*Tibet to China and India as The Vatican To Italy... by Jamil Shawwa

The Tibet spiritual leader the **Dalai Lama was here in Washington DC few days ago and met our president Barack Obama. Meeting the president even for just a photo opportunity gave the visit a very high visibility and irritated China that does not recognize Tibet as a sovereign nation. China and Tibet have been in conflict for decades and centuries as Tibet tries to maintain it is own identity in face of China. Another player that is not visible here is India, which controls the Tawang province that has the most Tibetan sacred monastery, and it is located on the border of china and considered part of India. It seems to me from glancing quickly through the history of this conflict that China will continue to claim sovereignty over this province as it does over another province though considered a country; Mongolia. The uniqueness of Tibet is not political but religious and spiritual. This uniqueness might give the Tibet a chance to have a special status, it does now but it seems that it is not enough for the Dalai. China can continue to have Tibet under its overall umbrella and issue a special status to Tibet where this province can be a country and has ambassadors, a government and president, or as in the Vatican a spiritual leader. There are few examples here in the world right now, we have Monaco and Liechtenstein but the best example that can be emulated in my opinion is the Vatican. See attached maps and sources for more relevant information.




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* Source Google.
** Tibet practices Buddhism, which is mainly same as China but has its own specialties. For more information, please Google China and Tibet.