'West must stop fanning Tibet fire'

'Tibet has rankled the Chinese for 50 years'

The Chinese 'liberation' Army enters Lhasa (September 1951)

Dr Yukteshwar Kumar is Course Director of Chinese Stream at University of Bath, United Kingdom. Before joining University of Bath, Dr Kumar taught at premier Indian universities like University of Delhi, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan and JNU in different capacities. He has also served as a Nehru Fellow at Peking University, China (1999-2001) Probably the only Indian today to teach Chinese in a top western University, Dr. Kumar has also interpreted for top Chinese and Indian leaders including the Chief Justices of India and China, the Foreign Minister of China, and the Chief Ministers of Bihar and West Bengal. He has also contributed numerous articles in both Chinese and English for various English and Chinese papers and journals and is the co-author of a book on learning Chinese.

In June 2000, when then Indian President Kocheril Raman Narayanan was visiting China, one of the

Chinese journalists asked me in Beijing, "According to you, what is the main issue which triggers Chinese strategists and diplomats as far as Sino-Indian Relations are concerned?"

"The Tibet issue," I replied without hesitation.

While many may believe that it is the border issue, which plagues bilateral relations, I would beg to differ. It is Tibet which has rankled Chinese minds for almost 50 years now. For India too, it is not the border or "Boundary Problem" but the Chinese proximity to Pakistan which is giving mandarins of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and other strategic analysts a headache.