India taunts China with Dalai Lama

India hopes to disconcert China by granting permission to Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to visit the Tawang monastery in Arunachal Pradesh in November.

This comes after China has ratcheted up its claims to the northeastern state, and had raised the issue at an Asian Development Bank (ADB) meeting in Manila, Phillipines, saying no multilateral finance can be given to a ‘disputed’ territory.

India has a potent weapon in the Dalai Lama and the large community of exiled Tibetans living in this country to annoy China whenever it wants. While officials deny the Dalai Lama’s visit has anything to do with China, this is certain to remind Beijing that New Delhi has an ace in hand. Beijing saw red in 2000, when 14-year-old lama Trinley Dorje, the 16th Karmapa, arrived at McLeodganj  in Dharamsala after fleeing from China. India had said that he had every right to stay on like all Tibetan refugees.

Both India and China realise  that economic growth is possible only in a peaceful periphery. So while there may not be an outright war between the Asian giants, shadow-boxing, jostling for influence and resources across the world, and claims and counter-claims on the border are here to stay till the Line of Actual Control is settled.

This was manifest in China’s protests at the ADB meet. While it has been Beijing’s norm to lay claim to Arunachal whenever the issue has come up, the fact that it would raise the issue at the bank meet was surprising.

Indian diplomats, on their part, tried to work their way through member states. The United States, Canada and other western countries share India’s views that the loan should be granted on ‘economic criteria’. China was the lone dissenter and the $2.9 billion loan had been sanctioned.

Of this, $60 million is for the Arunachal project. “The loan, despite Chinese protests, is in our kitty. The money for the projects has not yet been drawn by India… this takes time,” an official said. New Delhi may even raise its own money for the Arunachal project.

In this context, giving the go-ahead to the Dalai Lama’s visit is India’s reminder to China that it can hit where it hurts. China regularly protests against governments that entertain the Tibetan leader. Last year, the Chinese forced South Africa to cancel an invitation to the Dalai Lama for a conference. So sending the Dalai Lama to Arunachal is like putting a red rag before a raging bull.

China may lay claim to all of Arunachal but it is known that what it really wants is the ancient Tawang monastery, one of the holiest shrines of Tibetan Buddhists as the sixth Dalai Lama was born there.

“China’s stance is consistent. We firmly oppose the Dalai Lama visiting the so-called Arunachal Pradesh,” China’s foreign office spokeswoman Jiang Yu said. But China’s protests will have no bearing on New Delhi’s decision.