Tibet’s exiled leaders visit Paris as Chinese repression continues
Exiled Tibetan leaders have been travelling to Paris to meet with members of the diaspora as Beijing steps up its forceful integration policies of ethnic minorities. RFI spoke to one of them, exiled foreign minister “Kalon” Norzin Dolma.
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RFI: What is the purpose of your trip to France?
Kalon Norzin Dolma: It is about strengthening relationships and seeking support from different stakeholders within European countries.
RFI: How do you deal with Beijing’s official line that countries with diplomatic relations with China, including France, must recognise that Tibet is an inseparable part of China?
Kalon Norzin Dolma: China has been extensively and very aggressively engaged in influence operations, especially in terms of propaganda, disinformation, and censorship of information.
No on has the right to interfere in the reincarnation process. There is no room and space for any future interference from the Chinese authorities.
INTERVIEW: Kalon Norzin Dolma, Minister of Information and International Relations of the Central Tibet Administration
We don’t accept China’s disinformation and negative narrative about Tibet.
We consider the status and situation of the Sino-Tibet conflict as currently unresolved and needing resolution through a dialogue process. We don’t consider that narrative (Tibet as part of China) to be truthful to the current situation. Based on historical facts, it is not true.
RFI: As a diplomat, how do you see the possibilities of having a dialogue or diplomatic exchanges with China?
Kalon Norzin Dolma: We had Sino-Tibet negotiations between Chinese counterparts and the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from 2002 to 2010. We are very much committed to the dialogue process.
But, the Chinese government lacks the political will and wisdom to come to the negotiating table. It is also not understanding the importance of having this settled with a negotiated solution during the lifetime of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who can provide authority and legitimacy on this issue.
RFI: Given the censorship inside China-controlled Tibet, to what extent are the people living there aware of what your government is doing?
Kalon Norzin Dolma: Tibet is in a state of total servitude. It is like a giant open prison. There is so much restriction on information outflow and information inflow.
But whenever news filters into the Tibetan region, it becomes a source of inspiration. It also creates a sense of relief that their plight is being looked into, and that there is a strong sense of support and solidarity, not only from Tibetans in exile, but also from the international community.
RFI: How would you compare the situation in Tibet today compared to, say, ten years ago?
Kalon Norzin Dolma: The level of repression has remained the same. But the form and the nature of repression has changed and shifted.
During the Cultural Revolution (1966-67), it was much more about the physical destruction of Tibet. During that time, some 6,000 Tibetan monasteries and nunneries were destroyed, and we estimate that some 1.2 million Tibetans died from different forms of torture.
Now, it is more psychological, indoctrination, sinicisation and the extermination and eradication of Tibetan identity and culture. The repression has become more sophisticated, with much more emphasis on propaganda.
Currently, more than a million Tibetan children from the age of six to 18 are being forcibly enrolled into colonial-style residential schools all over Tibet in an attempt at sinicising them from a very impressionable age.
RFI: The Dalai Lama is 88 years old and says he will live another 20 years. Are you scared that when his time comes, the Chinese will interfere with the reincarnation process as they have done to the Panchen Lama by finding a random child, brainwashing them and putting them on the throne? What is your strategy to counter that?
Kalon Norzin Dolma: China is very much set on interfering in the reincarnation process of the 14th Dalai Lama. But we have been very categorical in our position that the Chinese government has no right and authority to intervene in such a religious and traditional Buddhist practice of selecting and recognising the Tibetan Buddhist leader.
The European Parliament on 14 December adopted with 77 votes in favour, 14 against with 45 abstentions a resolution condemning "the abduction of Tibetan children and forced assimilation practices through Chinese boarding schools in Tibet."
The resolution says that the boarding schools house around one million children aged 4 to 18 (about 80 percent of Tibetan children) and are "compulsory" and "highly politicised," requiring children learn Chinese without them being given the opportunity to learn Tibetan. They "have been separated from their families by this system, which aims to forcibly assimilate them culturally, religiously and linguistically into the Han majority."
The resolution calls for the "immediate abolishment of the boarding school system" but also "reiterates its call on the Chinese Government to reengage with the representatives of the 14th Dalai Lama to establish genuine autonomy for Tibetans within China."
His Holiness the Dalai Lama released a statement in 2011. He very clearly said that Chinese authorities, or anybody else for that matter, have no right to interfere in the reincarnation process. Only His Holiness has the sole legitimate authority to determine that process.
He also said that when he reaches the age of 90, he will consult the relevant stakeholders, including Buddhist sects and the Tibetan public, about whether there’s a need to continue the institution of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama or not.
And if the consensus is reached that there’s a need for the continuation, he will leave very clear instructions as to how the reincarnation will be conducted. There’s no room and space for any future interference from the Chinese authorities.
According to a official "White Paper" issued in 2011 by China's State council, "no country or government in the world has ever acknowledged the independence of Tibet."
According to the paper, "China is a unified, multi-ethnic country, and the Tibetan people are important members of the family of the Chinese nation."
"Historical facts clearly demonstrate that the so-called "Tibetan independence" was in fact cooked up by old and new imperialists, and was part of Western aggressors' scheme to carve up the territory of China," is Beijing's official point of view, and while acknowleging that "the Tibetan group has made important contributions to the creation ... of this multi-ethnic country," it stresses that over the centuries, successive Chinese dynasties have had a hand in ruling the region.
Beijing also stipulatied that the successor to the current Dalai Lama will be chosen "in the traditional way of drawing lots from a sacred urn at the Jokhang monastery in Lhasa" but only after "the mandatory approval from the ruling Communist Party of China."
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