Exiled Tibet leader: China’s economic woes may spark conflict

Sydney — The head of an India-based organisation, known as Tibet’s government-in-exile, said in Australia on Wednesday that a destabilising economic downturn in China could prompt Beijing to attack Taiwan or India, and this dynamic should be closely watched.

Penpa Tsering, known as the Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), was speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra, and compared Chinese policies to move Tibetan children into boarding schools and DNA collection to Australia’s past policy of removing indigenous children from families.

Australia’s parliament later apologised for the disgraced policy and what became known as the “Stolen Generation”.

The Sikyong is a leadership role created in 2012 after the Dalai Lama, the Tibetans’ 87-year-old spiritual leader, relinquished political authority in favour of an organisation that could outlive him.

Tsering said Beijing kept flashpoints burning with India, Taiwan and in the South China Sea, but its priority was the economy, which was in a downturn with rising youth unemployment.

“China is very insecure today, so we have to keep watching the dynamism and see, because right now my analysis is if there is a threat to the survival of the Communist Party ... they will definitely attack one of these places,” he said in response to reporters questions.

China’s embassy in Canberra, which had urged the National Press Club to cancel the speech, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Beijing has accused the Dalai Lama of fomenting separatism in Tibet and it does not recognise the CTA, which represents about 100,000 exiled Tibetans living in about 30 countries including India, Nepal, Canada and the US. China has ruled Tibet since 1951.

Reuters