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China forcing cultural unity through ‘Sinicisation’ of Tibet: Sikyong on 64th Tibetan Uprising Day
The sikyong alleged that Tibetan children were being forced into a vast network of colonial-style kindergartens and boarding schools to learn Chinese language and way of life
Sikyong (president) of Tibetan government-in-exile Penpa Tsering on Friday accused China of ‘Sinification’ of Tibet as Tibetans across the world marked the 64th anniversary of National Uprising Day.
“To consolidate a sense of community, the PRC government is currently implementing a policy of one nation, one culture, one religion and one language through Sinofication of Tibetan Buddhism and promotion of Chinese language across Tibet,” he said while speaking at an event in Tsuglagkhang Temple at McLeodganj.
The sikyong alleged that Tibetan children were being forced into a vast network of colonial-style kindergartens and boarding schools to learn Chinese language and way of life.
“The PRC government is enforcing an assimilationist language policy in these schools,” he said, adding that UN experts have also raised alarm over China’s policy aimed at assimilating over a million Tibetan children culturally, religiously and linguistically through a residential school system.
Tsering said there was massive increase in the number of Chinese officials and work teams being sent to the Tibetan areas while thousands of Tibetans have been displaced and thousands others are set to be relocated on the pretext of dam construction and water conservation.
The PRC government, in the name of combating separatism and maintaining social stability, is controlling every movement of Tibetans with measures more draconian than the time of the Cultural Revolution, he alleged.
The Chinese government has intensified its campaign of forcibly indoctrinating Tibetans including students, nomads, farmers and even monks and nuns with communist ideology.
Large-scale collection of data from Tibetans through DNA extraction, iris scans and facial recognition are being carried out in the name of social management, he alleged.
Tsering, meanwhile, said that the CTA is hoping to find a mutually agreeable way forward to discuss Tibet’s future status based on the Middle-Way Policy.
“We are ready to engage with the PRC government based on equality and friendship to seek a mutually beneficial and lasting solution. Moreover, we urge the PRC government to immediately stop its flawed policy of eradicating the Tibetan identity,” he added.
