Condemnation for Tibet Clause in China–Myanmar Economic Treaty

By Kritika M Narula / January 23, 2020;

Myanmar has drawn criticism from the Central Tibetan Administration for referring to Tibet, along with Taiwan and East Turkestan [Ch: Xinjiang], as “inalienable parts of China” in a joint declaration with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping on January 18. The declaration was an output of the recent visit of the Chinese President to Myanmar to sign the 33 agreements on Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) contracts for the second China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), commonly referred to as the “One Belt One Road Initiative”.

The agreements, signed by the Chinese President and Aung San Suu Kyi, the State Counsellor of Myanmar, epitomise the strength of China-Myanmar bilateral relations — and the ninth agreement has created a furore. It includes expression of China’s support for Myanmar’s development and stability, reciprocated by Myanmar’s commitment to the One China Policy. All China’s bilateral ventures look at this commitment of the partner to the One China policy as a pre-requisite of sorts. The text of this particular joint agreement, which has been published on the official website of Myanmar’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, went on to state that Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang are “inalienable parts of China”.

The Information Secretary of the Central Tibetan Administration, Mr Tsewang Gyalpo Arya, has rebuked these provisions. Arya was quoted as saying that “the Chinese government’s insistence that Tibet is an alienable part of it from history is nothing but empty posturing without a grain of truth”.

The statement has elicited similar reactions from Taiwan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry who decried the joint statement as false. This is not the first time Myanmar has drawn condemnation for its disregard of international human rights. It is also not the first time China has inserted the clause of commitment to the One China Policy in its bilateral agreements. When China announced financial aid for development in Nepal last year, similar words were used, with China referring to Tibetan affairs as “China’s internal affairs”.