This year is the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Simla Agreement at the conclusion of a tripartite convention held in Simla between Tibet, British India and China in 1914. Today, May 23, marks the completion of 63 years since Tibet and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) signed the 17-Point Agreement on the geographical division of the Tibetan region in 1951.
A century has passed, but still Tibet and Beijing find themselves at loggerheads. Many Chinese scholars believe the PRC’s current ethnic policy is flawed and was misconceived in the first place. They think giving different appellations to different groups of people creates division in a country as diverse and large as China. So classification of people into different nationalities is fundamentally the bane of a unified and harmonious China. These scholars believe China could do away with the terms “ethnicity” and “nationality” and let all people blend together in a large “melting pot”.
Other thinkers believe the current ethnic-based problems China faces can be solved by taking the bull by the horns. In the case of the protracted issue of Tibet, they say the Dalai Lama is the “key” to a mutually agreeable solution. Veteran Tibetan communist Bapa Phuntso Wangye, who passed away recently in Beijing, expressed similar opinion in a letter, dated October 29, 2004, to then president of China Hu Jintao. [Source]
