Resolve Tibet issue through dialogue: India

“So far Tibet is concerned, our position has all along been that the issue has to be resolved between different sections of the people of Tibet and People’s Republic of China through dialogue and not through force,” he told the media at an orientation programme on Parliamentary reporting.

“In 1949, when we recognised the People’s Republic of China at that point of time we also recognised that Tibet was an autonomous region of the People’s Republic of China,” he added.

Mukherjee said, there was no contradiction in India’s policy on China and asylum given to the Dalai Lama.

“Our giving shelter to the Dalai Lama and 1,86,000 Tibetan refugees in India is not contradictory because we believe in the basic principle if ‘vasudhaiva kutumbakam’ which means the universe is my home,” he said.

“Whoever has asked for shelter, we have given — from Dalai Lama to Taslima Nasreen,” he said, adding that the guests have to have some responsibility.

He also hinted, that Tibet and China have a long historic past and cultural and linguistic affinities.

Asked whether the issue of Tibet can be seen as that of decolonisation, Mukherjee said “there is a subtle difference on where it begins.”