Tibetans yesterday marched in Taipei alongside human rights advocates to protest China’s transnational repression and its crack down on the spirituality of Tibetans.
The march marked the 67th anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day on March 10, 1959.
The Swiss government in February last year published a report saying that exiled Tibetans and Uighurs are facing transnational repression from China.
Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa, chairman of the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, said at the march that China is seeking to rewrite the history of Tibet through linguistic and cultural means.
He cited as an example China’s requirement of the international community to replace the term “Tibet” with “Xizang (西藏)” — the Hanyu pinyin romanization of Tibet in Mandarin.
The Central Tibetan Administration is promoting the use of the Chinese characters “圖伯特” (Tibet) over “西藏” to refer to Tibet in Mandarin, Bawa said.
Millions of Tibetan children are ordered to attend boarding schools, and separated from their families, their mother tongue and the Tibetan culture, he said.
Religious freedom is facing unprecedented suppression as China attempts to manipulate recognition of the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, Bawa said.
The Chinese policies have a clear goal — to wipe out cultural and spiritual heritage, he said.
“Democracy did not come easy and freedom might not last forever,” Bawa said, adding that supporting Tibet is defending the values of freedom for Taiwan and the rest of the world.
Tashi Tsering said he is a second-generation Tibetan in the independence movement and has not been able to contact his family in Tibet since he was 18 years old due to his political stance.
The families of many young Tibetans promoting independence are terrorized by the Chinese Communist Party, he said.
National Human Rights Commission member Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) said that China’s surveillance and oppression of Tibetans have not ceased since it broke the Seventeen Point Agreement more than 67 years ago.
The agreement, signed in 1951 between China and Tibetan representatives, affirmed Chinese sovereignty over Tibet while promising autonomy, religious freedom and preservation of local systems.
The oppression has escalated into transnational repression, which targets not only Tibetans and Uighurs, but also Hong Kongers and Taiwanese, Yeh said.
“Supporting Tibetans upholds Taiwan’s own democracy and freedom,” she said.
Hong Kong Outlanders member Sky Fung (馮詔天) said that Tibetans and Hong Kongers with connections to Taiwan are at risk of being charged of “collusion with external forces” by Beijing.
However, Tibetans and Hong Kongers continue their independence movements in Taiwan because they cannot voice dissent in their homeland, Fung said.
China attempted to interfere in the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation in Tibet, and also destroyed the rule of law and freedom in Hong Kong, he said.
“It actions push Tibetans and Hong Kongers to the limit,” he said, calling on people in Taiwan to take action to resist Chinese oppression.
About 300 people participated in the march, organizers said.
Additional reporting by CNA