China's repressive policies in Tibet aim to sinicise culture & linguistic heritage: Report

The year 2021 has witnessed a further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) with a targeted crackdown and severely limited freedom of practising religion and language, says a report released by the European Union. As per the experts, ever since the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has taken over Tibet, they have entrenched complete control over its linguistic and cultural heritage. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is on a quest to target rural areas, forcing leaders of smaller tribes to speak in Mandarin.

The EU report titled 'Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World' documented the unravelling atrocities and the campaign of "De-Tibetanisation" that CCP has launched in the Himalayan country. Beijing has forced Tibet to adopt Mandarin as the medium of education and official work, besides denying higher education to followers of the Dalai Lama. "In July 2021, authorities announced that kindergartens in ethnic minority areas must use Mandarin as a teaching language. Access to the TAR was possible only for controlled visits of official delegations or tourist groups," the EU report said.

[Monks walk along a sidewalk path lined with Chinese flags at the Tibetan Buddhist College near Lhasa in western China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Image: AP]

In a big thrust to sinicise Tibetan regions, Beijing has also been conducting workshops since the end of 2021 to teach Mandarin to locals. The heads of local administrations and businesses have also been asked to carry out business and official work in the Chinese language. According to Tibet Press, it is a common belief that Chinese President Xi Jinping is threatened by Tibetan Buddhism and he aims to remove the Dalai Lama and Tibetan culture, which he believes is subsumed by Maoist ideology.

Religious persecution increased overall

In a serious threat to Tibetan identity, the people are forbidden from traditional religious practices or are allowed to carry them out under "heavily controlled" CCP observation and "in line with existing regulations." Further, there has also been increasing reports of "detention, torture and deaths" in prison where Tibetan monks, social activist, and journalists are holed up together.

According to a report by Central Tibet Administration published in 2020, Jinping increased "security expenditure" in Tibet manifold since coming to power in 2013. It is since then that the arbitrary crackdowns on particularly four communities -Tibetan Buddhists, Uyghurs, Hui, and Protestant Christians- escalated.

In an escalated downturn in the humanitarian situation, China locked up civil rights society leaders, LGBTQ community and individuals, and those working for gender equality and women's rights. "NGOs and other organisations were forced, inter alia, to close their social media accounts or disband," the EU report said. Media freedom and access to information continued to be severely limited. Censorship and harassment targeted bloggers and professional journalists, including foreign reporters who had covered topics that were considered sensitive by the authorities (Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, COVID-19 management). "At least 127 Chinese professional journalists and independent bloggers are currently in detention after reporting on sensitive topics," the EU said.

In a bid to bolster sinicisation, Beijing has continued to upgrade its digital surveillance. It has also launched political re-education camps and systematic restrictions to exercise fundamental rights on people from the aforementioned four communities. Apart from this, Beijing has conducted forced sterilisation, birth control, and separated families. Xi Jinping's government has defied long-standing calls from the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner to allow unfettered access to Xinjiang province in order to conduct an independent and transparent assessment of the human rights situation.

Image: AP