Dharamshala, 19^th August: A top Chinese official said on Thursday that “all-around efforts” are needed to guarantee Tibetans speak standard spoken and written Chinese and share the Chinese nation’s “cultural symbols and images.” At a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of China’s invasion of the huge Himalayan province, Wang Yang made the statements in front of a handpicked audience in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, the home of Tibet’s traditional Buddhist leaders.

Critics argue that such cultural assimilation efforts will lead to the extinction of Tibet’s traditional Buddhist culture, despite the fact that Tibet has been essentially independent for most of its history. China has emphasized its attempts to enhance the region’s economy while labeling the exiled Dalai Lama a separatist.

“Separatist and sabotage acts undertaken by the Dalai (Lama) group and hostile external forces have been crushed,” Wang, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee — the pinnacle of party leadership — who handles policies toward ethnic minorities, stated. Tibet has also begun a journey from darkness to light, from backwardness to progress, from poverty to affluence, from autocracy to democracy, and from intimacy to openness, according to him.

Tibetans, according to Wang, have been included in representative bodies. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, the region welcomed around 160 million tourists last year. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, China restricted foreigners’ access to Tibet. Xinhua paraphrased Wang as stating, “Only by following the CPC leadership and adopting the path of socialism can Tibet attain progress and prosperity.”

“Located on events in Tibet over the last 70 years, the Tibetan people have no reason to rejoice, as Chinese policies have transformed Tibet into an open-air jail with limitations on all elements of Tibetan life.” The International Campaign for Tibet, based in the United States, issued a statement. “After 70 years of tyranny, the only thing the Tibetan people require today for ‘peaceful emancipation’ is China’s brutality.” the organization stated.

As China strengthens its grip on Tibet, concerns about the future of its diaspora community arise. China has refused to communicate with the self-proclaimed Tibetan government in exile, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama has long separated himself from politics.

Pic: Huang Jingwen/AP

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