(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-17 07:22

The "middle path" is just a pretext for the Dalai Lama to seek "Tibet Independence", says an article in People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:

Recently, the Dalai Lama has expressed his opinion about the "middle path" for Tibet. He said that since 1974, he has kept believing in the stance of the "middle path based on mutual benefits". According to him, the "middle path" means that all the Tibetan people can have real ethnic autonomy under a unified administration so that Tibetan leaders and cadres can shoulder the responsibility of governing Tibetan affairs, except diplomatic and defense affairs.

At first view, it seems as if the Dalai Lama has fully abandoned his stance of "Tibet independence" and has turned to support the regional ethnic autonomy, but in fact he is just playing on words. His support for "Tibet independence" has been more deeply buried than before behind this wordplay.

The key to his semantic tricks is "all Tibetan people". It includes Tibetans both in and outside the Tibet autonomous region and is similar to what he calls "greater Tibet" region. Historically speaking, several different Tibetan-populated areas never formed a unified administration and the former Tibetan local government never ruled the Tibetan regions outside Tibet. Religiously speaking, the Dalai Lama has also never governed the Tibetan communities outside Tibet.

No matter what kinds of tricks the Dalai Lama employed since he raised the view of the "middle path", he essentially wants the same thing, that is, the "independence of Tibet".

(China Daily 04/17/2008 page8)