Continuing its repression of people in Tibet, China has stepped up its surveillance measures and restricted online communications between Tibetans and their family members and friends staying abroad, said a media report.
Notably, Tibetans living in exile in India had been relying on free social media chat apps to talk to their family members back home in Markham county in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), however, the communication links have now been broken with the Chinese government’s new surveillance measures, reported Radio Free Asia.
“I was able to communicate with my family and relatives back in Tibet using social media chat apps, (but) the communication was completely cut off a few months back due to greater surveillance and restrictions,” the media outlet quoted Kelsang Gyatso, a Tibetan living in exile in India, as saying.
“It’s very worrisome not having any information on how they are doing, and I’m sure it’s the same for them also not knowing about my well-being,” he added.
Tibet, a formerly independent Himalayan country, was invaded by China in 1950 and has been governed by China’s ruling Communist Party since then.
According to human rights groups, Chinese authorities in the TAR and Tibetan areas of nearby Chinese provinces restrict freedoms of religion, expression, movement, and assembly, and ignore residents’ concerns about mining and land grabs by local officials, who use force to subdue those who protest against such repression.
Notably, the Chinese government’s November 2020 announcement of tightening controls on online communications it claimed undermined national unity was followed by an uptick in reported detentions of Tibetans in 2021 for alleged online offences, the media outlet reported citing Human Rights Watch’s latest World Report.
“Tibetans who contacted people outside China were harassed and punished, regardless of the content of their communications,” said the report.
China’s hardline policies have made it more difficult for Tibetans in exile to communicate with their families and friends back home, RFA reported citing Tibetan sources inside and outside the region.
In a bid to shut down the flow of information to the outside world, China has also been tracking Tibetans in Tibet communicating with those in exile, according to sources inside Tibet.
As per these sources, the Chinese government has started prohibiting the transfer of money from Tibetans in the TAR to outside recipients.
Moreover, to suppress the voice of dissent, the Chinese government makes it even more difficult for Tibetans in exile involved in political campaigns, dignitaries, and journalists to communicate with their families inside Tibet.
“It is a fact that Chinese authorities specifically harass and surveil family members of Tibetans in exile who are usually actively involved in political campaigns, and journalists,” the media outlet quoted a Tibetan journalist living in India as saying.