Washington, DC – A high-level bipartisan US congressional delegation led by Republican Representative Michael McCaul of Texas arrived in India shortly after Prime Minister Modi took oath. During their meeting with the Dalai Lama and Indian Prime Minister, the delegation urged China’s ruling Communist Party to resolve the Tibet dispute.
The delegation condemned China for linguistic and cultural genocide in Tibet and warned that abuse of Tibet’s natural resources is causing massive demographic shifts and environmental disasters.
Tibetans praised the US Congress for recognizing the “Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act” and the “Resolve Tibet Act,” demonstrating a clear and firm understanding of their desire for freedom.
In response, the ruling communist party rejected any call for talks with HH Dalai Lama and warned Washington of the consequences of renouncing China’s sovereignty over Xizang (Tibet).
According to the state-run Global Times, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian described HH Dalai Lama as a false religious leader plotting to split China. Jian also advised US leaders to cut off contact with the proscribed Tibetan government-in-exile.
Zhu Xiaoming of the China Tibetology Research Center told Global Times that the Acts passed by US legislators to split China violate international law and basic norms of international relations and have sparked widespread outrage and condemnation in China.
Furthermore, Jia Chunyang of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations chastised Speaker Pelosi, who accompanied the delegation on her stormy visit to Taiwan in 2022, as reckless interference aimed at causing regional chaos.
Following the event, many Indians expect their government to declare Xinjiang (East Turkestan) and Xizang (Tibet) disputed territories. India has strengthened relations with Taiwan in recent years, but it still believes in a one-China policy and regards Taiwan, Xinjiang, and Xizang as integral parts of China.
The use of explicit terms like disputed Tibet by US congress members is encouraging for Tibet’s neighbors in Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Jammu-Kashmir, who are frequently subjected to Pakistani and Chinese intrusion. China is implementing the same policy of resource thievery and demographic engineering in Gilgit Baltistan that has plagued Tibet and East Turkestan for decades.
Tibetans believe that China does not consider Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan to be Indian territories; therefore, the Indian government should reciprocate by objecting to China’s presence in East Turkestan and Tibet and renaming places within China-occupied territories in the same way that China has done in Arunachal Pradesh.
Tibet’s emergence as a sovereign nation will serve as a catalyst for cultural preservation and promotion in Baltistan, Ladakh, Lahul-Spiti, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, where residents share cultural and linguistic identity with Tibet.
Simultaneously, ending China’s meddling in Tibet will help prevent excessive natural resource abuse while restoring aquatic bodies and biodiversity. Safeguarding Tibetan flora and fauna, as well as ice melt control in Tibet, would mitigate negative climatic impacts in a much larger area of the world.
The Chinese communist regime’s expansionist agenda endangers not only India but humanity as a whole. China’s tentacles in countries such as Pakistan contribute to the growth of communist ideology in the Indian Ocean region. China is exploiting natural resources against the will of locals, sparking protests and clashes with Chinese workers.
Chinese companies, in collaboration with the Pakistani military, are taking over tourist facilities, pristine lakes and forests, and prime agricultural lands in Gilgit Baltistan to maximize profits at the expense of local residents. Upon Chinese request, the Pakistani military has launched operations in Balochistan, Pashtunistan, and Gilgit Baltistan to quell anti-China protests, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries.
China’s fascination with world domination drives it to build roads in neighboring countries to ensure uninterrupted access to the Indian Ocean. Its latest obsession is to cut through the Karakoram Mountains to connect Gilgit to Hotan via the Shaksgam and Aghil valleys. This route will bypass the Khunjerab pass, which is closed for more than five months of the year due to heavy snow, and save half a day of travel time from Gilgit to Golmud, Xining, and Ningxia.
South of Hotan, this road will intersect with Highway G219 near Aghil, providing a shorter link between Gilgit, occupied Aksai-chin, and Tibet’s Ngari district. Pakistan wants China to declare this road a CPEC project, which would run through Shaksgam, Shigar, Skardo, Deosai, Neelum, and Muzaffarabad before ending in Rawalpindi.
India considers China’s infrastructure construction in POJK to be a violation of its territorial sovereignty. According to India, Shaksgam is part of the Shigar district of POJK and, thus, an integral part of India. In 1963, India objected to Pakistan transferring the Dafdar, Shaksgam, Raskam, and Aghil valleys to China.
Randhir Jaiswal, India’s foreign affairs spokesperson, says China’s actions in the Shaksgam Valley are illegal and will exacerbate already high tensions in the region. According to Gen Rakesh Sharma, an Indian military commander who previously served in Siachen and Eastern Ladakh, this road threatens India’s control over Siachen and Changthang.
Pakistan hopes that building a new road to China via Shigar will boost CPEC and assist in countering India at high passes in the Karakoram and western Himalayan Ranges. China intends to use this route to establish a permanent stake in Shigar, counter India’s strategic advantage, and assist Pakistan in recapturing Siachen.
China’s tactics in Gilgit-Baltistan are similar to what Admiral John Aquilino of US Pacific Command refers to as the boiling frog strategy, in which Beijing gradually increases the level of aggression until victim nations fail to recognize the critical point in a conflict. According to Karan Sharma of the Eurasian Times, China’s gradual militarization of disputed territories in the South China Sea, Nepal, and Bhutan are examples of this strategy.
Building multiple corridors through client states such as Pakistan and Iran reveals China’s strategic objectives. In this context, India’s comprehensive and proactive partnership with QUAD members would deliver the impetus to help Tibet and East Turkestan emerge as buffer states, effectively cutting off China’s potential dominance of the Indian Ocean.
We hope that America’s new shift in Tibet policy will result in the desired freedoms for the region.
Senge Sering
Senge Sering is a native of Pakistan-occupied-Gilgit-Baltistan and runs the Washington DC based Gilgit Baltistan Studies
