ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to evaluate the Tibet question through the looking glass of Taiwan, by considering four dimensions of comparative dynamics between the two cases of Taiwan and the Tibetan government-in-exile (TGIE) in relation to China: territorial, economic, ethnic and cultural. Territorial difference is the first reason why the TGIE will find it harder to reconcile with the status quo and re-prioritize political goals towards the economic. The chapter argues that at the official level, the TGIE has achieved a ‘negative dependence’ on China, in the sense that its existence as an exile community and ‘exile as livelihood’ have depended much on being a political representation antithetical to China. It presents the dynamics of the Taiwan versus the TGIE cases vis-a‘-vis China: differences in the two cases on territorial, economic, ethnic and cultural matters in relation to China. The chapter shows how these differences explain why Taiwan can gravitate economically towards China, while Dharamsala cannot do so.
