[MadPanda]

The number of violent incidents in the Tibet conflict is getting bigger, which may be triggering further violence if solution remains undetermined.

Tibet issue is inherently unlike other major conflicts that are happening. It’s not like Syrian conflict that could be rapidly escalated from a peaceful protest into a tragic war with increasing staggering number of death. In fact, the Tibet is an issue that has been least involved in violence for several decades and has only one leader, the Dalai Lama, who has gone into exile since the uprising in 1959 and since then constantly spread Tibetan Buddhism while sought autonomy for his homeland, on the basis of non-violent practice, from international support.

Nevertheless, though as the main peace factor behind the non-violent protesting method of Tibet, Dalai Lama’s effort to demand autonomy for Tibet seems to be running out of hope as the climate of distrust between him and China is putting two sides into a deadlock. The Chinese side holds conviction, and also has convinced majority of Chinese citizens, that Dalai Lama is a hypocrite. On the other hand, Dalai Lama has continually going to the West, meeting Western leaders to seek supports, and unavoidably, either intentionally or unintentionally, criticize China. It is said that Dalai Lama has given up the hope to persuade China’s government over Tibet’s autonomy issue.

In recent years, the conflict has been experiencing more violent incident, though the number is not too big. The poor governance that favor Han Chinese immigrant right on the land Tibetan land, the more troops thrown onto the land, all the practice taken by Chinese government is combusting the anger of Tibetan people, who have been trying to control themselves as the Dalai Lama has asked them to. However, as the Dalai Lama’s hope is vanishing, and also he is getting much older, Tibetans will be going to find it resentful if China has thrown away the historical opportunity to allow this man to come back to his home before he dies. This issue leads to the need for China to start considering settling the situation, especially when its international image towards human rights is being damaged, which will have negative impact in terms of various aspects, including economics.

The very first step that China can take in mitigating the situation is to break the Tibet issue into 2 kinds of issues. They should separate the different talks about autonomy and the Dalai Lama’s breadth of influence, which are the things that induce the most fear to China, from the easy issues like religion, migration and development. It has been said by many Tibetans in Tibet that, “Stop demonizing the Dalai Lama, allow people to practice religion, and regular the migration of non-Tibetans into the area.” This issue is pretty simple and straightforward. In fact, every country does it in a very normal manner. By doing so, China will not only mitigate the tension, but also be able to build political capital in Tibet. And this is also a more sustainable solution than keeping a large territory constantly under military garrison.

Source: http://www.fnotw.org/Article/Full/5926