Beijing, Oct 10 (IANS) The US “sold out” Tibet in its 1972 strategic deal with China, and successive administrations have continued to put geopolitical interests ahead of justice. Former US President Richard Nixon’s Cold War strategy may have altered the global balance, but it left Tibet politically isolated and diplomatically overlooked, a report has detailed.
“When Richard Nixon stepped off the plane in Beijing in 1972, the world hailed it as a masterstroke of diplomacy. The United States, locked in Cold War rivalry with the Soviet Union, had opened a new channel with Mao Zedong’s China. Yet for Tibetans, that handshake marked the beginning of a long betrayal. Tibet was quietly sacrificed on the altar of geopolitics, and successive US administrations have continued the pattern—choosing silence over principle, accommodation over advocacy, ” Khedroob Thondup, nephew of the 14th Dalai Lama, wrote in 'The Tibet Express'.
He noted that Nixon’s visit was framed as a strategic realignment aimed at counterbalancing Moscow through engagement with Beijing, but the cost was immediate.
“Tibet, which had been a subject of international concern after China’s invasion in 1950 and the Dalai Lama’s flight in 1959, vanished from Washington’s agenda. The US had once covertly supported Tibetan resistance through the CIA, but Nixon’s rapprochement required erasing Tibet from the conversation. In effect, Tibet was traded for detente, ” Thondup stated.
According to the report, successive US administrations, both Republican and Democratic, have largely refrained from challenging Beijing over Tibet since Nixon’s presidency.
It stated that the rationale has remained broadly unchanged: growing economic ties with China made Tibet “an inconvenient topic” that could threaten trade and diplomatic interests.
Washington’s strategic priorities, including cooperation with Beijing on arms control, North Korea and global stability, took precedence over Tibetan autonomy, the report said.
“Raising Tibet was seen as a provocation that would derail broader US–China relations. The result: Tibet was relegated to symbolic gestures—occasional meetings with the Dalai Lama, congressional resolutions, or human rights reports—while substantive pressure on Beijing was absent, ” The Tibet Express mentioned.
Stressing that this policy of omission has emboldened Beijing, the report said that by refusing to challenge China’s narrative, Washington has allowed cultural erasure through Beijing’s policies of Sinicization, language suppression and religious control to continue unchecked.
It added that environmental exploitation, including dam-building and mining projects on the Tibetan plateau, threatens Asia’s water security, while diplomatic isolation has left the Central Tibetan Administration unrecognised and Tibetans without a legitimate international platform.
Highlighting Tibet’s wider significance, the report said, “Tibet is not a relic of Cold War bargaining — it is a living issue with global implications. Its rivers sustain nearly two billion people. Its culture represents one of the world’s great spiritual traditions. Its political fate is a test of whether small nations can survive in the shadow of great powers. By sidelining Tibet, Washington signals that principles of freedom and self-determination are negotiable.”