According to the outgoing Sikyong Lobsang Sangay, Tibetans in China are facing mass persecution close to that faced by ethnic minority Uyghurs in the western part of the region. “It’s not exactly the same, but it is similar,” Sikyong said. “Labor camps are set up in Tibet.”
China is forcefully attempting to convert Tibet into a Chinese province and Tibetans into Chinese despite Tibet’s cause receiving less coverage in the Western press, Lobsang Sangay added.
In an interview with The Washington Times, Sikyong Lobsang Sangay said, “We should always note that Tibet is Patient Zero when it comes to ‘minorities’ in China.”
Sikyong Lobsang Sangay said that for decades, China’s communist government has been engaged in a systematic campaign to forcefully assimilate Tibetans into Han Chinese society and eradicate all vestiges of Tibetan religion and culture.
Many of the same tactics that were used in Tibet are now being condemned by the international community in Xinjiang, where up to 1 million Uyghurs are being held in internment camps. China’s actions against the Uyghurs have been branded “genocide” by both the Trump and Biden administrations.
Sikyong said the Chinese government has taken 500,000 Tibetan youths from their homes in rural areas and relocated them to cities, where they are forced to undergo military-style training. Tibetans are lazy, according to the Chinese government, and need to be improved and given skills and training.
“For the Chinese government, it is ‘poverty alleviation.’ But for us, it is cultural assimilation: Make Tibet into a Chinese province and Tibetans into Chinese” Sikyong added. Chinese authorities in Tibet are granted quotas for the number of young people forced to participate in the training.
According to the most recent US State Department study on human rights, China’s government is engaging in human rights violations in Tibet, including torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment. According to the US report, arbitrary arrests and imprisonment, as well as the detention of political prisoners, were all too normal.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party outlined its strategy for governing Tibet, which overseas Tibetans regard as an occupied country, in Document No. 5 in the early 2000s. All Buddhist lamas must register with the state and refrain from practicing their religion until the party gives them permission.
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