DHARAMSHALA: In an interview with Canada’s CTV Television Network last Thursday, Kalon Dicki Chhoyang said the Chinese government has to address the problem of Tibet as the Tibetans inside Tibet have been showing strong discontentment with its policies. (Watch full interview)

“Tibet has been occupied by the People’s Republic of China for over fifty years. Over the last few decades, we have seen very harsh policies in the form of political repression, cultural assimilation, economic marginalisation and environmental destruction. So, these nine individuals who have self-immolated in the past six months are basically saying they are protesting against the Chinese government’s occupation of Tibet and the repressive policies that they have to live under,” Ms Dicki Chhoyang, Kalon for the Department of Information & International Relations of the Central Tibetan Administration, said.

“All of them when they set themselves on fire called for the restoration of freedom in Tibet and His Holiness the Dalai Lama be allowed to return to his homeland by the Chinese authorities,” she said.

On asked if any kind of ethnic cleansing is going on in Tibet, she said: “I would say definitely that the Tibetan culture is at the risk of disappearing and it is not an exaggeration.” The massive influx of Chinese people into Tibetan areas and marginalisation of the Tibetan language put their culture at risk. The culture has to live through the people. And when the culture is at risk then definitely the whole cultural identity is at the risk of disappearing along with that, she added.  

Kalon Dicki Chhoyang stressed that the issue of Tibet is a problem which will not go away with the demise of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. “Through the unprecedented peaceful uprising in 2008 and the latest incidents of self-immolations, the young Tibetans in their 20s who have never known Tibet before Chinese occupation, feel such discontent with the Chinese policies in Tibet that they are willing to take such drastic acts,” she said.

“The Tibetan issue will go not away and it has to be addressed. The Chinese authorities have the incredible opportunity to resolve the issue of Tibet when they have His Holiness the Dalai Lama who commands such moral authority and as a rallying point not only for the Tibetan people but also for the international community,” she said.