The Democracy Forum held a virtual forum on Monday in London to highlight China’s forcefully imposed state hegemony and despotism in Tibet. During the same, a panel of experts discussed China’s over 72 years of colonial rule in Tibet and its lasting impacts and effects on the region as well as its people.
Penpa Tsering, the Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration, drew attention to China’s attempt to end the Tibetan culture and religion since the forced entry of the Seventeen-Point Agreement by the Chinese more than 70 years ago. He highlighted the decline of the Tibetan language and culture due to the Chinese government’s oppressive surveillance, enforced assimilation and control. He further discussed how the Chinese are now determining the future successor of the Dalai Lama and the deep-rooted anguish and anxiety of the Tibetan people.
Lord Bruce, the President of The Democracy Forum, shared the Freedom House’s findings of Tibet as the least free country on Earth, far surpassing North Korea, South Sudan and Syria. He also spoke of the long-standing debate of China’s horrific treatment of Tibet which has taken place annually at the United Nations General Assembly despite a UN investigation, indicating the complete disregard of the universal human and civil rights codes, conducted in the last February.
Chris Law MP, Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Tibet, called for condemnation of the oppressive Chinese rule and their implantation of residential boarding schools, where Tibetan children are remote from their own culture, heritage and history, in the hopes of assimilating them with the Han-Chinese majority. He also expressed his despair of the Tibetan youth’s extreme form of protests using self-immolation in hopes of external rescue.
Dr Martin Mills, Director of the Scottish Centre for Himalayan Research, questioned the diminishing capacity of Tibetans to exercise their political rights due to an ever-increasing authoritative Chinese regime. He also questioned Tibet’s Middle Way Policy as a potential solution of the Tibet-China tussle.
Professor Dibyesh Anand, Head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster, commented upon China’s colonial policies and their distinct disparity with other colonial forces. He expressed that, under current Chinese rule and regulations, outside help or intervention would be the only way to reach a conclusive end to the prolonged dramatic strife Tibetans have to bear with.
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Penpa Tsering is the Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration from 2011 to 2016. He is a stalwart advocate of Tibet’s freedom and has consistently urged international communities to stand against Chinese colonial rule in Tibet. Despite Chinese suppression, he has been delivering speeches and interviews worldwide in order to spread the Tibetan cause and share the transgressions of Chinese rule. He was also received as a State Guest in the United Kingdom in 2020, in order to further globalize the Tibet movement.
