Thank you very much for the very good question. Also, it's good to see someone from the neighbourhood.
You're right. I think that with the infrastructure and the Chinese migration they are trying to do their best to assimilate Tibet into China, but so far it has not worked, for two reasons.
Tibet is called the Tibetan Plateau, the “roof of the world”, because on average it's 4,000 metres high. It's very cold in winter. Chinese people come to Tibet during summer and have to leave Tibet during winter. Even Tibetans took thousands of years to climb from 3,000 metres to 4,000 metres, because wheat cannot grow at 4,000 metres, only at 3,000. We discovered barley, we moved up, and the yaks also came along. That's how we survived on the Tibetan Plateau. That took us 3,000 years. The Chinese will also take 3,000 years to genetically adapt to the Tibetan mountains. Only then can they survive. We have 3,000 years with us, so in that sense, it's true. Also, then, 70% of the Tibetan area is still nomadic and rural, where the Chinese infiltration and presence is much less and also very difficult. In that sense, we have some time: around 3,000 years for us, you know. It's a challenge.
In the urban areas, where there are more developments and better infrastructure, the Chinese are moving in for longer periods of time, but that's where the blatant discrimination is also happening, including in hiring and employment. Even Tibetans who have worked for the Communist Party and are loyal Communist Party members are never promoted to party secretary at the prefecture or county level, even though they are educated and credentialed people. They feel the discrimination.
For example, in 2008 just before the Olympics when there was a major protest all over Tibet, a nationwide protest, CCTV wanted a few Tibetan scholars—quote, unquote—to be on Chinese television to propagate their version of the story. They were flown from Tibet to Beijing. When they went to the hotel to check in, which was booked by CCTV, they were told, “You can't stay in this hotel because you are Tibetan, and you must stay in another hotel that is designated for Tibetans.”
Similarly, even the mid-level Communist Party members, when they went to Chengdu to stay in the usual hotel, were told that they couldn't stay in that hotel, that they had to stay in another one. Even the intellectuals, the party members, feel discrimination, so you can imagine it for the people. Hence, 152 Tibetans have burned themselves, have committed self-immolation. It's an act of desperation, yes, but it is also an act of determination. After 60 years, after three generations of Tibetans, the patriotism, feeling, and passion for the cause are still very strong.
In that sense, you're right. The Chinese government is doing its best to control, but it is not succeeding, hence we have this hearing and the delegation from China that also came to try to share their version.
As far as reincarnation is concerned, as I shared with you, ultimately it is for the Tibetan people to embrace the next Dalai Lama. Obviously, the next Dalai Lama that Tibetans will embrace will be the one recognized by us or the Dalai Lama, and not by the Chinese government, given their track record. To assume that there is a rational progression where there will be two candidates and there will be conflict I think is a fallacy, because the other candidate will have no credibility whatsoever. As I said, it's almost like Kim Jong-un saying “this is my Pope and all the Catholics should follow”. I doubt there would be anyone following that.