Dharamshala: - There was further disappointment for Tibetans and supporters across the world at the beginning of 2015 to see China's announcement of planning to increase the Han-Chinese population into Tibet by 30 percent by 2020 — a total of approximately 280,000 new arrivals, strengthening China's rule of terror and worsening the cultural genocide.
The Chinese population has increased in all Tibetan regions since China invaded Tibet in 1959 and China recently said in an article published by the China Tibet Information Center, more than 25 million Han Chinese live in Tibet, including 7.5 million in the so called Tibet Autonomous Region. In 1989 Martial Law was imposed and China still maintains a strong military presence, with estimates of between 150,000 - 500,000 PLA troops stationed on the Tibetan Plateau, according to media reports.
Some Tibetan officials who have been unpopular for decades with Tibetans inside Tibet for being propagandists of the Chinese regime— failed to win the hearts and minds of the Tibetan people. If Tibetans working for the Chinese regime in Tibet voice their support for the Tibetan people, they are labeled 'separatists'. If they support the regime, they are distrusted by the very Tibetans they are trying to lead. Because of that there are so many who need to be dragged into the political discipline under name of "separatism" in terms of real attitude towards Tibetan people.
Unlike Han-Chinese, whether it's a government official or a civilian Tibetan, Tibetans have been targeted specifically as "separatists" since the invasion — justifying the killing of over 1.2 million Tibetans and destroying over 6,000 Tibetan monasteries and shrines.
This is happening in the wake of the ongoing case against 15 Chinese officials and party cadres who disagreed with the government's plan to transfer another million Han-Chinese into Tibet. The occupation and increasing colonization of Tibet has drawn widespread condemnation by the international community.
Chinese authorities will soon realize that it is the failure of their policies in Tibet that have directly led to these deaths and destructions band also has caused the biggest wave of self-immolation protests in modern history. How many Tibetans does the Chinese government want to punish and kill? How many Han-Chinese does the Chinese government ultimately want to transfer?
No matter whether they call for freedom or justice and whether for personal or political issues, Tibetans have no rights. A Chinese street vendor in Tibet could casually, easily and successfully accuse a Tibetan of wrongdoing. Tibetans are the victims of arbitrary arrest, imprisonment and torture for their political and religious beliefs, and face punishment because of their beliefs in human rights and fundamental freedoms.
China's 60 year rule in Tibet has failed to win Tibetan hearts and minds under the umbrella of the so called "Peaceful Liberation of Tibet." Moreover, China has lost its international reputation and any remaining right to moral leadership by defending their failed policies with an iron fist during its occupation of Tibet.
Indeed, the most shameless part of the six decades old government propaganda campaign is the claim that Tibetans enjoy freedom and equality. If this were true, then there would be freedom for the Tibetan people in the form of protection and preservation of their culture, religion and national identity. Of course, this is not the case. The so-called socialist paradise has proven itself ineffective, inhumane and littered with empty promises.
Chinese authorities in Tibet recently revealed the true nature of their intentions, highlighting their mistrust of those Tibetan officials serving the Chinese regime. Many Tibetans believe that the authorities immediately politicise any issue, claiming the need for 'stability' and blaming 'separatism' as the root cause, when in fact there is an endemic problem of corruption and a nasty habit of disregarding the law. The Chinese government promises to fight against "separatist activities" and to completely destroy any attempt to undermine "stability" in Tibet". Protests and other more subtle forms of resistance continue today, including self-immolations.
Younger generations involved in any form of peaceful protest have been subjected to violence and falsely connected to separatist activity. They have been being beaten, shot, imprisoned and killed for standing up for their fundamental human rights and denied the right to learn their ancestral language and culture. They are forced to be second-class citizens within their own country. They are pushed to defy the authorities by demonstrating, sharing information, and burning themselves to death in protest.
Despite the repressive iron fist policy of the Chinese Communist regime, the Tibetan fight for freedom is stronger than ever. If the Chinese authorities think Tibet is too small by population to make a difference, then China must learn from its own history, as well as from others. The Tibetan struggle is indeed one of the most supported of the 21st Century.
It is outrageous for the international community to look at China to witness a further colonisation in Tibet. This latest announcement shows that the Chinese authorities have done nothing to increase respect for Tibetan people's right to secure a "meaningful autonomy" that protects their religious, language, and cultural rights.
Tibetan activists and intellectuals, including writers, poets, artists, and philosophers call on Tibetans to be unified across the three provinces of Tibet. Their struggle cry foretells the return of their spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the unification of Tibetans inside and outside Tibet. Ironically, Tibetans are more united as a nation now than ever before, and six decades of repressive rule has far from crushed the Tibetan spirit.
Even if China's population of 1.37 billion came out unified against Tibetans, surely justice and truth would prevail in the end. The Tibetan struggle is a righteous, peaceful course of action seeking justice based on non- violence.
We must be held more accountable for conducting our struggle for freedom and justice with dignity and discipline. We must make our freedom struggle our top priority, and remember that the faith and spirit of our people cannot be broken.
For all of the Tibetans who live in free countries, it is our duty to speak out on behalf of Tibetans inside Tibet so that the peace-loving countries of the world will be equipped to condemn China over its failed policies in Tibet.
Not only should we adhere to the truth, we must always tell the whole world the whole truth about Tibet, with a focus on the increasingly tense situation in Tibet. Every day, human rights are violated in Tibet, and the immense suffering of Tibetan people and the destruction of Tibetan lands, homes and culture continues. A great success is always hard-to-reach and easy-to-ignore, and we need to be alert and avoid becoming the victims of our own success.
