President of Central Tibet Administration Dr Lobsang Sangay in an interview with India Today, on Tuesday, 9 June, said, "China is trying to do in Ladakh what they did in Tibet".
"What happened to Tibet can happen to India," he added.
The interview comes at a time when India and China have gone through several rounds of talks to reach a solution to the tensions at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the past few weeks.
Sangay told India Today's Rahul Kanwal, "Aggression is an attempt to divert attention from China’s internal problems."
"Indian celebrities should stop endorsing Chinese products," he further added.
‘Tibet Should Be Seen as Answer to the Dispute’
Sangay, in another interview to a news channel a few days ago, had stated that he thinks Tibet should be the answer to the border dispute and further lead to demilitarisation at the border.
“Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim are part of India. Whenever we go to these places, permission from the Indian government is taken, hence since all these years, we have always sought peace,” he stated.
Blaming China for the ongoing tensions, he had also added that the issue between India and China was triggered after China captured the Tibet area, which he said has put them in a fix too.
Meanwhile, a top Chinese official said on Monday that China and India have agreed to work to maintain peace along the LAC and resolve the border standoff through talks while implementing the consensus reached between the two countries’ leadership that “differences” do not escalate into “disputes."
Sangay is the 'Sikyong' – the Tibetan political leader democratically elected by the Tibetan diaspora in 2011 as the Head of the Central Tibetan Administration based in Dharamshala.
In 2018, the Tibetan government-in-exile had decided to cancel its two main events in New Delhi, after the government sent out a note asking senior leaders and government functionaries of the Centre and states to stay away from events planned to mark 60 years in exile of the Dalai Lama.
Citing “sensitive ties” with China, Foreign Secretary Gokhale had requested Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha, in a note, to issue a “classified circular advisory advising all Ministries/Departments of Government of India as well as State Governments not to accept any invitation or to participate in the proposed commemorative events.”
According to The Indian Express, the Indian government had avoided attending a function organised by the Tibetian authorities in 2009 as well, when they were commemorating 50 years in exile.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)