India may 'use' Dalai to 'solve' boundary issue, says Chinese scholar

China today maintained a studied silence over the Dalai Lama’s ongoing visit to Arunachal Pradesh, but a state-run newspaper said he made the trip under pressure from India. “India may make use of the Dalai Lama to solve the decade-long territorial conflict by encouraging his visit to southern Tibet (Arunachal Pradesh),” the official Global Times newspaper quoted a Chinese analyst as saying.

“The Dalai Lama went to southern Tibet at this critical moment probably because of pressure from India,” Hu Shisheng, a researcher of Southern Asian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, was quoted as saying by the sister publication of the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece, People’s Daily.

“By doing so, he can please the country that has hosted him for years,” Hu said. China has not officially reacted to the Dalai Lama’s current visit to Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as its territory.

The appearance and activities of the Dalai Lama in southern Tibet may foment anti-China sentiment among people living in the region, Hu said. “When the conflict gets sharper and sharper, the Chinese government will have to face it and solve it in a way India has designed,” Hu added. The report noted that during his visit to the Tawang monastery yesterday, the Dalai Lama had “spoke out against China”.