The Chinese government has detained several hundred Tibetans returning from India after attending teaching sessions overseen by the Dalai Lama and is forcing them to undergo political re-education, a human rights group said.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said it believed it was the first time since the late 1970s that the authorities had detained Tibetan laypeople in such large numbers and it comes as China frets about unrest in Tibetan parts of the country.
China allowed about 7,000 Tibetans to attend the sessions with exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in Bihar, India, between Dec. 31 and Jan. 10, in what the rights group said seemed to be a sign of a more relaxed policy toward Tibetans.
“However, that changed against a backdrop of unrest in eastern Tibetan areas and apparent fears it might spread to Lhasa,” it said in an e-mailed statement received yesterday.
At least 15 Tibetans are believed to have died after setting themselves on fire since March last year in protests against Chinese rule, mostly in heavily Tibetan parts of China’s Sichuan and Gansu provinces rather than in Tibet itself.
Tibetan advocacy groups say as many as seven Tibetans were shot dead and dozens wounded during protests in Sichuan last month. Chinese state media reported that police fired in self-defense on “mobs” that stormed police stations.
Activists say China violently stamps out Tibetan religious freedom and culture in Tibet, a vast, remote and largely mountainous region of western China in the Himalayas that has been under Chinese control since 1950.
China denies trampling on religious freedom and says its rule has bought much-needed development.
Human Rights Watch said the detained Tibetans had traveled in and out of China on valid Chinese passports.
“There is no known regulation banning Tibetans from attending the teachings and the returnees undergoing re-education have not been accused of any crime, such as carrying illicit documents or -crossing the Chinese border without permission,” it said.
“There are no reports so far that any of the about 700 ethnic Chinese who attended the Dalai Lama’s teachings in Bihar have been detained on their return to China, suggesting that the detainees are being selected because of their ethnicity,” the group added.
Calls to the Tibet government seeking comment were not answered.
Rights groups say that Tibetan parts of China have been put under even tighter security than normal ahead of the Tibetan New Year, which falls on Wednesday.
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military