US urges countries to make law over access to Tibet

Robert A Destro, Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, on Friday said that together with partners around the world, the US has and will continue to call on China to provide unhindered access to foreigners travelling in Tibetan areas, including for diplomats and journalists, just as other countries give Chinese diplomats, journalists and citizens access to their respective countries.

Slamming China for its alleged repressive regime in Tibet, a top American diplomat has urged other countries to pass their own versions of a US law that calls for denying access to the US for Chinese officials known to be involved in restricting visits to the remote Himalayan region.

Tibetan barley farmer Dzekyid walks past prayer drums in his house during an officially organised meeting in Jangdam village in Samzhubze District outside Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region, China.(Reuters)

Robert A Destro, Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, on Friday said that together with partners around the world, the US has and will continue to call on China to provide unhindered access to foreigners travelling in Tibetan areas, including for diplomats  and  journalists, just as other countries give Chinese diplomats, journalists and citizens access to their respective countries.

“The US adopted the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act to press for greater access and transparency. Today, I call on our like minded friends  and partners  to pass their own versions of the Act,” he said in his remarks at a virtual event: “Religious Freedom in Tibet: The Appointment of Buddhist Leaders and the Succession of the Dalai Lama.” The Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump in December 2018 calls for denying access to the US for Chinese officials known to be involved in restricting visits to Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader has been demanding meaningful autonomy for Tibetans.

The 85-year-old Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 following a crackdown on an uprising by the local population in Tibet. India granted him political asylum and the Tibetan government-in-exile is based on Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh since then.

China views the 14th Dalai Lama as a “separatist” working to split Tibet from China.

Destro said it is no accident that the Chinese Communist Party claims the right to direct the  selection of the next Dalai Lama, and through that process to remake or in its words to “Sinicize” Tibetan Buddhism in its own Communist image.

“Nor is it a surprise that the  Chinese Communist Party  is ramping up its efforts to eliminate Tibetan language and culture.  It’s doing precisely the same thing with our  Uyghur and Kazakh Muslim brothers and sisters in Xinjiang, and in its efforts to replace the teachings of Jesus and the Prophets with the state-inspired drivel of a ‘patriotic’ church,” he alleged.

“This is what information warfare looks like.  In all it says and does, the Chinese Communist Party aims to control not only the information landscape, but the very thoughts of all whose perspectives and approaches to life in community differ from  those of  the Communist Party,” he alleged.

“Consider the case of the Panchen Lama.  It’s no accident that he was abducted when he was six years old.  What better way to Sinicize Tibetan Buddhism by installing their own pliable and fake replacement who would promote the Communist Party and weaken Tibetan Buddhist individuality,  while  Sinicizing the real Panchen Lama from youth, relegating his traditional roots to what Leon Trotsky derisively called, quote “the dustbin of history”?” he said.

Unfortunately, Tibetan Buddhists are not alone, the American diplomat said.

“The Communist Party  feels so threatened by faith in something other than the Party that its leaders are bent on controlling all aspects of religion, from the selection of Catholic bishops and the training of monks, to the content of scripture and the succession of Buddhist spiritual leaders,” he said. 

“Driven by a need to control anyone or anything that exists independent of the Party, Communist Party officials use force, intimidation, censorship, and coercion  to shape both the medium and the message,” he alleged.  

He alleged that the Communist Party  forces  Chinese citizens into “re-education” and slave labour camps, threatens the families of regime critics, censors  the brave scientists who sought to warn the world about  Covid-19, and corrupt the short-sighted  around the world  with their bribes.  And  the  Communist Party have the audacity to complain that  we  are interfering in their internal affairs.”

The United States, he said, is committed to helping Tibetans safeguard their way of life – not  just in Tibet but  also  in India, Nepal, Bhutan and everywhere that it flourishes. 

“Within a day of announcing my appointment, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the US for interfering in China’s internal affairs, as if Tibetan Buddhism belongs  to China.  It  doesn’t.  Tibetan Buddhism belongs to Tibetans and to its adherents everywhere.  If our commitment to human rights means anything, it is our collective duty to bring attention to this unfolding tragedy – for  Tibetans’ sake and for our own,” he said.