CHANDIGARH: Criticising the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to India for the two day conclave of BRICS National Security Advisers, the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) on Saturday argued that the India-China border dispute is directly linked to China’s occupation of Tibet, and asserted that the international community should not overlook the Tibet issue while engaging with China on diplomatic and strategic matters.
Wang Yi is visiting New Delhi from June 22 to 23 to attend the two day conclave, which will focus on pressing geopolitical and regional security challenges.
Addressing the media in Dharamsala, TYC President Tsering Chomphel, along with General Secretary Tenzin Lobsang and Organisational Secretary Tsamchoe, alleged that the India China border dispute is fundamentally a consequence of China’s occupation of Tibet.
Lobsang said that as reports indicate Chinese and Indian officials will once again discuss the border issue, the organisation reiterated what it described as an undeniable historical and geopolitical reality.
He said, “We reiterate an undeniable historical and geopolitical reality: the Sino Indian border dispute is fundamentally a consequence of China's occupation of Tibet. Prior to the military invasion and occupation of Tibet from 1950–59, India and Tibet shared a long and peaceful border. The current tensions and disputes emerged only after China forcefully occupied Tibet and replaced Tibet as India's northern neighbor.”
He further stated, “Therefore, any attempt to seek a lasting resolution to the Sino Indian border dispute while ignoring the Tibet issue merely addresses the symptoms rather than the root cause. There can be no permanent, just, and sustainable resolution to the so-called India China border dispute until the question of Tibet is resolved and the Tibetan people are able to exercise their right to determine their own political future in a free Tibet.”
The TYC leaders further said that China continues to project itself as a responsible global power despite what they described as decades of repression and occupation in Tibet.
They also expressed concern over China’s recently implemented “Ethnic Unity Law”, which, they said, is an instrument of state led assimilation aimed at accelerating the Sinicisation of non Chinese peoples under the guise of promoting national unity.
The leaders alleged that the legislation seeks to institutionalise the erasure of distinct national identities and further tighten the Chinese Communist Party’s control over Tibet, East Turkestan, Southern Mongolia and other occupied territories.
They said, “For Tibetans, this law represents an intensified campaign to undermine our language, culture, religion, and national consciousness.”
They further alleged, “The Chinese government continues to deny the Tibetan people their inherent and inalienable right to self-determination as enshrined in international law and the principles of the United Nations Charter. The ongoing policies in Tibet, including the coercive separation of Tibetan children into colonial boarding schools, the destruction of Tibetan religious institutions, the surveillance state imposed across Tibet, and the exploitation of Tibet's natural resources, constitute a grave assault on the collective rights and dignity of the Tibetan nation.”
Chomphel further alleged that China has intensified efforts to assimilate Tibetans through various political and administrative measures while denying them the right to determine their own future.
He said Tibet has remained under Chinese occupation for more than seven decades and accused Beijing of pursuing policies aimed at eroding Tibetan identity, culture, language and religion.
The TYC leadership called upon the Indian government, democratic nations and international organisations to raise concerns about human rights and cultural freedoms in Tibet.
Reaffirming their commitment to the Tibetan cause, the TYC leaders said the issue remains a matter of international peace, security and decolonisation, and called for sustained global support for the aspirations of the Tibetan people.
