07. Mar 2007
“Hawks blocking Dalai Lama’s return”
(Reuters) Phuntsog Wangyal, the 84-year-old Tibetan Communist veteran, has written to President Hu Jintao and condemned "hawks" for blocking the Dalai Lama's return and criticised them as they "make a living, are promoted and become rich by opposing splittism". Phuntsog Wangyal’s three letters to Hu have never been made public, however, Reuters has obtained copies of the letters. In his 2006 letter, Phuntso singled out Lt Gen Yin Fatang, party boss of Tibet in the 1980s, for sticking to "wrong" leftist policies. In 2004, he wrote: "If the Dalai Lama and the central government reconcile, these people will be in a state of trepidation, feel nervous and could lose their jobs". In an indication that China’s policy towards Tibet is to drag its feet until after the Dalai Lama’s death, Phuntsog wrote: "Any notion of delaying the problem until after the 14th Dalai Lama dies a natural death is not only naive, it is also unwise and especially tactically wrong". Phuntsog warned that the Dalai Lama’s death would radicalise young Tibetan hardliners frustrated with his "Middle Way". Invoking Hu’s "harmonious society" slogan, Phuntsog wrote in 2005 that striving for the return of hundreds of thousands of exiled Tibetans would turn "confrontation into harmony". Phuntsog wrote that "wrong leftist policies continue on ethnic and religious issues especially Tibetan issues" and should cease. "I hope relations between the Dalai Lama and the central government are reconciled", the 2006 letter read. Phuntsog Wangyal was one of the early Tibetan Communists and played a prominent role during the first years of Chinese rule in Tibet before he was disgraced. He spent many years in prison and lived a largely retired life after his liberation in the 1980s.