Why should India return Tawang to China?

by Visakha Kawasaki, Kandy, Sri Lanka, The Buddhist Channel, Nov 20, 2006

I refer to the article "India should return Tawang to China: Chinese scholars". What poppycock! Of course chauvanistic Chinese scholars will say anything to benefit Beijing. The Communist Chinese record toward Buddhism in general and Tibet in particular is so heinous and shameful that this nonsensical claim has no place on a Buddhist site.

Just consider that the Potala Palace in Lhasa is ranked at the bottom of World Heritage sites with this observation from National Geographic: "Former home of both the Tibetan national government and the Dalai Lama—and with more than a thousand rooms, there was space enough for all—the 5-square-mile (13-square-kilometer) Potala ("pure land") dates back to the 17th century but includes remnants of the original, seventh-century Potala.

"Despite its religious and architectural significance, Traveler says, the area has seen its "spirit of place" crushed by a Chinese government bent on erasing the Tibetan culture. Here, pilgrims and religious articles have been replaced with tourists and tacky souvenirs."

If this is how the Chinese have treated the Potala, imagine what they could do to ruin Tawang and ravish Arunachal Pradesh by resettling hoards of Han Chinese there.

The mere thought curdles the blood.