China out to destroy Tibetan civilisation, says report

After releasing the report — China’s Current Policy on Tibet — Tethong said the document was the first detailed comment by the Central Tibetan Administration on the reasons and logic behind China’s hardline policy on Tibet. The report is based on the comments made by the Chinese officials. Their remarks on the proceedings of the Third Work Forum have been published by Xinhua and Human Rights Watch and Tibet Information Network.

From July 20-23, 1994, Beijing staged the Third Forum on Work in Tibet, which recommended total destruction of the Tibetan civilisation. China took this position as it realised that it was losing out in two vital fields — ideology and propaganda — the report says, adding that Chinese authorities had realised that they were losing the ideological war because despite an unrelenting assault on Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetans have remained devoted to their beliefs.

Tethong further said that there was considerable economic development in Tibet but the real beneficiaries of these activities were the Chinese settlers and not Tibetans themselves.

Reacting to a report published by a fortnightly which presented a rosy picture of Tibet, the Minister said that if everything was fine in Tibet, people would not have fled from there. Last year, two high lamas — the Karmappa and Agya Rinpoche — escaped from Tibet, Tethong pointed out, adding that the situation in the rural and nomadic areas of Tibet was worsening, with people having to live without water, electricity, roads and schools.

The report also points out how the Chinese are using development activities as a two-pronged strategy to suppress Tibetan nationalism and destroy the traditional lifestyle of the Tibetan people. The Chinese Government has been pushing more and more Han Chinese people into the Tibetan region. This policy not only helps them change Tibet’s demographic composition but also ease social unrest since it provides the settlers with jobs, away from the mounting unemployment back in China, the report says.

The human rights’ situation in Tibet is deteriorating everyday, Tethong said, adding that the Tibetan people look to India for support on this issue. “We have been appealing and talking to all those countries which believe in human rights and democracy to take up our cause but we expect good support from India as it has been our spiritual guru,” he said.