Gyari Dolma, the first woman to run for the post of Sikyong, or head of the Central Tibetan Administration, the Government-in-Exile of Tibet, has called on India to abandon its cautious position on Tibet and recognize the state of occupation of Tibet. your contry. Dolma’s push to India at a recent webinar came after President Xi Jinping’s call to sinize or reshape Tibetan Buddhism to align it with the culture of the majority Han community and the principles of the Communist Party of China.
“India must recognize Tibet as an occupied nation and recognize that it shares a border not with China, but with Tibet. India has a legal and international obligation to uphold the truth and recognize its relations with Tibet, ”said Dolma. He also criticized India’s policy towards Tibet, stating that while India has been kind to the Tibetan people, the Indian government had always let its relations with China influence its position. As a first step, Tibetans have argued that India should start calling the “border of China” as the border of Tibet.
Also read: 4 months later, India and China sit on the other side of the table. Rajnath gathering today the first
Xi’s Aug. 29 call at a communist party meeting is not the first time the Chinese president has called for the sinicization of Tibetan Buddhism. Also in 2015, President Xi spoke about the sinification of the five main religions practiced in China: Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Buddhism, and Taoism. This time, it was part of a four-point program to build an “impregnable fortress” to maintain stability in Tibet.
See also | Amid Tension Between India and China, Tibetan Government-in-Exile Voting Process Begins | Explained
This is necessary, President Xi said at the meeting, to strengthen the border defense and border security of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) bordering India and Bhutan. One of the tasks President Xi explained at the meeting included educating Tibetans in Lhasa and beyond to strengthen the fight against “split”. President Xi’s mention of splitism is seen as a reference to the exiled Tibetan Supreme Spiritual Leader, the Dalai Lama, who is frequently accused by the communist Beijing of fueling separatism in TAR.
President Xi’s new attempt to erase Tibetan identity comes as the People’s Liberation Army is embroiled in a bitter clash with Indian soldiers in Ladakh, the last bastion of Tibetan Buddhism, and Beijing’s deteriorating ties. with the United States and its southern China. Neighbors of the sea.
Also read: Security in LAC improved, delicate and serious situation, says Army chief Naravane
It was in this context that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced in July that the United States would restrict visas for some Chinese officials involved in blocking diplomatic access to Tibet and engaging in “human rights abuses.” Pompeo also supported what he called “meaningful autonomy” for Tibet.
Sam Brownback, the US ambassador general for international religious freedom, rejected Xi’s new effort, describing it as the communist party’s plan “to eliminate the unique culture, religious and linguistic identity of Tibet. The CCP must respect and protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Tibetans, including religious freedom. “
Chinese observers say Xi Jinping’s plan for Tibet focused on consolidating China’s control over the remaining autonomy of the territories under the Tibet Autonomous Region. Communist China ran over 2.5 million square kilometers in Tibet in 1950 in what it described as a “peaceful liberation” that helped the remote Himalayan region shed its “feudal” past. The Buddhists led by the Dalai Lama called it “cultural genocide.” The Dalai Lama finally crossed into the Tawang of Arunachal Pradesh in April 1959 to escape the Chinese.
Also read: In 2012, the Dalai Lama spoke of the Chinese plot to assassinate him
In 1965, China divided half of Tibet’s territory into its four provinces: Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan. TAR, as it stands, represents one eighth of the area of China.
Lobsang Sangay, president of the Tibetan government in exile, said that the speech of the CPC General Secretary Xi at the Seventh Central Symposium on Tibet Labor in Beijing was wrong.
“Obviously, these wrong repressive policies have only improved the plight of the Tibetan people, leading 154 Tibetans to self-immolate. The Chinese government must acknowledge the failure of its policies in Tibet, ”Sangay said.
.
