Tibet dying a ‘slow death’ under Chinese rule, says exiled leader
The head of the Tibetan government-in-exile addresses the US Congress for the first time, saying the Tibetan language, culture and religion face an “unprecedented threat of extinction.”
Exiled Tibetan leaders and officials in the United States have condemned China’s “cruel” policy in Tibet, accusing Beijing of separating families in the Himalayan region, banning their language and collecting DNA without consent.
Penpa Tsering, the head of the India-based organization known as the Tibetan Government in Exile, addressed the US Congress for the first time on Tuesday, saying Tibet was dying a “slow death” under Chinese rule.
“We often get asked why we don’t hear about Tibet anymore,” said Tsering, known as the Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).
He blames that silence on China’s “Orwellian stalemate system, using all the resources of artificial intelligence to monitor people, control the flow of information, and close off Tibet to the outside world.”
“The Tibetan language, religion and culture are the foundations of Tibetan identity… These face the unprecedented threat of extermination,” he told the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing via video link.
“As PRC [[People’s Republic of China] was not created to reverse or change current policies, Tibet and Tibetans will surely die a slow death,” Tsering added.
The hearing came as some Tibetan activists complained about what they see as declining attention to alleged abuses in Tibet amid growing concern in Washington and other Western capitals about China’s growing military, pressure on democratic Taiwan and the crackdown. in Hong Kong and against minority groups in China’s Xinjiang region.
A congressional source told the Reuters news agency that this was the first speech by a Sikyong to a congressional body, and it is likely to anger Beijing.
Sikyong’s role came about in 2012 after the Dalai Lama, the 87-year-old spiritual leader of the Tibetans, relinquished political authority in favor of an organization that could outlive him.
Beijing has accused the Dalai Lama of fomenting separatism in Tibet and does not recognize the CTA, which represents about 100,000 exiled Tibetans living in about 30 countries, including India, Nepal, Canada and the US.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment on the hearing.
China has ruled the remote western region of Tibet since 1951, after its army marched in and took control in what it calls a “peaceful liberation”. China denies wrongdoing there, saying its intervention ended “backward feudal serfdom”.
Uzra Zeya, the US Secretary of State for Democracy and Human Rights, told the hearing that China continues to “carry out a campaign of repression aimed at violently sinicizing the country’s six million Tibetans” and the Tibetan religious, cultural and linguistic heritage. to eliminate.
Recent reports of government-run boarding schools and involuntary mass DNA collection in Tibetan areas “shock conscience,” said Zeya, who leads U.S. aid for Tibetans as special coordinator for Tibetan issues.
Beijing has refused to deal with her.
Republican Representative Chris Smith, who chairs the committee, said there was a global focus on Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang, but “we cannot take our eyes off the ongoing genocide being perpetrated against the Tibetan people.”
Actor and former Tibetan activist Richard Gere told the hearing that Chinese policies in Tibet are increasingly “aligning with the definition of crimes against humanity”.
“As we know, the Chinese Communist Party’s ethnic policies have been largely based on containment, denial, destruction and assimilation for decades,” said Gere, a longtime Tibetan advocate who has testified several times in Congress.
The 73-year-old accused Beijing of “cruelty, collective violence and persecution” of the Tibetan people, who he said were oppressed by a “pervasive surveillance system”.
Gere called on Congress to pass legislation underscoring US support for the Tibetan people, as well as a report on Beijing’s efforts to influence perceptions of Tibet and the Dalai Lama abroad.