The Chinese government has been accused of spending much more money on internal security measures rather than external ones. This comes after Tibetan-in-exile politician Sikyong Penpa Tsering recently revealed this to students at the University of Westminster in London, UK. He highlighted that China is the only government among other countries that invests a huge sum in the aforementioned internal security measures like electronic identification and geolocation.
He also added that with such a high level of spending, there are even reports of authorities doing things like DNA profiling on Tibetans. He further elaborated that such technologies could potentially be used to alter the current DNA of the approximately seven million Tibetans in the future, in ways that could result in China denying the Tibetan race altogether.
This situation is particularly concerning for Tibetan people, and many have resorted to self-immolation in the hope that the Chinese government or the International Community will step in and do something about the lack of freedom in Tibet—however, this has yet to happen.
In regards to this issue, Penpa Tsering also remarked that there will be “cumulative effort” from everyone in order to achieve a result and bring a resolution to the silent conflict in Tibet. A high-level Tibetan delegation, which included Sikyong Penpa Tsering, also visited the British Parliament on April 25th in order to commemorate the 34th birthday of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, also known as the 11th Panchen Lama and the highest spiritual leader of Tibet, who has been missing for 27 years now.
At the Parliament, a special hearing was held by the All Party Parliamentary Group on International Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) in order to address the seriousness of the lack of religious freedom in Tibet. The UK-based Tibetan leaders took the opportunity to tackle the growing issue of loss of freedom in Tibet and to raise awareness about the Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.
Therefore, it is evident that the Chinese government continues to prioritize internal security and it is important to raise more awareness about the lack of freedom that Tibetans are currently facing. Hopefully, with collective effort and help from other governments and the International Community, something can be done to provide comfort and security to the people in Tibet.
