Anti-Dalai-Lama-campaign and family separations

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has called on the German Federal Government to place more emphasis on the aspect of religious freedom in Tibet in the scope of its new China strategy. “The Chinese authorities are intensifying their attempts to alienate the people of Tibet from the Dalai Lama,” reported Hanno Schedler, STP expert on genocide prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, in Göttingen on Wednesday. “This includes searches in Tibetan monasteries and putting pressure on monks and nuns to distance themselves from the Dalai Lama – in written form.” Yesterday, Radio Free Asia (RFA) had reported on a wave of searches in monasteries since the beginning of June. A photo shows monks of the Shartse monastery signing a letter in which they renounce the Dalai Lama and declare loyalty to China. In 2022, the Chinese government had already forced Tibetans who work for the government to cut all ties to the Dalai Lama.

“Xi Jinping and his Communist Party are using all possible means to estrange the People of Tibet from their Tibetanness. Measures such as closures of local schools and the forced internment of around one million Tibetan children in state-run boarding schools are supposed to estrange young people from their roots. Instead of allowing them to learn Tibetan and to embrace the culture of their parents and grandparents, the aim is to turn Tibetan children into followers of the Communist Party and of Xi Jinping,” Schedler explained. One of the main functions of the boarding schools is to teach Mandarin. The children are not allowed to practice Tibetan Buddhism. The boarding schools are located up to 1,500 kilometers away from the children’s hometowns. Many of them are only able to see their parents on weekends. “What is especially absurd is the pretext for the closure of the local schools: Because of the high altitude, it is supposed to better for children to study in boarding schools that are located at lower elevations – as if the Tibetans hadn’t adapted to the conditions of the Tibetan Plateau over thousands of years,” Schedler added. In a statement submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday, the STP demanded the United Nations to show more effort in fighting the forced separation of Tibetan children and their families.

“In its new China strategy, the German Federal Government should show more commitment for the people of Tibet – including a condemnation of the family separations, as well as a public statement by Chancellor Scholz and Foreign Minister Baerbock emphasizing that the Chinese government should not appoint the next Dalai Lama,” Schedler said. The Dalai Lama will turn 88 on July 6. Quite a while ago, the Chinese government had started making arrangements to install a Beijing-loyal successor following the death of the current Dalai Lama.