INTRODUCTION: SEARCH FOR AN ALTERNATIVE TO OVERCOME THE CURRENT STALEMATE

The Tibet issue has remained intractable for at least fifty years (Sperling 2004; Sautman & Dreyer 2006). Several dialogues between representatives of the exiled Dalai Lama and the Chinese government in the last few years have produced no tangible results (Rajan 2005; The Nation 2005; Rabgey & Sharlho 2004). The 2008 Tibetan protests against Chinese rule in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, and the counter-protests by Chinese students in major cities around the world, inflamed mistrust and suspicion between the Tibetan and ethnic Chinese communities. This discord tarnished China's credibility as a global power (Economy & Segal 2008: 47).

Over the next few years, increased radicalisation in both Tibetan and ethnic Chinese communities is anticipated. This highlights the need for initiatives that would build up mutual understanding and trust at a grassroots level, as well as within the leaderships. Given how hard it is now to rebuild trust between the Chinese government and the Tibetan government in exile, it is vital to promote mutual understanding and trust between the two communities of people through a process of citizens’ deliberation.

A deliberative approach to minority rights issues in Xinjiang Province was called for by Justin J. Stein (2003), who argues: ‘CCP rhetoric regarding the unity and apparently utopian quality of interactions between various nationalities should be replaced by a more genuine discourse reflective of vying interests and preferences.’ In the past decade, the Dalai Lama himself has made a number of significant efforts to talk with Han Chinese scholars in the US and beyond (Zhang Weiguo 1999). Even earlier, in 1988, Wu Jinghua, the former party secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), organised a series of ‘heart to heart’ meetings with representatives of the major monasteries to hear their grievances. Wu paid a price, becoming dubbed a ‘Lama Secretary’ (Bahl 1989) and being removed from his position a few months later.

Between 2009 and 2012, Beijing sent a number of official delegations to major international cities to host a series of talks on China's Tibet policy. (A quick online search for the term ‘Sino–Tibetan dialogue’ on 10 August 2012 brought up a list of 533,000 items.) Such meetings could potentially reduce mutual distrust, explore new thinking and initiatives, and provide a basis for the development of a deliberative approach.