‘Rare message to China in decades’
RECOGNISING TIBETAN SOLDIER’S DEATH SENDS A STRONG SIGNAL
At a funeral last week in the mountains of northern India, one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s top aides paid respect to a Tibetan soldier killed on the front lines of deadly clashes with China.
Surrounded by troops waving the flags of both India and Tibet, Ram Madhav laid a wreath before the coffin during a ceremony that gave the deceased man full military honours. In a now-deleted tweet, the national general secretary of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party said he hoped the soldier’s death would lead to peace along the “Indo-Tibetan border.”
The rare recognition of a secretive Indian military unit with Tibetan soldiers by itself threatened to escalate a border dispute that has killed dozens since May and tanked economic ties between the world’s most-populous nations.
A red line
Even more significant was the suggestion that India questioned China’s sovereignty over Tibet — a red line for Beijing, which sees separatism as a cause also worth fighting for in places from Xinjiang to Hong Kong to Taiwan.
“The Indians are sending a message — a very strong message, which they probably have not sent for decades,” said Robbie Barnett, who headed Columbia University’s Modern Tibetan Studies Programme until 2018 and has written about the region since the 1980s. “The involvement of exiled Tibetans and the use of exiled Tibetan icons, images and flags, is hugely significant for China’s interpretation.”
While India and China’s foreign ministers agreed on the need for restraint during a meeting in Moscow last week, tensions along the border remain higher than at any point since hostilities resumed. Still, both India and China are seeking to downplay the significance of the Tibetan soldiers.
China has downplayed reports of the Tibetans, with foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin telling reporters on Monday to ask India about the issue. “China’s position is clear,” he said. “We firmly oppose any country facilitating through any means the ‘Tibetan independence’ forces’ separatist activities.”
We firmly oppose any country facilitating through any means ‘Tibetan independence’ forces’ separatist activities.”
Wang Wenbin | Ministry spokesman