If we are to accept the public comments issued by Samdhong Rinpoche, exiled Tibetan Prime Minister, as reflecting official policy of the Tibetan Government-In-Exile, then Tibetans (and all those who care about securing a free and independent Tibet) should read the following words extremely carefully.
They are taken from a round-table discussion given by Samdhong in New Delhi on August 27. Why they have not elicited any criticial response is baffling, unless one is forced to accept that, apart from a silent minority, Tibetans either are unaware of, or do not care to read, such details, Yet the implications of Samdhong’s comments are of toxically dangerous relevance, in terms of negotiations with Beijing, Tibet’s future status, and in particular an issue which has consistently frozen talks betwen the Dalai Lama’s representatives and communist Chinese officials. Defining what constitutes ‘Tibet’ in terms of proposals on an autonomy solution [sic].
Samdhong presented a grandiloquent account which, stripped of its adornment, denies that Tibetans are a distinct people “All Tibetans belong to one minority nationality among the 55 minority nationalities of the PRC” and goes further still by appearing to offer the astonishing concession of sacrificing Amdo (so-called Qinghai Province) in exchange for a single autonomous administration over currently existing so-called autonomous regions. Thus, if Samdhong and the TGIE were to get their way (thankfully Communist China is not in the slightest interested in granting an improved form of autonomy, which in their view would maintain or bolster any sense of Tibetan identity or separateness) only those Tibetans living in the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region (U-Tsang-Central/Western Tibet) Kanlho Autonomous Region (small area in Amdo-East Tibet), Ngapa Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (small area in Amdo-East Tibet), Kanze Autonomous Prefecture (Kham-Eastern Tibet) and Dechen Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Kham-Eastern Tibet) would supposedly benefit from living under a single proposed autonomous administration. On the reasoning articulated by Samdhong the overwhelming majority of Tibetans in Amdo, and the region itself, would remain firmly under the administrative and political control (in reality of course so would all Tibetans, whatever the so-called improvements in autonomy) of communist China’s central regime.
It should be noted that Amdo contains the headwaters of China’s most important economic and culturally iconic rivers, the Yangste and Yellow rivers, while the TGIE may unrealistically hope to squeeze some movement on autonomous rights, it must surely have recognized that freeing Amdo, a region that is also immensely rich in mineral and fossil fuel resources, from Beijing’s grip was a colossal task. As noted by Warren Smitth in ‘China’s Tibet?’:
“The need for china to control the headwaters of its two major rivers..is alone sufficient reason why china will not allow any expansion of the TAR” (page 280).
At this stage Tibetans reading this may understandly be going into denial, surely the Tibetan Government would never consider agreeing to a truncated Tibetan region, sacrificing Amdo, with Tibetans just another Chinese minority people, and only the illusion of autonomy as protection. Well here is what Samdhong says:
“This propaganda (Editor’s Note: Communist Chinese criticism of the TGIE proposals on autonomy) is done to make people believe that His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s aspiration is unreasonable and that he is asking for separation of one fourth of the PRC or that His Holiness is asking for inclusion of certain areas into autonomous region that are not already declared as Tibetan autonomous areas”. (emphasis added)
So clearly the Tibetan Government-in-Exile is not asking for that! Later in his address Samdhong is more specific:
“We are not seeking additional areas to be included in the Tibetan autonomous areas….Nor, is there a need of re-drawing the border between Tibetan autonomous areas and other provinces or autonomous areas” (emphasis added)
See: http://www.tibet.net/en/index.php?id=1120&articletype=flash&...
Given that the traditional Tibetan region of Amdo forms a majority of so-called Qinghai Province and was not designated (apart from two small strips of territory) a so-called Tibetan autonomous region, then if Samdhong’s assertions are to be understood correctly, he and the exiled Tibetan Goverment appear to have decided to abandon Amdo and its people to an uncertain and dangerous fate under communist Chinese control, while other Tibetans are supposedly to benefit from an improved autonomy, which Samdhong would happily accept in place of genuine freedom. On the objectives of the Tibetan Government in exile, and by extension he is implying the Tibetan people (although any claim that he has such a mandate exists only in a world of fantasy) Samdhong notes:
“The basis of our demand is the concept of National Regional Autonomy for minority nationalities propounded by Marx, Lenin, Mao and the provisions enshrined in the Constitution of the PRC” (emphasis added).
This man of Buddhist learning, a Sanskrit scholar, an enlightened Tibetan entirely devoted to principles of non-violence, has a mentality and perception, so infused with spirituality and religious tradition, that he cannot see the courageous patriotism of his own people; who continue to resist communist Chinese rule, not simply to preserve a spiritual heritage, but to regain their land, nation and independence. Unfortunately such mundane and temporal issues, do not one imagines, impress a mind tuned towards emptiness and non-attachment, nationhood is of no importance, only the individual quest for development and eventual enlightenment matter. Adept in matters of Buddhist philosophy he may be, however Samdhong, in his selective blindness to the political aspirations of his own people, fails to understand that to Tibetans inside Tibet, freedom and nation are everything. They sustain a precious hope which has fuelled a valiant and inspiring resistance to suppression and occupation for nearly sixty years. In his easy capitulation and compromise his words callously betray those hopes and dishonour the sacrifices of the countless Tibetans who died fighting for Tibet’s independence. Now it would seem that the Tibetan Government-in- Exile is sending out signals that it is willing to surrender Amdo, as an inducement to make progress in negotiations with communist China.
Towards the end of his speech Samdhong offers the communist Chinese leadership, what he sees as important benefits, which will be to the advantage of what is carefully described as the ‘Central Government’. One suggestion in particular stands out from the sickening catalogue of appeasement, Samdhong advises the communist Chinese regime that the Exiled Tibetan Government’s proposals (of a single united autonomous Tibetan region, minus Amdo)
“Will help contain local nationalism”
There is only one word which best describes these proposals, treachery.

Source : http://tibettruth.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/samdhong-abandons...