I was seven when my country was run over by China.
This was in 1959, when His Holiness the Dalai Lama escaped to India. I was at the train station in Siliguri, India, to pay my respects to our leader.
For 60 years I have witnessed events in my homeland under occupation while at the same time living a life in exile in India.
With the arrival of thousands of refugees who followed His Holiness to India it was the foresight of then-Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru who laid out a plan for the future of us refugees.
Land was given for rehabilitation, schools were set up for our children, but most important we had a spirit of exile where we knew we would return to our homeland one day and in the meantime were to prepare ourselves.
We came from a land that was free and had stood independent with its own religion, traditions and culture. We know in our hearts it is our right to be able to achieve the freedom we have lost.
Thousands of our people have given their lives in this fight both inside Tibet under occupation and in exile.
When we started negotiations with China in 1980, it was then-Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) who made the pre-condition: “Anything but independence could be discussed.”
I was involved with part of these talks and after 15 years of talks came to the conclusion that Beijing was not sincere and did not want to achieve a settlement to the question of Tibet.
One of its prime warnings to us was not to internationalize the question of Tibet.
The second was that, as the 10th Panchen Lama was alive, they did not need the Dalai Lama.
Unfortunately, the question of Tibet is an international one and the 10th Panchen is no more than a puppet who is not recognized by the Tibetan people.
We have come to find out that the communist Chinese are nothing but bullies and paranoid for their security with their surveillance systems.
Our people have come to live with these conditions, and have shown their resistance and bravery with more than 150 self-immolations.
Today the authorities are still clamping down over the possession of His Holiness’ photograph. After 60 years of occupation Beijing still does not have the confidence in ruling Tibet.
As long as we have the moral ground, Beijing will fail to control the minds of the Tibetan people.
Despite being occupied for more than 60 years and being in exile for 60 years, I am not afraid of China.
Khedroob Thondup is a former member of parliament in the Tibetan parliament-in-exile.
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