Geneva: Voicing concern over China’s continued violations of international human rights obligation, a member of Italian Parliament said that international communities cannot afford to keep “pretending” and urged that Western countries can no longer remain “silent in the face of Chinese bullying and repression against the Tibetan People”.  

In the ongoing Italian Parliament session, on 9th July, Mr. Matteo Lungi Bianchi, a Member of Italian Parliament, said China’s National Security Law in Hong Kong has put “an end to Hong Kong’s last remnant of diversity”. The imposition of Chinese law that stripped out “freedom, autonomy and human rights” in Hong Kong has turned Hong Kongers in the city of “secret police state”. Furthermore, he added, the situation in Hong Kong is “not only a stand-alone case” that matters.  

Expressing concern over the situation in Tibet, Mr. Bianchi said: “we cannot be silent in the face of Chinese bullying and repression against the Tibetan people”. The Chinese government’s so-called behavioural reform campaign enforcing local Tibetans to remove Tibetan prayer flags is a direct assault causing irreplaceable destruction of Tibetan religious traditions. China’s “unabated destruction of Tibetan unique cultural identity is a serious concern”, said Mr. Bianchi in his statement in the parliament.

Mr. Bianchi called upon international community including the Italian government to speak out against dictatorship, saying that “not denouncing aforementioned cases reflects complicity towards dictatorship rather than freedom”.

He also urged the Chinese government to end its atrocities. 

Earlier this year, Mr. Bianchi has raised concern over the situation in Tibet elucidating the case of destruction China has brought since its illegal occupation of Tibet. 

Mr. Bianchi is a long-time Tibet supporter, and an active member of Italy Parliamentary Group for Tibet. 

-Filed by Tibet Bureau Geneva