The thorn China planted

For India, the Dalai Lama is not a geopolitical pawn but a guest, a spiritual leader, and a Nobel laureate

- KHEDROOB THONDUP

When the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi recently declared that the Dalai Lama's succession is a "thorn" in India-China relations, it was not merely a diplomatic jab—it was a revealing admission. The thorn, however, was not planted by India. It was sown in 1950, when China invaded Tibet, dismantled its sovereignty, and forced its spiritual leader into exile. The Dalai Lama's presence in India is not the cause of tension—it is the consequence of China's own actions.

In 1950, the People's Liberation Army marched into Tibet under the guise of "liberation." By 1951, the Seventeen-Point Agreement had formalized China's control, though Tibetans never accepted it as legitimate. The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 following a failed uprising, and India granted him asylum. Since then, he has lived in Dharamshala, becoming both a spiritual beacon and a symbol of Tibetan resistance.