Under influence of prolonged malicious and negative propaganda by Chinese government against Tibetans, a Chinese woman has gone extreme and called for the extermination of Tibetans in Lhasa in a racist social media post on WeChat. The woman was apprehended after her post went viral. The woman named Liu, according to the Lhasa City Public Security Bureau, posted on WeChat that Tibetans in Lhasa should be wiped out and that Chinese should take over the city. Dismissing a complaint shared by a person about the Lhasa government’s Covid-19 strategy, the woman commented: “The government doesn’t care. Hey! All the Tibetans in Lhasa should be wiped out! All Tibetans should be wiped out — leaving us Han Chinese to occupy this place!” The impact of China zero-covid policy is being felt at all levels in Tibet and the unwarranted comment on Tibetans is another instance of the frustration caused by this policy.
Subsequently, the woman issued a carefully orchestrated apologetic statement after she was arrested. She apologized to “the government and the general public” but not directly to Tibetans against whom she made her racist remarks. In a video message with her face blurred, the woman wearing her black hair down on a checked flannel shirt and black jacket, states: “At 3:00 pm on October 8, 2022, (I) posted something unfavorable to the nation (unity) in the (WeChat) group, which had a huge impact on the society. Here, I would like to express my deepest apologies to the government and the general public. I won’t do anything like this again in the future. I am sorry.”
China’s zero-covid policy is ostensibly meant to prevent and control Covid-19, but it has suffocated people. Many people have committed suicide due to inhumane quarantine conditions. Between 23 and 25 September 2022, for instance, five people committed suicide in the Lhasa city alone. Videos of some of them jumping to death from buildings went viral on social media. Ironically, the WeChat comment appeared around the time Han Chinese and Tibetans living in Lhasa had hit the streets and protested the inadequate food and medicines given under the lockdown regime. Soon afterwards, the city witnessed the largest-ever protest since the 2008 uprising, according to Radio Free Asia. Around 200 people were detained by authorities.
One Tibetan netizen noted: “Today, I have no choice but to say something as it feels like [someone] stabbed a knife on my heart. …. The Chinese woman with dirt in mouth had said like this. Listen to this. All of you listen to what is being said till the end [plays the WeChat voice recording of the Chinese woman]. This is what was said. This is really crossing the limits of human behaviour. When Wuhan was struck with the [COVID] epidemic, we Tibetans were praying then that there be no war and famine, and there be relief from the epidemic. But look what this Chinese woman says [repeats her utterance in Chinese]: That Tibetans should be wiped out from Lhasa and for Chinese to occupy the place. I really hope that you all will urge as much as possible, and the superior authority will take stern action on this. Thank you.”
A day later the Lhasa City Public Security Bureau identified the woman’s name as Liu, saying:“ On October 8, 2022, some netizens in our city posted inappropriate remarks that undermined national unity on social networking platforms and were reposted. After our bureau filed a case for investigation, the publisher of the remarks was Liu XX. At present, our bureau has carried out investigation and evidence collection and will pursue its legal responsibilities in accordance with the law.” The International Campaign for Tibet notes that Lhasa PSB public notice merely mentions “inappropriate remarks” harming the Chinese Party-State’s “national unity” policy but does not address the issue of Chinese racism against Tibetans. In the statement issued by the Chinese woman, she broadly apologised to the “government and the general public”. No direct apology was offered to Tibetans, the target of her ire and neither was the statement issued in Tibetan.
Tibet is one of the clearest cases of institutional racism by Chinese authorities who have continuously spread negative narratives about Tibetans. A Chinese state media report on Tibet in 2008 asserted that prior to its “liberation” (meaning Tibet’s conquest by Chinese armies), “Tibet remained a society of feudal serfdom under a theocracy, one even darker and more backward than medieval Europe.” A Chinese state media report in 2021also claimed that Chinese rule has taken Tibet “from a society under feudal serfdom to socialism, from poverty and backwardness to civility and progress.” China’s illegal occupation has forced Tibetans to live as second-class citizens in their own land.
The repression of Tibetans is also being witnessed in reports of mass DNA testing of Tibetans as shown by The Citizen Lab and Human Rights Watch. Chinese authorities have also established a large data centre in Lhasa ostensibly to help digitize Tibetan official records but is more likely to become a database centre to store the large number of DNA samples collected by authorities. Clearly, the Chinese intend to ensure that Tibetans are stripped of their identity in every sense of the word. While the WeChat comment was contextualised on China’s Zero-Covid policy and its negative impact, the comment drew outrage amongst Tibetans over the racist overtones.
Human Rights Watch said (September 2022) that Chinese authorities had engaged inthe arbitrary collection of DNA samples in all seven prefectures or municipalities, in TAR. According to The Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto, Chinese authorities have collected roughly over one million DNA samples in TAR since 2016. Similarly, Students for Free Tibet issued a petition that claims that the Chinese government was building the world’s largest police-run DNA database with the help of key industry partners in the West, including the US-based company Thermo Fisher.
It is well known that China enforces discriminatory policies in Tibet, like the relocation and forced resettlement of Tibetan nomads and herders. The widespread repression of Tibetan Buddhism and crackdown on Tibetan communities has also been well documented. Tibetans face discrimination in employment, housing, and travel. China’s racism has real consequences. Tibetans have been jailed for simply promoting their language. Life as a second-class citizen can lead to desperation and protest, as shown by the series of self-immolations by Tibetan monks. The Tibetans really need the right to manage their own lives! Will China please leave occupied Tibet? (Courtesy: https://savetibet.org)
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