Auckland: The Auckland Tibetan Association has sent a letter to the New Zealand Prime Minister requesting to raise Tibet during the Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s visit to the island country.
The letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon reads, “Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s visit to New Zealand this week is a significant one and Tibetan-New Zealanders are always in support of what our leaders do to further our nation’s interest. China is New Zealand’s largest trading partner and we understand the government’s focus on further growth opportunities.”
“However I urge you not to be silenced by China and be complicit in their moral and ethical depravation.”
The letter continues, “In February 2024 alone, over a thousand Tibetans in Dege County protested the planned development of a massive hydro-dam that would flood nearby villages and obliterate six monasteries, each with centuries-old Buddhist murals. The peaceful protestors, many of whom were seen getting down on their knees, wailing and begging the Chinese authorities were arrested for simply trying to protect what was rightfully theirs.
Political repression, social discrimination, economic marginalization, environmental destruction and cultural assimilation is Tibet’s reality today. China’s ‘Sinicization’ campaign in Tibet continues to intensify with state-run colonial style boarding schools housing nearly one million Tibetan children forced apart from their parents. Restrictions on the Tibetan language in schools and across monasteries is aimed to dilute and eventually erase the Tibetan cultural and religious identity. Reports from Toronto based Citizen Lab state that between 2016 and 2022, Chinese police have collected roughly 1.2 million DNA samples of Tibetans from some as young as five to combat ‘crime’ and ‘social stability’ in the region. The PRC also demanded biometric information from Tibetans in other parts of Tibet such as DNA and IRIS records on the pretext of researching altitude sickness and studying male ancestry. These actions are covertly designed to intensify political surveillance of Tibetans. Tragically, 159 Tibetans have self-immolated since 2009 as a form of political protest. According to International watchdog group Freedom House’s ‘Freedom in the World 2024’ report, Tibet is the least free country on earth with a score of 0 out of 100. On the other hand, New Zealand is one of the freest countries with a score of 99. The stark difference is glaring to say the least.
Religion is fundamental to the Tibetan way of life and Buddhism primarily defines the Tibetan national identity. The Tibetan people’s devotion to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, a Nobel Laureate is viewed as an act of separatism and a national security threat by the CCP. This results in continuous crackdown on the Tibetan monastic community and freedom of religion.
The visiting Chinese Premier Li Qiang himself re-affirmed the Party’s stand at its annual China’s National People’s Congress on March 5th, 2024, by stating; “We will adhere to the Party’s basic policy on religious affairs, ensure that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation, and provide guidance to religions so that they can adapt themselves to our socialist society“.
During meetings with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, we urge New Zealand Government to:
- Call on China to re-engage in dialogue with the Dalai Lama and Central Tibetan Administration to resolve the Sino-Tibet conflict.
- Reinforce New Zealand’s expectation that China immediately grants meaningful and unfettered access to Tibet for independent observers, including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
- Demand that China end its oppressive policies targeting Tibetan children and end the residential boarding school and pre-school system that separate an estimated one million Tibetan children from their families in denial of their cultural, religious and linguistic rights.
- Demand that China cease interference in the selection and installation of Tibetan Buddhist leaders, including any future Dalai Lama. The determination of Tibetan Buddhist leaders must be determined solely by the Tibetan people, in accordance with international human rights law, without any interference by the Chinese Government.
- Demand that China immediately release the world’s youngest political prisoner His Eminence the 11thPanchen Lama and all other prisoners of conscience.
- Demand that China repeal or amend provisions of their Criminal Procedure Law that violate the rights of detainees to a fair trial, and are routinely used to arrest Tibetans for peacefully exercising their human rights under the guise of ‘separatism’ and other State Security crimes.
China is no doubt a powerful country. Its influence has reached far and wide but not without consequences. China’s Debt Trap Diplomacy in the Pacific Islands feels a little too close to home and not without threats to New Zealand. China’s alleged state sponsored cyber hacking on New Zealand parliament in 2021 and response from our government just cautioning them to ‘refrain from such activity in future’ has been lack lustre.
New Zealand must shut down Confucius Institutes in its university campuses, adopt Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, adopt Magnitsky Act and oppose the Belt and Road Initiative. If New Zealand allows China to oppress and continually abuse Tibetan human rights with impunity then New Zealand is complicit in the oppression of Tibetans. I once again ask you to use the occasion of the visit of Chinese Premier Li Qiang to raise China’s human rights abuses and to stand with Tibet. Supporting the Tibetan cause is not anti-China; rather pro-justice.”
-Report filed by Office of Tibet, Canberra