-Japan Forward
The Dalai Lama’s liaison for Japan and East Asia predicts that Russia’s Putin will fail in Ukraine just like China has failed to erase Tibet’s religion, language, and way of life.
JAPAN Forward sat down with Dr. Tsewang Gyalpo Arya, the representative of the Liaison Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for Japan and East Asia, in late January. Dr. Arya had appeared in JAPAN Forward’s pages before, and is also affiliated with the Central Tibet Administration in Dharamshala, India.
Our interview ranged across many topics. Most pressing in the moment was the upcoming 2022 Beijing Olympics. Dr. Arya expressed his grave concern over the Chinese Communist Party being given the opportunity to host the Olympic Games amid China’s ongoing violations of human rights.
Now the world is faced with a new crisis: the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces under Vladimir Putin. In this second, updated part of our interview, Dr. Arya comments on Tibet and the People’s Republic of China, and also on how the unfolding war in Eastern Europe affects East Asia.
Excerpts follow.
Some news reports have recently indicated that the Ukrainian authorities may have to set up a government in exile and prepare for decades of occupation of their country by a hostile foreign power. I immediately thought of Tibet.
We have the Central Tibet Administration in Dharamshala, India. The Central Tibet Administration is often referred to informally as a government in exile, but we in that administration prefer to focus attention on the fact that we are the legislative and diplomatic voice representing all Tibetans, inside Tibet, in India, and around the world.
The reason for this Tibetan diaspora is the illegal invasion of Tibet by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The ultimate goal of the Central Tibet Administration is to restore freedom and democracy in Tibet. Tibet has always been an independent nation, but in the 1980s His Holiness the Dalai Lama began to advocate what he calls a “Middle Way Policy,” the establishment of a truly autonomous Tibet, as indicated in the Constitution of the PRC.
I pray that the invasion of Ukraine will stop, and that the integrity of the country will be respected. The international community should come out openly and condemn this Russian aggression. But if Tibetans’ experience is any indication, then the Ukrainian people may be starting out on a long road of hoping for a restoration of rights and freedoms.
Are you aware of the recent news reports, “The Ukrainian Catholic Archdiocese of Kyiv-Halych and the Ukrainian Embassy to the Holy See said they had received information that Russia planned airstrikes on the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kyiv?”
In Tibet, People’s Republic of China agents have destroyed a statue of the Maitreya Buddha, razed monasteries and convents, desecrated sacred prayer wheels, and committed horrific acts of violence against religious adherents and ordinary Tibetans.
Do you see any parallels between the cultural destruction in Ukraine and the ongoing war against Tibetan culture in Tibet?
What we are seeing these days is a resurgence of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution in Tibet, but news about it has not been coming out. This is of course due to the strict surveillance system blocking communication with the outside world and the PRC’s complete control on the media. But it is also due, I think, to a certain acceptance by the world community of China’s atrocities. China’s acts of destruction and desecration have become almost routine.
Last December, China destroyed a 99-foot Buddha statue and a 30-foot Buddha Maitreya statue, the future Buddha. They destroyed 45 giant prayer wheels and a monastic school one after another with impunity. This February, they destroyed a big statue of Guru Rinpoche, revered by Tibetans as the second Buddha, in the Kham Drakgo region of Tibet.
Tsewang Norbu, a young well-known Tibetan singer, died of self-immolation in Lhasa. Go Sherab Gyatso, a monk intellectual who wrote many books on Tibetan religion, history, and culture, was arrested and put into jail. His health is said to be in danger. Click here to read more.