DHARAMSHALA, October 12: A new report by the United States Congress has stated that the increasing use of repressive measures by the Chinese government and the failure of the stalled Sino-Tibet dialogue process have been concurrent with the demands of the growing number of Tibetan self-immolations.
The bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China in its 2012 Annual Report on developments in human rights and rule of law in China, released Wednesday said that during the reporting year, the incidence of Tibetans resorting to self-immolation “accelerated sharply” with the Chinese government refusing to accept its policy failure in Tibet.
“The Party and government have not indicated any willingness to consider Tibetan grievances in a constructive manner and to hold themselves accountable for Tibetan rejection of Chinese policies, and handled the crisis as a threat to state security and social stability instead of as a policy failure,” the report said.
The report noted that the status of religious freedom in Tibet “declined steeply” this past year with the Chinese government initiating “unprecedented measures” to strengthen Party control.
“Commission analysis demonstrated an apparent correlation between monastic self-immolation and increasing Chinese Communist Party and government repression of freedom of religion in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and nunneries,” CECC said.
“The Chinese Communist Party and government initiated two unprecedented measures to further strengthen control over the Tibetan Buddhist religion and monastic institutions and transform them into entities prioritising loyalty to the Party and patriotism toward China, while seeking to bring to an end to the Dalai Lama’s influence on Tibetans.”
The report said the first development was the October 20, 2011, opening of the Tibetan Buddhism Theological Institute aimed at “establishing a normal order for Tibetan Buddhism, and to resist the Dalai clique’s religious infiltration” and the second unprecedented measure, initiated in November 2011 and completed in February 2012, was the establishment of a Monastery Management Committee headed by Party cadres and government officials in all 1,787 monasteries in the so-called Tibetan Autonomous Region.
“MMCs, in terms of status and function, are more intrusive and repressive than Masses Supervision and Appraisal Committees established in Qinghai province by prefectural-level Tibetan Buddhist affairs regulations,” the report noted. “MSACs are not headed entirely by Party and government officials, members do not directly manage monastic affairs, and they do not all reside within a monastic institution.”
The CECC said the formal dialogue process between the Dalai Lama’s representatives and Chinese Communist Party and government officials continued to remain stalled since the January 2010 ninth round, making it the longest interval since the contacts resumed in 2002.
“Zhu Weiqun, Executive Deputy Head of the Party’s United Front Work Department, Director of the Party’s General Office of the Central Coordinating Group for Tibet Affairs, and principal interlocutor for the Dalai Lama’s envoys, reiterated Party positions seeking to prevent Tibetans from securing protection for their culture, language, religion, and environment, and instead pressure the Dalai Lama to support Party positions on Tibetan history and China’s relationship with Taiwan,” the report said.
Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the Commission, and Senator Sherrod Brown (OH), Cochairman of the Commission in a statement at the release of the report said that one of this year’s major findings was the “visible frustration and well-founded impatience” the Chinese people are expressing about their own lack of basic human rights.
“Across the 19 issues of our report, we observed Chinese citizens at all levels stepping up often at great risk, to demand human rights, rule of law, fair labor practices, and accountability from their leaders,” the said.
The report recommends that the U.S. Congress and President urge China to immediately ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, strengthen the rule of law, enhance transparency, and engage in dialogue with ethnic minorities without preconditions.
