In an interview with Radio Free Asia on the eve of his departure from Taiwan on January 3, Dalai Lama’s representative in Taiwan, Dawa Tsering, shared his experience of Tibetans’ dealings with the Chinese Communist Party and urged everyone to recognize the “virtues” of the Chinese Communist Party, that you cannot afford to give what the Chinese Communist Party wants, and that releasing goodwill is only a sign of weakness and fuels their ambitions.
Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet and representative of the Central Tibetan Administration in Taiwan, stepped down on January 3 and was replaced by Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa, the liaison officer for Chinese affairs in Australia. Four months after his 2008 posting to Taiwan, he accompanied the Dalai Lama to the disaster area to comfort the victims of the 2008 disaster, which occurred when Ma Ying-jeou was in charge.
That was the third Time the Dalai Lama was invited to visit Taiwan since Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian were in office, and he has not been able to visit Taiwan again for 12 years. The DPP’s Tsai Ing-wen administration has been questioned about this. In the past, when Dawa Tsering was asked about this matter, he would always downplay it by saying “the Dalai Lama is available whenever it is convenient for Taiwan” or “the problem lies with Beijing.
Now that he has stepped down from his post as the representative in Taiwan, he gave an interview to Radio Free Asia and revealed the truth from the perspective of the Tibetan people who have been oppressed by the Chinese Communist Party’s totalitarian brutality for seven decades.
Dawa Tsering said that the Chinese government regards the Tibetan issue as its core interest, and the Taiwanese government wants to avoid provocations or improve relations with China, just like former U.S. President Donald Trump said “America first”, the Taiwanese leaders must also put Taiwan’s interests first.
You can’t afford to give what the Communist Party wants, and a show of weakness in good faith will in turn hurt yourself and your allies
“You can’t get it in return, because the Chinese government wants more, and these more things, not to mention Taiwan, even the Tibetans can’t afford to give. Since you can not afford to give when you have these goodwill, both hurt others, so that these people, let’s say the Dalai Lama can not come, or many people can not come, or many things you did not do, and can not get China’s goodwill response, in fact, meaningless.”
According to Dawa, “goodwill” will only be ridiculed as weakness in the eyes of the Chinese Communist Party, while “concession” will only make the Chinese Communist Party’s ambition bigger, fueling his courage to do brutal things to you, and intentions to covet and violate Taiwan will be stronger.
“On the other hand, most people who really know the virtues of China know that, like Trump, when you really tell people that there are things I decide, I won’t look at you, I won’t do it because you’re not happy, I won’t not go because you set a no-go zone, I’ll go, I’ll do it, I’ll do it all, you may cause China’s respect instead. respect.”
Dawa Tsering confessed that in the past as the representative of Tibet in Taiwan he did not even speak like this, and now that he has left office, he is just speaking out the advice of a Tibetan.
“Taiwan is actually very powerful, he has the whole world behind him, especially the United States. Because without the United States, you Taiwan that even kneel on the ground, the Chinese government will feel that you kneel in the wrong position. So, without your own strong and powerful national defense, without such a protection from the United States or the international community, or a united front, you rely on goodwill, you rely on compassion, (will not convince them). The Dalai Lama’s measure, the belly of tolerance, the belly of compassion, the belly of tolerance is so big, but he has only cooperated with China for eight years, and in the end is not very wretched to run out, flee.”
Happy to be played the “Tibet card” internationally
The former US President Donald Trump passed a series of bills supporting Taiwan and Tibet during his term of office, which many people interpreted as playing the “Tibet card” and the “Taiwan card” in order to negotiate with China.
The Tibet Policy and Support Act, signed by Trump before he left office, was introduced by the Democratic Party in Congress and strongly supported by Speaker Pelosi, a Democratic Party member, which is of concern to both Republicans and Democrats.
The more important key to this bill is that it previously talked about the Dalai Lama and human rights violations in Tibet, not about sovereignty or the government in exile, but this bill recognizes the central administration of Tibetans, which was previously avoided. This is a huge change. In the past, there was a lot of talk about human rights, and Tibetans were happy that people supported the Dalai Lama, but sometimes they look back and think, “Yes! I actually cared most about things that people didn’t talk about, and I myself, because people cared about human rights, I also emphasized human rights and environmental protection, but I didn’t talk about the root of my real problems.”
The “used” emphasis is to engage in “divide” non-sympathy
The “Tibetan Policy and Support Act” is about sovereignty, no longer just human rights, and is very different in nature, and is very important to enhance the status of Tibet. The official visit of Lobsang Sangay to the White House last November was the first time in 60 years that a Tibetan government-in-exile leader was invited to the White House, which is of great significance.
Dawa Tsering said, “The top leaders of the Tibetan government-in-exile go to the U.S. White House, to the U.S. State Department, where they used to meet outside in restaurants and sneak around like thieves, so these are very big changes. Such support is not just an exploitation, you say the United States is using Tibet, how is Tibet not using the United States? If you say the United States is using Taiwan, how is Taiwan not using the United States?”
Dawa Cairen interpreted the so-called “use” as cooperation, united front and alliance in a good way, but in a bad way, it expands the negative elements of use. In other words, the father and son can also be said to use each other, from a political point of view, realistically speaking, if Tibetans are being used, by the United States, by Taiwan, by any country in the world, this means that Tibetans have the value of use.
Dawa Tsering emphasized: “You are being used, and you are using each other. When people say you have been used by others, he actually wants you not to be involved in that, he actually wants to divide, not to say sympathy to you in good faith, absolutely not!”
Focus on human rights issues in the past, sovereignty issues were put aside
Dawa Tsering pointed out that in the past, the Dalai Lama talked about the “middle way”, but now it seems that it can be said that the issue of sovereignty has been evaded and shelved in line with the trend. The Tibetan government-in-exile is now emphasizing that Tibet was historically an independent country. It is not just mentioning the “middle way” of not seeking independence under the framework of the Chinese constitution. The emphasis on the fact that “Tibet has been an independent country since ancient times” will help the international community clarify the status of Tibet.
The company’s main business is to promote the development of the company’s products and services. That’s why we (now in India) are called the government in exile, we are the real government of Tibet, the government that truly represents the Tibetan people.”
Dawa Tsering said that as for the so-called “17 Articles of Peace Agreement” that the Tibetan representatives were tricked into signing in Beijing, the premise was that the Chinese government promised that he would follow the Chinese constitution and give the Tibet Autonomous Region a genuine autonomy before the Tibetan people would accept to “become part of China” since then. The Chinese government promised to grant the Tibetan Autonomous Region genuine autonomy under the Chinese constitution before the Tibetan people would accept to be “part of China”. As it turned out, the Chinese Communist Party broke its own promise. For seventy years, the CCP has falsely claimed that “Tibet has been a part of China since ancient times,” when in fact, “Tibet has never been a part of China.
Looking back on his twelve years of promoting Taiwan-Tibet friendship and interacting with various leaders in Taiwan, Dawa Tsering said that the Dalai Lama’s visit to Taiwan and the establishment of the Dalai Lama Tibetan Religious Foundation in Taiwan was all due to the foundation laid by President Lee Teng-hui. The establishment of policies such as the ability of Tibetans to obtain visas to travel freely in Taiwan on the basis of refugee certificates was accomplished during the presidency of Chen Shui-bian. Both Ma Ying-jeou and Tsai Ing-wen expressed goodwill toward the Dalai Lama before they were elected president. Tsai Ing-wen participated in Tibetan protest marches when she was DPP party chairman, and also took the initiative to ask to meet the Dalai Lama at a windstorm blessing puja in 2008, but has had no contact since taking office.
Promoting Taiwan-Tibet Friendship, Long Infiltrated and Sabotaged by Red Forces
When it comes to infiltration and sabotage, Dawa Tsering mentioned that on the 310th Tibetan Resistance Day or the Dalai Lama’s birthday, the United Patriotic Association would drive a car to the opposite side of the office or to the event venue, playing the People’s Republic of China song loudly, placing the five-star flag, and asking for the submission of a petition letter asking “Tibetans to go back”, saying “The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public. The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public. Taiwan is a society under the rule of law and there are legal regulations, so you won’t feel troubled or afraid.
Dawa Tsering also mentioned that in some schools in Taiwan to hold Tibetan exhibitions, encountered the Tibetan national flag was painted out, dug up the incident, he understands that many land students on campus are not happy, do not accept, they will not pursue. It has also happened that when the United Federation of Tibetan Buddhist Groups in Taiwan was established, similar to “Federation”, “General Association”, “Republic of China”, “Taiwan “These names have been registered before others, and it is impossible to find a name to register.
Being sued for more than three hundred cases, running around more than twenty courts to clear the stigma for Tibet
Dawa Cairen has been in Taiwan for as long as six or seven years and has been tied up in lawsuits, being sued by at least five hundred people for about three hundred lawsuits. He said those who filed the lawsuit slandered the Dalai Lama and vilified Tibetan Buddhism, and maliciously filed lawsuits in more than 20 county and city courts, to make him tired of running around.
Dawa Tsering said, “People pretending to be Tibetan Buddhists also sued us, more than two hundred cases, they all pretend to be Tibetan Buddhists, not at all, are liars, fake. They sued us, and it seems that only the Penghu County Court did not give us a summons, they went to all counties and places to sue us, and the trouble was that they had to go to all places. Later our lawyers consolidated the cases in Taipei and after the verdict was made, more than two hundred people wearing lama robes went to the court to protest, saying that the Tibetan lamas were infighting. They were neither Tibetans nor lamas, not infighting, but outwardly saying that Tibetans were bullying Taiwanese and trying to provoke by all means, which is very provocative, one has to be very careful and find ways to defuse it, not to back down and compromise.”
Dawa Tsering mentioned that when the Dalai Lama visited Taiwan in 2008, there were people calling themselves Buddhist groups and Zhang Anle, chairman of the Unification Party for the Promotion of Chinese Unification, who went along the road to protest. They attacked the Dalai Lama and placed large advertisements in major newspapers in Taiwan for several days in succession, denigrating the Dalai Lama’s visit to Taiwan to survey the disaster as a means of enriching himself. In fact, the Dalai Lama instructed that all expenses for his visit to Taiwan would be paid by the Dalai Lama Foundation, and before the Dalai Lama left, he donated another US$50,000 to the reconstruction of the disaster in 1988. Dawa Tsering said that it would be a dereliction of duty and a disgrace for him, as the representative in Taiwan, not to clarify these rumors. But the Tibetans in exile simply can not get several million to advertise, to clarify the flow of only a few hundred people on the official website can not achieve the effect, and finally decided to sue the other party for defamation.
The defendant also turned to Dawa Tsering to file a lawsuit, and later a lawyer who believes in Tibetan Buddhism saw the “holy war” as an inadmissible insult and volunteered to help with the lawsuit. Dawa Tsering said that some of the lawsuits went to three levels of courts, and the other side even interpreted the constitution, but in the end, he won all the cases, “These people aim to consume your time, energy and resources so that you can’t do anything else.”
Sense that the crackdown on Tibetan independence is turning to so-called Taiwan independence, Xinjiang independence and Hong Kong independence
Dawa Tsering said, “Many scholars ask us what’s going on, that someone would spend so much energy attacking Tibetan Buddhism, such a niche, fringe religion? I said, these attacks have nothing to do with Taiwan, it should be the other side of the border. It’s all about people posing as Tibetan Buddhists coming from the mainland to Taiwan to develop and scandalize Tibetan Buddhism as an unpleasant mystical force, something that doesn’t even count as qigong.”
Dawa Tsering found that after the Sunflower Movement in Taiwan, those who attacked and harassed them as separatists seemed not to care about what they called “Tibetan independence,” and the mass protests and abuse on the Internet turned to attacking the so-called “Taiwan independence” and “Hong Kong independence.
Regrets after leaving office
Does he have any regrets after leaving office after 12 years in Taiwan? Dawa Tsering admits that the Tibetan Religious Foundation has been established for more than 20 years, but its contacts are still limited to civil society NGOs and Buddhists. Tibetans are refugees who grew up in exile and have very limited and poor resources, so they are very conservative and cautious in using resources and dare not invest in larger activities. In retrospect, “if one opens wide, as Deng Xiaoping said, taking one step bigger and being more daring, there is actually a really good chance that one can do more in this free society of Taiwan.”
Dawa Tsering said he also hopes that the Chinese government and society, one day, will be polite, know how to respect civilization, respect other people’s beliefs, and respect governing everything by law, as Taiwan does.
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