People's Republic of Tibet
The border between North China and the People's Republic of Tibet is surprisingly one-sided. The North Chinese side is poorly-guarded and what border guards I can see from my train appear bored. The Tibetan side is far more heavily guarded, with copious Tibetan flags visible, and I see a few actual soldiers with the uniform of the Tibetan People's Army on patrol.
"Don't worry," my seatmate, a dapper Chinese businessman with one of the North Chinese water corporations assures me with a smile, "this will all go away in a few months." In response to my questioning look, he chuckles. "The Tibetan National People's Patriotic Front, one of the conservative parties, has the most power right now, but the Dalai Lama will have them out in the next election."
Lhasa, when we arrive late at night, is a study in contradictions. The outskirts of the city contain many modern, Western-style building projects, but the further inwards my car travels the more old buildings dominate. While not wealthy by many worlds' standards, I see little sign of open poverty. My driver, when questioned, says that this is a result of the Dalai Lama's leadership and support for housing for the economically disadvantaged, referring to the Dalai Lama with a shorthand religious honorific.
The 14th Dalai Lama himself, an elderly man with a warm smile, meets me at an unobtrusive temple in the center of the city. "Welcome, Mr. Chana!" he exclaims, beckoning me up the stairs and inside. "No trouble on your journey, I hope?"
I assure him that there were no delays. He nods in satisfaction. "Good. I'll be saying some things to make the National People's Patriotic Front lose an election soon, but for now they are in charge of the government, and they don't really care for the Chinese."
We sit in a quiet area inside the temple, several monks and large men in suits standing a respectful distance away, and the Dalai Lama asks me how I find Tibet. I assure him that it is one of the more pleasant nations that I have visited, and he thanks me with a smile, but I notice that it doesn't quite reach his eyes. "It takes a great deal of effort to maintain this state of affairs," the
de facto theocrat of Tibet assures me. "And I am growing no younger. The 11th Panchen Lama, of course, has been carefully instructed, but...I worry, about the future of my nation."
The People's Republic of Tibet is a nominally-Syndicalist (a branch of liberal socialism popular in this universe) nation with a parliamentary republic, but functions as a
de facto theocracy. As with a large group of broadly similar universes, this universe's China was broken up after the fall of the Qing Empire in the 1910s; however, a large German effort to prop up a puppet Qing monarchy in exchange for economic concessions following the First Weltkrieg successfully installed Aisin-Goro Puyi back onto his throne as Emperor of China in the 1920s. Initially, the Qing state had control only over a region around Beijing and some nearby provinces, with the Germans, Japanese, and several cliques and renegade warlords controlling the outlying regions, including the self-declared state of Tibet. Beginning in 1936, the Qing launched a military effort under the control of a military junta nominally serving Puyi to restore the borders of their nation, calling their new empire the National Empire of China. The junta followed a fascist ideology that this universe calls National Populism; believing the Han ethnic group to be superior to others, the National Empire's leadership sought the brutal subjugation and ethnic cleansing of "areas of historical Chinese influence", including Mongolia and Tibet.
Tibetan resistance was "led" by the 13th Dalai Lama, an old man who served as a figurehead and rallying point until his capture and brutal public execution by the National Empire's state security bureau. The new Dalai Lama was selected in secret, raised in a resistance cave for several years, and sent abroad as quickly as possible to the United States of America (by this point under a new Syndicalist regime) for education and safety, and was held up as the incarnation of the Tibetan people's will to resist. With support from agrarian socialist Bharat, the rebels held on for years despite subjugation, sustained ethnic cleansing, and finally extermination attempts overseen by a renegade German naval officer who'd become the head of Chinese state security.
The National Empire of China, and its chief ally (Boris Savinkov's National-Populist Russian State), fell to American- and German-led coalitions that entered an alliance of convenience, conquering and dividing up both states. In the aftermath, Tibet declared its independence, supported by Mahatma Gandhi's Bharatiya Commune, and was immediately granted American protection and an American nuclear umbrella. The Dalai Lama, now a young man, returned in triumph to Lhasa and was hailed as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism and the symbol of Tibetan freedom.
The 14th Dalai Lama, however, had (as he explains to me) absorbed many American values, and sought to institute a democratic, Syndicalist system of rule in Tibet while removing himself from power as much as possible. This failed, and after a decade of unstable government and diplomatic crises the Dalai Lama conceded and took up a symbolic position as "eternal guide of the Tibetan People". Though he holds no official power, the Dalai Lama explains, he is the absolute ruler of Tibet in all but name.
"If you look at our Epedia article on the World-Net, you will be told that Tibet is a parliamentary democracy, with parties ranging from the Tibetan National Sovereign People's Patriotic Front on the left, to the Tibetan National People's Patriotic Front on the right, with the Workers' Party of Tibet in the center and approximately a dozen other parties filling in the gaps," the Dalai Lama explains. "This is, technically, true. However, not only the parties, but the people of Tibet will obey any command that I give; I am the ruler of Tibet, and not one of the men in the People's Assembly that I worked so hard to create means
anything so long as there is a Dalai Lama."
How does he enforce his decisions?
"I do not need to. Our people struggled for almost twenty years against a regime that sought to annihilate the Tibetan people. For much of that time, I was the living symbol of Tibetan resistance. Even those who were not Buddhists prayed to
me in their camps. They taught their children, and their children's children. I need only give a command, and it will be obeyed. I have tried to build a liberal democracy, and I cannot speak without becoming a tyrant."
How can that be, though? I ask. Surely the Dalai Lama does not interfere directly?
"Oh, believe me, I have
tried to consciously avoid affecting politics," the Dalai Lama explains with a rueful grimace. "That lasted about a month in 1956. I was giving a radio address, making a few points about theology and giving my thoughts on international affairs--that was very popular with the people before television became commonplace, I was trusted over the politicians even back then and it was an easy way for me to promote national unity--and I said that I approved of a trade deal with Gandhi's Bharatiya Commune to our south. That was a central position of the Tibetan National Sovereign People's Patriotic Front party at the time; in the elections that year, the TNSPPF won over sixty percent of the vote, in a fairly-contested nine-way election overseen by Internationale
and Europan observers. A poll afterwards by an American statistics union showed that support for trade with Bharat had
tripled and almost entirely due to my statement."
I express my amazement, and the Dalai Lama shakes his head with a frown.
"You should not be so excited. That is the kind of power that I have, Mr. Chana. Not merely moral authority, not merely political power or fame and status as a national hero--a
combination of all three. No man should have that much power. Ever since, I have endeavored to use it for good--I made a statement saying that tolerance should be shown towards homosexuals when the Americans started to push on that, and two men were legally married in Lhasa three years later; I said in a television interview with Japanese news that Tibet's environment should be protected more strongly, and the Greens won the next election and put in a sweeping clean-energy law. But even so, one mistake, one unkind remark about the Chinese or unflattering complaint about American tourists, and public opinion will shift dramatically against our neighbors and our most powerful benefactor.
"That is why I agree with Mr. Bhutia, Mr. Chana, and why I am considering issuing a statement that the position of the Dalai Lama is no longer necessary and that I should not be reincarnated. Even a perfect being would have difficulty handling this power safely, and I am
not a perfect being. Neither, most likely, will my successor be. And one mistake is all it could take to permanently damage Tibet's situation."
Mr. Bhutia?
"A very wise man. You should visit him, before you leave."
Mr. Bhutia turns out to be Kelsang Bhutia, a self-declared "anti-theocratic activist" living in downtown Lhasa. My driver glowers at his house as we approach, and responds to my query by saying that Mr. Bhutia "insults the Dalai Lama, and thus the nation of Tibet".
Bhutia himself is a well-dressed man of middle age, who greets me with an affable smile and a firm handshake. "His Holiness the Dalai Lama, may he be at peace, called ahead, Mr. Chana. I assume that you wish to know more about the system of Tibet?"
I confirm this, and note that the Dalai Lama seemed rather negative about the whole thing. Bhutia nods. "Yes, His Holiness is rather dissatisfied with the state of affairs. Personally, I agree with him." He invites me inside, where several large, heavily-armed African men point disturbingly large weapons in my direction until Bhutia waves them off. "Congolese mercenaries," Bhutia explains. "Paid by His Holiness to protect me. His Holiness has repeatedly stated that my criticism of the state of affairs is healthy for Tibet and that I am not to be harmed, but there are a few fanatics who interpret his statements their own way. Such things are inevitable, of course, with our current situation; the vast majority obey the Dalai Lama, but with the sheer level of importance that he holds in our society, there are a few who will become...
creative."
I mention that this situation seems rather absurd; a man paying for mercenaries to protect his opponent from his fanatical followers? Bhutia chuckles. "On the contrary, His Holiness is not my enemy. Did he mention that he is considering ending the cycle of Dalai Lamas?" I nod. "Yes. He is, if anything,
more dissatisfied than I. Though as you have heard from him and me, there are a great many flaws with our system and it relies upon the wisdom and good-heartedness of the Dalai Lama--or the Panchen Lama, if we are speaking of the time between reincarnations--it is in part a
consequence of His Holiness's benevolence, and, when push comes to shove, Tibet has prospered under this system."
So why advocate against it?
"I thought that obvious. It relies upon His Holiness's benevolence. Perhaps if he had not been a kind man who seeks for the best for all...but as it stands, the people were told that he was the ultimate hero, and he confirmed their beliefs to them by acting with kindness and empathy, and now, children are taught practically from birth that the Dalai Lama is the holiest and best man in the world, and he and I both worry about what might happen if the next Dalai Lama is corrupt, or cruel, or more...
devout. In the less egalitarian way." He puts a hand up before I can reply. "Now, do not get me wrong! Tibet is economically stable, has several strong trading partners and a good friend in the Workers' States of America, and we have equal rights for all citizens. His Holiness has condemned in the strongest possible terms any form of sectarian or ethnic violence, and is always careful to not give the anti-Chinese groups any justification. We are at peace, we are comfortable and well-fed, and we may say whatever we wish without legal repercussions. We vote freely and fairly for our government and there are no consequences for not voting for the ruling party. Corruption is nearly nonexistent and income inequality is low.
"And all of it relies upon the benevolence and wisdom of one man."
But surely the democratic institutions will survive?
Bhutia grimaces. "
Potentially. His Holiness and I suspect that his next incarnation will have a similar, albeit possibly slightly reduced, amount of soft power. That is why, though I myself am a devout Buddhist, and I was raised to loyally serve the Dalai Lama like all good Tibetan boys, I have raised no objection to His Holiness's plans to end the cycle. The system works, for now. But it is not sustainable."
While the People's Republic is by no means a perfect state, it is at least a pleasant and peaceful place where the people are well-cared-for and the regime is strongly in favor of freedom and human rights. The same cannot, it must be said, of many other theocracies, including some that I have yet to visit...
---------------
Thanks to
@rvbomally for the map!
