On Tuesday, 28th March 2023, a Special Hearing “Preserving Tibet: Combating Cultural Erasure, Forced Assimilation and Transnational Repression” was conducted in Rayburn House Office Building, Washington D.C. The two-hour Hearing was chaired by Representative Christopher Smith, Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC). A panel of Tibet experts (from India and the US) presented their cases and answered questions from the US lawmakers.
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China was created by Congress in October 2000 with the legislative mandate to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law in China, and to submit an annual report to the President and the Congress. The Commission consists of nine Senators, nine Members of the House of Representatives, and five senior Administration officials appointed by the President.
About the Special Hearing
Tibet faces new and worsening challenges from the Chinese Communist Party’s repressive rule. Threats to Tibet’s linguistic, religious, and cultural heritage have expanded in recent years, and now an estimated 80 percent of all children in the Tibet Autonomous Region are separated from their families and educated in a massive system of colonial boarding schools-a deeply troubling manifestation of the Party’s program of forced assimilation of ethnic and religious minority groups. In recent years, police have conducted mass DNA collection and iris scanning programs in wide swathes of Tibetan society, including in monasteries and primary schools. Amid these threats to Tibetans in Tibet, the Chinese Communist Party are also seeking to extend their repressive reach abroad, targeting Tibetan diaspora communities in India, Nepal, Europe, and North America for surveillance and harassment.
In this hearing, the Commission will examine growing restrictions on linguistic and cultural rights in Tibet and transnational repression faced by Tibetans abroad. The goal is to explore the diplomatic and policy options for the United States and other like-minded countries to help preserve Tibetan cultural heritage and to defend against threats and intimidation targeting Tibetans in the United States and around the world.
WITNESSES:
Penpa Tsering, Sikyong, Central Tibetan Administration
Richard Gere, Chair, International Campaign for Tibet
Lhadon Tethong, Director, Tibetan Action Institute
Tenzin Dorjee, Senior Researcher and Strategist, Tibet Action Institute
While China claims that Tibet has been part of China since ancient times and speaks of having only liberated it, peacefully, Dr Gyal Lo* finds, based on the yardstick of an internationally accepted academic discourse, that its rule there is typically colonial.
Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet; Photo courtesy: Tibetan Review
Can China’s rule in Tibet be described as colonial? This is a topic of heated debate, but identifying and defining the status of colonization requires scientific evidence. Scholars who examine the characteristics and features of colonization have advanced the research on this subject through interdisciplinary investigation. Kennedy (1945) and Blauner (1969) provide a framework of the seven stages of colonization, a theory that has worldwide applicability in identifying the status of whether a nation is colonized or not in principle. Frieder’s and Gadacz’s (2009)[1] application of the seven stages model to Canada provides a reference point that contains strong parallels to China’s colonization of Tibet over the last seven decades. Of special relevance is China’s education policy in Tibet, with its mandatory boarding schools reminiscent of North America’s residential schools that sought to strip the indigenous peoples of their cultural identity and language.
On August 22, 2022, two Chinese scholars published a short article in the forum China & US Focus titled “Don’t Tar China with West’s School Abuses”. In the article, Wang Zhen and Ye Feng “confounds the truth and disregards the facts” by asserting “it has nothing to do with academic discussions but constitutes outright political disinformation”, and that opponents are “using the sinful or criminal discourse of Western colonialist education.” They claim that “contemporary boarding education in China is completely different from that practiced under Western colonialism” and further conclude that “the crimes of colonialist education cannot be laid on China in any case.” I argue, against the authors, that the characteristics and features of the seven stages of colonization are present in China’s relationship to Tibet. Below I will examine the evidence by using the theoretical lens of the seven-stages framework.
1) Forced penetration of the colonizing group. Defined as: entry of a colonizing group to a geographical area by force. The CCP penetrated into Tibet by military invasion[2] and brutal occupation[3]. However, China continues to lie to the international community, falsely labelling its invasion as ‘peaceful liberation’ of Tibet[4]. Despite these claims, Chinese scholar Li asserts that China deployed their army to invade Tibet, and Liu[5] writes that Tibet was never been a part of China.
2) Social Destructiveness. Defined as: rapid degradation of the internal group’s social and cultural institutions, and overall well-being as a result of contact with the external group. The Chinese government has forcefully destroyed social capacity and monastic institutions of Tibet through three reform movements[6]: 1) Socialist reform, 2) ‘Democratic’ reform, 3) Cultural Revolution[7]. As a result, these two reforms and the revolution fundamentally allowed the Chinese government to remove Tibetan people from the governing system of their homeland society, from 1951 to the present.
3) External Political Control. Defined as: sovereignty partially or completely taken over by an external group, leading to reduced or eliminated political control by the internal group. As an external group, China’s military invasion and deceptive tactics completely took over the sovereignty of Tibet. On May 23, 1951 the Treaty of 17-Point Agreement was signed under duress in Beijing under military threat and political coercion. Just eight years after signing, China breached the terms of this agreement. Due to the Tibetans’ opposition to the occupation and subsequent military threat, the Dalai Lama and the Government of Tibet fled into exile and sought asylum in India. Within these eight years, the Chinese eliminated the Tibetan postal system, banks, schools, media, cultural activities, and government offices of Tibet. In particular, the Tibetan currency was eliminated and diplomacy ceased completely between 1950–1959.
4) Economic Dependence of Internal Groups. Defined as: economic activity dependent on interaction with the external group; partial or complete loss of control of economic decision-making. Through the three reforms mentioned under stage 2, China strategically manipulated Tibet’s economic activity to become completely dependent on the external group in 6 steps. The first step involved depleting natural resources (completely wiping out forests, or fully controlling sources of water and salt); the second step was to set up Chinese banking systems throughout Tibetan society to enforce control on the internal group’s economic system; the third step was to develop invasive infrastructure which in turn resettled masses of Chinese construction related employees and other state mandated migrants into Tibet, causing radical change in the social fabric of Tibet; the fourth step was the “One Child Policy”, which disproportionately affected the Tibetan population’s growth rate and lowered the social capacity of Tibet; the fifth step was to establish economic hegemony and completely marginalize the productivity of Tibetan people in both nomadic and agricultural regions, rapidly increasing their dependency on economic activity on urban areas, all of which are in China; the sixth step was to entirely take over Tibetan people’s economic activity, which cut off Tibetans from having any economic agency in their native society[8].
5) Sub-Standard Social Services. Defined as: the external group exclusively provides services such as health and education, yet delivers them at substantially lower standards of quality than they provide to their own group. Health and education are two major services provided by the Chinese government. In terms of healthcare, it is delivered with subquality professionals and facilities in Tibet. For example, serious illness requires travelling to Chinese cities to either get treatment that is not accessible in Tibet or higher quality of care. In terms of education, China leverages it as a key tool of colonial transformation. The role of school education has shifted from a Tibetan school education to a purely Chinese dominated colonial school across Tibet (since 2018). The features of these colonial schools are as follows: 1) China’s ‘hidden curriculum’, 2) curriculum that is made by China with contents deemed important for Tibetan students by China, 3) politicization of school curriculum (limited Tibetan knowledge in content of textbook only 15% to 25%), 4) the politics of knowledge categorization (excluded Tibetan knowledge system from academic discipline), 5) ideological dominance (filled with the history and mission of the Communist Party), 6) revocation of higher education institutions, leading to cessation of intellectual productivity and learning/teaching Tibetan culture, 7) coercing parents to send age 4-6 children to colonial boarding preschool where the teaching of mother tongue and Tibetan culture is banned since 2016, 8) Forcefully replacing Tibetan language with Mandarin Chinese as the state’s common language from 2018 onward.
Despite claiming “education is a fundamental human right for every citizen,” the experience of school education in Tibet sufficiently proves that “the boarding schools in China play an essentially different role” of assimilative and cultural genocide. Furthermore, in securing the role, “the government has implemented a 15-year free education plan from preschool to high school in the region.” Aiming for the utter colonization of Tibet, the Chinese government invested 223.97 billion yuan from 1951 to 2020 for school education. As a result of undergoing China’s colonial education, generations of Tibet have been alienated from their own cultural community and they can neither enter the mainstream Chinese society nor return to the traditional Tibetan community of their birth. Based on the implementation of China’s compulsory education policy, “the net enrollment rate of primary schools in rural Tibet is 99.93 percent, and the gross enrollment rate of junior high school and higher education are 106.99 percent and 56.14 percent,” will continue the role of school education in Tibetan society as a process of eradicating identity of Tibet.
6 & 7) Social Stratification. Defined as: the external group sets standards of normality and quality which the internal group cannot meet; the traditionally internal group is viewed as inherently inferior; more recently, systemic racism treats groups as potentially unequal, and systemic social barriers prevent internal groups from realizing social equality. Since under China’s control, Tibet has been fragmented and subdivided into various administrative domains under Chinese provincial authority systems[9]. This allowed China to minimize the collective power of Tibet. At the same time, China implements stratified policy to target primary social groups and culturally fertile regions of Tibet. For instance, the Chinese government has fragmented Kham and Amdo into four Chinese provinces (Yunnan, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu) as ten prefectures and two counties. On August 28-29, 2020, Xi Jinping[10] hosted a central committee meeting on Tibet by asserting Kham and Amdo Tibetans as She Zang (Tibetan related/涉藏) not the Tibetan regions.
It is clear from the foregoing body of evidence that Tibet is colonized under China, though this fact has not yet been fully recognized by the international community and remains understudied in academia as a case of colonization. China continues to lie and repetitively claims ‘peaceful liberation’ instead of military invasion. Chinese leaders and pro-CCP scholars make the deceptive claim that Tibetans are in control of their society, while they have implemented severely eradicative policies over seven decades[11]. The experience of Tibet (1951-2022) under China’s control, so called “social and economic development” of Tibet, clearly reveals the same features and the same characteristics described in the seven stages of colonization.
***
Dr Gyal Lo received his PhD from the University of Toronto, and he taught at the Department of Tibetan Language and Culture at Northwest University for Nationalities for over a decade. He is the author of Social Structuration in Tibetan Society: Education, society, and spirituality (Lexington Books, 2016).
[1] Frideres, J. & Gadacz, R. R. (2008). Aboriginal people in Canada. A division of Pearson Canada Inc., Toronto, Ontario
[2]Li, J. L. (2022). When the Iron Bird Flies: China’s Secret War in Tibet, Stanford University Press. (Tibetan version translated by Thaklha Gyal (2019) from Chinese version). The book provides details about how the Chinese Communist Party military invaded and cracked down on Tibetans from 1956 through 1962.
[3] Lezlee Brown, H., & Stefan, H. (2013). Tibet: An Unfinished Story, Oxford University Press, USA. “China’s People’s Liberation Army sought nothing less than to deconstruct traditional Tibet, unseat the Dalai Lama and absorb this vast region into the People’s Republic, and Lhasa succumbed to China’s invasion in 1950.”
[4] Szczepanski, Kallie. “Tibet and China: History of a Complex Relationship.” ThoughtCo, Jul. 29, 2021, thoughtco.com/tibet-and-china-history-195217.
[5] Liu H.C. (2019). Tibet has never been a part of China (Chinese version), Xue Yu Press, Taiwan.
[6] Jia, L. (2015). Reform as a social movement in Tibetan society: A form of social process, Lap Lambert Academic Publishing.
[7] Barnett, R. & Akiner, S. (1993). Resistance and reform in Tibet, Indiana University Press.
[8] Fischer, Andrew Martin. (2014). The disempowered development of Tibet in China: A study in the economics of marginalization, Lexington Books.
[10] On August 28-29, 2020, Xi Jinping says: “中央将继续加大对四省涉藏工作的支持力度.” “同时, 对四川、云南、甘肃、青海省涉藏工作作出部署.” This is first time mentioned this way, and since then all authority system documents and academic writing have to followed this way.
On August 24-25, 2015, during sixth meeting, Xi Jinping mentioned as “会议还对四川、云南、甘肃、青海省藏区…………。” “今后一个时期，要在西藏和四省藏区…………. 。西藏和四省藏区要坚持自力更生…………。” “习近平指出，实现西藏和四省藏区长治久安，……. 。”
On January 18 to 20, 2010, Hu Jintao host meeting, the title of meeting as: “第五次西藏工作座谈会：对四省藏区发展全面部署”; “推动四省藏区发展迈出新步伐，确保四省藏区到2020年……………..。”
After being sentenced to two years prison term followed by indefinite surveillance, Southern Mongolian writer Lhamjab Borjigin escaped China and arrived in the independent country of Mongolia. Photo: SMHRIC
The following is an English translation of Southern Mongolian dissident writer Mr. Lhamjab Borjigin’s testimony given to the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center on March 26, 2023. After being sentenced to two years prison term followed by indefinite surveillance, recently Lhamjab Borjigin managed to escape China and came to the independent country of Mongolia (English translation by SMHRIC):
“It was nice reconnecting with you. In Southern Mongolia, people like myself — branded as undesirable and blacklisted as reactionary — are under the authorities’ strict control, monitored and followed around the clock. We must show up wherever and whenever they summon us, and we must report in several times a day. No matter where we go, we are followed.
All Southern Mongolians are treated as targets for cleansing and extermination. What they [the Chinese authorities] want is our land and territory. As a people, we are considered nonexistent.
I am not allowed to meet with others like me. We spend our days, months and years under these restrictions — and even stricter policies imposed on us during the COVID-19 lockdown.
During the lockdown, a total of four doses of the vaccine were forced on each and every one of us. Realizing its ineffectiveness, many refused to receive the fourth round of inoculation. After a couple of years of vaccination, people realized the Chinese vaccine does not work at all. Despite this resistance, the authorities achieved their vaccination goal through a variety of means. For example, in Sunid Right Banner, the government issued a sack of flour or a bottle of milk to elderly citizens who agreed to being vaccinated. I have heard that in other locations, inoculated citizens were given 500 yuan.
As an 80-year-old man, I am against the Chinese vaccine, which has been proven ineffective over time, considering the government’s protracted period of vaccine administration. In fact, the negative effects of the vaccine are well known — but discussion of these side-effects is not allowed. It is a fact that many people have died as a result of the vaccine. Discussion of these deaths is also strictly forbidden. We must attribute these casualties to natural causes. It is said that those who have discussed vaccine deaths have been criminalized.
In cities, dispatchers in white hazmat suits walked door to door, forcefully vaccinating residents. In some cases, they even broke into people’s homes in order to administer the vaccine. I, however, have never allowed them inside my home. I recall on several occasions they came to my place of residence with an army of police officers and security personnel. I told them that diseases are treated by doctors, not by the police. I said that my body was given to me by my parents — not by the party, nor the government. I have the right to decide what to do and what not to do with my body.
I also told them that with this vaccine they were not trying to save my life but were in fact attempting to take it from me. In this manner, I categorically rejected the vaccination, yet I still haven’t contracted COVID-19, thanks to my natural immunity. Some of my acquaintances who were vaccinated either died or fell victim to worsening conditions.
During the language protest, many teachers died. Those parents who refused to send their children to school were either removed from their positions or fired from their jobs. Many of their family members and relatives were implicated as well. Many Mongolians lost their lives. Some Mongolian officials who supported the protest have mysteriously died or disappeared. Again, it is a taboo to talk about these cases. This is a form of genocide, executed by the Chinese in Southern Mongolia under the guise of protecting citizens from COVID-19.
Similarly, under the pretext of the COVID lockdown, roads and highways were often blocked and sealed. Having obstructed citizens’ mobility, the authorities then quietly moved their police and paramilitary forces into Mongolian areas — fully equipped with heavy machinery — under the cover of darkness, and with the goal of tightening surveillance.
And there was much to surveil. We Mongolians are prohibited from communicating with outsiders — especially foreigners. Those who broke these rules were searched, arrested, detained and jailed. Their phones were confiscated, hacked and analyzed thoroughly. After all personal information and communication records were accessed and copied, some devices, but not all, were returned to their owners. The so-called “rule-breakers” were warned about who they were allowed to communicate with, as well as those who were strictly prohibited. They are monitored and followed around the clock. For instance, the entire city of Shiliin-hot was patrolled by heavily armed police and SWAT teams in black vehicles who monitored residents’ every single move. And our literal movement was restricted as well. They [the authorities] even tried to confiscate my passport. I was able to avoid surrendering my passport by telling them that I had misplaced it. In lieu of relinquishing my passport and therefore my freedom to travel, I was ordered to check in at the local police station twice a day to report my status and sign a statement of compliance.
When COVID restrictions relaxed slightly, I managed to escape and come to Mongolia with the help of friends. Like a wild animal, I broke through the shackles and ran for my freedom. I do not want to go back, only to be shackled again. It is my dream to live in peace and to enjoy my basic human rights in a free country, for the few remaining years of my life. My other goal is to publish my books here in Mongolia.
Generally speaking, Southern Mongolia is under Chinese control. At the regional level to the lowest level of villages, the Chinese dominate everything, all the way from high-level government offices to our schools. In schools, including kindergarten classes, all Mongolian teachers have been replaced by Chinese instructors hailing from the interior provinces of China. For example, in Shiliin-hot, the Shiliin-gol League Mongolian High School (established in the 1930s) has been converted to the No.3 Chinese High School. The Mongolian teachers who taught there are now unemployed.
Moreover, Mongolian textbooks and other publications have been removed from bookstores and libraries. Some teachers managed to keep a few Mongolian books by hiding them in nooks and crannies. Even the most sacred book — Secret History of Mongolia — was confiscated and destroyed. Those books that escaped the search nevertheless cannot be shared with the public.
Mongolian students have not learned anything in the past two years, not only because of the deteriorating educational environment, but because of the early dismissal schedule, ostensibly necessitated by COVID-related restrictions. Those students who were forcibly returned to their homes effectively spread COVID-19 to their family members and rural communities.
For the time being, I live with my friend here in Ulaanbaatar. As there is no possible way for my books to be published in Southern Mongolia, it is my goal to publish them here in Mongolia.
Having enjoyed only a handful of days of freedom here, I can’t begin to describe how precious freedom is. Let me be frank. I do not want to go back. I do not want to lose the freedom that I have dreamed of for so long. I know I do not have a great many years ahead; still, I would like to live in freedom and die in peace.
If I did return to China, I would be severely punished, if not killed, for escaping to Mongolia without the government’s approval. As mentioned earlier, before my departure I had been placed under indefinite surveillance without any personal freedoms. The authorities must have been furious about my escape. As a result, it is extremely risky for me to go back. On the other hand, I really want to see, touch and feel this hard-won freedom.
In Southern Mongolia, this denial of freedom was only exacerbated by charges brought against me by the Chinese authorities. I was sentenced by the court of Shiliion-hot to one year in prison and one year serving outside prison. I completed the full sentence — but completion of my full sentence did not guarantee my full freedom. I still had to regularly report to the local Public Security Bureau. They decided where I was allowed to go and where I could not go, and who I was allowed to meet and who I could not. My residence was full of surveillance cameras, watching my every single move, like the Monkey King’s golden hoop remotely controlling the entirety of my daily life.
Having lived through the turmoil sustained by my people, I would be happy to share my experience with the outside world as a victim, survivor and witness. I abide by this simple principle: for the cause of my people, for justice and righteousness, I do not hesitate to stand up and tell the truth.
As you know, publishing books in the Mongolian language in Southern Mongolia has been completely outlawed. Even government and party propaganda are no longer published in Mongolian. Having worked on my books for years, I took the risky path to Mongolia armed with the hope of publishing them here and bequeathing them for posterity. Through my books, future generations will understand what our nation has endured, and how our people fought for survival.
The first book I am planning to publish is about Mongolian history, mainly focusing on the personal lives and achievements of more than 30 Mongolian Khans, in chronological order. The estimated word count is roughly 100,000 after editing.
The second book is entitled The Record No. 1981 and focuses on the Mongolian Students’ Movement of 1981. The first draft is about 200,000 words.
The third book is a historical account of the Chinese Communist Party’s occupation of Southern Mongolia, primarily focusing on when and how the Chinese Communist Party took control of the Shiliin-gol region, how they occupied Mongolian land and territories, how they confiscated and destroyed Mongolian properties, the nature of the political movements they launched, and how they carried out mass killings and other atrocities. The estimated word count of this book is 150,000.
These three books could be published in relatively short order, as first drafts are already complete. In addition to these manuscripts, I have also brought with me a fair amount of first-hand materials that will require some sorting and time and effort prior to publication.These are my plans — should I be lucky enough to live a few more years in peace without being followed, monitored and questioned, until being called by Karl Marx to join him in heaven.”
For more information on the case of Lhamjab Borjigin, please visit here:
This Open Letter by Tenzin Tsultrim was first published in Phayul on 13th March 20223.
Illustration: Stellina Chen
An Open Letter to Xi Jinping
Dear President Xi Jinping,
Tashi Deleg for Tibetan Losar 2150 Year (Water Hare)
First, I would like to wish you a successful third-term.
I think you are the first top leader of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) after (late)Jiang Zemin, to visit Tibet. I believe, the 2021 visit was your third visit to Tibet. From the Chinese official media, I found out that you have also visited Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.
On 19 July 2011, when you visited Lhasa as a Vice-President of the PRC, you mentioned, “The fine traditions of the Tibetan culture are preserved and promoted…Like other regions in the country, Tibet is showing the dynamism of development that points to a prosperous future.”
For the past few years, there have been increasing crackdowns in Tibet. The demolitions of Gaden Rabten Namgyaling school in Kardze and Buddha statues in Kham are further creating an environment of fear and distrust inside Tibet. It also highlights Chinese leaders’ mismanagement in Tibet. Increasing the number of surveillance cameras and police posts might give the communist officials in Tibet a sense of control over the Tibetan people. In short, allowing your sycophant officials to bring further restrictions on the Tibetan people would generate further alienation and may impede your dream of rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
On 17 August 2021, during the 10th meeting of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, you talked about “Common prosperity”, where you stressed the need to “adhere to a people-centered development philosophy and called for efforts to achieve common prosperity through high-quality development.” I think common prosperityis also about treating everyone with equal respect and giving them equal rights.
In your Report of 2022 to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, you again mentioned “Common Prosperity”. You said, “We have ensured a more complete and lasting sense of fulfillment, happiness, and security for our people, and we have made further progress in achieving common prosperity for all.” However, in Tibet, for the past few years, many uncommon events have happened.
For instance, Tibetan people were restricted from visiting monasteries during the new year. In the name of the bilingual education policy, young Tibetan children were barred from learning their mother tongue. Research findings from Tibet Action Institute reveal that countless young Tibetan children were sent to faraway boarding schools to educate them in the Chinese language and culture. I think there cannot be “Common Prosperity” if the common Tibetan people are not treated with equal respect and rights. Hence, it is not by coincidence that rights groups such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Freedom House across the world are highlighting the growing repression and curtailment of basic human rights in Tibet. By curbing human rights and restrengthening the surveillance systems in Tibet, you can monitor their movements and eavesdrop on their conversations and but you cannot monitor their sentiments.
In your latest Report, you also declared that “…We must strengthen the great unity of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups and the great unity of all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation at home and abroad. By doing so, we will create a powerful collective force working with one heart and one mind to realize the Chinese Dream.”
One cannot expect unity by eradicating the identities of a few. For instance, the geographical topographies of Tibet, East Turkestan, and Southern Mongolia are different from that of China, one cannot just re-engineer to make it similar to that of China’s topography. If one tries to pursue this, then the result would be a man-made disaster. For the Tibetan people, Uyghurs, and people from Southern Mongolia, culture is very close to their hearts, and without respecting their culture, it is very difficult to win their hearts and minds.
Since you are around 70 years old, I think it would be routine for you to do health check-ups, including your heart rate. Instead of collecting DNA, I think it is also high time to check the grievances rate in Tibet, East Turkestan, and Southern Mongolia. The implementation of a few months Zero-Covid policies in Tibet, particularly in Lhasa, the Capital of Tibet has led to outcry and protests from hundreds of Chinese migrant workers. Imagine the decades of bottled-up grievances of Tibetan people, Uighurs, and Southern Mongolian people. China has already spent billions of Yuan on roads, bridges, housing, and on surveillance mechanisms.
I think it is time to spend on human capital and improve human rights conditions without any Chinese or Socialist characteristics. The countless amount of money Communist China has spent for many decades on its image-building exercise within China and outside has been completely thrown out of the window. Covid-19 proved to be the final nail in the coffin. If China sincerely believes in upping its image, I think the time has come for it to give genuine rights and freedom to the oppressed people from Tibet, East Turkestan, and Southern Mongolia to decide their future.
I believe this is my second letter to you. The first letter I sent to you is through the Apple Daily of Hongkong, now defunct and its founder Jimmy Lai jailed.
Next time, when you are in India, please visit Dharamshala, there is a direct flight from Delhi. The Tibetan amchis(doctors) from Men-Tsee-Khang are known to tell the root causes of many diseases by reading the pulse. In short, many problems in the world could be solved effectively if you know the source of the problems.
Sincerely,
Tenzin Tsultrim (A Tibetan living in exile)
(Views expressed are his own)
The author is a research Fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute, a think tank under the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamshala, India
P.S. I request anyone who knows the Chinese language to translate the above letter.
British stance edges closer to the US, but many MPs want government to go further and designate China as a threat
There has been a significant shift in policy from ‘golden era’ of cooperation hoped for by David Cameron in 2015.Photograph: Arthur Edwards/The Sun/PA
While Britain’s conflict with Russia is playing out on the battlefield of Ukraine, escalating tensions between London and Beijing are largely unfolding a little more discreetly at home: in universities, among researchers and in hi-tech and other strategic businesses.
It may not be a high-profile drama of poisonings and deadly weapons supply, but hundreds of Chinese researchers have been turned away from British projects over the last couple of years, as trust between the two countries has been eroded.
A further 50 researchers, already in the UK, have also been quietly asked to leave the country, accused of being linked to the China’s People’s Liberation Army.
It already reflects a significant shift in policy from “golden era” of cooperation hoped for by David Cameron in 2015 at the time of state visit to the UK by China’s president, Xi Jinping – long before the publication of Monday’s refreshed integrated review of defence and foreign policy.
Ironically, the refresh was put in train by the short-lived premiership of Liz Truss, with the purpose of ratcheting up Britain’s hostility to China, changing the UK’s overall stance from “systemic competitor” to “threat” – a position rejected by Rishi Sunak.
Ultimately the document fought shy of the threat designation, choosing to define Beijing as posing an “epoch-defining and systemic challenge with implications for almost every area of government policy”. But it allows the UK to come a little closer to the US, which increasingly sees China as its long-term, defining competitor.
A review by the Pentagon last year described China as a “pacing challenge”, and a “comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” – anxieties that underline Monday’s confirmation that Australia will get nuclear propulsion technology from the UK and US so its submarines can match Beijing’s in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Policy experts say escalating the rhetoric dramatically would only serve to unnecessarily increase existing tensions at a time when there is western concern about whether Beijing is prepared to supply weapons to Russia for the war in Ukraine.
Charles Parton, a former British diplomat with 22 years of China experience, said there was nothing extra to be gained, adding: “It doesn’t make for good policy. They are a threat, but we have to cooperate on areas like climate change, which we never had to do with the Soviet Union. But we also have to recognise that Beijing sees itself in an existential struggle with western capitalism.”
The analyst pointed to a 2013 speech, re-published in 2019, in which the Chinese leader spoke of “the eventual demise of capitalism and the ultimate victory of socialism” in what would inevitably be “a long historical process”.
Reflecting such thinking, Britain’s intelligence community has emphasised its concern that authoritarian China could one day take control of critical technologies such as artificial intelligence. Last October Jeremy Fleming, the boss of spy agency GCHQ, said China wanted to “gain strategic advantage by shaping the world’s technology ecosystems”.
After a long period of laissez-faire, a handful of takeovers of British firms by Chinese companies have being blocked under the recently passed National Security and Investment Act, including the purchase of Newport Wafer Fab, the UK’s largest silicon chip factory.
Chinese espionage activities in the UK are often subtle and long term – and nefarious activity difficult to spot. In an exceptional case, MI5 did issue a warning in January last year about lobbyist Christine Lee, accusing her of seeking to improperly influence MPs and peers, using money she was said to have raised from “foreign nationals” in Hong Kong and China.
But Lee was not prosecuted either, partly reflecting the UK’s effort to proceed discreetly and what the intelligence community insists is outdated legislation. When three Chinese spies posing as journalists were expelled in 2020, the story did not emerge until the following year because their removal was hushed up.
The problem for the government is there is political frustration with any perceived gradualist approach. Conservative MPs repeatedly rebelled with Labour support, demanding tougher sanctions, when the government tried to restrict the use of Huawei equipment in British phone network.
An attempt to force the UK to reconsider trade deals with a regime defined in a UK court as genocidal – aimed at Beijing – failed by 11 votes in 2021.
High-profile critics, such as former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith, complained on Monday that the UK “did not kick out the Chinese officials who beat people up on the streets” – referring to the UK response to an incident in October when a pro democracy protester was beaten Chinese officials outside the country’s consulate in Manchester. Six diplomats left two months later, without agreeing to be questioned by UK police.
Meanwhile, Labour’s Stephen Kinnock called for an “in-depth strategic audit” of the UK’s relationship with China and “no return to the utterly failed ‘golden era’ strategy” – indicating that politicians still want to go further than officials or experts are recommending.
The Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities are pleased to re-share a very candid interaction of Dr. Lobsang Sangay, former Sikyong, President of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), from 2011 to 2021 (aka Tibetan Government-in-exile), with his academic audience at Harvard University Asia Centre, as part of the Tsai Lecture Series.
Dr. Lobsang Sangay, Photo: Harvard University
Sangay’s latest public engagement is believed to be an open account of his personal aspiration, challenges, opportunities as well as securing solutions to China-Tibet conflict as top elected leader of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, since leaving his two-terms in office as the Sikyong.
Watch this full speech delivered on March 8, 2023, at the Harvard University Asia Center, by Dr. Lobsang Sangay, Former Sikyong (President) of the Central Tibetan Administration and Senior Visiting Fellow, East Asian Legal Studies Program, Harvard Law School.
About the Lecture Series: The Tsai Lecture Series, established in 2000 with a generous endowment from Felix Tsai, allows the Asia Center to invite notable leaders in academia, government, business, and other professions to Harvard. The annual lecture is open to the public, and it offers perspectives from a range of disciplines and different regions in Asia. Past speakers have included the late Surin Pitsuwan, former Secretary-General of ASEAN, Pritzker Prize-winning architect and humanitarian Shigeru Ban, internationally renowned human rights lawyer, and advocate Asma Jahangir, the Honorable Caroline Kennedy, and the Honorable Kathleen Stephens. 2021 Nobel laureate Maria Ressa delivered the most recent Tsai Lecture in May 2022.
Biography of the speaker: Lobsang Sangay is a Senior Visiting Fellow at East Asian Legal Studies Program, Harvard Law School. He was a democratically elected Sikyong (President) of the Central Tibetan Administration and served two terms (2011-21). Lobsang completed his BA and LLB from Delhi University. He did his LLM ’95 and SJD ‘04 from Harvard Law School and received Yong K. Kim’ 95 Memorial Prize for excellence in dissertation and contributions to the understanding of East Asia at the Harvard Law School. While at Harvard, akin to track III, he organized seven rounds of meetings/conferences between Tibetan, Western and Chinese scholars most notably, the first ever meeting between HH the Dalai Lama and 25 Chinese scholars and students.
He was a researcher for the report “Tibet: Human Rights and the Rule of Law”, published by the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva, Switzerland (2008). He also published Legal Autonomy of Tibet: A Tibetan Lawyer’s Perspective, in the Journal of East Asia and International Law and “Education Rights for Tibetans in Tibet and India,” in John D. Montgomery, ed. Human Rights: Positive Policies in Asia and the Pacific Rim, SOKA University Press. He wrote an article, Tibet: The Exile’s Journey published in the Journal of Democracy (2004). He was selected as one of the twenty-four Young Leaders of Asia by the Asia Society (2006). He has spoken at international conferences such as Forum 2000, Halifax Security Forum, and Oxford Union. He has written numerous Op-eds in major newspapers including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and appeared on many international TV networks like BBC and CNN.
He was awarded the Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse, College Historical Society (CHS), Trinity College, Dublin (2014) and Salisbury University Presidential Medal for Distinguished Community Leadership (2015). He has visited various capitals and parliaments around the world and played an important role in the passage of Tibetan Policy and Support Act 2020 signed by the United States Government.
He was most recently a lecturer at the Harvard Law school in the Fall of 2022, teaching a class on China and Tibet and presently teaching a reading group on Tibet at the Harvard Kennedy School.
At the invitation of Tibetan Community UK, Chinese dissident Dr. Shao Jiang addressed the 64th commemoration anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day at the Indian YMCA in London on 10th March 2023. He said, “CCP’s invasion and occupation of Tibet have brought much suffering to the Tibetan people. These include not only suppression of civil and political rights, religious freedom and cultural genocide, but also the economic exploitation of millions of Tibetans”.
Dr. Shao Jiang addressing the 64th commemoration annual of the Tibetan National Uprising Day event in London
Jailed for his role as Student Leader during the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, Dr. Shao Jiang highlighted Communist China’s “economic exploitation on three levels: land seizure, the plundering of resources, and labour exploitation” in Tibet. He added that “the discussion of these issues may provide new perspectives for finding a way out for the Tibetan people.”
The Chinese dissident also stated that the recent White Paper movement in China saw the active involvements of “a number of Tibetan students and workers, especially women”. He said that “Tibetan students and workers who are still in detention are all women, including Tsering Lhamo, Zamkar, Dechen, Kalsang Dolma and Delha”.
The dissident-scholar noted that most of those Chinese arrested were also women, adding, “Women are leading new round of movement. The White Paper movement including class, nationalities and gender issues, has provided an opportunity for Tibetans and Chinese to fight together against the tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party and to fight for our freedoms shoulder to shoulder”.
For full speech please watch this video.
Dr. Shao Jiang addressing the 64th commemoration anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day at Indian YMCA in London, organised by Tibetan Community UK
Dr. Shao Jiang:
“Today marks the 64th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising. CCP’s invasion and occupation of Tibet have brought much suffering to the Tibetan people. These include not only suppression of civil and political rights, religious freedom and cultural genocide, but also the economic exploitation of millions of Tibetans. Today I want to highlight this economic exploitation on three levels: land seizure, the plundering of resources, and labour exploitation. I hope that the discussion of these issues may provide new perspectives for finding a way out for the Tibetan people.
Since the occupation of Tibet, the CCP carried out two rounds of looting of Tibetan land and resources. The first round was from the 1950s to the early1980s, the second round is from 2000 to the present. In the 1950s, in the name of ‘land reform’, the CCP confiscated the land traditionally used by Tibetans for farming and grazing, forcing farmers and nomads to join communes. The command economy led to long-term poverty and famine among Tibetan farmers and nomads. The Tibetan land was used by the CCP as a strategic foundation to build military bases, third-line factories, forest farms and agricultural farms to exploit resources in Tibet.
The second round of land seizure in Tibet started around 2000 and is still ongoing. The implementation is in the name of ‘relocation and resettlement’, ‘national parks’, ‘border villages’, ‘poverty alleviation’ and so on. The land-grabbing goes hand in hand with the plundering of natural resources including grasslands, forests, minerals and water resources. Industrialisation and urbanization have not benefited the Tibetan people but turned Tibet into a vital source for the supply chains of the world factory that China has presented itself to be. Many companies and politicians in the West have been complicit in this process.
Over the past 20 years or so, the CCP has driven more than two million Tibetan farmers and herders out of their land. Some of them have become unemployed, while others have become ‘cheap labour’ in the gig economy. Since Tibetans are forced to use Chinese in both education and work, not only are they at a disadvantage in finding a job, but even Tibetans with the same or higher skill levels are paid only one-third of the wages of the Han Chinese. This is one of the reasons why the proportion of Tibetans living in poverty is much higher than that of the Chinese.
Workers in the gig economy are inevitably subjected to further exploitation due to their scattered and disorganized status. Only by developing independent labour organizations can Tibetan workers protect their rights. Under CCP’s tight control, it is very difficult for Tibetans in Tibet to form independent trade unions, and this is where Tibetan exiles can play an important role. There is a lot we can learn from the experiences of workers’ organizations in other countries including the UK and Ireland, to build a broader alliance with the international labour movement.
Last November, the White Paper movement erupted in China. A number of Tibetan students and workers, especially women, had been actively involved. From what we know so far, Tibetan students and workers who are still in detention are all women, including Tsering Lhamo, Zamkar, Dechen, Kalsang Dolma and Delha. This is similar to the situation of Chinese participants. Most of those arrested were also women. Women are leading this new round of movement. The White Paper movement including class, nationalities and gender issues, has provided an opportunity for Tibetans and Chinese to fight together against the tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party and to fight for our freedoms shoulder to shoulder.”
The Europe-wide Joint 10th March Rally will be held in Rome, Italy on Friday, 10th March 2023.
This pan-European rally is organised by the Tibetan Community Italy, with a full cooperation of the Tibetan Communities in Europe. In addition to Tibetans, supporters and invited speakers, Europe-based elected Tibetan MPs and representatives from the Offices of Tibet are also joining the official rally.
This political and solidarity rally is believed to be the largest Tibet gathering in Europe since the COVID-19 pandemic, which originated in Wuhan, China.
Details of the Rome Rally:
Starting place: LARGO CORRADO RICCI
Manifestation Place: PIAZZA DELLA MADONNA DI LORETO
Rally Route: Gathering – 13:30 / rally 14:00 from Largo Corrado Ricci – Via Fori Imperiali Arrival – Piazza della Madonna di Loreto
From Archive: Tibet Flag Raising ceremony at Woolwich Town Hall, London; 10th March 2022
Tibet was illegally invaded by the Chinese Communist Party regime soon after it came to power on 1st October 1949, establishing the People’s Republic of China. On Mao Tsetung’s order, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops invaded Tibet from the eastern frontiers in 1950 and thereafter. Tibetans fought back and strongly resisted the foreign invasion for many years but there was no match against China’s well equipped and organised military troops. This fateful illegal invasion of Tibet by China occurred after the founding of the United Nations in 1948.
Tibetans continue to call for freedom, justice and human rights in China’s occupied Tibet and around the world. A few weeks leading to the 10th March each year, the Chinese authorities put additional security measures in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital, to prevent protests. Tibetans in Lhasa as well as in other parts of Tibet have told their their contacts overseas not to call them especially during these few months.
During this year’s 64th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising protests across the globe, over 100,000 Tibetans are expected to take to the streets who will be chanting “UNO – Where are you?”, “UNO – We want justice”, “Free Tibet, China out of Tibet”, “China: Stop Killing Tibetans” and “Human Rights in Tibet.”
For this year’s London protest details, please click here.
On 3rd March 2023, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) issued its “Concluding Observations” at the Third Periodic Review of China.
For this Periodic Review in Geneva, China has sent a high-level delegation, consisting of representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Front Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Supreme People’s Court, Ministry of Education, National Ethnic Affairs Commission, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, National Health Commission, National Religious Affairs Administration, National Disease Prevention and Control Administration, the State Council Information Office, and National Working Committee on Children and Women under the State Council, as well as the governments of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Macao Special Administrative Region. No Tibetan and Uyghur nationalities were part of this high-level delegation.
Whilst welcoming some positive measures taken by the Chinese State including, “The ratification of ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29); and the ratification of the ILO Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105);” and “The adoption of the fourth National Human Rights Action Plan (2021-2025)”, the UN rights body was quite vocal about Beijing’s human rights failures. The UN Rights body specifically called on China for an “end to forced relocations and the state-run boarding school system in Tibet”.
The committee, consisting of independent experts, moreover expressed concern that Tibetans and Uyghurs amongst others living under China’s brutal rule, “face severe restrictions in the realization of their right to take part in cultural life, including the right to use and teach minority languages, history and culture.”
Some related excerpts on Tibet from the Committee’s “Concluding Observations”:
“Indigenous peoples
27. Noting the information provided during the dialogue with the State party, the Committee remains concerned about reports that resettlement of nomadic herdsmen, particularly Tibetan ones, is carried out in the State party without proper consultation and in most cases without free, prior and informed consent, particularly in the western provinces and in autonomous regions. The Committee is also concerned about reports that large numbers of small-scale farmers and nomadic herders, including from ethnic autonomous areas, have lost their traditional lands and livelihoods owing to poverty alleviation schemes and ecological restoration resettlement measures, and that compensation for expropriated property is often insufficient to maintain an adequate standard of living (arts. 1(2) and 2 (2)).
28. The Committee reiterates its recommendation[1] that the State party take all necessary measures to immediately halt non-voluntary resettlement of all nomadic herders, including Tibetan ones, from their traditional lands and non-voluntary relocation or rehousing programmes for other rural residents, such as small-scale farmers and that the State party carry out meaningful consultations with the affected communities in order to examine and evaluate all available alternative options, and offer full, adequate and timely compensation for expropriations already carried out.
Cultural and linguistic identity and expression in education
88. Noting the information provided during the dialogue with the State party, the Committee remains concerned about reports that ethnic minorities continue to face severe restrictions in the realization of their right to take part in cultural life, including the right to use and teach minority languages, history and culture. The Committee is concerned about reports of closures of schools providing instruction in minority languages, as well as in the Tibetan, Uyghur and/or Kazakh languages. The Committee is also concerned about reports of the large-scale campaign to eradicate Tibetan culture and language, as well as the general undermining of the linguistic identity of ethnic minorities by the assimilation policy of the State party, known as sinicization, including the coerced residential (boarding) school system imposed on Tibetan children (arts. 13, 14 and 15).
89. The Committee reiterates its recommendation that the State party take all necessary measures to ensure the full and unrestricted enjoyment by peoples and minorities of their right to enjoy fully their own cultural identity and take part in cultural life, and to ensure the use and practice of their language and culture, and immediately abolish the coerced residential (boarding) school system imposed on Tibetan children, as well as allowing private Tibetan schools to be established. The Committee also recommends that the State party ensure that Mandarin is not the only language allowed as the language of instruction vis-à-vis ethnic minorities and peoples.
Cultural heritage and practices of religious minorities
90. Noting the information provided during the dialogue with the State party, the Committee is concerned about reports of increasingly tighter regulation of religious practices in the context of the State party’s counter-terrorism and counter-extremism strategies, particularly increasing restrictions on expression of Muslim religious practices which put persons practicing standard tenets of Islamic religion and practice at risk of criminal sanction and/or being coerced into re-education in VETCs and/or being coerced into employment schemes which de facto amount to forced labour. The Committee is also concerned about reports of systematic and massive destruction of religious sites such as mosques, monasteries, shrines and cemeteries, particularly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and in the Tibet Autonomous Region (art. 15).
91. The Committee reiterates its recommendation[1] that the State party take adequate measures to protect cultural diversity and the cultural practices and heritage of religious minorities, including the religious practices of Tibetans, Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Hui, and Mongols, including by protecting and restoring religious sites.”
The Committee considered the third periodic report of China,[1] including the fourth periodic report of Hong Kong SAR, China,[2] and the third periodic report of Macao SAR, China,[3] on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at its 5th and 7th meetings[4] held on 15 and 16 February 2023, and adopted the present concluding observations at its 30th meeting, held on 3 March 2023.
Photo Archive: Tibet Flag Raising on 10th March 2020
The London Royal Borough of Greenwich (RBG) will once again raise the Tibetan National Flag on 10th March 2023 at the Woolwich Town Hall in show of support and solidarity with the people of Tibet.
Cllr. Leo Fletcher, The Mayor, and Cllr. Anthony Okereke, The Leader of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, will be joined by representatives from The Office of Tibet, Tibetan Community UK and Greenwich Tibetan Association as well as local Tibetans on Friday morning at the Town Hall, Woolwich, southeast London. As the Tibetan National Anthem is sung the Mayor of the London Royal Borough of Greenwich will raise the Tibet Flag whilst being witnessed by other councillors, officials, Tibetans and residents.
This annual Tibet Flag Raising is organised by the Mayor’s Office, Royal Borough of Greenwich (RBG) and the Greenwich Tibetan Association (GTA) of the Tibetan Community UK. The RBG is home to over 100 Tibetans, which is the single largest concentration of Tibetans in one borough in the whole of UK.
Tsering Passang, Founder and Chair of the Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities, who coordinated the Tibet Flag Raising, said: “We are once again pleased with the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s decision to raise the Tibet Flag in show of support and solidarity with the people of Tibet. Tibetans are still being persecuted in their own country by the Chinese regime for their fundamental beliefs. This noble act by the Royal Borough of Greenwich sends the right message to China’s regime that the UK stands with the people of Tibet as they continue to endure persecutions and brutal crackdown. Tibetans are denied human rights, religious freedom and free speech in China’s occupied Tibet. We thank the Mayor and the Royal Borough of Greenwich for their continued support and solidarity with the people of Tibet.”
The Tibet Flag was first raised at the Woolwich Town Hall in London in September 2015 to honour and welcome His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The Tibetan spiritual leader gave public talks and Buddhist teachings to over 10,000 people at The O2 Centre in September 2015, which falls within the boundaries of the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
Tibetans worldwide are observing their 64th anniversary of the National Uprising Day of 1959 in Lhasa, when tens of thousands of Tibetans revolted against the illegal occupation of their country by Mao Tsetung-led Communist Party of China (CCP). China’s invasion of Tibet forced the Nobel Peace laureate Dalai Lama into exile in India in March 1959 where he set up the Central Tibetan Administration (de facto Tibetan Government-in-exile).
The Tashi Lhunpo Monks are visiting the UK between May-August 2023 on a 50-date tour, commemorating fifty years since their Monastery was re-established in exile with concerts and sand mandala exhibitions.
The 50th anniversary concerts feature buddhist chants, masked dances in ceremonial costumes and ancient Tantric musical instruments, evoking the atmosphere of sacred Tibet. Performances also include spoken explanations of the significance and stories behind the dances and prayers, providing a fascinating glimpse into an ancient cultural tradition, far removed from modern Western society.
Founded in Tibet by the First Dalai Lama in 1447, Tashi Lhunpo Monastery was renowned for its scholarship of Mahayana philosophy and the Tantric tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Following the Chinese invasion of Tibet, twenty elderly monks from Tashi Lhunpo escaped religious persecution and undertook a perilous trek across the Himalayas, where Tashi Lhunpo Monastery India was re-established in the early 1970s.
Fifty years on, Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in India is now home to over 400 monks and is once again becoming one of the most important centres of Buddhist learning.
The 50th anniversary tour begins Lighthouse Poole on Tuesday 2 May will be visiting venues in England, Scotland and Wales including dates with Music at Oxford, Newbury Spring Festival Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury Manchester Museum Kings Place Songlines, Howard Assembly Room, Universal Hall Promotions, Queen’s Theatre, Quay Arts, Ucheldre Holyhead Strode Theatre, New Theatre Peterborough, The Sidmouth Folk Festival.
Tibetans and their supporters will be gathering outside 10 Downing Street (UK Prime Minister’s Residence), London SW1A 2AA) at 12pm. After a short rally, the protesters will march to the Chinese Embassy (49-51 Portland Place, London WB 1JL) via Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus whilst chanting “Free Tibet” etc.
At the Chinese Embassy (protesters expected to arrive around 1pm), there will be rally, including Buddhist prayers for the World Peace and speeches from Tibetans and their invited guests.
Protesters’ loud chanting of slogans such as “Free Tibet”, “Human Rights in Tibet” and “China: Stop Killing Tibetans in Tibet” are expected to be heard within the walls of the Chinese Embassy. In the past, Chinese Embassy officials were seen taking photographs of the protesters through their windows.
After the rally, the Tibetan Community UK will host a cultural event at the Indian YMCA, W1T 6AQ where Tibetan food will be served. The official cultural programme starts at 4pm and ends at 6pm. Free Tibet and others will put up information and merchandise stalls.
Join the protest and show your support and solidarity with the Tibetan people.
The Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities (GATPM) is amongst the 169 NGOs worldwide to call on all the UN Member States at the Human Rights Council (HRC) urging their support for the consensus renewal of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. This Open Letter campaign is organised by the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR).
Photo: ISHR
27 February 2023
To: All UN Member States
HRC52: Support consensus renewal of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders
Human rights defenders are people who act with humanity, serve humanity and who contribute to and bring out the best in humanity. They are key to our daily lives – they work so our governments are more transparent and accountable, our environment cleaner and safer, our schools and workplaces fairer, and our futures more sustainable. As human rights defenders confront power, privilege and prejudice, they frequently face a wide range of risks and threats, including against their organisations and their families, friends and loved ones. Despite their vital contribution, both some governments and non-State actors are still seeking to silence defenders as they expose injustices and demand accountability for all.
The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders is integral to their protection and recognition, globally. It gathers and responds to information on the situation of defenders around the world, engages constructively with governments and non-State actors and provides expert recommendations to promote the effective implementation of the ‘Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms’ (The Declaration on human rights defenders).
2023 marks 25 years since the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on human rights defenders. The adoption of the Declaration was a critical point in human rights history where it articulated how existing human rights law applies to the situation of human rights defenders, recognised the importance and legitimacy of human rights activity, and the need to protect it along with those who carry it out. It is apposite that this major anniversary coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, reflecting the integral role that human rights defenders play in the realisation of universal human rights.
In 2022, the Human Rights Council reaffirmed the importance of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and its full and effective implementation, and that promoting respect, support and protection for the activities of human rights defenders, including women human rights defenders, is essential to the overall enjoyment of human rights, including in conflict and post-conflict situations. In 2021, the General Assembly passed by consensus with 85 State co-sponsors a resolution acknowledging the important and legitimate role that human rights defenders played in the COVID-19 response, as well as the challenges faced as a result.
At the 52nd session of the Council, States will consider a resolution extending the mandate of the Special Rapporteur for three years. This is a key opportunity for States and the Council to demonstrate their support and recognition for the indispensable role human rights defenders play to ensure that all people enjoy freedom, dignity, justice and equality.
Our organisations therefore urge all States to support the resolution renewing the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders by:
● participating positively in the negotiations on the resolution;
● presenting early co-sponsorship of the text;
● resisting any attempts to dilute the mandate or State obligations; and
● supporting consensus renewal of the mandate.
Sincerely,
ACAT Belgium
ACAT Germany (Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture)
ACAT Italia
ACAT RDC
ACAT Spain-Catalonia
ACAT, GHANA
ACAT-France
ACAT-Liberia
ACAT-Switzerland
ACAT-UK (Action by Christians Against Torture – UK)
Accion Solidaria on HIV/Aids
Action by Christians against Torture in Togo (ACAT TOGO)
Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture – Canada
action by Christians for the abolition of torture – Congo
Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT) – Cameroon
Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture of Côte d’Ivoire
Action of Christians for the Abolition of Torture in Burundi (Acat-Burundi)
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum
Agir ensemble pour les droits humains
AlertaVenezuela
Al-Haq, Law in the Service of Man
ALKARAMA
Alliance for Democracy in Laos
American Association of University Women (AAUW)
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Amnesty International
Amnesty International Mongolia
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
Asian Legal Resource Center
Association for Progressive Communications – APC
Association For Promotion Sustainable Development
Association for the respect of indigenous rights, sustainable development and human right
Association for women and Children at Risk
Association of balal
Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM)
Aula Abierta
Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM)
Brot für die Welt
Burkina Faso Coaltion of Human Right Defenders (CBDDH)
Bytes For All, Pakistan
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
Center to Alternatives to Development
Centre for Human Rights & Democracy in Africa (CHRDA)
Centro de Alternativas al Desarrollo (CEALDES) – Colombia
Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS)
Child Rights Connect
CIVICUS
CIVILIS Human Rights
Collective of the Families of the Disappeared in Algeria (CFDA)
Committee for Free Expression (Comité por la Libre Expresión C-Libre)
Community Empowerment for Progress Organization
Community Resource Centre (CRC)
Coordiantion of Associations and Individuals for Freedom of Conscience
DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project)
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
Emonyo Yefwe International
End Impunity Organization
Equipo de Estudios Comunitarios y Acción Psicosocial – ECAP
Euro-mediterranean federation against enforced disappearances
European Network Against Racism
Federal Association of Vietnamese Refugees in the Federal Republic of Germany
FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Forum Menschenrechte
Franciscans International
Freedom House
GALE, The Global Alliance for LGBT Education
Geneva for Human Rights – Global Training (GHR)
Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Global Human Rights Group
Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Global Observatory of Communication and Democracy (OGCD)
Gulf Centre for Human Rights
Habitat International Coalition
Hallmark Media
Human Rights Association (Insan Haklari Dernegi)
Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (HRCE)
Human Rights Council of Australia
Human Rights Defenders Fund
Human Rights House Foundation
Humanists International
Idheas. Strategic Human Rights Litigation
IFEX
ILEX Acción Jurídica
In Defense of Human Rights and Dignity Movement (iDEFEND)
Inclusive Bangladesh
Indigenous Peoples Rights International
Initiative for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services (IDEALS), Inc.
Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA)
International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Sri Lanka
International Commission of Jurists
International Commission of Jurists Australia
International Dalit Solidarity Network
International Federation of ACATs (FIACAT)
International Planned Parenthood Federation
International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
International volunteer organization for women education development
Intersex Society of Zambia
Ivorian Human Rights Defenders Coalition (CIDDH)
Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF.org)
Judicial Reform Foundation Taiwan
Karapatan Alliance Philippines
KIOS Foundation
Law Society of England and Wales
Lawyers without Borders Canada
Maldivian Democracy Network
Mauritanian association for socio-educational development
MENA Rights Group
Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IM-Defensoras)
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken’s Remarks for Losar Tibetan New Year ལོ་གསར་གསུང་འཕྲིན། / Video link: Voice of America (VOA) Tibetan
“On behalf of the United States, I extend my warmest wishes to all those celebrating Losar here in America, across the Himalayan region, and throughout the world.
At this time of year, Tibetan families will decorate their homes, exchange gifts, and cherish time with friends and family. Fireworks will light the night sky. Tibetans everywhere will strive to embody the Buddha’s teachings.
The United States honors the spirit and resilience of Tibetans around the globe, and we’re proud to host so many supporters of the Tibetan community at the State Department’s event today.
Americans believe in the rights of all people, no matter who they are or where they are born, to speak their own language and practice their own faith. That’s why we remain firm in our resolve to defend and promote the human rights of Tibetans – including efforts to preserve and pass on the community’s distinct linguistic, cultural, and religious heritage. Tibetans must be able to select their religious leaders free from interference; to live without fear of repression; and to practice the rich traditions – including this Losar holiday – that Tibetans have for centuries.
Our Under Secretary of State, Uzra Zeya, has led our work to advance the rights and humanitarian needs of Tibetans this past year. We have made real progress to highlight Tibetan issues.
But there is much more work to be done.
So during this time of celebration – a period when Tibetans believe that the impact of our individual acts of virtue are multiplied – we recommit to working alongside the global Tibetan community to support and strengthen the rights and heritage of Tibetans.
May the Year of the Water Hare bring you peace, prosperity, and longevity. Tashi delek.”
Madrid: In a historic first, an Inter-parliamentary Group for Tibet was officially launched in the Spanish Senate on 21 February 2023. It’s a cross party group of 29 Senators.
Tibetan delegation with the Senators / Photo: Tibet.Net
An inaugural function was held to mark the formation of the group in the Manuel Giménez Abad hall of the Senate in the presence of Representative Genkhang, Venerable Thupten Wangchen and Thupten Gyatso, Members of Tibetan Parliament in Exile representing Europe and Africa and Ringzing Dolma, President of the Tibetan community in Spain.
In his briefing, Robert Masih Nahar, President of the group, described the primary goals being to promote broader international recognition of the Tibetan issue specially aimed at improving the respect for human rights in Tibet; drawing attention to the unresolved issue of Tibet; working together with other inter-parliamentary Tibet Groups in the European countries and the Tibet Intergroup in the European Parliament to support the call for the appointment of the “EU Special Representative for Tibetan affairs” with the mandate to promote substantive dialogue between the Envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the People’s Republic of China.
CTA’s Sikyong Penpa Tsering welcomed the formation of the Inter-Parliamentary group for Tibet in the Spanish Senate and extended an invitation to Senators to visit Dharamsala in the future in his video message.
Sikyong Penpa Tsering’s video message on the occasion / Photo: Tibet.Net
Representative Genkhang, on behalf of the Office of Tibet, welcomed the historic initiative and thanked the President and the 28 other Senators for their support. She then gave a brief but compelling presentation on the situation in Tibet in general while highlighting the most pressing issues.
“Setting up an Inter-Parliamentary Group for Tibet at such a critical time in Tibet’s history is an act of solidarity with the six million Tibetans that are undergoing tremendous suffering under the Chinese Communist Party. This also reflects your support for non-violence advocated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the commitment of the Central Tibetan Administration to solve the Sino-Tibetan conflict through dialogue”, Representative Genkhang further added.
Representative Genkhang with Senator Nahar and Chithue Thupten Gyatso / Photo: Tibet.Net
The three other Tibetan speakers also recalled the direness of the situation in Tibet and commended the Senators for their support in establishing the group and urged for continued support.
Establishment of this group was the next logical step following Senator Nahar’s participation at the 8th World Parliamentarians’ Convention on Tibet in Washington DC last year. The Office of Tibet, Brussels, has had the privilege of keeping in close contact with Senator Nahar ever since.
Representative Genkhang offering traditional Tibetan scarf and pin to the Senators / Photo: Tibet.Net
Around 35 Senators and journalists attended the launch of the Inter-Parliamentary Group for Tibet. Representative Genkhang offered a traditional Tibetan scarf, a pin of the Tibetan flag and a dossier with important documents translated in Spanish to each member of the group. The inaugural function ended with a lunch hosted by the Office of Tibet, Brussels, in honor of the members of the new group.
21s February 2023: Press Statement by Antony J. Blinken, US Secretary of State on the occasion of the Tibetan Royal Year 2150 – Losar – Tibetan New Year 2023
“I extend my warmest wishes to all those celebrating Losar, the Tibetan New Year. On this first day of the Year of the Water Hare, we celebrate the perseverance, compassion, and strength of Tibetans across the globe, including the over 26,000 members of the Tibetan diaspora in the United States. The United States reaffirms our commitment to supporting the preservation of Tibetans’ distinct cultural, linguistic, and religious heritage, including through the ability to select and venerate their religious leaders without interference.
I wish our Tibetan friends, and all others across the Himalayan region celebrating Losar, peace and prosperity in the new year. Losar Tashi Delek and Happy New Year to all who are celebrating.”
On the occasion of the traditional Tibetan New Year- Losar 2150 – the year of the Water-Rabbit, which begins on 21st February 2023, the Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities extends Tibetan greeting of Tashi Deleg to all!
We take this opportunity for your support for Tibetans as well as those who are persecuted by brutal regimes including the Chinese Communist Party.
Tibetans celebrate at least three days of Losar now-a-days. In the past, they celebrated the festival up to 15 days in free Tibet before Communist China’s illegal occupation!
Speaker of Tibetan Parliament in Exile greets Tibetans on Losar, Tibetan New Year 2150
“On the auspicious occasion of the Tibetan New Year, I extend my profound greetings and Tashi Delek to Tibetans inside and outside Tibet including old and new friends of Tibet. May this new year bring you an abundance of happiness and bless you with a long and healthy life.
With the grace and benevolence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama bestowed upon us, the Central Tibetan Administration in exile has achieved great heights of success in all its undertakings and endeavours. However, we must not forget about the prevailing dire situation inside Tibet. At such a critical time, it is our collective responsibility to pool every effort toward the protection and preservation of our cultural heritage and national identity.
In view of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s advancing age, His repeated assurance to live a long and healthy life gives us immense joy and happiness. Therefore, it is imperative that we are united in fulfilling His Holiness’s wishes and aspirations. It is also our collective responsibility to adhere to and imbibe the glorious teachings of His Holiness in practice.
Likewise, if we reflect on the state of human rights and freedom inside Tibet, the situation is deteriorating each day as evidenced by reports released by international organisations. We must take Tibet into our highest consideration and continue to strongly discuss, campaign, and advocate for Tibet. May all be assured that the 17th Tibetan Parliament remains unfeigned in discharging our duties toward the public and the cause of Tibet. Meanwhile, I urge the cooperation and contributions of individuals and organisations to fulfilling the common goal. I would like to once again reiterate my call to unite efforts to resolve the long-standing goal.
As we embark on a new year, let us pledge to cultivate kindness and compassion every day. Finally, I pray for the longevity of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other Buddhist holy personalities with the fulfilment of their wills. May Tibet’s issue resolves at the earliest.”
Acting Chief Justice Commissioner Greets Tibetans on Losar, Tibetan New Year 2150
“On this joyous occasion of the Tibetan new year, Losar 2150- the year of the Water-Rabbit, I extend my heartfelt greetings to our supreme spiritual leader His Holiness the Great 14th Dalai Lama, religious leaders and representatives of Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetans in and outside Tibet.
I also extend greetings to our brothers and sisters in the Himalayan region who are also celebrating the new year.”
Sikyong Penpa Tsering of the 16th Kashag Greets Tibetans on Losar, Tibetan New Year 2150
“Preceded by paying obeisance to His Holiness the Dalai Lama on this occasion of the 2150th year of Tibetan calendar, which is also the water hare year, on behalf of the 16th cabinet and myself personally, I wish to extend a happy new year to all the Tibetans, inside Tibet and outside Tibet, as we enter into the new year with a new hope.
Of course, to have this hope, first, we have to understand our own situation; we survive in a manner that we survive today mainly because of the leadership of His Holiness, because of the far-sighted vision of His Holiness, and because of all the deeds of His Holiness over the last 63 years since we came into exile. And His Holiness has been going around the world with two folded hands, and that is the reason why we are in the position that we are today. So therefore, I urge every Tibetan to recognise the services that were rendered by His Holiness and follow His Holiness’ guidance because His Holiness is such a leader who is revered by everybody in this world.
His Holiness has also given us many assurances about his wish to live a long life, not for himself, but for the benefit of humanity and Tibetans in particular. So therefore, whether the lama lives long or not also depends on the relationship between the lama and the disciples. And we being his disciples, have to make sure that we follow his guidance, and we follow his leadership, his words, and his thoughts on any activity, whether it’s regarding resolving the Sino-Tibet conflict or whether it is looking after the welfare of the Tibetan community in exile – these two responsibilities that are entrusted to the Central Tibetan Administration.
We are fully committed to following the thinking and thoughts of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the guidelines that he has issued over many years. And I urge every other Tibetan also to follow the same, and we will be able to achieve what we intended to achieve with the cooperative effort of all the Tibetans, whether it’s seven million Tibetans inside Tibet or the 130,000 Tibetans in exile.
We have an added responsibility and so we should not forget that if we all contribute to the cause of Tibet, then we will definitely reach the objectives that we have set.
I again wish you a very happy new year, and I also wish that all your dreams and all your wishes be fulfilled so that throughout this year, you don’t feel sick and be in a position to serve the community. Thank you very much and HAPPY LOSAR again!”
Useful link:
Central Tibetan Administration, Dharamsala:www.Tibet.net
By Jigme Yeshe Lama (Assistant Professor, University of Calcutta)
Photo: Thomas Fries / TRC
This year (2023), the Tibetan New Year or Losar will be celebrated on the 21st of February. As Tibetans follow the lunar calendar, the date for Losar changes every year. Along with the Tibetans, it is celebrated by several Himalayan communities such as the Yolmos and Sherpas.
Known as the ‘yul-lhas’, ‘sa-dags’, ‘zhib-dags’, and ‘kyi-lhas’, they play an important role in the life of a Tibetan Buddhist. They are the local gods or birth deities, who were bound under oath by the semi-mythical tantric master Guru Padmasambhava in the 7th-8th centuries or by later Buddhist masters, to protect the Buddhist dharma. In most cases, the deities reside in local hills or mountains and are often regarded as the ancestor of the local population. These spirits as according to Samten Karmay, belong to the ‘nyan’ category in the pre-Buddhist Bonpo cosmology and iconographically they take the form of a warrior mounted usually on a horse, but also other animals. In a way, sang-sol can be linked to the creation of a ‘local’ identity for the Tibetans and the other Himalayan communities. Worshipping the autochthonous deities through sang-sol can be seen as a mode of space-making and territorialisation by the local populations. Karmay further writes how rituals meant to worship these deities create social cohesion and moral obligation among the members of the village community. It encourages communal organisation centering upon the cult of the local spirits connected with water, soil, rocks and mountains.
From a Buddhist perspective, sang-sol is purification or cleansing of spiritual pollution or blockages. The first instance of the ritual being performed was when the Buddha was welcomed by his devotees through burning incense on their roofs or holding incense burners in their hands. According to the Buddhist narrative, it was Guru Padmasambhava who introduced burning of sang in Tibet. He had prescribed the ritual to dispel the spiritual pollution of King Trisong Detsan (one of the dharma-kings) of Tibet. There are several liturgical scriptures in Bon religion and Tibetan Buddhism dedicated to the practice of sang-sol. In a way, sang-sol can be understood as one of the rituals co-opted by Buddhism when it made its entry into Tibet. The Buddhism followed in Tibet and much of the Himalayas incorporated several features and practices of the Bon and local religious systems of the communities that it encountered in the region. Sang-sol as rituals can be understood as spectacles of the process of the interaction between Buddhism and local belief systems. Buddhism in Tibet and the Himalayas was established through a process of ‘binding’ the local gods and goddesses, who were transformed into guardians of Buddhism. This is reflected in the famous ‘Riwo-Sang-Choe’ or The Mountain Incense – Smoke Offering composed by His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche (1904-1987), an important and powerful tulku, terton (treasure revealer) of the Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingmas trace their lineage directly to Guru Padmasambhava and they have a significant presence in the Himalayas. The ‘Riwo-Sang-Choe’ was a secret instruction from Lhatsun Namkha Jigme, a 16th century Tibetan saint who was instrumental in the creation of the Chogyal dynasty of Sikkim.
Towards the end of the ‘Riwo – Sang – Choe’ prayer, the dedication specifically mentions how the solemn promise of the protectors be fulfilled – དམ་ཅན་ཐུགས་དམ་སྐོང་གྱུར་ཅིག ། which alludes to the local pre – Buddhist deities who were bound and converted into guardians of Tibetan Buddhism. Martin Mills writes how sang-sol by monks represented a hierarchy, with the local protectors turned into helpers. In present times, the ritual of sang-sol has transformed into an expression of dissent by the Tibetans inside as well as outside Tibet against the Chinese state. Tibet was occupied by the People’s Republic of China in 1949-50 and after a failed uprising against the Chinese in 1959, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama came into exile in India. He was followed by tens of thousands of Tibetan refugees, who are based in South Asia as well as in other countries. Tibetans have always resisted and revolted against Chinese rule, with the resistance and protests taking several forms. In 2007, China arrested a person when several hundred Tibetans in Lhasa took part in an outlawed incense burning at Kuru bridge in Lhasa as a part of the offering rituals for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s long life. In 2019, in Kardze (eastern Tibet), Tibetans from two resettlement colonies burnt juniper (sang-sol) and recited prayers on the occasion of the Dalai Lama’s 84th birthday that led to the detaining of several Tibetans by the Chinese state. Even as recent as in 2020, China banned the practice of sang-sol outside the Jokhang temple in Tibet’s regional capital Lhasa, with authorities citing concerns over air pollution as reason for the ban. On an annual basis, Tibetans inside Tibet have conducted elaborate sang-sol rituals among others to commemorate the birthday of the exiled Dalai Lama.
Sang-sol is a common religious practice followed in Tibet and the Himalayas. It can be understood as a part of the ‘everyday religion’ that is performed by lay individuals and the clergy alike. While the ritual has its roots in the pre-Buddhist Bon religion, it has become an integral part of Tibetan Buddhism. The ritual is also a propitiation of local deities in Tibet and the Himalayas, which can be interpreted as a mode of space-making and territorialization by the local communities. Since the Chinese invasion of Tibet, Tibetans have utilized sang-sol as a form of resistance against the Chinese colonial state.
The Parliamentary Group for Tibet voices concern about the separation of 1 million Tibetan children from their families and forced assimilation in Chinese boarding schools as evidenced by UN reports.
The members of the Parliamentary Group for Tibet are deeply concerned about UN reports on the system that forces Tibetan children into a Chinese-style boarding school system from kindergarten age, with no possibility for the children concerned or their parents to resist it.
The fact that a total of about 1 million Tibetan children, some as young as 4 and up to the age of 18, are forced to live in boarding schools, including at least 100,000 children between the ages of 4 and 6, is unacceptable. In total, 78% of Tibetan students are affected, making the proportion of boarders almost four times higher than in China itself.
While in school, children are taught exclusively in Chinese and are obviously systematically indoctrinated to adopt a Chinese identity.
“This system of boarding schools forces Tibetan children to assimilate culturally, religiously and linguistically,” warns National Councilor Fabian Molina Co-President of the Parliamentary Group for Tibet.
In the boarding schools, the educational content and environment are geared to the Chinese majority culture, and the content of the textbooks corresponds almost exclusively to the life experience of pupils of Chinese nationality. Tibetan children must complete the “compulsory school curriculum” in Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua), without access to traditional or culturally relevant learning. The language, history and culture of Tibet are not covered in depth.
“As a result, Tibetan children lose exposure to their mother tongue and the ability to communicate in the Tibetan language, which contributes to their assimilation and the erosion of their own Tibetan identity,” says National Councillor Nicolas Walder Co-President of the Parliamentary Group for Tibet.
The forced boarding schools are part of a series of other repressive measures against Tibetan culture and religion. According to UN experts, their establishment violates the prohibition of discrimination and the right to education, linguistic and cultural rights, freedom of religion and belief, and even the rights of so-called “minorities” guaranteed in the Chinese constitution.
On behalf of the PG Tibet:
Co-President National Councillor Andrea Geissbühler
Co-President National Councillor Nik Gugger
Co-President National Councillor Fabian Molina
Co-President National Councillor Nicolas Walder
Vice-President Member of the Council of States Maya Graf
By Tsering Passang, Founder and Chair of the Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities
Like many countries around the world, Tibet too had ups and downs in its 2150 years of recorded history. When Tibet was strong and powerful, especially from the 7th to the 9th century, it invaded some of its neighbouring countries. Historical documents show that the mighty Tibetan Kingdom had even invaded parts of today’s China and stretched across to central Asia. However, during the weak and internal turmoil periods, Tibet endured losses and faced foreign invasions, including from Great Britain. Tibetan leaders were forced to flee their homelands into exile, to Mongolia or to India.
A landlocked country the size of western Europe, Tibet is largely located above 3000 to 5000 metres. It is surrounded by China and Mongolia in the north, East Turkestan in the west and India in the south. When India was under the rule of Great Britain, Political Officer Colonel Francis Younghusband led an expedition to Tibet with an attempt to build up exclusive colonial influence in this hidden mountainous country in 1903-04.
Younghusband’s Expedition to Tibet consisted of around 1000 fighting troops – European officers plus Gurkhas, Punjabis and Pathans as well as Sikh Pioneers and Indian Army engineers – along with 2,000 support soldiers, 7,000 porters, and 2,953 yaks and 7,000 mules to carry baggage. Younghusband alone took 67 shirts and 18 pairs of boots and shoes.
When the Tibetans showed strong resistance against the incoming foreign forces from the south, the British deployed their well trained troops with arms to defeat the Tibetans quite easily. Of the Tibetan army – around 1,500 men – possibly 700 lay dead. It was a massacre of the time on the Tibetan plateau. The British, in contrast, suffered no fatalities and just 12 casualties in total. That pattern was repeated during further skirmishes as the expedition marched towards Lhasa; hundreds of Tibetans were killed in encounters, with few British losses. By the time British troops reached Lhasa, the Tibetan Leader His Holiness the 13th Dalai Lama had escaped to Mongolia.
After negotiations the Tibetan Government signed a convention with the British Government in 1904, which is well documented in the UK Foreign Office’s archives. China was not involved at the time of signing this international agreement. It confirmed the boundary and trading rights, and among other things, it undertook that no foreign power should be allowed to intervene in Tibetan affairs without the consent of the British government. As soon as the convention was signed, the British forces marched out of Tibet and never threatened Tibet again.
The British primary interest in Tibet was trade, which was enroute to China. They also suspected Tibetans’ ties with the Russians. Later, Younghusband realised that the Tibetans had no real ‘pact’ with the Russians.
It should also be noted that the British Trade Mission remained in Tibet, headed by the last British official, Hugh Richardson, until India regained its independence from Britain in 1947. The last British official later served as Indian Government’s Representative until his departure from Lhasa in 1950, when Communist China invaded Tibet.
For a brief period, the Qing Dynasty invaded Tibet in 1910 after the Manchus surged its influence in the region. The invasion forced the 13th Dalai Lama into exile, this time to India. However, good news came after a few years in Tibet, when internal political forces led to the collapse of the Manchus and the rise of the 1911 Revolution in China. Tibetans expelled the remaining Manchus out of Lhasa and other parts of Tibet.
The path was cleared for the 13th Dalai Lama’s return to his homelands after staying in exile in India for nearly three years. A month after his arrival in Lhasa, on 13th February 1913, in his Proclamation of Tibetan Independence, the 13th Dalai Lama declared:
“Tibet is a country with rich natural resources; but it is not scientifically advanced like other lands. We are a small, religious, and independent nation. To keep up with the rest of the world, we must defend our country. In view of past invasions by foreigners, our people may have to face certain difficulties, which they must disregard. To safeguard and maintain the independence of our country, one and all should voluntarily work hard. Our subject citizens residing near the borders should be alert and keep the government informed by special messenger of any suspicious developments. Our subjects must not create major clashes between two nations because of minor incidents.”
For nearly forty years afterwards, Tibetans enjoyed self-rule – only for it to come to an end in 1949, when after Mao Tsetung declared “peaceful liberation” of Tibet from foreign imperialists. For the Tibetans, Mao’s declaration was not only a brutal attack on the Buddhist religion and the Tibetan cultural heritage but an act of illegal occupation of their peaceful country by Communist China. The Tibetan people have a proud history of independence with the successive Dalai Lamas enjoying spiritual patronage over Mongols and Chinese emperors.
Just as it did more than a thousand years ago, today, a doring (pillar) stands outside the Jokhang Temple in central Lhasa. On its stone sides the Tibet-China Treaty of 821-822 AD is carved, signifying the legacy of a free and independent Tibet.
“Tibetans shall be happy in the land of Tibet, and Chinese shall be happy in the land of China,”reads a key text in the treaty, clearly describing the borders between Tibet and China.
Full Proclamation of Tibet’s Independence Issued by the Great 13th Dalai Lama on 13th February 1913:
PROCLAMATION ISSUED BY H.H. THE DALAI LAMA XIII, ON THE EIGHTH DAY OF THE FIRST MONTH OF THE WATER-OX YEAR (1913)
Translation of the Tibetan Text
“I, the Dalai Lama, most omniscient possessor of the Buddhist faith, whose title was conferred by the Lord Buddha’s command from the glorious land of India, speak to you as follows:
I am speaking to all classes of Tibetan people. Lord Buddha, from the glorious country of India, prophesied that the reincarnations of Avalokitesvara, through successive rulers from the early religious kings to the present day, would look after the welfare of Tibet.
During the time of Genghis Khan and Altan Khan of the Mongols, the Ming dynasty of the Chinese, and the Ch’ing Dynasty of the Manchus, Tibet and China cooperated on the basis of benefactor and priest relationship. A few years ago, the Chinese authorities in Szechuan and Yunnan endeavored to colonize our territory. They brought large numbers of troops into central Tibet on the pretext of policing the trade marts. I, therefore, left Lhasa with my ministers for the Indo-Tibetan border, hoping to clarify to the Manchu emperor by wire that the existing relationship between Tibet and China had been that of patron and priest and had not been based on the subordination of one to the other. There was no other choice for me but to cross the border, because Chinese troops were following with the intention of taking me alive or dead.
On my arrival in India, I dispatched several telegrams to the Emperor; but his reply to my demands was delayed by corrupt officials at Peking. Meanwhile, the Manchu empire collapsed. The Tibetans were encouraged to expel the Chinese from central Tibet. I, too, returned safely to my rightful and sacred country, and I am now in the course of driving out the remnants of Chinese troops from DoKham in Eastern Tibet. Now, the Chinese intention of colonizing Tibet under the patron-priest relationship has faded like a rainbow in the sky. Having once again achieved for ourselves a period of happiness and peace, I have now allotted to all of you the following duties to be carried out without negligence:
Peace and happiness in this world can only be maintained by preserving the faith of Buddhism. It is, therefore, essential to preserve all Buddhist institutions in Tibet, such as the Jokhang temple and Ramoche in Lhasa, Samye, and Traduk in southern Tibet, and the three great monasteries, etc.
The various Buddhist sects in Tibet should be kept in a distinct and pure form. Buddhism should be taught, learned, and meditated upon properly. Except for special persons, the administrators of monasteries are forbidden to trade, loan money, deal in any kind of livestock, and/or subjugate another’s subjects.
The Tibetan government’s civil and military officials, when collecting taxes or dealing with their subject citizens, should carry out their duties with fair and honest judgment so as to benefit the government without hurting the interests of the subject citizens. Some of the central government officials posted at Ngari Korsum in western Tibet, and Do Kham in eastern Tibet, are coercing their subject citizens to purchase commercial goods at high prices and have imposed transportation rights exceeding the limit permitted by the government. Houses, properties and lands belonging to subject citizens have been confiscated on the pretext of minor breaches of the law. Furthermore, the amputation of citizens’ limbs has been carried out as a form of punishment. Henceforth, such severe punishments are forbidden.
Tibet is a country with rich natural resources; but it is not scientifically advanced like other lands. We are a small, religious, and independent nation. To keep up with the rest of the world, we must defend our country. In view of past invasions by foreigners, our people may have to face certain difficulties, which they must disregard. To safeguard and maintain the independence of our country, one and all should voluntarily work hard. Our subject citizens residing near the borders should be alert and keep the government informed by special messenger of any suspicious developments. Our subjects must not create major clashes between two nations because of minor incidents.
Tibet, although thinly populated, is an extensive country. Some local officials and landholders are jealously obstructing other people from developing vacant lands, even though they are not doing so themselves. People with such intentions are enemies of the State and our progress. From now on, no one is allowed to obstruct anyone else from cultivating whatever vacant lands are available. Land taxes will not be collected until three years have passed; after that the land cultivator will have to pay taxes to the government and to the landlord every year, proportionate to the rent. The land will belong to the cultivator.
Your duties to the government and to the people will have been achieved when you have executed all that I have said here. This letter must be posted and proclaimed in every district of Tibet, and a copy kept in the records of the offices in every district.
From the Potala Palace.
(Seal of the Dalai Lama)”
Potala Palace, Lhasa (Tibet)
The Way Ahead
In addition to Tibetans inside Tibet, many in the diaspora community, especially the youth, are calling for the independence of Tibet, which they believe would only bring a lasting political resolution to the Sino-Tibetan conflict.
Each year, on 13th February, Tibetans organise protests and commemorative events to mark this historical date whilst highlighting Tibet as an independent country before Communist China’s invasion in 1950.
Sikyong Penpa Tsering, President of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), has repeatedly stated that historically, Tibet was an independent country. He also cites that international lawyers and Chinese scholars have proven through historical and legal documents that Tibet was never a part of China.
Sikyong Penpa Tsering at Oxford Union | 31st January 2023 | Photo: Office of Tibet, London
However, the incumbent elected Tibetan leader says that the Central Tibetan Administration does not seek independence for Tibet. India-based Central Tibetan Administration (aka Tibetan Government-in-exile) pursues the “Middle-Way” Approach (MWA), proposed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, which was unanimously adopted by the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile.
From the Tibetan perspective, the end goal of the MWA is to remain within the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with Beijing granting full autonomy to the Tibetans, to govern their own affairs within the Tibetan territory. This would then enable them to preserve their unique culture, language and religion.
The Chinese government has not responded favourably to the Dalai Lama’s “Middle-Way” proposal to end China’s invasion of Tibet. Tibetans continue their campaigns for the peaceful resolution of the China-Tibet conflict.
Source and further reading:
Tibet: A Political History, Tsepon W.D. Shagapda, New Haven, 1967
Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities (GATPM) 
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