Tibetans resigned to little help from world

updated 11:36 p.m. ET March 22, 2008

DHARMSALA, India - Nearly six decades of struggle against the might of China has taught the Tibetans one thing: Ask the world for little, expect less.

As Tibetans rose up in recent weeks against China's harsh rule over the Himalayan region and China sent forces to quell the protests, Tibet's government-in exile-sent its envoys to far-flung capitals with appeals for help.

But guided by the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, they kept their requests modest. They know few countries have the appetite to cross China, particularly at a time the world is counting on the emerging superpower to keep the global economy ticking as the United States appears headed into a recession.

"His Holiness says we have to be realistic," said Tenzin Taklha, a senior aide to the 72-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who has come to embody the Tibetan struggle since he fled to India in 1959 in the wake of a failed uprising against China.

Pragmatism from Dalai Lama
From the exiled Tibetan leaders, there were no calls for sanctions, like those imposed when Myanmar suppressed pro-democracy protests last year, or even a boycott of this summer's Beijing Olympics.

It's an approach that reflects the pragmatism of the Dalai Lama, who has long sought an accommodation based on his "Middle Way" dialogue with Beijing aimed at autonomy for Tibetans under Chinese rule.

Instead, the Tibetans appealed for international pressure on China to act with restraint, to open the area to international investigators and the media and for organizations like the International Red Cross to be allowed in to ensure wounded Tibetan protesters get treatment.

"Specific things are very difficult. No one is going to send in a peacekeeping force," said Taklha.

Moral support from abroad
The Tibetans have, however, won the moral support of many nations.

On Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lent her voice, calling China's crackdown "a challenge to the conscience of the world."

Pelosi was the first major foreign official to meet the Dalai Lama since the start of the unrest, visiting him in Dharmsala, the hilltop town in northern India where he has his headquarters.

But it is difficult for most countries to do more than call on China to show restraint, finding themselves walking a tightrope between their sympathy for the Tibetans and their very real economic and strategic needs to maintain good relations with Beijing.

China reacts harshly against countries offering overt support to the Dalai Lama, whom it accuses of masterminding the uprising in an attempt to secure Tibet's independence and undermine the Olympic games.

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