Author: Tsering Passang

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On Sunday 10 December, hundreds of Chinese, Hongkongers, Tibetans and Uyghurs and human rights supporters are marching in central London, from the UK Foreign Office to the Chinese Embassy to mark Human Rights Day.

Organised by a coalition of rights groups and community organisations, China’s persecuted communities and their supporters will demand China and international governments to put an end to the repression of all of those living under Chinese Communist Party rule.

Schedule: Sunday, 10th December 2023

• 1pm – 1:30pm: rally outside the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (King Charles St, London SW1A 2AH) with speeches from community members.
• 1:30pm – 2:30pm: march from the Foreign Office to the Chinese Embassy (49-51 Portland Pl, London W1B 1JL) via Trafalgar Square, Regent Street and Oxford Circus.
• 2pm – 4pm: Rally outside the Chinese Embassy.

Organisers:

• Free Tibet
• Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities
• Hong Kong Aid
• Hong Kong Liberty
• Power to Hongkongers
• Stop Uyghur Genocide
• Students for a Free Tibet (UK)
• Tibetan Community in Britain
• Uyghur Community UK
• Voice of Southern Mongolia
• World Uyghur Congress

New Delhi | 27 November 2023:

Excerpts from Tibet Rights Collective‘s conversation with Tsering Passang, Founder and Chair of Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities (GATPM), London, England. 

1. Could you share the most pressing challenges faced by Tibetans today, and how do you envision addressing them on an international platform?

Since the illegal occupation of Tibet by the People’s Republic of China in 1950, the political, the cultural, the traditional way of life as well as the geographical landscape of Tibet changed forever. In addition to unimaginable suffering, deaths, atrocities and destruction, Tibetans have become a minority in their own homelands. We still continue to face pressing challenges both within Tibet and in the diaspora community on multiple fronts. The meteoric rise of China’s economy means that the balance of power on the world stage has already started to shift, especially those Global South countries aligning more towards China for a range of reasons. Whilst this emerging shift in geopolitics affects the Tibetans, we must retain our patience and persevere in our just freedom struggle. Some of these key challenges include:

(i) Political Autonomy: The “Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan people”, a formal document submitted to the Chinese leadership fifteen years ago, in November 2008, was aimed at securing a lasting peace and resolution to the China-Tibet conflict, seeking a genuine self-rule for the Tibetan people within the framework of the People’s Republic of China’s Constitution. Beijing flatly rejected the proposal, championed by the Dalai Lama, who truly represents both the Tibetans in China’s occupied Tibet as well as those in the diaspora community. So far, we have yet to see any counter proposal from Beijing. There is currently no dialogue between the two sides at official level.

(ii) Cultural and Religious Suppression: The Chinese authorities have been criticised for policies that undermine Tibetan culture and religious practices. This includes restrictions on language use, religious teachings, and the preservation of our cultural heritage.

(iii) Environmental Issues: The Tibetan plateau is a vital ecological region, and environmental degradation, such as deforestation and climate change, poses significant challenges to both the environment and the livelihoods of Tibetans and many others. Damming of rivers originating from Tibet, as well as redirecting natural river courses to China’s hinterlands are a matter of great concern. Such actions have huge implications, especially to those in the downstream, who depend on it, including about a billion people in India and Bangladesh. Mining of Tibet’s natural resources is another major concern which has serious environmental consequences.

(iv) Human Rights Violations: Reports of human rights abuses, including restrictions on freedom of expression, religion, and assembly, have been a longstanding concern in Tibet. Another growing concern is that Beijing continues to engage in the curtailment of free speech of Tibetans living in Western countries from taking part in political and human rights protests against China.

To address these challenges on an international platform, several strategies can be considered:

(a) Diplomacy and Advocacy: Engaging in diplomatic efforts to raise awareness and garner support for the Tibetan cause on the international stage can be effective. Advocacy groups and concerned nations can pressure the Chinese government to address human rights violations and respect cultural and religious freedoms.

(b) International Cooperation: Building alliances with other nations and international organisations to collectively address human rights issues in Tibet can amplify the impact of efforts to bring about change.

(c) Media and Information Dissemination: Utilising media and information channels to disseminate accurate information about the situation in Tibet can help raise awareness and build public support, both domestically and internationally.

(d) Environmental Conservation Initiatives: Collaborating on environmental initiatives to address the ecological challenges facing Tibet can be a common ground for international cooperation. Climate change and environmental degradation are global concerns that require collective action.

(e) Support for Tibetan Refugees: Providing support for Tibetan refugees and promoting their rights can be part of an international effort to address the challenges faced by the Tibetan population.

It’s important to note that addressing these challenges requires a nuanced and diplomatic approach, as well as a commitment to dialogue and cooperation. International platforms, such as the United Nations, can play a crucial role in facilitating discussions and promoting solutions to ensure the well-being and rights of the Tibetan people. It is time the UN revisits the UNGA Resolutions on Tibet passed in 1959, 1961 and 1965 to secure justice for the Tibetan people who have been pursuing the path of nonviolence to the China-Tibet conflict.

2. How do you perceive the impact of social media and digital advocacy in raising awareness about Tibet’s situation globally?

In the absence or lack of coverage by the mainstream media, social media and digital advocacy have played a significant role in raising awareness about Tibet’s situation globally. It is encouraging that more and more younger generations and our friends are using social media platforms to advance the just cause of Tibet. We should do so even more! Here are some ways in which they have had an impact:

(i) Global Reach and Accessibility: Social media platforms enable information about Tibet to reach a global audience instantly. People from various parts of the world can access real-time updates, news, and personal stories, fostering a broader understanding of the challenges faced by Tibetans.

(ii) Amplification of Voices: Digital advocacy allows individuals and organisations to amplify their voices, even in the absence of traditional or mainstream media coverage. Tibetan activists, human rights organisations, and concerned individuals can share information, images, and videos to convey their messages directly to a wide audience.

(iii) Real-Time Updates: Social media provides a platform for real-time updates on events and developments in Tibet. This immediacy helps in countering misinformation and ensures that accurate information is disseminated promptly.

(iv) Engagement and Dialogue: Social media facilitates direct engagement between activists, organisations, and the general public. This creates a space for dialogue, discussion, and the exchange of ideas, fostering a sense of global community around the Tibetan cause.

(v) Awareness Campaigns: Digital platforms allow for the creation of awareness campaigns, hashtags, and movements. These campaigns can go viral, drawing attention to specific issues or events in Tibet and encouraging people to learn more, share information, and take action.

(vi) Visual Storytelling: Platforms like Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube enable powerful visual storytelling. Images and videos can evoke strong emotions and provide a more visceral understanding of the situation in Tibet, making it more relatable to a global audience.

(vii) Advocacy Coordination: Social media serves as a tool for coordinating advocacy efforts on a global scale. It allows different organisations and activists to collaborate, share resources, and synchronise their efforts, creating a more unified and impactful advocacy front.

(viii) International Solidarity: Digital platforms facilitate the expression of international solidarity. People around the world can show support for Tibetans through online campaigns, petitions, and awareness initiatives, creating a sense of shared responsibility for human rights and justice.

While social media and digital advocacy have proven effective in raising awareness, it’s essential to recognise the potential challenges, such as the spread of misinformation and the need for sustained, offline actions. Additionally, the impact may vary across different regions and demographics, as access to and engagement with social media can differ. Nevertheless, these platforms continue to be valuable tools for shedding light on Tibet’s situation and mobilising global support for the Tibetan cause.

3. Could you provide some information on the origins and establishment of the Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities?

During the COVID period, in 2020, with support of my friends, I started webinars by inviting parliamentarians, scholars, rights advocates and political activists to discuss dissent of voices in China’s occupied Tibet and East Turkistan, including human rights and political freedom. A year later, with encouragement and support from friends, the Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities was registered as a not-for-profit entity in the UK to continue our efforts to advance the cause of Tibet as well as those facing persecutions worldwide. Due to lack of resources we have been focussing our effort on China and its occupied countries, where human rights violations are taking place on a daily basis. It is vital that we in the free country speak up for the voiceless people and highlight the heinous crimes being committed by the Chinese State.

4. In your opinion, what role does international support play in advancing the Tibetan cause, and how can individuals contribute effectively?

International support plays a crucial role in advancing the Tibetan cause by providing a platform for advocacy, increasing diplomatic pressure, and fostering a global understanding of the issues faced by Tibetans. Here are some key aspects of the role of international support:

(i) Diplomatic Pressure: When nations and international organisations express concern about human rights violations, cultural suppression, and political autonomy in Tibet, it can exert diplomatic pressure on the Chinese government. This pressure may lead to increased scrutiny, dialogue, and potentially positive changes in policies affecting Tibetans.

(ii) Awareness and Solidarity: International support helps raise awareness about the situation in Tibet on a global scale. This awareness contributes to a sense of international solidarity, where individuals and communities around the world stand in support of the Tibetan people and their rights.

(iii) Advocacy for Human Rights: Nations and advocacy groups can use their influence to advocate for the protection of human rights in Tibet. This includes efforts to end arbitrary arrests, promote religious freedom, and ensure the right to cultural expression.

(iv) Political and Economic Leverage: Countries and businesses can use their economic and political leverage to encourage the Chinese government to address concerns related to Tibet. This can include trade negotiations, diplomatic discussions, and conditions for international cooperation.

(v) International Forums: Engaging in international forums, such as the United Nations, allows for a multilateral approach to addressing the Tibetan cause. Resolutions, discussions, and statements made in these forums can contribute to shaping a global response.

Individuals can contribute effectively to advancing the Tibetan cause in several ways:

(a) Raise Awareness: Share information about Tibet on social media, engage in conversations, and raise awareness among your social circles about the challenges faced by Tibetans.

(b) Support Advocacy Groups: Contribute to or support organisations and advocacy groups dedicated to Tibetan rights. These groups often play a crucial role in lobbying, raising awareness, and providing assistance to the Tibetan community.

(c) Contact Elected Representatives: Reach out to your elected representatives (local or national level) and express your concerns about the situation in Tibet. Encourage them to take a stance on human rights issues and advocate for Tibet in national and international forums. This can be raising Tibet’s National Flag at the Town Hall at the local level.

(d) Participate in Campaigns: Join or initiate campaigns that focus on specific issues affecting Tibet, such as human rights abuses, environmental concerns, or cultural preservation. Engage with online and offline campaigns to maximise impact.

(e) Educate Others: Take the time to educate yourself and others about the history, culture, and current challenges faced by Tibetans. Knowledge is a powerful tool in fostering understanding and support.

(f) Attend Events and Conferences: Participate in events, conferences, and seminars that discuss Tibet-related issues. These platforms provide opportunities to learn, connect with activists, and contribute to the global dialogue on Tibet.

Effective change often comes from a combination of individual actions and collective efforts. By staying informed, raising awareness, and advocating for positive change, individuals can play a meaningful role in advancing the Tibetan cause on the international stage.

5. In what ways can the UK actively engage in promoting awareness, advocating for human rights, and supporting the Tibetan cause to bring about positive change for Tibet?

With its unique position and past historical relation with the independent Tibet, the United Kingdom can play a vital role and actively engage in promoting awareness, advocating for human rights, and supporting the Tibetan cause through various diplomatic, political, and civil society channels. Here are several ways in which the UK can contribute to positive change for Tibet:

(i) Diplomatic Engagement:

• Use diplomatic channels to express concerns about human rights violations and restrictions in Tibet. Consistently raise these issues in bilateral discussions with Chinese officials.
• Advocate for international investigations into reported human rights abuses and restrictions on religious and cultural practices in Tibet.
• Great Britain and Tibet had signed multiple treaties and agreements which can be a useful tool to reignite Tibet’s past historical facts.

(ii) International Forums and Alliances:

• Engage in international forums, such as the United Nations, and support resolutions that address human rights issues in Tibet. Work collaboratively with like-minded nations to build a collective voice on Tibet-related concerns.
• Strengthen alliances with countries that share similar values on human rights and democratic principles to amplify diplomatic efforts.
• Invest in building alliances in the Global South, such as the African Union, Latin America, Arab and Middle East.

(iii) Human Rights Dialogues: Establish or participate in human rights dialogues with China, addressing specific concerns related to Tibet. Use these dialogues to press for concrete actions to improve the human rights situation and address cultural and religious suppression.

(iv) Support for Civil Society and Advocacy Groups: Provide support to Tibetan advocacy groups and civil society organisations that work to promote human rights, cultural preservation, and political autonomy. This support can include funding, diplomatic recognition, and platforms for advocacy.

(v) Educational Initiatives: Integrate Tibet-related content into educational curricula to raise awareness among the general public and future leaders. This can include information on Tibetan history, culture, and the current challenges faced by Tibetans.

(vi) Media Engagement: Encourage responsible media coverage of Tibet-related issues and facilitate access for journalists to report independently from Tibet. Provide accurate and unbiased information to counteract misinformation.

(vii) Promote Religious Freedom: Advocate for the protection of religious freedom in Tibet. Highlight cases of religious persecution and restrictions on the practice of Tibetan Buddhism, encouraging the Chinese government to respect the right to religious expression.

(viii) Public Statements and Position Papers: Issue public statements condemning human rights abuses in Tibet and articulating the UK’s stance on key issues. Develop position papers outlining the UK’s policy objectives and expectations regarding Tibet.

(ix) Consular Support for Tibetans: Provide consular support to Tibetans living in the UK or their relatives in Tibet or in the Indian subcontinent, including those who may have sought asylum or face challenges related to their status. This demonstrates solidarity with the Tibetan community.

(x) Promote Environmental Sustainability: Advocate for sustainable environmental policies in Tibet, given its strategic ecological importance. Collaborate with international partners to address environmental challenges and promote responsible development practices.

By taking a multifaceted approach that combines diplomatic efforts, support for civil society, educational initiatives, and public advocacy, the UK can contribute significantly to promoting positive change for Tibet and raising awareness about the challenges faced by the Tibetan people.

6. How do you view the geopolitical implications and potential challenges arising from the issue of the Dalai Lama’s succession, especially considering the active involvement of Beijing in attempting to control the reincarnation process and the concerns raised about human rights violations and cultural suppression in Tibet?

The issue of the Dalai Lama’s succession carries significant geopolitical implications and potential challenges, particularly due to the historical and ongoing tensions between the Tibetan leadership, represented by the Dalai Lama, and the Chinese government. Here are some key aspects to consider:

(i) Spiritual and Cultural Significance: The Dalai Lama holds immense spiritual and cultural significance for Tibetan Buddhists, and his succession is a critical event with deep implications for Tibetan identity and autonomy. The Chinese government’s attempts to control the reincarnation process raise concerns about interference in Tibetan religious affairs and the suppression of cultural and religious practices.

(ii) Strategic Importance: The Dalai Lama is not only a religious figure but also a symbol of Tibetan political aspirations. The manner in which his successor is identified and recognised can have broader geopolitical implications, impacting Tibet’s quest for self-rule and international support for Tibetan rights.

(iii) Human Rights Concerns: The Chinese government’s control over the reincarnation process and its interference in religious affairs raise human rights concerns. Restrictions on the selection of religious leaders and interference in spiritual practices infringe upon the fundamental rights of Tibetans to freedom of religion and belief.

(iv) International Response: The Dalai Lama’s succession is likely to draw international attention, with many countries and human rights organisations closely monitoring the issue. The international community may express concern if there are indications of interference in the selection process or if the rights of Tibetans to practise their religion freely are compromised.

(v) Potential for Unrest: The handling of the Dalai Lama’s succession could impact stability in Tibet. If there is a perception of interference or if the chosen successor lacks legitimacy in the eyes of the Tibetan people, it may lead to social and political unrest.

(vi) Diplomatic Relations: The issue of the Dalai Lama’s succession has the potential to strain diplomatic relations between China and other nations. Countries may face difficult decisions regarding whether to acknowledge and support the Chinese-appointed successor or express solidarity with the Tibetan religious leadership.

(vii) Tibetan Diaspora: The Tibetan diaspora, particularly in countries like India, where the Central Tibetan Administration (aka Tibetan Government-in-exile) is based, plays a role in shaping international perspectives on the Dalai Lama’s succession. The response of the diaspora and their host countries can influence global opinions and actions on this matter.

(viii) Cultural Preservation: The Dalai Lama is a key figure in the preservation of Tibetan culture and identity. Any attempt to control the succession in a way that undermines Tibetan cultural values and practices may intensify concerns about cultural suppression.

In light of these implications, it is essential for the international community to closely monitor developments related to the Dalai Lama’s succession, advocate for the protection of religious and cultural rights in Tibet, and address any human rights violations that may arise in the process. A diplomatic and principled approach will be crucial in navigating the geopolitical challenges associated with this issue.

7. How can the international community address and effectively respond to China’s occupation of Tibet, especially considering the ongoing human rights violations, curtailment of freedoms, and cultural assimilation policies being imposed on the Tibetan people?

Addressing China’s occupation of Tibet and responding to the ongoing human rights violations, curtailment of freedoms, and cultural assimilation policies require a comprehensive and coordinated approach from the international community. Here are some strategies that can be considered:

(i) Diplomatic Engagement: Diplomatic pressure is crucial. Governments, particularly those with diplomatic relations with China, should consistently raise concerns about human rights violations and religious and cultural suppression in Tibet. This can be done through bilateral discussions, public statements, and resolutions in international forums.

(ii) Multilateral Forums: Encourage discussions on Tibet in multilateral forums such as the United Nations and provide Observer’s seat to the Tibetan Government-in-exile. Advocate for resolutions and initiatives that address the human rights situation and promote cultural and religious freedoms. Coordinate efforts with like-minded nations to build a unified approach.

(iii) Human Rights Monitoring: Support and facilitate international human rights monitoring mechanisms in Tibet. This can involve independent investigations, fact-finding missions, and regular reporting on the human rights situation.

(iv) Sanctions and Accountability Measures: Consider targeted sanctions against individuals or entities responsible for human rights violations in Tibet. This may include travel bans, asset freezes, or other measures to hold accountable those involved in repressive policies.

(v) Cultural Preservation Initiatives: Support initiatives that promote the preservation of Tibetan culture and language. This can include funding cultural programmes, educational initiatives, and projects aimed at safeguarding Tibetan heritage.

(vi) Raise Public Awareness: Engage in public awareness campaigns to inform the global public about the situation in Tibet. Social media, documentaries, and other forms of communication can be powerful tools to raise awareness and mobilise public support.

(vii) Humanitarian Assistance: Provide humanitarian assistance to Tibetans affected by displacement, environmental challenges, or other consequences of China’s policies. Support Tibetan refugee communities and address their basic needs.

(viii) Capacity Building of Diaspora Communities: Nearly half of the exiled Tibetan population are now scattered across some 20 countries outside the Indian subcontinent. Providing all necessary support and strengthening their capacity to advance their cause will make a significant difference.

(ix) Dialogue and Negotiation: Advocate for a peaceful and negotiated resolution to the Tibet issue through dialogue between the Chinese government and Tibetan representatives. Encourage both sides to engage in meaningful and constructive discussions.

(x) International Solidarity: Encourage international solidarity by fostering partnerships between governments, non-governmental organisations, and individuals committed to supporting the Tibetan cause. A united front can amplify the impact of efforts to address the situation in Tibet.

(xii) Corporate Responsibility: Encourage businesses and corporations to uphold ethical practices in their dealings with China and ensure they are not inadvertently supporting policies that contribute to human rights abuses in Tibet.

(xiii) Legal Initiatives: Explore legal avenues, such as international courts or independent tribunals, to address human rights violations. Advocate for accountability and justice for victims of abuses in Tibet.

It is important to note that addressing the situation in Tibet is a complex and sensitive matter. A multifaceted approach that combines diplomatic efforts, human rights advocacy, cultural preservation, and international cooperation is more likely to yield positive results. Additionally, sustained and coordinated action from the international community is essential to bring about meaningful change for the Tibetan people.

8. How do you think the protests in San Francisco against the Chinese President Xi Jinping during the recent APEC Summit contribute to the broader discourse on Sino-U.S. relations and issues such as human rights and geopolitical tensions?

The United States has a long history of providing its vital support to the Tibetan people whether it is political or in financial terms. Many in the US and beyond did their best to impress upon President Biden to raise Tibet and human rights violations by China with his Chinese counterpart at the APEC Summit. For the US, it is vital to engage with the Chinese side on a range of other major global issues, including tension in the Taiwan Straits. It appears that the meeting of these two leaders at the recent APEC Summit has helped to de-escalate some tensions and revive top level communications to avoid any misunderstanding that can have serious consequences, including international security.

Tibetans and supporters used the important event and visit by Xi Jinping to send direct messages to the concerned leaders that Tibet is still under China’s illegal occupation and it requires global attention and support to resolve the conflict. Some ‘thugs’, possibly linked to the CCP, who thrashed the peaceful protesters, including Chinese and Tibetans on American soil is a matter of serious concern. In October 2022, at least one official from the Chinese Consulate in Manchester was involved in beating peaceful protesters on British soil. Such thuggery actions, imported from China, in western countries will actually help to raise the situation of human rights in China and its occupied countries.

(i) Highlighting Human Rights Concerns: Protests against Xi Jinping have helped to draw attention to human rights issues, including concerns about political freedoms, freedom of expression, and religious rights of the Tibetan people. Such protests can bring these concerns to the forefront of international discourse, prompting discussions about the human rights situation in China.

(ii) Impact on Diplomacy: Protests can influence diplomatic relations between the United States and China. They may lead to increased scrutiny of human rights policies and could impact the tone and substance of bilateral discussions. The Chinese government might respond defensively, potentially leading to increased tension between the two nations.

(iii) Global Solidarity: Protests against a leader at an international event can signify solidarity with people facing human rights challenges in China. They send a message that there is global concern about certain policies and practices, encouraging international leaders to address these issues in their engagements with China.

(iv) Media Coverage and Public Opinion: Protests often attract media attention, both domestically and internationally. This coverage can shape public opinion and influence how people perceive China’s government and its actions. It contributes to the broader narrative on the state of democracy, human rights, and political freedoms in China.

(v) Influence on Policy Decisions: Public demonstrations can impact political decision-making. Elected officials may feel pressure to take a stance on human rights issues or adjust their policies based on public sentiment. Protests contribute to the overall public discourse that informs policymaking.

(vi) Complexity of Sino-US Relations: Sino-US relations are multifaceted, involving economic, political, and security considerations. While protests may bring attention to human rights concerns, they are just one element in the complex web of issues that characterise the relationship between the two nations.

It’s important to note that the impact of protests depends on various factors, including the scale of the demonstrations, the international context, and the responses from both the protesting parties and the government being protested against. Public demonstrations can contribute to shaping the broader discourse on Sino-US relations, but their overall impact is part of a larger and ongoing diplomatic, economic, and geopolitical dynamic.

9. Can you highlight specific achievements or milestones in your activism that you are particularly proud of?

My father was a member of the Tibetan Resistance Movement based in Mustang, near the Nepal-Tibet border, in the 1960s until its closure in the early ‘70s. I was born and raised in refugee camps in western Nepal, relocating from one camp to another for basic food, shelter, and education, until I came to the UK to pursue further education through a scholarship scheme in 1996.

Established by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Government-in-exile ensures all Tibetan refugee children receive decent education from an early age on. Despite so many personal challenges, I successfully completed my schooling in Nepal and India, and later in England. As a child I have lots of memories growing up in our refugee camp and schools, including my interaction with those elders, who were part of the armed resistance movement against the incoming Chinese forces in Tibet, before escorting His Holiness the Dalai Lama to safety into exile in India. They then trekked to Nepal and joined the covert operation – the Tibetan resistance movement based in Mustang with the CIA’s backing.

Personally, I have chosen the path shown by our leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, over armed resistance or violence means to secure freedom and justice for our people though this might become necessary to some extent in the future 6as a part of our freedom struggle campaign. From my student days in India, and the subsequent years in England, to the present day, I have always been pro-actively engaging in highlighting the wrongs and atrocities committed by the Chinese State against our people. In addition to my blog and social media postings, an increasing number of independent publishers, including The Independent and The Guardian have published my writings, in challenge of China’s wrongs in Tibet and their narratives. We continue working with like-minded causes and groups and organise joint protests and events whilst fostering new alliances.

My experience over the past two decades of direct interaction with foreign governments’ officials and diplomats, lawmakers, lawyers, journalists as well as Chinese dissidents and rights activists has convinced me that we are on the right course to achieving a big milestone. Regaining our political freedom and justice – the aspiration of all Tibetans – from Communist China may take some more years, but as Buddhists, we learn patience. With perseverance and renewed efforts, I am convinced that we will achieve the ultimate milestone of securing our freedom from China, and Tibet to be ruled by the Tibetans just like we did before CCP’s illegal occupation of our homelands. Until then we must continue our resistance, keep the Tibet issue alive and expose the heinous crimes and atrocities committed by the Chinese State to the whole world. For this, we need to pursue our efforts whilst seeking continued assistance from our friends and allies.

First published by Free Tibet 20th November 2023 | London

ON WORLD CHILDREN’S DAY, TSERING PASSANG WRITES AS A PARENT ABOUT HOW CHINA’S RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL SYSTEM AFFECTS FAMILIES AND BREAKS INTERNATIONAL LAW

The forced residential schooling of Tibetan children in China’s occupied Tibet is not just a matter of policy; it’s a heartbreaking reality for parents who must endure the separation from their beloved children. This issue goes beyond political discourse, delving into the emotional turmoil experienced by families caught in the midst of a government-driven agenda that directly contradicts the principles set forth in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child.

Article 9 of the UN Declaration explicitly states that “States Parties shall ensure that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will.” Yet, Tibetan families are witnessing the forcible separation from their children as they are sent to state-run boarding schools. 

Since Xi Jinping came to power, the Chinese authorities started issuing orders to close down private-run Tibetan schools, where children were taught their own language, religion and culture, in addition to China’s main curriculum. The Gyalten School in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province (traditionally Kham Province) founded by Venerable Gyalten Rinpoche, was forced to hand itself over to the Chinese authorities who now have full control. This means that Tibetan children are no longer taught what they used to learn when it was independent from the Chinese authorities. The school received funding from a British charity – Tibet Foundation (closed in 2021) from its inception until 2020 for over 25 years.

Parents, heartbroken and powerless, find themselves grappling with the violation of a fundamental right: the right to family life

From a parent’s perspective, witnessing their children stripped of their cultural heritage is a profound agony. Article 8 of the Declaration emphasises the right of the child to preserve their identity. However, reports reveal that these residential schools undermine Tibetan culture, discouraging the use of the Tibetan language and suppressing religious practices. This deliberate erasure of identity adds an additional layer of pain for parents who yearn for their children to embrace and cherish their roots.

As parents, we inherently desire the best education for our children – a balanced and diverse learning experience that nurtures their talents. Article 29 of the Declaration stresses that education should develop the child’s personality and abilities to their fullest potential. However, the forced curriculum in Tibetan residential schools appears to prioritise political indoctrination over holistic development. Parents are left questioning the nature of the education their children are receiving and whether it aligns with the principles of unbiased learning.

In the face of such profound challenges, parents are not alone. The international community, including the UN Special Rapporteurs and rights groups have started to voice their concerns, urging the Chinese government to reconsider its policies in Tibet. The UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child serves as a beacon of hope, a reminder that the rights of every child, including Tibetan children, must be protected and respected.

The forced residential schooling of Tibetan children in Tibet is a deeply personal tragedy for parents who witness their families torn apart and their cultural heritage systematically erased. As parents, we advocate not just for our children but for the principles enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child. The international community must stand in solidarity with Tibetan families, urging the Chinese government to reconsider its policies and prioritise the well-being, cultural identity, and family life of these children, respecting the very rights that form the foundation of the UN Declaration. China’s annihilation of identity, culture and history of the Tibetan people will not be tolerated and should be condemned.

Tsering Passang is a Tibetan parent based in London. A former Chairman of the Tibetan Community in Britain, Tsering founded Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities and serves as its Chair – www.Tsamtruk.com.

London | 15 November 2023 | By Tsering Passang, GATPM

Gyuto monks’ “therapeutic” chanting brought peace and calm to UK lawmakers

A group of six Tibetan Buddhist monks from Gyuto Monastery in Dharamsala, northern India, appeared before a meeting of The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Tibet in Portcullis House, Westminster on Tuesday, 14th November. They arrived in London a few days earlier on Sunday after their tour in France and Switzerland.

Tim Loughton MP, Co-Chair of the APPG Tibet, welcomed the specially invited guests, in addition to his parliamentary colleagues and members of the Group. Chris Law MP, Co-Chair of the APPG Tibet and other members from both the Houses, including Lord David Alton and Wera Webhouse MP attended the meeting.

Mr Loughton, a long time champion of Tibet’s peaceful freedom struggle and human rights issues worldwide, was very delighted to welcome the visiting Gyuto monks to the APPG Tibet meeting. An auspicious prayer at the start of the meeting was chanted by the visiting monks, helping to create a calming and meditative atmosphere, which enabled a sense of relaxation and focus, providing a break from the stresses of daily life. The use of chanting in Tibetan Buddhist practices is often considered not just a religious or spiritual activity but also one with potential therapeutic benefits, including promoting a sense of peace and well-being. Chanting, often accompanied by specific breathing techniques and mindfulness practices, have calming effects on the mind and body.

After their short and evocative Buddhist chanting, which is very unique to Gyuto tradition, Mr Loughton said that not many parliamentary meetings start with such “therapeutic” prayers. He then invited Venerable Geshe Ngakrampa Thupten Sherab, a senior Buddhist monk scholar and head of the group, to speak.

Translated by Mr Tenzin Kunga, Advocacy Officer at Free Tibet, Secretariat of the APPG Tibet, Geshe Ngakrampa Thupten Sherab said:

“The situation in Tibet is getting worse by the day.

It is characterised by a lack of religious freedom, a lack of freedom of expression and restrictions on the freedom of assembly. For example, being in possession of a photograph of the Dalai Lama is a punishable offence. You could even be detained and tortured.

Under Xi Jinping, the oppression has become more intense. China is following policies which appear innocent, but which are in fact, intended to eliminate Tibetan identity. I speak from experience.

One of the things which causes me particular pain is the separation of children from their families. They are forced to attend boarding schools run by the state, where they are brought up as loyal followers of the Communist Party of China.

I would like to comment on the fate of the Panchen Lama (one of the most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism, second only to the Dalai Lama himself.)

The Chinese government is trying to gain authority over the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. (Leadership of our religion following the passing of the Dalai Lama) is certainly something which will be politicised by the Chinese or authorities. Why is an atheist government trying to claim authority over a religious matter? The Chinese Communist Party leaders claim that religion is poison. I have witnessed with my own eyes an event where they threw the written scriptures of our religion onto a bonfire and tried to erase every word.”

HE Sonam Frasi, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, based at The Office of Tibet, London also briefed the meeting on Tibetan affairs.

The meeting was attended by various groups representing Hongkongers, Uyghurs, Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), think tanks researchers, NGOs, supporters and students. 

In the UK parliament, there are over 700 APPGs. All-Party Parliamentary Groups are informal cross-party groups that have no official status within Parliament. They are run by and for Members of the Commons and Lords, though many choose to involve individuals and organisations from outside Parliament in their administration and activities.

Lord Alton tweeted:

Tibetan monks came today to ⁦@UKParliament⁩ APPG on Tibet cochaired by ⁦@timloughton⁩ & ⁦@ChrisLawSNP⁩. The monks described intensified persecution of Tibetan Buddhists by the CCP. Even having a photograph of the Dalai Lama is a crime. ⁦@UK_FoRBEnvoy⁩

In a social media post, Kate Saunders, a Tibet researcher and analyst, who attended the meeting, wrote: “One of the monks spoke about witnessing religious scriptures being burnt at his monastery during the Cultural Revolution before he escaped to India. ‘They took a week to burn them all, and they took all our school textbooks too, it was something I will never forget.”

The visiting Gyuto monks have planned spiritual engagements with the Lelung Dharma Trust and Buddhist Community Centre (UK) in Aldershot.

Before their visit to the Parliament, the six Gyuto monks prayed for World Peace at the Tibetan Peace Garden, located next to the Imperial War Museum.

The Gyuto monks’ visit to the Tibetan Peace Garden and the UK Parliament was coordinated by Tsering Passang, Founder and Chair of Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities, in liaison with the Lelung Dharma Trust and the APPG Tibet Secretariat respectively. The Gyuto monks’ UK tour is funded by Tenzin Dakpa, proprietor of the Kailash Momo Restaurant.

(By Tsering Passang, Founder & Chair of Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities)

November 12th marks the Declaration of East Turkistan’s Independence Day.

China’s Communist regime is well known for its lies and false claims. The claim that “Xinjiang” aka “East Turkistan” has been part of China “since ancient times” is not only laughable but it is a blatant lie on historical ground. For the record this must be corrected.

Despite almost 2000 years of contact with East Turkistan, China never really established direct rule over the region until the late 19th century. Various dynasties briefly occupied parts of the region, brought parts of it into tributary relations, and manipulated local politics, but it was never successfully integrated into China’s empire.

In 1877, the Manchu Qing Dynasty invaded East Turkistan. After its formal annexation, in 1884, the Qing named the region “Xinjiang,” meaning “New Territory” in Mandarin. Han and Hui people (Chinese Muslims) were brought in and settled in China’s “New Territory”. After enduring nearly 50 years of foreign occupation, East Turkistani people regained their independence and declared East Turkistan Republic on 12 November 1933. Since then, the people of East Turkistan have celebrated this historic day as their country’s Independence Day. However, the country’s independence was short-lived due to the Soviet and Chinese invasion on 16 April 1934. Inspired by their past resistance and achievement, the amazing leaders and people of East Turkistan continued their freedom struggle movement over the next decade. They regained their independence on 12 November 1944 but lost it to the Communist China five years later.

East Turkistan and the People’s Republic of China

China’s long Civil War between Mao Tsetung-led Communist Party of China (CCP) and the ruling Kuomintang Government, led by Chiang Kai-Shek (The Nationalist – Republic of China), resulted in the overthrow of the Kuomintang Government. Chiang Kai-Shek fled to Formosa (now Taiwan), where the democratic Republic of China (ROC) is flourishing. In Peking, Mao Tsetung declared the establishment of the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) on 1st October 1949. This changed the fate of the people of East Turkistan forever. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops marched in and invaded East Turkistan on 12 October 1949. The independent East Turkistan Republic was forcibly overthrown a few months later on 22 December. Top leaders in East Turkistan’s Government were assassinated in a “mysterious plane crash”. China’s continued occupation and oppression of the East Turkistani people continues to this day.

After Xi Jinping came to power, especially since 2014, the Chinese State has been engaging in a genocide campaign that has resulted in the internment of several million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic people in concentration camps, prisons, and labour camps. Independent rights groups and UN findings show that Uyghur and other Turkic detainees were subjected to forced indoctrination, torture, rape and sexual abuse, as well as organ harvesting, all of which constitute crimes against humanity. Government officials, parliaments, lawyers and rights groups worldwide have condemned the People’s Republic of China for committing genocide and human rights violations against the Uyghurs Muslims and other persecuted minorities.

Uyghurs and other Turkic people have consistently resisted China’s illegal occupation of their homelands whilst demanding the restoration of their rightful independence over the past seven decades. China claims that there were a total of 13.5 million Turkic population in East Turkistan as of 2015. However, the Uyghurs estimate this number to be around 30 million. Other non-Chinese ethnic groups including Kazakhs, Kryghyz, Mongols, Salurs, Tajiks, Uzbeks also number around 5 million. China’s continued invasion of East Turkistan meant that there are an estimated 12 million Chinese settlers from China in the “New Terrority”.

Xinjiang is officially known as the “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” (XUAR) by China’s authorities and they use it in their official communication with international partners. However, the Uyghurs and those persecuted minorities in China-occupied East Turkistan defy this imposition and name change of their homelands. It is evident that the occupied region has been a subject of international attention, particularly human rights issues, genocide and cultural suppression.

It is vital to note that China’s continued efforts to secure seats in international bodies such as the Human Rights Council has its own cunning interest. Beijing doesn’t want to be scrutinized by Member States on its appalling human rights records against its own people as well as those in East Turkistan and Tibet. China seeks these global forums to exert its interests, including rewriting what human rights meant from the CCP’s perspective and then imposing it upon the international community.

References and Useful Links:

Foreign Policy

News Vibes of India 

World Uyghur Congress

East Turkistan Government in Exile

East Turkistan National Awakening Movement

On November 27, the final stage of the trial of the “Hong Kong 47” will begin. On the eve of this final trial, on November 26, the Workers Against the CCP (WACCP) is organising a protest outside the Chinese Embassy in London and invites everyone, including the trade union members and activists to support and show their solidarity with the 47 people in Hong Kong, who face jail sentences simply for organising a democratic protest. The protest also aims to express solidarity with all those who are fighting for labor, democracy and justice in Hong Kong.

• Release Carol Ng, Winnie Yu, Leung Kwok-hung, Wu Minyi, Yu Huiming, Liang Guoxiong and everyone else in HK47!
• Release Li Zhuoren, Deng Yan’e, Free Lee Cheuk-yan, Elizabeth Tang and all those imprisoned and suppressed for organizing workers and democratic activities!
• Freedom to organize independent trade unions and political opposition in Hong Kong and China!
• The UK welcomes refugees: providing asylum to all those fleeing persecution fighting for labor and democratic justice – whether they are Hong Kong refugees or refugees from other countries!

As trade unionists and activists, the WACCP stands in solidarity with all those in Hong Kong and around the world who are fighting for democracy and organizational freedom. This cause is as important as oxygen to the labor movement and its struggle for the rights and power of the working class. When one person suffers, everyone suffers!

As trade unionists and activists, the WACCP stands in solidarity with all those in Hong Kong and around the world who are fighting for democracy and organizational freedom. This cause is as important as oxygen to the labor movement and its struggle for the rights and power of the working class. When one person suffers, everyone suffers!

Background

47 people in Hong Kong were charged with subversion simply because they participated in the pro-democracy primary elections in June 2020. They hope to win seats in Hong Kong’s semi-democratic parliament (Legislative Council) and, if elected, represent the demands of the pro-democracy movement. Those facing jail include union leaders Wu Min’er and Yu Huiming, as well as veteran socialist Liang Guoxiong (“Long Mao”).

Their trial, which had dragged on for years, finally entered its final stages this November. We demand their immediate release and the dropping of all charges.

They are not the only labor and democracy activists facing repression, harassment and imprisonment by Beijing’s puppet government. Under strong pressure and intimidation from the state, most independent trade unions were forced to dissolve. Lee Cheuk-yan, the former leader of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions, was jailed for organizing unauthorized protests under a British colonial-era public order law. Another former Hong Kong Labor Union leader, Deng Yin-ng, secretary-general of the International Domestic Workers Federation, was arrested this year under a totalitarian “national security law” imposed by Beijing. The Social Democratic Alliance is one of the few democratic dissident parties still openly protesting in Hong Kong, but faces constant harassment and police repression. HSBC, a British financial giant with significant operations in Hong Kong, closed the SDL’s bank account to disrupt its organizing activities.

The repression even spread to exiles. This year, the Hong Kong police issued an arrest warrant for Christopher Mung, a senior organizer of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, for meeting with French trade unions, and offered a reward of HK$1 million for instigating an attempted kidnapping.

We demand the release of all political prisoners and we particularly support our persecuted trade union, socialist and progressive brothers and sisters. Unity knows no borders!

About Workers Against the CCP

We are a new UK-based campaign, organizing solidarity in the labor movement to support the struggles of workers and oppressed and marginalized people in China and its occupied territories. Sign up for our email newsletter to keep in touch.

Our new coalition brings together a range of activists and existing groups to work together, including:

• Labor Movement Solidarity with Hong Kong
• Uyghur Solidarity Campaign
• Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities
• June 4 Sparks
• Left Chinese Student Association
• Peter Tatchell Foundation
• Democracy for Hong Kong
• Alliance for Workers’ Liberty
• Voice of Southern Mongolia
• Power To Hongkongers

To Control Tibet, Communist China Ventures Into the Spiritual Realm

By Lobsang Sangay | November 6, 2023 | Foreign Affairs

In 1954, China’s paramount leader Mao Zedong met Tenzin Gyatso, the then 19-year-old who was the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet. “Religion,” Mao acerbically observed to the young Dalai Lama, “is poison.” Five years later, Chinese forces would roll into Tibet and take over the country, driving the Dalai Lama and many other Tibetans into exile. The communists, who espoused atheism and derided religions, sought to yoke Tibet to China by squashing its local culture and historical institutions; destroying Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, nunneries, and cultural artifacts; and suppressing the practice of the Tibetan Buddhist faith.

In more recent times, however, Beijing has taken an inordinate interest in the ins and outs of Tibetan Buddhism. The Global Times, a Chinese state mouthpiece, has published in the last two years a series of articles asserting the Chinese state’s control not just over territory but over souls. The articles claim that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has the final say over the traditions that guide the Tibetan belief in reincarnation—particularly over the reincarnation of the next Dalai Lama.

As the Dalai Lama gets older, China has become increasingly invested in the question of his succession. When a high lama—an important priest—dies, his post is typically filled by someone identified as his reincarnation. This tradition is deeply entrenched in the spiritual and cultural fabric of Tibetan Buddhism. Communist China, which under Mao was so vigorously and uncompromisingly atheist in its orientation, now seeks to control the process that will identify the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. This audacious move points to China’s drive to consolidate its hold over Tibet, a strategy that not only seeks to fatally undermine the institution of the Dalai Lama but also encroaches on the Tibetan people, their rich culture, and their civilization.

In addition to a significant recent uptick in Chinese propaganda on this topic, Beijing has convened a committee composed of government-selected Tibetan monks and key Communist Party officials to preside over the process that will select the next Dalai Lama. Authorities have set up museum exhibitions about the reincarnation of Dalai Lamas in both Beijing and Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet, highlighting the Chinese government’s claims to legitimacy in supervising the selection. Such an orchestration will blatantly violate Tibetan tradition and is a move of monumental concern to the Tibetan people.     

The norms of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of reincarnation and the Dalai Lama’s stance on his own reincarnation must steer the process of determining any future succession. In accordance with that tradition, instructions the Dalai Lama leaves before his death should be the basis of any search to identify his successor. Beijing, however, wants to usurp both spiritual and temporal authority in Tibet. The Chinese government’s transgressions are legion, including legislative interference, historical revisionism, and the outright denial of the Dalai Lama’s fundamental right to guide the choice of his successor. Along with the government’s broader efforts to suppress Tibetan culture, China’s actions constitute a grave violation of the basic human rights of the Tibetan people. 

THE OLD ORIGINS OF NEW BEGINNINGS   

The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet is an esteemed spiritual leader who continues to amass a large following worldwide. His teachings, which emphasize peace and compassion, resonate across cultures and religions and have elevated him to remarkable heights over the past few decades. In recognition of his contributions toward global peace and nonviolence, he has received an array of international recognitions, including the Nobel Peace Prize and the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal. 

The respect the Dalai Lama receives around the world stands in stark contrast to the opprobrium heaped on him by the Chinese government. Chinese officials have persistently vilified him, calling him a “splittist” and “a wolf in monk’s clothing,” while deriding his followers as “the Dalai Clique.” Beijing sees the Dalai Lama as a threat, even though he has lived in exile in India since 1959. That threat is, of course, significantly overblown. The Dalai Lama has not advocated Tibetan independence since the 1970s but, rather, demands genuine autonomy for Tibet within the framework of the Chinese constitution. Since 2011, he has devolved all of his political and administrative responsibilities to a democratically elected Tibetan leadership. Yet the Chinese government continues to accuse him of inciting political unrest against the state.

The Dalai Lama turned a venerable 88 this July. At some point in the years ahead, the question of succession will arise. China wants to determine who the next Dalai Lama will be, and Chinese officials have taken a huge interest in the sacred Tibetan tradition of reincarnation, known as tulku. It dictates that a young lama of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition inherits the religious, economic, and political responsibilities of the predecessor following that person’s death. The process that leads to the identification of the reincarnated lama is guided by the instructions left by the previous incarnation and is carried out by highly trained Buddhist scholars, often chosen by the previous lama. In the case of the Dalai Lamas, this process is often supervised by the regent appointed by the Dalai Lama or by the government in Tibet. In the last eight centuries, many reincarnated lamas have been found throughout the Tibetan plateau but also elsewhere in the far-flung world of Tibetan Buddhism: in the Himalayan regions of Bhutan, India, and Nepal, and even in areas such as Mongolia and parts of Russia where there are many Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, particularly in the Russian republics of Buryatia, Kalmykia, and Tuva.   

LAMAS AND BUREAUCRATS

In 2007, the Chinese government asserted its jurisdiction over spiritual matters and proclaimed that the tulku system could operate only with state approval. Traditional precedents were not enough to govern the selection of reincarnated lamas; it now was subject to Chinese laws. Authorities promulgated a national-level decree through the State Administration and Religious Affairs department. This legislation formalized an earlier set of reincarnation rules announced by the Chinese-controlled Tibet Autonomous Region in 1995.   

China may officially be an atheist state, but through such legislation it continues to interject itself into the religious lives of its citizens. Its track record of meddling in the selection of Tibetan reincarnated lamas has proved largely unsuccessful, often leading to widespread anxiety and confusion among Tibetans. A distressing example is the case of the 11th Panchen Lama, the second-most well-known lama in Tibetan Buddhism, who was endorsed by the Dalai Lama in 1995 at the age of five as the reincarnation of the tenth Panchen Lama. That same year, the Chinese government forcibly disappeared him from his hometown in Tibet. Authorities then elevated their own choice of a boy as the 11th Panchen Lama. The disappeared boy remains missing after 29 years, as do his parents and the main members of the search committee that identified him. 

The atheist Chinese government has asserted its jurisdiction over spiritual matters.

China’s interference in the reincarnation system has also fostered bad practices. Under Chinese law, all reincarnated lamas must register with the government, leading to the transformation of a sacred religious practice into a bureaucratic process open to sordid abuse. Jampel Gyatso, a prominent Tibetan scholar and senior member of the CCP, alleged in 2016 that bribery and corruption were rampant among Chinese officials involved in the process of recognizing reincarnated lamas. From 2007 to 2017, under the guise of religion and tradition, the number of registered lamas quadrupled from around 300 to over 1,300, an increase that has much more to do with corrupt political interests than spiritual needs. This political interference has cast a shadow of uncertainty and suspicion over a time-honored Tibetan tradition.

Along with its bureaucratization of a Tibetan cultural and spiritual practice, China relies heavily on historical distortion to assert its legitimacy in wading into Tibetan religious matters. A Global Times article in 2021 falsely claimed that all previous Dalai Lamas were born in China. Even under the presumption that Tibet has always been part of China, not all Dalai Lamas were born in what is recognized as Tibet. The fourth Dalai Lama, Yonten Gyatso, was an ethnic Mongolian born in Mongolia, while the sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, was an ethnic Monpa from present-day Arunachal Pradesh in India. Furthermore, the Chinese government incorrectly asserts that Qing Emperor Shunzhi granted the title of “the Dalai Lama” in 1653 to Tibetan spiritual leaders. In truth, the title “Dalai” is a Mongolian word meaning “Ocean” and was bestowed in 1578 by Mongol leader Altan Khan. “The Dalai Lama” translates to “Ocean of Wisdom” and bears no connection to the Chinese language or Chinese dynastic history.  

THE MISSING DECREE

History, or at least a particular understanding of it, underlies the Chinese intervention in the question of reincarnation. The Chinese government bases its right to appoint and recognize reincarnated lamas, particularly the Dalai Lamas, on a decree on governing Tibet that supposedly dates to the Qing dynasty during the late eighteenth century.   

And yet scholars have been unable to track down either an original version or a copy of this decree. It is conspicuously absent in numerous Qing-era archives, and no Chinese or Tibetan-language version has been found. Chinese authorities point to a document in Tibetan that they claim contains the notes compiled by an official of the amban, the Qing ambassador, in Tibet. The absence of an actual decree, if it existed at all, that supposedly set out laws on how to govern the whole of Tibet is not just curious: it is suspicious. This absence is even more startling given the reputation of the Chinese imperial archivists, especially those of the Qing dynasty, for meticulous and substantial record keeping. Nevertheless, the modern Chinese government claims its right to appoint the next Dalai Lama on the basis of an ordinance that is not extant.

It is also ironic that the CCP seeks to invoke the Qing past as justification for its control over Tibetan life. A century ago, communists and republican nationalists alike denounced the Qing—whose rulers hailed from Manchuria—as “foreign,” “divisive,” and “oppressive.” The CCP was founded to “topple the three mountains” of “imperialism” (Western interference in China), “feudalism” (Qing rule), and “bureaucrat-capitalism” (the nationalist rule of China). Not a single law or ordinance from the Qing era remains valid in public law in China today. Yet, somehow, Beijing thinks it can cite an eighteenth-century Qing ordinance when it comes to the question of the reincarnation of Tibetan lamas.

That cynicism is all the more galling when one considers why and, crucially, when Beijing began to take an interest in the reincarnation of lamas. Between 1959 and 1990, Chinese authorities simply didn’t allow Tibetans to choose new lamas in most Tibetan Buddhist reincarnation lineages. It was only in 1990, after the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, that the Chinese government sought to revive religious institutions, such as the tulku tradition, within Tibet in a bid to counterbalance the growing popularity of the Dalai Lama. The introduction in 1995 of rules about reincarnations was calculated to allow the government to intervene in the selection of the 11th Panchen Lama. And China’s more recent attempts to invoke the inheritance of Qing-era institutions and insist on historical continuity—when it does not obtain in any other area of Chinese law—seem designed for one reason: to control the appointment of the next Dalai Lama.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE NEXT LIFE  

In Tibetan tradition, discussions about the next life of a spiritual teacher are discouraged while the individual is still alive. It is considered insensitive and disrespectful, almost as if the community is eagerly anticipating the lama’s death. The Chinese government has displayed a keen and intrusive interest in the future incarnation of the 14th Dalai Lama, while the Dalai Lama himself approaches these speculations lightly. For example, when asked in 2019 about his next life, the Dalai Lama humorously responded: “What is the hurry for my reincarnation? I may be 84, but my health is good.”

To be sure, the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan community are not oblivious to the profound impact his death and his reincarnation will have on the future of Tibet and the broader Buddhist world. The absurdity of an atheist communist state, which continuously vilifies the Dalai Lama and bans the display of his portrait, attempting to dictate his reincarnation is not lost on observers. Between 2009 and 2022, 157 people committed self-immolations in Tibet calling for the return of the Dalai Lama and freedom for Tibetans. The incongruity is further heightened by the fact that the CCP, after invading Tibet in the 1950s, was responsible for destroying nearly all of Tibet’s approximately 6,000 Tibetan monasteries and nunneries and disrobing almost all its monks and nuns. Several thousand tons of ancient Tibetan cultural artifacts, upward of three-quarters of the total kept in Tibetan sites, were destroyed, looted, or recycled for their components. That this same party is now claiming it has the right to choose Buddhist leaders, including the next Dalai Lama, is at best disingenuous. 

In 2011, the Dalai Lama issued his most explicit statement regarding his reincarnation, unequivocally rejecting China’s interference. He stated that he will leave clear, written instructions that will be implemented by the Gaden Phodrang Trust (the Dalai Lama’s private office), in consultation with high-ranking lamas of the Tibetan Buddhist lineages and others who follow Tibetan Buddhism. He further clarified that only the individual set to be reincarnated has authority over determining where and how his rebirth will happen and how that reincarnation can be recognized. He stated explicitly that if he dies in exile, then his reincarnation will be born outside of China. This was a clear denouncement of the Chinese government’s attempts to interfere in the reincarnation system, a sentiment that was reinforced at a 2019 conference of the spiritual leaders of Tibetan Buddhism and Bon (the Tibetan religious tradition that predated Buddhism), all living in exile. In the statement from 2011, the Dalai Lama specified that he would clarify his instructions for succession around the time he reaches the age of 90 (in 2025).

The Chinese government, however, will likely reject any decision regarding succession taken by the Tibetan Buddhists and the Dalai Lama’s office. It falls on the governments of countries that support the free expression of religion as a fundamental human right to lend their support and insist that the selection process for the next Dalai Lama take place without Chinese political interference. 

COMPLICITY IN SILENCE

For centuries, Tibetans have maintained a mystical and sophisticated tradition for managing the succession of the Dalai Lama. This established procedure has ensured largely smooth and uncomplicated transitions of power, with only a few exceptions. It is unacceptable for China to attempt to usurp the Dalai Lama’s fundamental right to determine how his successor will be selected, a tradition adhered to for five centuries.

China holds no moral or legal authority to intervene in the succession, and that it is doing so is an alarming situation that calls for a global response to protect religious freedom and ensure stability. The United States has already made a significant move in this direction by enacting the Tibetan Policy and Support Act in 2020, which states that “protecting the internationally recognized right to the freedom of religion and belief, including ensuring that the identification and installation of Tibetan Buddhist religious leaders, including a future 15th Dalai Lama, is a matter determined solely within the Tibetan Buddhist faith community, based on instructions of the 14th Dalai Lama, without interference by the Government of the People’s Republic of China.” Any Chinese officials interfering in this process will face sanctions.

Although the U.S. stance is helpful, this policy will not succeed without concrete support from other key countries and blocs. These include Europe and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), countries such as India and Mongolia with large communities that adhere to Tibetan Buddhism, and countries such as Canada, Japan, and South Korea that have a special relationship with the Dalai Lama.

China will likely reject the Dalai Lama’s instructions regarding his own succession.

The European Parliament should agree to similar legislation to that passed in the United States clearly stating the EU (where Buddhism is the third- or fourth-largest religion in many European countries) recognizes the sole right of the Dalai Lama to decide on his reincarnation. India, too, holds special responsibilities to take a public stand. The Dalai Lama has been living there as a guest for more than six decades and calls himself a son of India because Buddhism originated in the country over 2,000 years ago. Mongolia, with a majority Buddhist population, most of whom are followers of the Dalai Lama, should also clearly state that it is up to the Dalai Lama to decide on his reincarnation.

Japan, a frequent host of the Dalai Lama and home to many of his followers, should make similar statements. The Dalai Lama is an honorary citizen of Canada, and thus that government has the responsibility to protect his religious freedom. It is also important for Buddhist countries such as South Korea and several members of ASEAN to protect the tradition and customs of Buddhism. If the Chinese government selects the 15th Dalai Lama without protest, it sets the precedent for the CCP to assert its candidates as the heads of sanghas, or monasteries, in other Buddhist countries as well.

As the saying goes, “Silence is complicity.” This is true in the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Failure to defend justice and religious freedom will not only embolden an expansionist regime but also risk instability in Asia and Buddhist countries, with ramifications for both the global south and global north. Instead, governments around the world should take a stand on this matter of principle. Tibetan Buddhists have the right choose their own spiritual leader, and upholding that right is essential to protecting the human rights of all people.

LOBSANG SANGAY is Lecturer at Harvard Law School. He was Sikyong, or President, of the Tibetan government in exile from 2011 to 2021.

Professor Samdhong Rinpoche, a highly learned Tibetan Buddhist scholar, who currently lives in India, turns 84 on 5th November 2023. He is regarded as the right-hand man of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. A former Prime Minister of Tibet’s “Government-in-exile” and former Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, Professor Samdhong Rinpoche is still a very influential public figure in the Tibetan diaspora.

Lobsang Tenzin, better known by the titles Professor Venerable Samdhong Rinpoche and to Tibetans as the 5th Samdhong Rinpoche (born 5 November 1937), is a Tibetan Buddhist monk and former politician who served as the Prime Minister (then officially called the Kalon Tripa) of the cabinet of the Central Tibetan Administration, de facto Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala, India.

Venerable Samdhong Rinpoche was born in Jol, in eastern Tibet, Kham. At the age of five, he was recognised, according to Tibetan tradition, as the reincarnation of the 4th Samdhong Rinpoche and enthroned in Gaden Dechenling Monastery at Jol. Two years later he took vows as a monk, started his religious training at Drepung Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital, and completed it at the Madhyamika School of Buddhism.

After his training in Lhasa, he fled to India in 1959, after China’s illegal occupation of Tibet, along with many Tibetans who followed the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso into exile. From October 1961, he served as the religious teacher of Tibetan School in Shimla and in 1963 served as the acting Principal. In 1964 he worked as religious teacher at Central School for Tibetans, Darjeeling and in 1965 at the age of 26, he was appointed as the Principal of Central School for Tibetans, Dalhousie and served there till 1970. He received his Lharampa degree in the year 1968 and Ngagrimpa degree in 1969. In 1971 he became Principal of Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS) at Varanasi (Benares), and from 1988 to 2001 he was the director.

From 1994 to 1995, Professor Samdhong Rinpoche was awarded National Lectureship from Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR), New Delhi. He assumed many important responsibilities including President of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), a strong academic group of more than 250 Vice-Chancellors of Indian Universities, Chancellor of Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies and Chairman of various Trust and Foundations. He is regarded as one of the leading Tibetan scholars of Buddhism and is also an authority on the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. He is fluent in Hindi and English, Tibetan being his mother tongue. Rinpoche is one of the very few Buddhist scholars in the world with this depth, experience and clarity in Buddhist philosophy and he also spent many years exploring directly with J. Krishnamurti, who was one of the great educationists in India.Rinpoche has been an honored guest at many forums in India. He has spoken on challenges India faces today, and has stressed on inclusion of the poor masses in the development of the country.

In 1991 Lobsang Tenzin was appointed by the Dalai Lama as a member of the Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies, and later was unanimously elected as its Chairman. Rinpoche served twice as the Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile from 1991 to 2001. Between 1996 and 2001, he was an elected member of the Assembly representing exiled Tibetans from Kham province and also its chairman. Rinpoche contributed to drafting the new constitution of the Tibetan Government in Exile, introduced educational and economic reforms, and ensured a policy of non-violence, transparency, environmental sustainability, and organic farming.

In 2000 the Dalai Lama decided that the Tibetan people in exile should elect their own Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa), and in July 2001 Professor Samdhong Rinpoche was elected with about 29,000 votes, or about 84% of those cast, which is about 25% of the exile Tibetan population. Juchen Thubten Namgyal, the other candidate, won the remainder. Since 2001 he has travelled extensively to gain support for the cause of Tibetan autonomy and raise awareness of the Dalai Lama’s proposals for negotiating autonomy with the Chinese government.

During his Prime Ministership, Rinpoche negotiated many times with the Chinese officials to bring a suitable solution to the Tibetan cause. However no meaningful development could be made in this direction.

Professor Samdhong Rinpoche is an advocate of Gandhian philosophy, is a lifelong campaigner of nonviolence and is on the board of trustees of Swaraj Peeth Trust, a Gandhian centre for nonviolence and peace. He has held lectures and talks with exchange groups in Germany, Switzerland and USA, where he spoke extensively on Buddhist ideology and its importance in contemporary politics and economy. A large score of his lectures on general subjects like peace, happiness and compassion, electoral reforms, modern ethics, the environment, Swaraj and non violence are available in audio and video on his website and Soundcloud.

Professor Samdhong Rinpoche is a staunch supporter of the “Middle Way Approach” and in sync with the views of the Dalai Lama in regards to finding resolution to the China-Tibet conflict. He is of the opinion that the Tibet issue is alive on the international forum and has received widespread support due to its right direction and commitment to nonviolence.

In his own words:

“Tibet cause is a just cause and not a power struggle. It is neither a political struggle nor a battle against the system. It is the struggle between truth and falsehood; justice and injustice.”

A lifelong campaigner of Gandhian principles, he seeks not only political freedom for the Tibetan people but also to preserve the Tibetan Culture. In an interview he said,

“Our ultimate goal is not just political freedom but the preservation of Tibetan culture. What will we gain if we win political freedom but lose what gives value to our lives? It is why we reject the option of violence. For respect for life is an inseparable aspect of the Tibetan culture we are fighting for.”

Useful Links:

Source/Reference: Wikipedia

https://samdhongrinpoche.com/

China should look closer home and end its illegal occupation of Tibet if it wants to be taken seriously on the world stage.

By Tsering Passang, Founder & Chair, Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities

Beijing’s ever closer ties with terrorist groups such as the Taliban and the Hamas shows the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has the same trademark of terrorizing people, no matter who they are. From Mao Tsetung’s era to the current brutal dictator Xi Jinping, the CCP regime continues to cause atrocities against its own people as well as all those in People’s Republic of China (PRC) occupied countries such as Tibet and East Turkestan.

China now has a choice. Beijing’s continued occupation of Tibet and the denial of basic freedoms, including universal human rights and religious freedom, as well as the curtailment of free speech must stop. Today, nearly a million Tibetan children, aged between 4 and 18, are forcefully being admitted in residential schools across the Tibetan plateau (China’s colonial-style boarding schools) with core intent to annihilate Tibetan identity, language, their history and culture. This is a continuation of the regime’s sinicization policy against the oppressed people of Tibet.

Sixty-four years ago, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was forced into exile after China’s illegal occupation of Tibet. When the news reached the residents of Lhasa that the Chinese troops were plotting to kidnap or hurt the young Dalai Lama, tens of thousands of Tibetans surrounded the Norbulingka Palace, summer residence of the Dalai Lamas, in no time, and shielded their temporal and spiritual leader from China’s advanced military forces. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops were shelling mortars and detonations mercilessly to cause chaos, destruction and killing people in the landlocked Buddhist nation. The Tibetan Buddhist Leader, who was 24 at the time, left Norbulingka Palace in Lhasa, on the night of 17th March 1959, to save lives and to avoid further bloodshed against his people from brutal attacks by the Chinese military forces.

Resistance against China’s military aggression started on eastern frontiers from where Mao Tsetung’s PLA troops entered Tibet in 1950. It was an unprovoked military aggression on a small and peaceful Buddhist nation by a giant neighbour, Communist China. Due to this foreign invasion, displacements of Tibetan citizens ensued in the 1950s, who became refugees in their own homelands. Tibetans moved from the eastern region to more central in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital, as China’s armed forces marched further into the hinterland.

For a brief period in Lhasa, Tibet’s spiritual heartland became a war zone, spilling blood and dead bodies into the Kyichu River, a tributary of the Yarlung Tsangpo, which is the upper section of the Brahmaputra River in India. Communist China’s illegal invasion of Tibet has directly resulted in the death of over 1.2 million Tibetans, an equivalent to 20% of Tibet’s population at the time. In addition, China destroyed over 6,000 Buddhist monasteries and great learning centres, a huge loss to Tibet’s rich heritage. Tibetans believe that they have some tangible contributions to make to the world through their spiritual technology and ancient wisdom which they have been developing for centuries in this hidden Buddhist nation.

After nearly two weeks of treks and horse-riding, the Dalai Lama reached Indian soil on 31st March 1959. After granting political asylum by the Government of India, under Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the Dalai Lama has remained in exile in India ever since. The Tibetan leader then established Tibet’s “Government-in-exile” officially known as the Central Tibetan Administration, to take care of some 80,000 Tibetan refugees, who followed him into exile, as well as to secure justice and freedom for his people. Today, there are about 140,000 Tibetans in exile with the majority residing in the Indian subcontinent.

On 10th December 1989, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in recognition of his nonviolent campaign to end Chinese rule in Tibet. For many decades, the Dalai Lama travelled across the world to secure support for the Tibetan cause. The Dalai Lama has also reached out to the Chinese leaders in Beijing. Despite his sincere efforts, no meaningful political resolution has so far materialised to the China-Tibet conflict. This is solely due to lack of political will on the part of the Chinese side.

In July this year, the Tibetan spiritual leader turned 88. The Dalai Lama is in good health considering his advanced age. However, on 20th October, his office issued a statement: “In view of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s recent bout of the flu, his personal physicians have strongly advised that any travel will be taxing on His Holiness and more importantly hamper his full recovery. We have, therefore, after careful consideration, decided not to visit Sikkim in the month of November 2023 and to also cancel His Holiness’ planned visit to South India (Bylakuppe and Hunsur) scheduled in the second half of November to mid-December 2023.”

To the delight of thousands of Buddhist pilgrims from all around the world, the recent statement also added: “There is no change to His Holiness’ planned visit to Bodhgaya, Bihar, starting in the second half of December 2023.” If this schedule remains unchanged, then the Dalai Lama will give three days of teachings at the Kalachakra Teaching Ground in the sacred Buddhist site in India. On 29th and 30th December, His Holiness will give teachings on Nagarjuna’s In Praise of Dhammadhatu (choying toepa). On 31st December, His Holiness will confer the Manjushri Empowerment (jamphel yang jenang). On 1st January 2024, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will attend a Long Life Prayer offered to him at the same venue.

Since his full retirement from the Tibetan political leadership in 2011, the Dalai Lama has been dedicating more time on his Four Principal Commitments: (i) promotion of human values like compassion, forgiveness, tolerance and self-discipline; (ii) promotion of religious harmony; (iii) preservation of Tibetan culture, which currently faces mortal danger from China’s occupation of Tibet; and (iv) revival of India’s ancient civilisational heritage – Buddhism came to Tibet from India.

In Dharamsala, the Tibetan Nobel Peace laureate continues to entertain a busy daily schedule and engages with visitors from around the world. Followers from mainland China and Taiwan also come to receive Buddhist teachings. Recently, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has acknowledged that some kind of backdoor channel of communication exists between Dharamsala and Beijing. In the past, the Tibetan Buddhist leader has openly stated his desire to visit his homelands and pilgrimage in China. He has also expressed his hope of conferring Buddhist teachings to his followers in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa very soon. Perhaps, materialisation of these hopes could be one step closer to bringing back freedom to his people from exile in India.

An exclusive interview with the exiled Tibetan leader – Sikyong Penpa Tsering, President of the Central Tibetan Administration (aka Tibet’s ‘Government-in-exile’) based in Dharamsala, northern India, by Voice of America Chinese (VOA) reporter Huang Yaoyi.

The interview, conducted in Dharamsala before Sikyong Penpa Tsering embarked on foreign visits to south and north America, was broadcast to coincide with his arrival in the US last week. In Washington DC, the Tibetan leader met with senior figures from both political parties. He is due to meet with the US government officials.

Sikyong Penpa Tsering candidly talks about his administration’s relations with the Biden and the Tsai Ing-wen administrations in Washington DC and Taipei respectively. He also speaks about the Central Tibetan Administration’s relations with India. In addition, the Tibetan leader shares his view on the growing political situation around the world.

Sikyong Penpa Tsering says that Taiwan’s policy on Tibet supports the Tibetan people’s right to “self-determination”. This has warmed up the relationship between Dharamsala and Taipei. Since he took the Office of Sikyong over two years ago, there were several exchanges of ministerial visits between the two sides, the Tibetan leader adds.

Whilst reiterating Tibet’s historical independence status, Sikyong Penpa Tsering expresses his commitment to the Dalai Lama’s proposed “Middle-Way” policy towards finding a lasting political resolution to the China-Tibet conflict. However, the Tibetan elected leader refutes China’s attempt to apply “One-China” principle to Tibet. He also criticises China’s cultural genocide in Tibet. He says that there is currently no “official” communication between Dharamsala and Beijing.

China’s occupation of Tibet

After the Communist Party of China (CCP) came to power and with the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Mao Tsetung declared the so-called “peaceful liberation” of Tibet from foreign imperialists, on 1st October 1949. Soon, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops marched into Tibet from the eastern frontiers. For Tibetans, this was the beginning of modern China’s invasion of Tibet in the post Second World War.

On the night of 17th March 1959, the Dalai Lama decided to leave Lhasa immediately. According to his autobiography, the Dalai Lama, disguised as an ordinary soldier, rode out of his palace on horseback “unchallenged [and moved] towards the dark road beyond”.

After nearly two weeks of a treacherous journey, with protection provided by the volunteer Tibetan resistance forces, the Dalai Lama reached safety in India, on 31st March 1959. He then set up the ‘Tibet’s Government-in-exile’ – officially known as the Central Tibetan Administration. A staunch believer in democracy, the Dalai Lama has introduced this western democratic system into Tibetan society, little by little since 1960.

In 2011, the Dalai Lama decided to fully relinquish his previously inherited political leadership, which had been sustained for nearly 400 years, by passing the historic seal to the directly elected Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay, a legal scholar from Harvard University, who served two terms until May 2021.

Useful Links

Voice of America

Central Tibetan Administration

Sikyong Penpa Tsering

A Sunday Post by Tsering Passang

Xi Jinping’s #CCPRegime supports terror groups including #Hamas. Beijing continues to arm and train militant groups worldwide and make friends with them. Beijing’s reluctance to condemn the brutal #terror attacks by #Hamas against the Israeli people is an evidence of #CCPChina’s real support to terror groups.

For Tibetans, #CCPRegime is a terror group, the big bully neighbour, who deployed its military forces and occupied #Tibet soon after the #PRC was established on 1st October 1949.

It is also a fact that the peaceful Tibetans had never provoked the China nation that deserved military occupation by #CCPChina. Over a million Tibetans were killed by #CCPChina’s PLA troops in the name of “peaceful liberation” of Tibet from foreign imperialists.

Moreso, #CCPChina forced Tibetan children to kill their parents. #CCPChina troops raped Tibetan mothers in front of their children, raped daughters in front of their parents. They even forced Tibetan monks and nuns out of their Buddhist learning centres.

Over 6000 Tibetan learning centres were destroyed by #CCPChina. China exploited Tibet’s rich natural resources, which were never exploited before.

Today, children from the age of 4 to 18 are forcefully admitted in Chinese-style colonial boarding schools with key intent to annihilate the Tibetan identity, language and culture.

The recent re-election of #CCPChina to the #UN #HumanRightsCouncil is a reflection of real deterioration of human rights in today’s world. Those nations, who supported #CCPChina’s re-election to the #UN #HumanRightsCouncil should be ashamed of their alignment with the China’s poor human rights records and its big bully attitude.

By International Campaign for Tibet|October 13, 2023

A negotiated resolution to the Tibet-China conflict provides the best hope for long-term regional stability, the State Department says in a new report to Congress that calls on China to create the conditions for a sustainable agreement.

In its annual Report to Congress on Tibet Negotiations, the State Department says: “The U.S. government believes that a negotiated resolution that leads to meaningful autonomy for Tibetans and ensures they are able to freely practice their religion, culture, and language provides the best hope for long-term stability in the region.”

The report arrives as Penpa Tsering, the Tibetan Sikyong (President), is set to visit Washington, DC next week, where he will meet with State Department officials, members of Congress, journalists and others.

The report, which is a requirement of the Tibetan Policy Act of 2002, notes that China has not taken part in negotiations with Tibetan leaders since 2010.

International Campaign for Tibet President Tencho Gyatso said: “This report is mandated by Congress for the administration to address the need for resolution of the Tibet-China conflict.

“ICT calls on Congress and the State Department to embrace the bipartisan Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Conflict Act, which will pressure the Chinese government to get back to the negotiating table.”

Creating the conditions

The Chinese government has occupied Tibet for over 60 years, turning it into the least-free country on Earth alongside South Sudan and Syria, according to watchdog group Freedom House.

The State Department report says the US “remains concerned by the lack of meaningful autonomy for Tibetans within the [People’s Republic of China], ongoing abuses of the human rights of Tibetans in the PRC, and efforts by PRC authorities to eliminate the distinct religious, linguistic, and cultural identity of Tibetans.

“The United States believes the PRC government must address these concerns to create conditions for a sustainable settlement, which is essential to the long-term stability of the region,” the report adds.

China met for 10 rounds of dialogue with the Dalai Lama’s envoys beginning in 2002. However, no dialogue has taken place in 13 years.

The report says the US is also concerned about Chinese government interference in the selection, education and veneration of Tibetan Buddhist leaders. Beijing has long said it plans to appoint a successor to the 88-year-old Dalai Lama, which the US vowed to oppose in the Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020.

The report also urges China to give diplomats, journalists, tourists and others unrestricted access to Tibet. The report says Secretary of State Antony Blinken determined this year that China’s restrictions on access to Tibetan areas meet the standard under the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2018 “for mandatory visa ineligibilities for officials substantially involved in such restrictions.”

US efforts

The report highlights efforts by US officials over the reporting year, May 1, 2022 to April 30, 2023, to encourage a renewal of the dialogue process and establish the conditions for a sustainable settlement.

According to the report, these efforts included:

• Under Secretary of State Uzra Zeya, who serves as Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, calling on China to return to dialogue at an event hosted by the US Mission in Geneva on the human rights implications of the Dalai Lama’s succession.
• President Joe Biden raising concerns about China’s policies in Tibet during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November 2022.
• US officials calling out China’s mass DNA collection in Tibet, forced separation of over 1 million Tibetan children from their families and other outrageous human rights abuses.
• The US designating Chinese officials Wu Yingjie and Zhang Hongbo with the first sanctions for serious human rights abuses in Tibet under the Global Magnitsky program.

The Tibet Policy Act mandates that “The President and the Secretary should encourage the Government of the People’s Republic of China to enter into a dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives leading to a negotiated agreement on Tibet.” Further, it says reports on negotiations should detail steps taken by the President and the Secretary.

Need to redouble efforts

However, ICT underscores that the report fails to provide details regarding meetings by President Biden and Secretary Blinken with Chinese leaders on how Tibet was raised.

During the reporting year, Biden had one meeting (November 2022) with Xi and a phone call with him (July 2022). During the same period, Blinken had three meetings (July 2022, September 2022 and February 2023) with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and two phone calls with him (November 2022 and February 2023). Other White House and State Department officials, including the US Ambassador to China, had at least six meetings with Chinese officials during the period.

The State Department report does not detail any elevation of greater American efforts to support the dialogue, despite the extended period of time since the last negotiations between envoys of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese leadership. In light of the 13 years that have passed since the ninth round of dialogue, the United States must redouble its efforts to bring the PRC back to the table and effectively help in bringing about a negotiated settlement on Tibet.

Sikyong visit

The report also notes that US leaders met several times with the Dalai Lama and with Penpa Tsering, the President (Sikyong) of the exile-based Central Tibetan Administration.

Penpa will arrive in Washington on Sunday for several days of engagements, including speaking at the National Press Club on Oct. 18 at 2 pm EDT.

Read the State Department’s 2023 Report to Congress on Tibet Negotiations.

Joint Statement Opposing China’s Candidacy to the Human Rights Council

October 10, 2023

We, the undersigned human rights organizations, write to firmly oppose the candidacy of the People’s Republic of China for re-election to the UN Human Rights Council, and urge Member States at the General Assembly not to vote for China and to leave an empty seat. China is demonstrably unfit to hold a seat on the UN’s top body responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe.

On October 10, the UN General Assembly will elect 15 new Council members that will serve for a period of three years starting in January 2024, including four seats in the group of Asia-Pacific States. China is competing on a “closed slate” for these seats along with Kuwait, Indonesia, and Japan, meaning they are running effectively unopposed.

UN Member States voting for Human Rights Council candidates are urged, under General Assembly Resolution 60/251, to “take into account the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection of human rights.”

Furthermore, candidates commit themselves to “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights,” and to fully cooperate with the Council and its mechanisms. China has utterly failed to meet these expectations for candidates, and has actively sought to undermine the promotion and protection of universal human rights around the world.

The Chinese government has used its power and influence to attempt to silence the voice of civil society at the UN. The UN Secretary-General has recognized China as engaging in “patterns of intimidation and reprisals” against human rights defenders and remains one of the top perpetrators of reprisals globally.

Despite indicating its willingness to “cooperate” with UN mechanisms and special procedures mandate-holders, China has allowed access to only one UN expert since 2018. Multiple, repeated requests for country visits by at least 15 human rights experts stretching back two decades have gone ignored. China has consistently dismissed all concerns about human rights violations raised at the Human Rights Council or by UN Special Procedures and Treaty Bodies, and attacked Special Procedures mandate-holders in public statements.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights was granted limited access in May 2022, where she said was “accompanied by government officials” and not able to speak with Uyghurs detained or their families. China concurrently sought to halt the publication of an OHCHR report on serious human rights violations in the Uyghur region, and said that it would not cooperate with OHCHR following its release.

Over 40 UN experts have also called for “decisive measures to protect fundamental freedoms” in China and called on the Human Rights Council “to act with a sense of urgency” to address human rights violations. Experts have also urged the Human Rights Council to establish a special session or create “an impartial and independent United Nations mechanism” to monitor, analyze, and report annually on the human rights situation in China.

The Chinese government has also cracked down on human rights defenders and rights lawyers with increasing severity. Most independent civil society groups have been disbanded and their members jailed, tortured, or forced to continue their work underground or forced into exile. Even so, they face harassment, surveillance, and detention for attempting to continue to defend the rights of those left behind or repressed by the Chinese system. UN experts and treaty bodies have repeatedly raised grave concerns about the repression of human rights defenders. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention noted that it has made more than 100 arbitrary detention findings in China and that such systematic violation of international law may itself constitute crimes against humanity.

In East Turkistan, the Chinese government has subjected Uyghurs and other Turkic groups to widespread, systematic persecution on the basis of their ethnic identity. In August 2022, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released an assessment documenting widespread human rights abuses in the Uyghur region, and found that these abuses may amount to crimes against humanity. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in an Opinion from November 2022, reminded China of its “responsibility to cooperate to bring to an end … serious violations of the peremptory norm of the prohibition of racial discrimination,” and referred the issue to the Special Advisor of the Secretary-General on the Responsibility to Protect. Numerous UN experts and Treaty Bodies have similarly raised serious concerns about arbitrary detention, forced labour, cultural and language rights, and sexual and gender-based violence.

Over the past 12 months, multiple UN human rights bodies have raised alarm at the escalation of human rights abuses in Tibet, including the residential school system that has seen at least one million Tibetan children separated from their families and communities; an extensive labour transfer programme and a massive involuntary relocation policy; the imprisonment of Tibetan environmental defenders; the systematic suppression of religious freedom; and the sidelining of Tibetan language education. Tibetans continue to be subject to omnipresent surveillance, enforced disappearances, torture and death in custody and UN experts have warned of a “worrying pattern of arbitrary and incommunicado detentions [against Tibetans].” In early 2023, the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women called on China to immediately abolish the coercive residential school system in Tibet.

In Hong Kong, the promulgation of the National Security Law (NSL) by the Central Government in 2020 dismantled the civil society and people’s fundamental rights and freedom, targeting academics, media outlets, and civil society organisations and affecting millions of Hong Kongers in the city. UN experts have expressed concerns about arrests and detentions under the NSL, including those involving Chow Hang-Tung and Jimmy Lai. The UN Human Rights Committee has urged the government to repeal the NSL. Yet, the Chinese and Hong Kong governments have shown no sign of ceasing its crackdown on Hong Kong people with the recent issuance of bounties on eight exiled activists in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia and harassing their families in Hong Kong.

No country has a perfect rights record, and membership in the Human Rights Council can play a constructive role in improving human rights conditions in every country. The Chinese government, however, has consistently demonstrated a clear unwillingness to engage in good faith with the UN human rights system, and has taken steps to actively undermine internationally recognized human rights norms.

Of all 2020 Human Rights Council election candidates, China received the fewest number of votes, and lost a significant number of votes since its previous bid. Any increase in support would send the wrong message from the international community.

We therefore urge UN Member States at the General Assembly not to vote for China and to leave an empty seat.

Signed:

1. Alberta Uyghur Association
2. Association France-Tibet
3. Australia Tibet Council
4. Australian Uyghur Association
5. Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women’s Association
6. Austria Uyghur Association
7. Bay Area Friends of Tibet 
8. Belgium Uyghur Association
9. Bonham Tree Aid
10. Britons in Hong Kong
11. Campaign For Uyghurs
12. Center for Uyghur Studies
13. Chicago Solidarity with Hong Kong
14. China Against the Death Penalty
15. China Aid Association
16. Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD)
17. Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation
18. Czech Support Tibet
19. Democracy for Hong Kong (D4HK)
20. Dutch Uyghur Human Rights Foundation
21. East Turkistan Association of Canada
22. East Turkistan Foundation
23. East Turkistan Science and Enlightenment Foundation
24. European East Turkistan Association 
25. Filipino American Human Rights Alliance
26. Freiheit für Hongkong e.V.
27. German Cultural and Education Union
28. Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities
29. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P) 
30. Grupo de Apoio ao Tibete-Portugal
31. Hong Kong Committee in Norway
32. Hong Kong Democracy Council
33. Hong Kong Forum, Los Angeles
34. Hong Kong Watch
35. Hong Kongers in San Francisco Bay Area 
36. Hongkongers in Britain
37. Human Rights Action Group
38. Humanitarian China
39. Ilham Tohti Initiative
40. Institute For China’s Democratic Transition
41. International Campaign for Tibet
42. International Society for Human Rights, Munich chapter
43. International Tibet Network
44. International Uyghur Pen
45. Isa Yusuf Alptekin Foundation
46. Italia Tibet Associazione
47. Japan Uyghur Association
48. Justice 4 Uyghurs
49. Lady Liberty HK
50. NGO DEI
51. National Democratic Party of Tibet
52. New Yorkers Supporting Hong Kong
53. Norwegian Uyghur Committee
54. René Cassin, the Jewish Voice for Human Rights 
55. Santa Barbara Friends of Tibet 
56. Stop Uyghur Genocide Australia
57. Stop Uyghur Genocide UK
58. Swedish Tibet Committee
59. Swedish Uyghur Union
60. The Norwegian Tibet Committee 
61. The Norwegian Uyghur Committee
62. Tibet Initiative Deutschland
63. Tibet Justice Center
64. Tibet Solidarity
65. Tibetan National Congress 
66. Torontonian HongKongers Action Group
67. UK Uyghur Community
68. US Tibet Committee 
69. Uyghur Academy
70. Uyghur Academy Foundation
71. Uyghur American Association
72. Uyghur American Association
73. Uyghur Association Switzerland
74. Uyghur Association of Victoria
75. Uyghur Center for Human Rights and Democracy
76. Uyghur Human Rights Project
77. Uyghur Project Foundation
78. Uyghur Projects Foundation
79. Uyghur Refugee Relief Fund 
80. Uyghur Research Institute
81. Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project
82. Uyghur Youth Union in Kazakhstan
83. Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
84. Washingtonians Supporting Hong Kong
85. We The Hongkongers
86. Western Australian Association for Pan-Asian Democracy
87. World Uyghur Congress
88. World Uyghur Congress Foundation

Keywords: United Nations

80+ Human Rights Groups Urge General Assembly to Deny China a Seat at UN’s Top Human Rights Body

Crowded hospital halls, frantic doctors and nurses in protective suits, patients lying in the corridors, body bags piled up in a funeral van outside a hospital… In early February 2020, 57-year-old businessman Fang Bin drove around Wuhan and documented what he saw in five hospitals. The short videos he posted on social media gave a rare glimpse into what was happening in the epicentre of the pandemic under lockdown.

Mr Fang was detained by police briefly on 1 February 2020. In the next few days, he became more outspoken. Videos were widely shared on social media in which he commented that ‘tyranny lies at the root of this virus’. Then, on 9 February 2020, he vanished after calling ‘all citizens to resist’ tyranny and the government to ‘return the power to the people’ on YouTube, a platform banned in China.

The disappearances of Fang Bin, Zhang Zhan and at least two other citizen journalists drew the attention of world media. Although Mr Fang and his wife are known to the authorities as veteran Falun Gong activists, people who are familiar with him hesitated in mentioning his faith background when calling for his release. They may have been conscious of the social stigma attached to this belief group in China, or feared that he might be jailed not for his online speech but for his faith, or even that he might face mistreatment for it in police custody.

After all, that is what happened to his wife Feng Yunqing.

Ms Feng, who had a career in the internet industry starting in the 1990s, made videos about the government’s persecution of Falun Gong, Christian house churches and human rights activists with materials downloaded from the internet. Some of her videos were widely shared in groups on WeChat, China’s popular social media platform.

In May 2017, she was detained by police. However, she was not accused of disseminating information censored by the state: ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’ would be the typical charge. Instead, she was convicted of ‘using a cult to undermine law enforcement’, an offense applied widely to Falun Gong followers under Article 300 of China’s Criminal Law. She was jailed for seven years and six months, and remains in Wuhan Women’s Prison today.

Little was known about Fang Bin’s situation until he was released from prison on 30 April 2023. He had been imprisoned for three years for ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’. Friends believe that it was thanks to the continuous international attention to his case that Fang Bin was not given a harsher sentence by the authorities, either under Article 300 or for ‘inciting subversion’, a more serious crime, and was able to return home in one piece at all.

Sadly, there isn’t a home for him anymore.

A family separated for decades

At this point Fang and Feng are no strangers to the persecution of the Chinese Communist Party. In July 1999, they were enjoying a comfortable life with their young son in a village called ‘Happiness’ in Beijing, each having a well-paid job. Then came the crackdown on Falun Gong.

When the Chinese Communist Party began its full-scale crackdown on Falun Gong, life was shattered for this family; all happiness was destroyed.

In August 1999, when their boy was only three, Ms Feng was detained for her faith for the first time. She was released after 15 days, but since then the family has suffered forced evictions, harassment, long periods of separation, and the couple has been subjected to repeated detention and incarceration ever since.

Mr Fang was twice sentenced to re-education through labour (in 2000 and 2004), totalling five years.

Before her detention in 2017, Ms Feng had been sentenced to re-education through labour three times (in 2001, 2003 and 2007), totalling eight years. What landed them in all this trouble? Meeting with other Falun Gong practitioners; possessing or sharing Falun Gong materials; writing articles for overseas media…

Their son was deprived of a normal childhood. With either or both parents locked up most of the time while growing up, he had to be looked after by relatives in Beijing.  

A friend recalls: ‘When his mother was taken away in 2003, Liangliang, who was only seven, watched the horrific scene. The young boy blocked the door to prevent the police officers from entering. He was shouting and begging the men not to take away his mother. At such a young age, he had already witnessed the cruel reality of his father and mother being taken away from him so many times, causing great trauma to that little heart.’

Today, father, mother and son still live in three places, with little prospect of family reunion: Fang Bin remains under strict surveillance since his release from prison; his jailed wife has been denied family visits by the authorities.

‘This was our happy family life in Beijing. Now we have been forced to separate from each other. It’s even difficult for the three of us to meet up.’

Fang Bin, 27 August 2023

The double vulnerability of being a Falun Gong human rights defender

The sad story of Fang Bin and his family is one of suffering and struggles against the backdrop of decades-long state oppression of a religious group. They are not the only activists who have been punished particularly severely for peacefully defending basic human rights as well as practising Falun Gong. Artist Xu Na and her ten friends have been imprisoned after releasing photos that show scenes in Beijing under Zero-COVID policy since July 2020.

Many Falun Gong detainees have been denied access to legal counsel; on the other hand, some human rights lawyers have had their licenses revoked for representing Falun Gong clients, for instance, Liang Xiaojun and Ren Quanniu. There have also been far too many reports of jailed Falun Gong practitioners dying due to torture.

Some practitioners and Falun Gong sympathisers have observed improvement in their situation in the Chinese society, compared to two decades ago, as the public is now remarkably less hostile towards the spiritual movement. However, the Chinese government’s persecution of this group has not stopped; criminal charges are still being brought against Falun Gong followers, purely for practising their faith, on a daily basis.

We must continue to stand with all courageous human rights defenders in China, such as Fang Bin, Feng Yunqing and Zhang Zhan. We should also honour their endeavours by speaking truth and fighting propaganda including the CCP’s official narrative surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

The Chinese government must be held accountable for trampling on its citizens’ basic right to freedom of conscience and religion and freedom of opinion and expression.

By CSW’s China Team

This article was first published in The China Corner.

By Tsering Passang, Founder & Chair, Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities

To coincide with the 74th founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, a coalition of UK rights groups and community organisations staged a peaceful protest in central London on Sunday, 1st October, to highlight gross violations of human rights and atrocities committed by the Chinese State.

Under Mao Tsetung’s dictatorship, the Communist Party of China (CCP) came to power and established the People’s Republic of China, on 1^st October 1949, after the then ruling Kuomintang Government (The Nationalist – Republic of China – now Taiwan) was overthrown. Mao then ordered his PLA troops to invade East Turkestan and Tibet. Both these countries are still under the illegal occupation of the People’s Republic of China.

“Nothing to celebrate” was the central theme of the protest, organised by China’s persecuted communities, including Hongkongers, Southern Mongolians, Tibetans and Uyghurs. At 3pm, crowds of protesters gathered at St Martins-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, where leading activists addressed the rally. Tenzin Kunga, Chairman of the Tibetan Community in Britain, who is also Advocacy Officer at Free Tibet, spoke on the purpose of organising the annual protest. Rahima Mahmut of the Stop Uyghur Genocide and Finn Lau of Hong Kong Liberty addressed the rally. Speakers highlighted how 74 years of Communist Party of China (CCP) rule have affected their nations and communities, from military invasions and occupations of their countries in 1950 to modern day human rights violations and crimes against humanity, including mass detentions, torture, religious repression, cultural eradication and violence from police and security forces.

Statement by All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Tibet

A Statement issued by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Tibet was read at the rally. An excerpt of the statement says: “Even after more than seven decades of international campaign and advocacy for freedom, Tibet continues to remain under a brutal Chinese occupation. Since 2009, over 155 Tibetans have made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives in self-immolations protests, a reflection of the pain Tibetans feel at the occupation of their country and the systematic eradication of their identity. 

“Furthermore, the Chinese government operates a coercive residential school system in Tibet with the aim of cultural assimilation of Tibetan children into the majority Han culture. At the same time, it shuts Tibetan-language schools and marginalises the Tibetan language. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) has strongly criticised the residential schools policy, calling for it to be immediately abolished.

“Despite this despair, Tibetans inside Tibet  have never stopped resisting. We salute their bravery and support their struggle for freedom.

“We need the UK government to hold China accountable for its actions in Tibet, as well as for its repressive policies against Uyghurs and Hongkongers. China’s Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council early next year is a prime opportunity to do this”, the statement from the parliamentary group for Tibet concluded.

March and Rally outside Chinese Embassy

Protesters then marched to the Chinese Embassy, where a bigger rally was held. Whilst marching through Leicester Square, China Town, Regent Street and Oxford Circus, the protesters chanted loud slogans such as “Free Tibet”, “Free East Turkestan”, “Free Hong Kong”, “Free Southern Mongolia” and “Stop Uyghur Genocide”, “Down Down – CCP” “China lies – People die”.

Outside the Chinese Embassy, Maira Aisa, Chair of UK Uyghur Community and Engherjirgalang U, Founder and Chair of the Voice of Southern Mongolia (VOSM) spoke, who called for freedom and justice in their respective countries. National anthems from the respective community groups were sung.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, former Leader of the Conservative Party, who is a Co-Chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) has sent his support. 

Statement by Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP

“It is of great regret that I am unable to join you in person today to show my support for the Uyghur, Tibetan, Hong Kong, and Southern Mongolia communities in light of the 74th founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.

I speak to you both as a Member of the British Parliament and as a founding Co-Chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC). Together our alliance spans over 250 legislators from 32 countries working to reform the approach of democracies towards China. 

IPAC was formed in 2020 out of a recognition that the Chinese government, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party represents a systemic threat to the free world. Under President Xi, the Chinese government has carried out a Genocide against the Uyghur people of Xinjiang, trashed the Sino/British treaty on Hong Kong, dismantled Hong Kong’s democracy and made continuous threats and actions on Taiwan. Not least, it has continued the brutal persecution of the Tibetan people and other religious minorities in China. 

China poses a threat not just militarily but also to the human rights and freedoms upon which our democracy is based. This threat can only be dealt with by strength and by being clear to China that their behaviour is unacceptable and will have consequences.

I, alongside other colleagues including our families, were sanctioned by the Chinese government for exposing Beijing’s growing threat and the increased restrictions on Chinese people within China and on British soil. In Parliament, I will continue to speak out against the genocide of the Uyghurs and remind our Government that the nature of the CCP’s regimehas not changed, together with its appalling behaviour towards minorities and dissents. I will continue to call on our Government for tougher action to stand by and protect human rights defenders, pro-democracy activists and ethnic minorities who are targeted by the CCP. 

I pledge to stand up for the rights and freedom of all those now oppressed by this brutal Chinese Communist Government.” 

UK Human Rights Ambassador Statement at the UN Human Rights Council 

It is important to note that only last month, on 26th September, the UK Human Rights Ambassador, Rita French delivered a Statement under Item 4 General Debate. On China, the UK Ambassador said: 

“China continues to disregard human rights. Constraining civil society, denying freedom of expression, and of religion or belief. Systematic violations persist in Xinjiang and Tibet, where the UN reports a million Tibetan children have been separated from their families to assimilate them into Han culture. In Hong Kong politicised prosecutions against Jimmy Lai, the ‘NSL 47’, and journalists exemplify authorities’ targeted campaign to repress criticism. We urge China to uphold its human rights obligations, and the rights of its own people enshrined in its own Constitution.”

This year’s protest was organised by Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities  Free Tibet  Hong Kong Aid  Hongkongers in Britain  Hong Kong Liberty  Stop Uyghur Genocide  Tibetan Community in Britain  UK Uyghur Community  Voice of Southern Mongolia  World Uyghur Congress.

The EU reiterates its concerns about the very serious human rights situation in China. During the ongoing 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, from 11 September to 13 October 2022, the European Union in its statement under Item 4 called on the government of the People’s Republic of China “to abide by its obligations under national law, including its own Constitution, and international law, to respect, protect and fulfil human rights for all, including Uyghurs, Tibetans and persons belonging to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities across China.”

The EU Statement was made on 26th September.

“The EU reiterates its concerns about the very serious human rights situation in China. Based on numerous reports by UN Special Rapporteurs and in particular evidenced based the assessment report of human rights concerns in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region by the OHCHR, the human rights situation requires the immediate attention of the Government of China, United Nations intergovernmental bodies and the human rights system. Of particular EU concern remain political re-education camps, mass arbitrary detentions, widespread surveillance, tracking and control measures, systemic and severe restrictions on the exercise of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion or belief, as well as the use of forced labour, torture, forced abortion and sterilisation, birth control and family separation policies, and sexual and gender-based violence, especially in Xinjiang. Obligatory boarding schooling and DNA sampling, as reported recently by civil society organisations, can further indicate of the dire human rights situation in Tibet. Uyghurs, Tibetans and persons belonging to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities continue to be subjected to human rights violations. Human rights defenders, human rights lawyers, journalists, independent reporters, other media workers and intellectuals continue to be exposed to harassment, intimidation and surveillance and subjected to exit bans, house arrest, torture and ill-treatment, unlawful detention, sentencing and enforced disappearance including via Residential Surveillance in a Designated Location (RSDL) that could amount to torture and ill-treatment. With a view to the seriousness of the human rights situation, the EU urges China to abide by its obligations under national law, including its own Constitution, and international law, to respect, protect and fulfil human rights for all, including Uyghurs, Tibetans and persons belonging to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities across China. This includes fully respecting the rule of law. China must also respect the principle of non-refoulement, and refrain from any extraterritorial activity (including coercion) that is not in line with international law. The EU encourages China to effectively cooperate with the OHCHR, including towards the implementation of the recommendations of the assessment report and with all international human rights mechanisms. The EU continues to closely monitor the situation and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of, among others, Pastor Cao Sanqiang, Chang Weiping, Chen Jianfang, Chen Yunfei, Cheng Yuan, Ding Jiaxi, Dong Guangping, Gao Zhisheng, Go Sherab Gyatso, Guo Quan, He Fangmei, Huang Qi, Huang Xueqin, Sakharov Prize winner Ilham Tohti, Kamile Wayit, Li Qiaochu, Li Yanhe, Li Yuhan, Peng Lifa, Qin Yongming, Qin Yongpei, Rinchen Tsultrim, Ruan Xiaohuan, Tashi Dorje, Tashpolat Tiyip, Wang Aizhong, Wang Bingzhang, Wang Jianbing, Pastor Wang Yi, Wang Zang, Xu Na, Xu Qin, Xu Yan, Xu Zhiyong, Yang Maodong, Yu Wensheng, Pastor Zhang Chunlei and Zhang Zhan, as well as EU citizen Gui Minhai whose right to consular access must be respected.

The EU remains concerned about the human rights situation in Hong Kong. The repressive use of the National Security Law and of the Sedition Law undermine fundamental freedoms. Of particular concern is the extraterritorial application of the national security legislation, including the Hong Kong authorities’ decision to issue arrest warrants for eight individuals living outside of Hong Kong. The sweeping changes in the electoral system erode democratic principles and political pluralism. The EU is following with great concern the trials of politicians and pro-democracy actors. The EU urges the Chinese central government and the Hong Kong authorities to restore full respect for the rule of law, fundamental freedoms, and democratic principles. These are key to preserve Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy under the ‘one country, two systems’ principle, in compliance with Hong Kong’s Basic Law and China’s domestic and international obligations.”

Link to HRC54 – EU Statement under Item 4

By Tsering Passang, Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities

October 1st marks the 74^th founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Under the brutal dictatorship of Mao Tsetung, the Communist Party of China (CCP) came to power and established the People’s Republic of China on 1^st October 1949 after overthrowing the Kuomintang Government (The Nationalist – Republic of China – now Taiwan). Mao then ordered his PLA troops to invade East Turkestan and Tibet. Both these countries are still under the illegal occupation of the PRC.

“This Sunday 1 October, a coalition of Chinese, Hongkongers, Southern Mongolians, Tibetans, Uyghurs and other people affected by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule will unite in central London in protest against the Chinese government”, the organisers’ media release stated.

“Nothing to celebrate” is the central theme of this year’s protest by China’s persecuted communities in the UK. The coalition has planned a range of actions to highlight how 74 years of CCP rule have affected their nations and communities, from military invasions and occupations of their countries in 1950 to modern day human rights violations and crimes against humanity, including mass detentions, torture, religious repression, cultural eradication and violence from police and security forces.

Members and supporters of China’s persecuted communities will gather at the St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, where activists and speakers will give speeches from 3pm to 3.30pm. This will be followed by a march from Trafalgar Square to the Chinese Embassy at Portland Place [via Leicester Square, China Town, Regent Street and Oxford Circus].

From 4.15pm to 5.30pm a large and loud protest will be held outside the Chinese Embassy where leading activists and community members will give speeches.

Mr Enghejirgalang U, Chair and Founder of Voice of Southern Mongolia, said: “China’s ongoing systematic policy of ethnic cleansing in Southern Mongolia, similar to what they have been doing in Tibet and East Turkistan, must be stopped. The Chinese authorities must adhere to its own constitution and the UN regulations, whilst respecting the self-determination and cultural rights of its oppressed peoples. China’s fascist nationalism and push for uniformity are not acceptable and we condemn the CCP regime for its ongoing violations of human rights in its occupied territories.”

Tenzin Kunga, Chair of the Tibetan Community in Britain and Advocacy Officer at Free Tibet, said: “By cutting my homeland of Tibet off from the world, the CCP has been able to move from colonial occupation and mass surveillance to full-scale cultural eradication. Every aspect of Tibet’s unique identity, including its culture, language, history and religion, is being targeted by the CCP, which clearly hopes that within a generation, the existence of Tibet will be forgotten. Our next generation is at particular risk: China’s policy of pushing a million Tibetan children into colonial boarding schools was condemned by the United Nations in February and must be halted. So long as policies like these continue, China National Day is nothing to celebrate; it is a day to confront the Chinese government and make it clear that Tibet will never be forgotten. Our struggle will continue until Tibetans can enjoy freedom and human rights.”

Rahima Mahmut, Executive Director of Stop Uyghur Genocide and UK Director of the World Uyghur Congress, said: “Amidst celebrations in China on October 1 commemorating the 74th anniversary of the formation of the PRC, it is imperative to acknowledge that these festivities cannot conceal the decades of repression and crackdowns endured by my people under the Chinese government. Since 2017, Uyghurs and other ethnic groups have faced the horrifying reality of genocide, marked by torture, rape, forced sterilizations, forced labour, and severe medical abuses – all with the intent to eradicate our ethnicity and culture. It is disheartening that the world’s silence inadvertently empowers the CCP’s regime and lends legitimacy to their celebratory events. It is long overdue for the international community to unite in unwavering solidarity against CCP’s grave crimes.”

Organisers of this year’s protest: Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities Free Tibet Hong Kong Aid Hongkongers in Britain Hong Kong Liberty Stop Uyghur Genocide Tibetan Community in Britain UK Uyghur Community Voice of Southern Mongolia World Uyghur Congress

Useful Links

• Free Tibet
• Hong Kong Aid
• Hong Kong Liberty
• Hongkongers in Britain
• Stop Uyghur Genocide
• Tibetan Community in Britain
• Uyghur Community UK
• Voice of Southern Mongolia
• World Uyghur Congress
• Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities

To mark the 74th founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, a coalition of UK-based Tibetan, Hong Kong, Southern Mongolia and Uyghur communities are staging a public protest in central London to highlight the CCP regime’s continued brutal crackdown and curtailment of freedom of speech and human dignity in their countries. Rights groups and NGOs such as Free Tibet, World Uyghur Congress and Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities are supporting these communities, who are calling for their basic freedoms, human dignity and democracy.

Resist the CCP Day – Joint London Rally 

Date: Sunday, 1st October 2023 | From 3pm – 5.30pm

3pm – We meet in Trafalgar Square (near National Portrait Gallery), where a brief ceremony will be held.

3.20pm – We begin our march from Trafalgar Square to the Chinese Embassy, 49 Portland Place, London W1B 1JL. We march via Leicester Square, China Town, Regent Street, Oxford Circus, Portland Place (Chinese Embassy).

4pm: The final Rally will be held opposite the Chinese Embassy.

Speakers will remind the CCP regime about China’s continued atrocities being committed in its occupied nations including in East Turkestan and Tibet.

Please join us, show your support and solidarity with the peoples
of East Turkistan, Hong Kong, Southern Mongolia and Tibet.

Organisers:

• Free Tibet
• Hong Kong Aid
• Hong Kong Liberty
• Hongkongers in Britain
• Stop Uyghur Genocide
• Tibetan Community in Britain
• Uyghur Community UK
• Voice of Southern Mongolia
• World Uyghur Congress
• Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities

By Gyal Lo

Dr. Lo is an educational sociologist and a Tibetan activist based in Canada.

Original link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/15/opinion/the-one-million-tibetan-children-in-chinas-boarding-schools.html

ON SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

One day in late November 2016, back home in Tibet, I received a distressing call from my brother telling me I needed to check on his granddaughters. “Something very strange is happening,” he said.

My young relatives, who were 4 and 5 years old at the time, had just enrolled in a boarding preschool that the Chinese government had established in my hometown, Kanlho, a seminomadic region in the northeast corner of the Tibetan plateau. Their new school was one of many — I have personally tracked about 160 in three Tibetan prefectures alone — and part of Beijing’s growing network of preschools in which Tibetan children are separated from their families and communities and assimilated into Chinese culture.

Though it had only been three months since the girls had started at the school, my brother described how they were already beginning to distance themselves from their Tibetan identity. On weekends, when they could return from school to their family, they rejected the food at home. They became less interested in our Buddhist traditions and spoke Tibetan less frequently. Most alarmingly, they were growing emotionally estranged from our family. “I might lose them if something isn’t done,” my brother worried.

Concerned, I set out to the girls’ school a few days later to pick them up for the weekend. When they walked out of the gates, they waved to me but barely spoke. When we arrived home, the girls didn’t hug their parents. They spoke only Mandarin to each other and remained silent during our family dinner. They had become strangers in their own home.

When I asked the girls about school, the older one recounted how on the first day several children, anxious from being unable to communicate with teachers who only spoke Mandarin, urinated and defecated in their pants.

As the Chinese government continues its 70-year quest to build legitimacy and control over Tibet, it is pivoting increasingly to using education as a battlefield to gain political control. By separating children from their families and familiar surroundings and funneling them into residential schools where they can become assimilated into Chinese subjects, the state is betting on a future where younger generations of Tibetans will become groomed Chinese Communist Party loyalists, model subjects easy to control and manipulate.

Today these boarding schools house roughly one million children between ages 4 and 18, approximately 80 percent of that population. At least 100,000 of those children — and I believe there are many more — are only 4 or 5 years old, like my nieces were.

After listening to the girls’ stories, I asked my brother what would happen if he just refused to send them. He teared up. Disobeying the new policy would mean having his name blacklisted from government benefits. Others who have protested the new schools have suffered terrible consequences, he said.

He also didn’t have any other choice. Though Chinese boarding schools for Tibetan children have been around since the early 1980s, until fairly recently they had mostly enrolled middle and high school students. But beginning around 2010, the government, in preparation for the new wave of residential preschools, began shutting down local village schools, including the one in our hometown. Then it made preschool a prerequisite for elementary school. Though many of the new boarding schools are far from children’s hometowns, refusing to enroll in them would mean children would grow up with little to no education and become further marginalized from an economy that many Tibetans are already excluded from.

Distressed by the changes I observed in my family, I set out over the next few years to visit more than 50 boarding preschools across northern and eastern Tibet, areas that China calls the Qinghai, Sichuan and Gansu provinces. Over the course of my three years of fieldwork and meetings with students, parents and teachers, what I discovered was worse than anything I could have imagined.

I met young Tibetan children who could no longer speak their native tongue. The schools strictly controlled parental visits. In some cases, schoolchildren saw their families only once every six months. Dormitories, playgrounds and teachers’ offices were heavily surveilled. I saw security cameras installed in classrooms, no doubt to make sure teachers — many of whom were young Chinese undergraduates with little to no background in Tibetan language and culture — only used C.C.P.-approved textbooks.

In one school I visited in the nomadic town of Zorge, a homesick child, in a very quiet tone, said: “When it gets dark in the evening and I can’t take care of myself, I miss my mom and grandparents.”

A woman in my village whose small children had been sent to a boarding school told me: “Whenever I came home exhausted after working all day on the farm, I wanted to hug my 4- and 5-year-old kids. But they were not there.” To heal the pain of their separation, she and a group of other young mothers from her village organized a 1,200-kilometer walking pilgrimage to Lhasa.

One villager told me: “We realize that the government is not ours. When officials come to our town, they don’t know our language or how to communicate with us.”

Another asked: “How can our language and culture survive if we are not able to stop what is happening?”

Beijing’s use of schools to erase Tibetan culture isn’t new. During the Cultural Revolution, the government banned the teaching of Tibetan in many schools. Then, in 1985, in addition to the boarding schools that had been set up inside Tibet, Beijing pioneered its Inland Schooling Program, which sent Tibetan students off to boarding schools in mainland China. James Leibold, an expert in Chinese ethnic policies, described the schools as “a military-style boot camp in how to be ‘Chinese’ and how to conform to acceptable ways of acting, thinking and being.” By 2005, 29,000 Tibetan students had attended these schools.

The trend has only accelerated — and reached younger and younger children. In March 2018, at an annual Parliament meeting, President Xi Jinping said that “core socialist values should set the tone of the common spiritual home of all ethnic groups” and “should be nurtured among the people, particularly children and even in kindergartens.”

Beijing’s focus on separating younger Tibetans from their culture has finally caught Washington’s attention. Last month, the U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, announced that the United States would impose visa restrictions on Chinese officials who are involved in “the coercion of Tibetan children into government-run boarding schools.” As other countries like Canada and Australia reckon with their own history of colonial boarding schools, I hope they follow in Secretary Blinken’s footsteps and intervene as China enthusiastically replicates these horrors in my homeland.

I can only hope that the international attention will force Beijing to rethink its policy and alter the fates of children like my young relatives. After years of fieldwork, I am deeply concerned for the fate of Tibetan culture: that it will slowly disappear as more and more children are forced to become Chinese, and the Tibetan culture that I know and cherish will not survive for future generations. Or else I worry that they will grow up as perpetual strangers in their own homes, in their own homeland.

This article is taken from Tibet Action Institute‘s website.