Committee, in the present Central Committee there are thirty nine representations from code on code minorities of which only ten are permanent members, rest are alternate members. Now what does it mean, because in the 17 th party congress there used to be sixteen permanent members in the Central Committee of code on code minorities there used to be two Tibetans. Now in that sense, there is decrease in the representation in the Central Committee as well from the 7.8 percent in the 17 th party congress to 7.6 percent to 4.8 percent. Even though code on code minorities in China is around 8 percent now the representation has decreased below 5 percent in the Central Committee. Does that reflect their overall outlook towards minorities? That is how they are going to treat and if they cannot even have a token representation in the Central Committee far less than the Politburo, what does that mean? So does the Chinese leadership see the minorities issues as resolved or they can just walk over and then that the world will also pay less attention, is that it or what is it? So we would like to hear from experts here at macro and micro level and now obviously you see the Xi Jinping travelling to some of the southern state like Deng Xiaoping did and there is an element of nationalism in his speeches there is also military aspect to his speeches and obviously cracking down corruption, is it same kind of crackdown that we have from moment to moment, is it his consolidation expertise factor that you are demonstrating yourself as strong and then you can see certain reforms perhaps political reforms coming along, I think Nicholas D. Kristof of New York Times, he is in Beijing and he also says he mildly optimistic travelling around Beijing because he see an element of liberalism in Xi Jinping, that is what he says and is that the ground reality or not because just in Novermber, I think 71 Chinese scholars, top Chinese scholars issued a public statement demanding or asking for certain reform from the government particularly lifting of the internet censorship, rule of law and personnel appointment all that. Now these again signatory to these petition is important I think one is the son of Hu Yaobang and also top most I think considered as top most legal expert on China and others (25:55) and then other top universities. What does it mean is Hu Yaobang son is opening a space for Xi Jinping to come to political reforms or not. So all 6

7 these are very important and relevant for us then what does it mean with the election over in America now with the presidential election over, what does it mean for Asia as a whole because the declared foreign policy of US government is it will pivot towards Asia. What does that mean in geopolitical context and especially for us in Human Right context? We would like to see is the welcome gesture that President Obama soon after his election he travelled to Asia in Burma, Cambodia and Thailand, all three Buddhist countries, so does that mean that he will have a, maybe, priority to other Buddhist communities like Tibetans or not is to be seen and also he travelled to three countries where they drink the water that starts flows from Tibet, the Mekong Delta. So all to be seen and we welcome also the appointment of Senator John Kerry as the Secretary of State, he is very familiar with the issue of China as a whole and Tibet in particular. His Holiness and Tibetan leaders have met him several times and I also had the privilege of meeting him last July with His Holiness Dalai Lama when His Holiness was welcomed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and at that time it was pretty clear that Senator John Kerry knows about the issue of Tibet and I also had the privilege of meeting this July and spent 35 to 40 minutes talking about the issues of Tibet so he was also very much familiar. So these are some of the positive aspects that we would like to see translated into some concrete policies as far as Tibet is concerned. So this and many other issues are relevant to the issue of Tibet and then given your expertise we are looking forward to very insightful, substantive and hopefully optimistic conclusion because the fact that in the last fifty years as a human being we always have to remain hopeful but then we are still very hopeful. But the last fifty years except for brief period in 80s when Hu Yaobang was at the helm we don t have much reason to be optimistic but then looking forward, maybe it is over analyzed but the fact that Xi Jinping is the son of Xi Zhongxun who welcomed His Holiness in 1954 during his first visit, the fact that he kept his watch throughout the cultural revolution and the photograph he had in his pocket when he met the Tibetan delegates, I think whether he took him from the album on that day or he usually kept it for so long and then what does it mean whether son will follow the mindset of father or not, all these to be seen. So whatever happens, it will be quite dynamic and interesting in years to come. Then the present tragedy in Tibet is real is very painful and sad. At the same time it also reflects the strength of Tibetan spirit and Tibetan solidarity. We all know 95 Tibetans have self-immolated of which 80 have died and in 2012 alone, 82 Tibetans have selfimmolated and in the month of November, the largest number of self-immolation in any month was in the month of November, so what does it mean? In the month of November, we had the US Presidential Election, 18 th Party Congress and our special meeting of Tibet Support Group also happened to be in November. So, why there was spat and rapid increase in the self-immolators in Tibet at that time? What are the Tibetans inside the Tibet are telling us or sending us a message and hoping from us? Their aspirations are made very clear, they want to see the return of His Holiness Dalai 7

8 Lama to Tibet and freedom for Tibetans. Now can we fulfill their aspirations or not and what is the stand of Tibetan Administration on Self-Immolation? We have made it very clear and repeatedly in the Tibetan media, in the Indian media as well as in the Western media saying we do not encourage any drastic actions by Tibetans inside Tibet. We do not encourage self-immolations by Tibetans inside Tibet that we have made very clear. But as a Buddhist or people of any faith when someone passes away we pray for them so we have organized prayers and as a Tibetan we show solidarity because those who have committed self-immolations, particularly those who have died they left this world sending us a message that you all should do the best you can or more to fulfill the aspirations for Tibet and Tibetan people. And then we do support hence their aspirations. Now if you look at the genesis or the background of the self-immolation it is pretty clear, we don t have to go back to 60s. 87, 88 and 89, there were series of demonstrations mainly around Lhasa. It was followed by a crackdown and Marshall Law and then in 2006 and 2007, there were other forms of protest. In 2006, the Anti-Fur Campaign, Tibetans traditionally as per our custom we always used to wear Chupa, traditional dress with the animal fur of Tiger and Leopard some endangered species but His Holiness gave a speech in south India where he was giving the Kalachakra teaching urging Tibetans not to wear animal fur skin so in after few weeks time inside Tibet there were bonfires burning animal fur everywhere in Tibet. Now the significance of that, the bonfire, is for Tibetans having this piece of animal fur whether it is Tiger or Leopard is very precious and very expensive as well. Now when His Holiness made the call and when Tibetans starts burning it, it is equivalent to women nowadays giving up their GUCCI bag and burning it because their leaders told them or men giving up their Omega or Rolex watch and burning it because their leaders told them to, because very expensive. But they have invested so many years, hundreds of years of custom but then they did. Now if you go to Tibet, you will not find, maybe few, you will not find Tibetan wearing animal fur skins. But that was a demonstration of Tibetans inside Tibet s loyalty and reverence toward His Holiness Dalai Lama even after fifty years of separation. Then in 2007, Rongye Adak and others calls for His Holiness return, there were demonstration in couple of places and 2008 we know from March on demonstrations all over the Tibetan region in hundred different counties. What happened, soon after crackdown followed, many were arrested, many were shot dead, many were imprisoned and many disappeared. Then you see from 2009 obviously with the Tapey but mainly from March 16 to 2011, series of self immolations. The point being whenever Tibetan demonstrated, in 1987, 1988, 1989 it was harshly crackdown. In 2006 crackdown, 2008 crackdown hence Tibetans left with no space for any forms of protest or freedom of speech. It seems to have concluded that self-immolation is one form of protest that they can have control over. How they can express themselves and protest against the repressive policies of Chinese government. So obviously the 8

9 Chinese government now has released a CCTV documentary and couple of document alleging that it s been instigated by us from outside. But then interestingly they give Buddhist interpretation to self immolation whether it is Buddhistic or not. It is odd that the Communist Party of China which believes that religion is poison suddenly has become an interpreter or translator of Buddhist text and telling Tibetans whether it is Buddhist or not. But their strategy seems to be to have the world focus on the action and obviously the action is complex. We acknowledge that, that is why we also made it very clear we urge Tibetans not to resort self immolation but we have to focus on the cause. What are the causes that force or that is forcing Tibetans to a self immolation, obviously occupation, political repression, economy marginalization, environmental destruction, cultural assimilation and religious repression. So these are the causes from 1987 on and obviously from 50s. But 87 on no matter what form of protest Tibetan resorted to, they were harshly crackdown hence sadly Tibetans have resorted to self immolation. Now how do we fulfill the aspirations of the Tibetan people, obviously one is to appeal to the international community, obviously there are couple of writers had interpreted the self immolation, what exactly do they mean. Are they appealing to exile Tibetan for their solidarity or are they appealing to the international community for their support or are they appealing to internally to the Chinese leadership to bring changes to the Tibetan cause. And what exactly are they saying, now internally we have this debate about Rangzen and Rangwang, which would do they use the most. All these are on the table and before we give our perspective which I have also made it quite clear, we would like to hear your insightful analyses so that not only the scholars of Tibet Policy Institute will benefit from it which is just one year old. We named Tibet Policy Institute on November 11, 2011 so it is 11/11/11. So we want it to be the number one Think Tank as far as Tibet world is concerned and our competition is not that difficult to beat, given the Chinese government propaganda element and think tanks I think we will be number one in the Tibetan world but hopefully down the line we want to be number one perhaps in the vision and international as far as Tibet is concerned. Our ambition is there but then what we need is your support and your help and especially your expertise and help us build our researches here to give them the exposure, give them your wisdom and knowledge so that Tibetans can stand on our own feet and represent ourselves at regional level and international level and speak for Tibetans inside Tibet. So really appreciative, again let me conclude by thanking once more and specially warm welcome and looking forward to heated discussion so that Dharamsala will come alive and say, yes there was the first international conference where we had top most scholars from around the world and how really lit the fire and Tibet Policy Institute has become what it has become down the line. So we are looking forward to your discussion and your analysis. And I also want to acknowledge my friend here from London who will be also speaking sometime in next few days. So with that note, and on 9

10 behalf of my colleagues and representations from our Justice Commission and from the Tibetan Parliament, hearty welcome. Thank you very much. Dhondup Gyalpo: Thank you honorable Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay. Ladies and Gentlemen, the inaugural session of today's conference concludes here. 10