Tibet matters
It seems almost a generation ago that the World Champion Australian cyclist, Cadel Evans caused controversy by wearing a Free Tibet t-shirt underneath his racing jersey. Evans, the only Australian to win the Tour de France, explained: “"Trying to bring awareness of the Tibet movement is something someone in my position can do. I just feel really sorry for them. They don't harm anyone and they are getting their culture taken away from them.”
Tibet has its known supporters, like other causes, but its prominence as an issue has waned in the public consciousness. This is a pity, as it was the early era of ongoing Chinese colonialism, and remains a lesson in the brutal consequences for the victims of the CCP.
In the struggle for global attention, it is little wonder that the most egregious instances of terror and sickening savagery attract the greatest global interest - in particular the atrocities perpetrated on Israelis recently and the various responses.
Other conflicts, including the unending war in Ukraine, the oppression of the Burmese and the slaughter in Nigeria, have receded from the headlines, replaced by new appalling events. Naked aggression, breaches of human rights, the flouting of international norms and laws and the subjugation of, struggle to receive the ongoing recognition and condemnation they deserve.
I was reminded of these other events by the recent news about the ongoing subjugation of Tibet by the Chinese Communist Party – and the bizarre endeavours by its leadership to appoint the next spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama. It is part of the almost century-long efforts by China to colonise Tibet and to destroy its culture.
The notion that Tibet is of relatively recent origin, and merely a province of China, is a CCP narrative, devoid of historical accuracy. The idea of China as a nation-state is a relatively new invention.
A distinct Tibetan culture, religion and empire can be traced at least 1,000 years BC. By 600AD, a vast Tibetan empire stretched across Central Asia.
In 1642, the Fifth Dalai Lama, assumed both spiritual and temporal authority over Tibet. He established the Tibetan Government and was invited to China by the Manchu Emperor and received him as an independent sovereign and as an equal.
Little in the recorded history of the past centuries supports the false CCP claim that Tibet capitulated to China, or was other than a separate sovereign nation. China’s assertions are just that, assertions.
In September 1949, Communist China, without any provocation, invaded eastern Tibet. In November 1950, His Holiness the Fourteen Dalai Lama assumed full Spiritual and Temporal powers as the Head of State because of the grave crises facing the country, although he was barely sixteen years old. In 1951, a Tibetan delegation, which had gone to Beijing to hold talks on the invasion, was forced to sign the so-called “17-point Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation on Tibet”- with threats of more military action in Tibet and by forging the official seals of Tibet.
The Chinese then used this document to carry out their plans to turn Tibet into a colony of China disregarding the strong resistance by the Tibetan people. The Chinese also violated every article of this unequal ‘treaty’ which they had imposed on the Tibetans.
On 9 September 1951 thousands of Chinese troops marched into Lhasa. The forcible occupation of Tibet was marked by systematic destruction of monasteries, the suppression of religion, denial of political freedom, widespread arrest and imprisonment and massacre of innocent men, women and children.
On 10 March 1959 the nation-wide Tibetan resistance culminated in the Tibetan National Uprising against the Chinese in Lhasa. Thousands of men, women and children were massacred in the streets, and many more imprisoned and deported. Monks and nuns were a prime target. Monasteries and temples were shelled.
A week later, the Dalai Lama left Lhasa and escaped from the pursuing Chinese to seek political asylum in India. He was followed by an unprecedented exodus of Tibetans, many to the northern Indian city of Dharamsala where the Tibetan government-in-exile functions.
The history of the past six decades has been of Chinese colonialism and undisguised attempts to erase Tibetan culture and religion. It has been exacerbated under the rule of Xi Jinping.
Tibetans are basically prisoners in their own land. The majority of profitable businesses are owned and operated by Han Chinese. Chinese government incentivizes Han migration into Tibet within the framework of a decades-long strategy, with the aim of converting the Tibetans into a minority in their own county. The CCP also helps Han immigrants with capital for launching businesses.
One million Tibetan school children have been separated from parents and indoctrinated in government boarding schools.
In May 1995, just three days after the six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was named the 11th Panchen Lama – the successor of the current Dalai Lama - he and his family were kidnapped by the regime, not to be seen since. Instead, the CCP organised its own replacement Panchen Lama, the six-year- old Gyaincain Norbu. A decade later, in 2007, the regime issued another decree for the administration of the succession of the Dalai Lama.
Leaving aside the irony of the atheistic communist regime determining the process for the reincarnation of the Lama, these events should have been a warning to other religions, especially those with a hierarchical structure not beholden to Beijing.
The Chinese Communist Party leadership has announced recently that “Administrative Measures for Religious Activity Venues,” has started being implemented from September 1, 2023. This is another CCP’s move to subjugate and gain control over the religious institutions in China and the China-occupied regions.
Article 3 of the Order states: “Places of religious activity shall uphold the leadership of the CCP and the socialist system, thoroughly implement Xi Jinping’s ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics for the new era, abide by the Constitution, laws, rules and regulations, and relevant provisions on the management of religious affairs, practice core socialist values, and adhere to the directions of Sinicization of China’s religions.”
First published in the Epoch Times Australia.
