Why Dalai Lama can´t represent all Tibetans: scholar

Source: Xinhua | 03-27-2009 14:04

BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The China Daily on Friday published an article by Huo Wei, professor of Tibetology at Sichuan University, on the Dalai Lama's claim that he represents all the Tibetans. Following is the full text:

Why Dalai Lama can't represent all Tibetans

The debate on the Tibet issue is once again centered on the international and domestic media and public opinions abroad. Many reports and comments in the Western media, however, fail to grasp the basic facts and concepts of a nation such as China. Such baseless reports have created a misunderstanding about China and its Tibet autonomous region among Western readers and viewers. Thus it is necessary to clarify the basic facts on and about Tibet.

China has always been a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural civilization, and Tibet its integral part. Among the various ethnic groups that call China their home are the Hans and 55 ethnic minorities. So it's wrong for the West to regard only the Han people as Chinese. This is a distortion of basic facts, which in effect would leave the 55 minority groups without a homeland.

China has a history as a cosmopolitan society. Right from the days of dynastic rule, people from many ethnic, cultural, and religious groups have lived together as citizens of China irrespective of whether the emperors were ethnic Han, Mongolian or Manchurian. The dynasties and kingdoms founded by ethnic minorities, such as the Yuan dynasty of the Mongols and the Qing dynasty of the Manchus, were all Chinese authorities.