Special: Focus on Tibet

    BEIJING, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- A signed article by Yi Duo on Friday provided an insight into the autocratic nature of the Dalai Lama's theocratic rule.

    The article said the Dalai clique had been using every opportunity to talk its democratic achievements for years, while some Western forces have also been trying to portrait Dalai as the symbol of democracy.

    The article said anyone who knows the Dalai clique would be able to tell that it is an autocratic theocracy that is any thing but democracy.

    The article said, the Dalai clique had tried to lay a legal basis for its rule. Although it borrowed such concepts as "separation of executive, legislative and judicial powers" from the West, it is still a theocratic system with the Dalai Lama acting as both the head of the government and the religious leader-- a system continued down from the old Tibet.

    The article cited a 1963 document and a 1991 charter introduced by the Tibetan separatists as examples.

    In the 1963 document on Tibet's political system and constitution, the group stated that major powers of the Tibet government would be in the charge of the Dalai Lama.

    In 1991, the group adopted the Charter of Tibetans in-Exile, where the 3rd article stipulated that Tibetan political system would be an integration of politics and religion, and articles 19, 29, 30, 55, 97 and 101 outlined the powers of the Dalai Lama.

    Yi's article charged that such detailed and systematic stipulations laid a "solid legal basis" for the Dalai Lama to arrogate all powers to himself and questioned the democracy of such stipulations.

    In 1993, the Tebetan government published a document supporting theocratic rule that said the old Tibet was not as "cruel and dark as claimed by China."

    On Nov. 26, 2000, the Dalai Lama at a seminar in Dharamsala in India claimed that theocracy had a broad meaning and future Tibet would benefit from the implementation of a theocratic system. He claimed that Western countries, like the United States, were also run by a theocratic system.

    In November, the Tibetan separatists held a special meeting on Tibet's future amid intensifying internal conflicts. The first of five decisions of the meeting called for the Dalai Lama's continued leadership of Tibet's political and religious cause. The second called for "all Tibetans" to respect and support any decisions made by the Dalai Lama at anytime. The decisions further ensured the "legal validity" of his continued powers.

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