We know how well the team @tibettruth are doing over on ‘X’. That the account is being targeted by Chinese political bots and trolls is a welcome indication that our message on Tibet is strong and un-welcomed by the China’s regime. Keep up the great job folks!
What’s disappointing though is the censorship and restrictions placed @elonmusk and his @X colleagues. Limiting our follower count, preventing the massive interest and support in our online work on Tibet’s cause translating into increased followers.
Today we noticed again that our posts (see image above) are being interfered with by @X a cynical and sly measure to obscure and reduce the reach of our content by labeling it as ‘sensitive’. So discouraging viewing counts, since people regard such a warning as indicating unsuitable, disturbing, or abusive content. This is the second occasion we’ve suffered such censorship, which is curious given Mr Musk postures as a champion of free speech!
TikTok algorithms promote the Chinese government’s narratives on hot-button issues such as Tibet, Taiwan and the Uyghurs — while suppressing content critical of Beijing, a new study has found.
When users search for terms on TikTok — owned by Chinese company ByteDance — that are sensitive to the ruling Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, such as “Tibet” and “Taiwan,” the results show much more content that is pro-China than content that is critical of China, researchers found.
Compared to similar searches on Instagram and YouTube, the results showed a pronounced pro-Beijing bias, according to the study, titled “The CCP’s Digital Charm Offensive,” by the Network Contagion Research Institute, or NCRI, at Rutgers University.
The findings, “while not definitive proof of state orchestration, present compelling and strong circumstantial evidence of TikTok’s covert content manipulation,” wrote NCRI co-founder Joel Finkelstein in the report.
Swaying youth
The study mimicked the user journeys of American 16-year-olds based on the newly created accounts that were used to test the three platforms’ search algorithm results, the report said.
The findings point to attempts by the Chinese government to shape public opinion — particularly among youth — on human rights and political issues, experts said.
Tibetan and Uyghur activists say that such bias obfuscates China’s oppression of Tibetans and Uyghurs and its attempts to undermine or wipe out their languages and cultures.
Constant exposure to TikTok’s pro-Beijing content is “a significant threat and concern,” said Lobsang Gyatso Sither, a member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile and directorof technology at theTibet Action Institute.
Rushan Abbas, executive director of the Campaign for Uyghurs, said that the research shows a “strong possibility” of content suppression or amplification to align with Beijing’s interests.
“The CCP is responsible for the Uyghur genocide and the oppression of the people of Hong Kong and Tibet,” she said.
Beijing is using social media “in their campaign of transnational repression, harassing human rights defenders living outside of China,” she said.
TikTok users also say that the short-form mobile video app has censored comments deemed critical of Beijing.
A visitor to an Apple store wears a T-shirt promoting the short-form mobile video app TikTok in Beijing, July 17, 2020. (Ng Han Guan/AP)
One young Uyghur user who wanted to remain nameless said that last November, after the outbreak of conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Chinese officials said on social media that a genocide was happening in Gaza but not in Xinjiang, home to some 11 million Uyghurs.
“I posted a comment in Arabic saying China was actually committing genocide against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang,” he said. “My comment was soon removed by TikTok. I was quite shocked. Apparently, TikTok didn’t want the Muslim world to know about the Uyghur genocide.”
Rejecting criticism
A TikTok spokesperson rejected the study, saying it was a “non-peer reviewed, flawed experiment … clearly engineered to reach a false, predetermined conclusion.”
“Previous research by NCRI has been debunked by outside analysts, and this latest paper is equally flawed,” the spokesperson, who asked that his name not be published, told RFA in an email.
“Creating fake accounts that interact with the app in a prescribed manner does not reflect real users’ experience, just as this so-called study does not reflect facts or reality.”
“One would hope media outlets would apply journalistic standards and rigor to fact check this type of fiction before rushing to publication,” he wrote.
Concerns about Beijing’s influence over TikTok are not new.
Since 2020, the Indian government has imposed a ban on more than 232 Chinese apps, including TikTok.
As of 2023, some 34 U.S. states enacted policies prohibiting government agencies and officials, including contract employees, from using TikTok. This year, the U.S. Congress passed legislation banning TikTok unless it is sold to a government-approved buyer. There are ongoing hearings about the potential for a ban of the app across the U.S.
The NCRI research found that when using TikTok to search for terms such as “Tibet,” “Tibet,” “Uyghurs” or “1989 Tiananmen Massacre,” between 61% and 93% of the results were either pro-China or irrelevant, while anti-China content constituted only 5%.
By comparison, pro-China content made up 13.7% of content on YouTube and 27.7% on Instagram, the study showed.
In December 2023, the NCRI published its first report on TikTok which showed a strong possibility that content on the video-sharing app was being either amplified or suppressed based on the alignment with Chinese government narratives.
Influence tool
The Chinese government uses TikTok as a strategic tool to influence other countries, particularly young people, in an effort to shift their perceptions of China, said Vinayak Bhatt, an Indian defense analyst and former army general.
“This includes promoting the idea that China’s economic growth is due not only to hard work but also to strategic government planning,” he said.
Many Gen Z users of TikTok say they are aware of the Chinese government’s biases and potential for content manipulation on the app, but choose to use it for recreational purposes.
“My page doesn’t have any political content, so when I think of TikTok, I view it as more recreational, but I also have a subconscious awareness that when I see anything pro-China or political, that it may be influenced,” said Tenzin Khando, a 20-year-old Tibetan student from New York, who has had a TikTok account since 2019.
A man walks past a TikTok booth during the Appliance & Electronics World Expo in Shanghai, China, March 14, 2024. (AFP)
Dolma Lhamo, a 25-year-old Tibetan resident of Orissa, India, recalled an issue with TikTok in 2019 when she posted a picture of the Dalai Lama and a note of appreciation on the platform on his birthday, but the post was blocked and did not appear.
Lhamo, who created her TikTok account about 10 years ago, expressed concern about the incident and said she stopped posting anything related to Tibet.
Most TikTok Gen Z users say they are subconsciously aware of the Chinese government’s biases and potential for content manipulation on the app, but choose to use it for recreational purposes.
But Chemi Lhamo, a Tibetan-Canadian human rights activist and campaign director at Students for a Free Tibet, said she avoids apps and digital platforms created by the Chinese government because she doesn’t trust them.
“I also advise others against using such platforms due to concerns about bias,” she said.
Language restrictions
Dawa Tsering, director of the Tibetan Policy Institute in Dharamsala, India, told RFA that the prohibition of Tibetan language on ByteDance’s Douyin, the Chinese version of the TikTok app available to Tibetans inside Tibet and others in China, is indicative of a broader policy to eradicate the Tibetan language.
He said these restrictions are in line with Chinese government orders to suppress Tibetan culture and language, with social media platforms like TikTok actively supporting this policy of cultural eradication.
Douyin has become a key platform for the Chinese authorities to distribute information and propaganda. Like other social media services in China, Douyin adheres to the censorship regulations set by the CCP.
Additional reporting by Lobe Socktsang, Dickey Kundol, Yangdon Demo, Khando Yangzom, and Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan, and by RFA Uyghur. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi and edited by Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Tibetan and RFA Uyghur.
Fear is the control mechanism used by the Chinese regime to suppress dissent from Tibetans, the ever present consequence that disloyalty, criticism or any other unapproved action or expression can result in severe punishment. Such draconian control however is not enough for the tyranny exerted by Xi Jinping and China’s Communist Party (CCP).
It is the minds of Tibetans which must be penetrated and ‘re-educated’, to fashion a compliant servile population, loyal to the dictatorship. To that end a recent objective, demanded by the Chinese authorities,targets 200.000 plus Tibetans, who will be subjected to intensive indoctrination programs. It is of course not voluntary and ‘progress’ is demanded, upon a range of punitive measures for non-compliance, or poor ‘performance’.
The following CCP information, issued August 7, 2004 to the occupying Chinese authority in occupied Tibet reveals the extent, nature and intent of this latest campaign to oppress and indoctrinate the Tibetan people.
We’ve edited this from Chinese and hope readers find it a revealing insight into, not only crazed ideology of China’s dictatorial cult, but of the ongoing persecution and psychological warfare waged against the people of Tibet.
Reading Note: Like many brutal dictatorships China’s regime makes full use of ‘euphemism’ in its official documents, these are employed to mask human rights violations and/oppressive measures and policies. Key phrases in that statement to look for; ‘education’, ‘discipline’, ‘learning’ ‘drive’ ‘deeply’, and ‘self-restraint’.
We have today issued to Secretary of State Blinken, the Government and State Department, a communication regarding the recently passed Resolve Tibet legislation. We have a number of serious questions about issues it poses. This document has been presented, in part, to serve as a public record and to hold to account those who are duty bound to apply the provisions of this law.
The Chinese Academy of Lies (oops a typo there) ‘Sciences’ has today issued a report claiming, thanks to ‘environmental security’ interventions of the Chinese Regime, Tibet’s ecology is now flourishing. Clearly it required the invasion and military occupation of Tibet to enable this supposed improvement. Meanwhile, on the ground, far from the cynical lies of China’s disinformation the lands of Tibet are being denuded, its soils and waters polluted, while the once lush forested valleys of Eastern Tibet, destroyed leaving a lunar-like landscape.
For a number of years now our team; over on what was Twitter, now ‘X’, noticed our account was being targeted and restricted, with follower numbers cut, various bans and posts being blocked from view. Any thought that Elon Musk’s take-over would see a lifting of such covert censorial actions was soon dashed when our already serverely reduced follower count was blocked by a ceiling limit. So much for free-speech and respecting human rights, eh Elon?
Today we discover that Tibet’s flag is now being regarded by ‘X’ as ‘sensitive content’ (another way to reduce the visibility and reach of a post) having been sent a tweet by Raimo Kangasniemi – a long-standing friend and supporter of or work for Tibet – we noticed it was hidden from open view.
Clearly Musk’s ‘X’algorithms lack the capacity to decide for themselves to suddenly apply such restrictions on viewing the Tibetan national flag, or deeming it ‘sensitive material’ which means that this latest incidence of censorship is yet another example of the sly censorship operating in regard to Tibet; and our account!
For those brave enough to view the content this is what they would have seen, shocking and deeply offensive, right Elon?
President Joe Biden on Friday signed into law a bill that urges China to resume talks with the Dalai Lama or his representatives to arrive at a “negotiated agreement on Tibet” as he reiterated that the measure did not represent a change in U.S. policy.
“I share the Congress’s bipartisan commitment to advancing the human rights of Tibetans and supporting efforts to preserve their distinct linguistic, cultural and religious heritage,” Biden said in a July 12 statement.
In his statement, Biden said that the Resolve Tibet Act does not change U.S. policy recognizing the Tibet Autonomous Region, or TAR, and Chinese provinces with large Tibetan populations as part of the People’s Republic of China.
But supporters said it is still an important measure because it adds pressure on Chinese leaders to grant greater autonomy to these areas.
“All people should have the right to live in peace and decide their own future. But the people of Tibet have not had those freedoms for more than 70 years. We just took an important step toward changing that,” Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon and a co-sponsor of the bill, said.
In 2002, Chinese and Tibetan representatives held talks over a governance framework in the TAR.
The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader for most Tibetan Buddhists, has called for “genuine” autonomy for Tibet, an approach that accepts the region’s status as a part of China but urges greater cultural and religious freedoms and strengthened language rights, which are already supposed to be protected under China’s constitution.
But the talks ground to a halt in 2010. Since then, there has been no formal dialogue between the two sides. Critics say in the interim China has increased its efforts to force Tibetans to assimilate into the majority Han culture through the use of boarding schools that promote the use of Mandarin and by prohibiting the worship of the Dalai Lama.
Senate Bill 138 passes in the U.S. House of Representatives 391-26 on June 12, 2024, in Washington. (C-SPAN)
The president signed the Tibet bill into law just days after Tibetans and well-wishers worldwide celebrated the Dalai Lama’s 89th birthday on July 6. The Dalai Lama underwent successful knee surgery on June 28 in New York. He remains in the United States as he recovers.
China on Saturday expressed opposition to the measure.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said it “violates the U.S. government’s long-held position and commitments and the basic norms governing international relations, grossly interferes in China’s domestic affairs, undermines China’s interest, and sends a severely wrong signal to the ‘Tibet independence’ forces.”
U.S. support for Tibet
U.S. lawmakers and Tibetan leaders, including Sikyong Penpa Tsering, the democratically elected head of the Central Tibetan Administration, a Tibetan government in exile, welcomed the move.
Penpa Tsering said on Saturday that the news “fills me with renewed hope.” He said the Resolve Tibet Act into law solidifies the U.S.’s commitment to a negotiated solution to the Tibet-China conflict.
Tencho Gyatso, president of the International Campaign for Tibet, called the measure “a clarion call to support Tibet’s peaceful struggle for human rights and democratic freedoms.”
In addition to promoting talks between Chinese and Tibetan leaders, the Resolve Tibet Act directs State Department officials to work to counter Chinese government disinformation about Tibet. It also affirms the State Department’s role to encourage China to address the Tibetan people’s aspirations regarding their distinct identity.
In June, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington told RFA that Tibet remains a purely internal matter of China and that no “external forces” had the right to interfere.
“We urge the U.S. side to cease using Tibet-related issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs and to avoid actions that could harm Tibet’s development and stability,” Liu Pengyu said.
“The U.S. should not provide a platform for ‘Tibetan independence’ forces to engage in anti-China separatist activities. China will take all necessary measures to defend its interests,” he said.
Chinese forces invaded Tibet in 1950 and have controlled the territory ever since. The Dalai Lama fled into exile in India amid a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.
Since then, Beijing has sought to legitimize Chinese rule through the suppression of dissent and policies undermining Tibetan culture and language.
“The Tibetans are willing; the People’s Republic of China should come to the table,” Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat and a key supporter of the bill, said after Biden signed the legislation.
Additional reporting by Tenzin Dickyi, Dorjee Damdul and Dickey Kundol. Edited by Kalden Lodoe and Jim Snyder.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Tenzin Pema and Tashi Wangchuk for RFA Tibetan.
We have a question for the State Department and its various agencies, over which it either has influence or funds; including Radio Free Asia (RFA)!
Once the recently passed ‘Resolve Tibet Act’ is signed into law by President Biden can Tibetans be confident that U.S. support for Tibet will empower State Department officials to actively and directly counter disinformation about Tibet from the Chinese government, such as actively rejecting false claims that Tibet has been part of China since “ancient times”?
For decades US policy has been one of not only accepting China’s fact-free claims on Tibet, but affirming and promoting the lie that Tibet is part of China.
RFA, a supposedly impartial and respected news agency, has an entire department dedicated to reportage on Tibet. However their coverage, although exposing human rights issues and highlighting the oppressive nature of Chinese rule in Tibet, consistently amplifies Chinese propaganda in regard to Tibetan territory. Its maps are those approved and peddled by the Chinese Regime, while its editors ensure reports use phrases that have a worrying similarity to the disinformation issued by China’s Foreign Ministry.
Image: archivenet
It is time to end such troubling appeasement! On that call we remind RFA Editors Roseanne Gerin and Malcom Foster that there are no “Tibetan areas” within Sichuan province; a description which they repeatedly approve and feature. In truth those locations are part of occupied Tibet’s eastern region of Kham!
A New Zealand politician and human rights activist with a strong connection to Tonga’s Democracy movement and other Pacific activism has been farewelled after dying last week aged 80.
Keith Locke served as a former Green MP from 1999 to 2011.
While in Parliament, he was a notable critic of New Zealand’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan and the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002, and advocated for refugee rights.
He was appointed a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to human rights advocacy in 2021, received NZ Amnesty International’s Human Rights Defender award in 2012, and the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand’s Harmony Award in 2013.
Locke was often a voice for the Pacific in the New Zealand Parliament.
In 2000, he spoke out on the plight of overstayers who were facing deportation under the National Party government.
As the Green Party’s then immigration spokesperson, he supported calls for a review of the overstayer legislation.
Links to Pohiva
“We are a Polynesian nation, and we increasingly celebrate the Samoan and Tongan part of our national identity,” Locke said at the time.
“How can we claim as our own the Jonah Lomus and Beatrice Faumuinas while we are prepared to toss their relations out of the country at a moment’s notice?”
Locke had links to Tonga through his relationship with Democracy campaigner and later Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva, who died in 2019.
The late Tongan Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva … defended by Keith Locke in 1996 when Pohiva and two colleagues had been jailed for comments in their pro-democracy newspaper Kele’a. Image: Kalino Lātū/Kaniva News
He criticised the New Zealand government for keeping silent about what he described as a “gross abuse of human rights.”
In 2004, Locke called on the New Zealand government to speak out about what he called the suppression of the press in Tonga.
Locke, who was then the Greens foreign affairs spokesman, said several publications had been denied licences, including an offshoot of the New Zealand-produced Taimi ‘o Tonga newspaper.
Vale #KeithLocke, tireless and fearless campaigner for peace, justice and a sustainable future for a green planet … I’ll also remember him for friendship and commitment to independent truth publishing and OneWorld progressive bookshop. – @DavidRobie, editor, #AsiaPacificReportpic.twitter.com/SC0obJzfOA
Tribute by Asia Pacific Report editor David Robie.
‘Speak out as Pacific neighbour’
“We owe it to the Tongan people to support them in their hour of need. We should speak out as a Pacific neighbour,” he said.
In 2007, ‘Akilisi was again charged with sedition, along with four other pro-democracy MPs, for allegedly being responsible for the rioting that took place following a mass pro-democracy march in Nuku’alofa.
Flags of the countries of some of the many causes Keith Locke supported at the memorial service in Mount Eden this week. Image: David Robie/APR
“As the Greens’ foreign affairs spokesperson I went up to Tonga to support ‘Akilisi and his colleagues fight these trumped-up charges. I was shocked to find that the New Zealand government was going along with these sedition charges against five sitting MPs,” Locke said in an interview.
“I was in Tonga not long before the 2010 elections with a cross-party group of New Zealand MPs. We were helping Tongan candidates understand the intricacies of a parliamentary system.
“At the time I remember ‘Akilisi being worried that the block of nine ‘noble’ MPs could frustrate the desires of what were to be 17 directly-elected MPs. And so it turned out.
“Despite winning 12 of the popularly-elected 17 seats in 2010, the pro-democracy MPs were outvoted 14 to 12 when the votes of the nine nobles MPs were put into the equation.
“However, in the two subsequent elections (2014 and 2017) the Democrats predominated and ‘Akilisi took over as Prime Minister. I am not qualified to judge his record on domestic issues, except to say it couldn’t have been an easy job because of the fractious nature of Tongan politics.
“And ‘Akilisi has been in poor health.
Political tee-shirts and mementoes from Keith Locke’s campaign issues at the memorial service in Mount Eden this week. Image: Del Abcede/APR
‘Admirable stand’
“As Prime Minister he took an admirable stand on some important international issues, such as climate change. At the Pacific Island Forum he criticised those countries which stayed silent on the plight of the West Papuans.”
Locke said that Tonga may not yet be fully democratic, but that great progress had been made under Pohiva’s “humble and self-sacrificing leadership.”
Keith Locke was also an outspoken advocate for democracy and independence causes in Fiji, Kanaky New Caledonia, Palestine, Philippines, Tahiti, Tibet, Timor-Leste and West Papua and in many other countries.
His remembrance service was held with whānau and supporters at a packed Mount Eden War memorial Hall on Tuesday.
Philip Cass is an editorial adviser for Kaniva Tonga. Republished as a collaboration between KT and Asia Pacific Report.
The Chinese Communist Party’s former top boss in Tibet is being investigated for “severe violations of discipline and law,” according to a statement from China’s anti-corruption body, using a euphemism commonly used to describe corruption.
Wu Yingjie, former party secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region, is one of several top officials recently dismissed from the Chinese Communist Party amid a crackdown on officials past and present who have engaged in graft.
The move was praised by Tibetans on Chinese social media in a rare display of public opinion about such measures in China.
“It is very good that this man has been arrested,” said one person. “This is good news for Tibetans,” said another.
“This enemy of the Tibetans has been captured and it will eliminate harm from the Tibetan people,” said a third.
In 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Wu, 67, for his policies in Tibet that “involved serious human rights abuse, including extrajudicial killings, physical abuse, arbitrary arrests, and mass detentions” in the far-western region.
Additional abuses cited included forced sterilization, coerced abortion, restrictions on religious and political freedoms, and the torture of prisoners.
Wu, who now serves on the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, is the first former party secretary of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, or TAR, to be placed under investigation and the eighth ministerial-level official to face a probe since the Communist Party’s National Congress in 2022.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission announced the investigation on June 16.
Other officials under investigation include Dong Yunhu, chief of the Shanghai legislature; Sun Zhigang, a former medical reform official; Han Yong, former chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference; Gou Zhongwen, former sports minister; Tang Yijun, former justice minister; Tang Renjian, agriculture minister; and Li Yuefeng, executive vice-chairman of the Central Committee of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League.
Tibetans react
Tibetans inside Tibet took to Chinese social media to express their scorn for Wu Yingjie, known for his crackdowns and repressive policies, a source inside Tibet told Radio Free Asia on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
More than 760 comments appeared on a WeChat channel in response to a story about Wu’s investigation, all expressing support for the probe.
Members of the Tibetan community in Belgium hold a demonstration to mark the celebration of the 57th Tibetan Uprising Day in front of the EU headquarters in Brussels on March 10, 2016. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP)
But at least one activist predicted the investigation would do nothing to change the plight of Tibetans.
“Despite Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s investigation of Wu Yingjie and other officials as part of the nation’s anti-corruption campaign, there will be no positive impact on Tibet and its related issues,” said Sangay Kyap, a Tibetan rights analyst.
Shortly after Wu was promoted to party secretary in 2016, he issued a statement stressing the need for officials to “expand positive propaganda” and to “thoroughly expose and criticize” the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism.
Wu also urged officials to “eliminate the negative influence” of the Dalai Lama’s use of religion and to guide believers to treat religion rationally.
Under President Xi Jinping, Wu also intensified repressive measures in Tibet, including the establishment of Chinese-run boarding schools with a curriculum focused on the Chinese language that undermines Tibetan culture and language, said Bawa Kelsang Gyaltsen, representative of the Office of Tibet in Taiwan.
“Wu Yingjie had been the CCP party secretary for the region, implementing severe and oppressive policies in Tibet for over 20 years,” he said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
Another official, Jiang Jie, 58, a former senior political advisor in the TAR, was also indicted on charges of taking bribes by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate following an investigation, the body announced on June 14.
Jiang Jie is shown in a Jan. 17, 2024 post on X. (@globaltimesnews via X)
Prosecutors in Tianjin allege that Jiang, who is also a former vice chairman of the TAR’s Regional Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, misused his various positions, including serving as mayor of Dongying in Shandong province and deputy head of the regional government, to unlawfully gain advantages for others in exchange for significant sums of money and valuables.
Xinjiang official expelled
In a related development, Li Pengxin, a former deputy secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the region north of Tibet, has been expelled from the Communist Party and dismissed from public office for “serious violations of Party discipline and laws,” official Chinese media reported Monday.
An investigation found that Li, 63, had lost his ideals and convictions, was dishonest about his problems, accepted money and valuables, took advantage of his former position to seek benefits for others, and was suspected of accepting bribes, according to a statement issued Monday by China’s anti-corruption body and the National Commission of Supervision.
Li Pengxin is shown in a June 17, 2024 post on X. (@PD China via X)
When Li was deputy secretary in Xinjiang from September 2016 to July 2021, he oversaw a crackdown on Uyghur educators, sending them to prison
Afterwards, Teyip disappeared from public view, leading Uyghurs to believe he had been detained.
Uyghurs interviewed by RFA in 2018, after news about his disappearance came to light, said they believed Teyip was removed amid an unprecedented ideological purge in Xinjiang against so-called “two-faced” Uyghur officials. The term is used by authorities to describe Uyghurs who do not willingly follow directives and exhibit signs of disloyalty.
Additional reporting and translation by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan and Alim Seyoff for RFA Uyghur. Edited by Tenzin Pema, Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Pelbar for RFA Tibetan.
Beijing has enjoyed exercising “panda diplomacy” over the years, loaning bears to countries depending on its assessment of how well diplomatic relations are going.
China gifted 3,000 metric tons of Tibet’s glacial water to the island nation of the Maldives in two separate batches in March and May — the same months it unveiled and implemented water conservation regulations at home.
The Water Conservation Regulationsset limits on water usage within administrative regions and prioritizes water conversation work in Tibet and other parts of China.
They were issued by China’s State Council on March 20, a week before it sent the first delivery of 1,500 metric tons of water in jugs to the Maldives, which is experiencing a scarcity of fresh water.
The regulations then went into effect on May 1, weeks before China donated the second batch of water jugs.
China finalized the deal with the Maldives during a November 2023 visit by Yan Jinhai, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, to the low-lying archipelago threatened by rising sea levels.
The Maldives has forged strong bilateral relations with China and is a beneficiary of the Belt and Road Initiative, under which it has borrowed more than US$1 billion from Chinese banks in the past decade, according to Western think tanks.
Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu signed 20 agreements, including one for financial and military assistance, with Beijing during his inaugural state visit to China in January 2024.
The Maldives thanked the people of Tibet for their “generous donation,” which it expects will greatly support its island communities. Its freshwater resources are affected by erratic rainfall patterns and rising sea levels.
Water shortages in Tibet
But Tibetans inside Tibet said they face water shortages themselves because Chinese authorities have implemented systematic water conservation and management campaigns across various Tibetan villages and towns for over a decade.
This has occurred while authorities have restricted the availability of water and set limits on water usage at the local level.
Maldivian security personnel load a water tank onto a military vehicle to fill it with treated water in Malé, capital of the Maldives, Dec. 5, 2014. The capital is located on a low-lying island in the Indian Ocean that has no natural water source and depends entirely on treated seawater. (Sinan Hussain/AP)
“I have heard that China is donating bottled water from Tibet to other parts of the world for free for political gain,” said one source from the Tibet Autonomous Region, where Chinese authorities have carried out water conservation campaigns for over a decade.
“However, in Tibet, the local Tibetans do not have enough drinking water,” he said. “At times there isn’t enough water to even brush our teeth.”
On March 27, the same day the Maldives said it received the first batch of water, the Water Conservancy Bureau of Ngari Prefecture, or Ali in Chinese, the birthplace of key South Asian rivers, began a series of year-long events for the general public to promote water conservation.
In Nyingtri city, or Linzhi in Chinese, authorities have implemented the strictest water resources management system over the past several years and boast of its effectiveness.
Meanwhile, Tibetans who have grown up on their ancestral land in Gangkar township in Dingri county, called Tingri in Chinese, are being forced to relocate to make way for the expansion of China’s water bottling facilities and industry, two sources said.
“Gangkar is known for its fertile pastureland and significant water resources from glaciers with 15 water springs in the region, which the local Tibetans have always relied on for their livelihoods,” said the first source.
Chinese authorities plan to move about 430 residents to take control of the water resources from the land, he said.
Weaponizing water
China’s move signals it is engaging in “water politics” and playing the long game for geopolitical gains in South Asia, experts said.
The Chinese government has projects underway to extract clean, clear and mineral-rich water to support the expansion of its premium mineral bottled water industry, they said.
H.E. Yan Jinhai (L), chairman of China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, pays a courtesy call to Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu in Malé, capital of the Maldives, Nov. 21, 2023. (President’s Office/Republic of Maldives)
Beijing also wants to control water flows to lower riparian states such as India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, to further its own aspiration of regional dominance, experts said.
With approximately 87,000 dams built, China poses a historic threat, having already dammed most internal rivers, they add, while calling for proactive measures to implement enduring policies to protect these vital Tibet’s water resources.
Tibet is at the forefront of China’s “water wars” in the region, said Anushka Saxena, a research analyst at the Takshashila Institution, a public policy think tank in India.
Tibet’s eight major transboundary river systems have the capacity to turn China into “Asia’s water hegemon,” given that their water can be used for both domestic economic and foreign policy-related interests, as well as can be weaponized to cause harm to lower riparian states, she said.
“In that light, China’s moves vis-à-vis export of water to Maldives cannot be isolated from the larger approach China is adopting to using Tibet’s water resources,” she added.
Additional reporting by Dorjee Damdul for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Lobsang, Tenzin Pema and Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan.
What do you notice about the scene pictured above? Perhaps you’ve wondered if the Chinese slogans in the background identify this as being an event in China? It took place in Southern Tibet, part of a recent propaganda drive imposed by the occupying Chinese regime exhorting, the same Tibetans who they’re oppressing and terrorizing, to take more exercise!
But there’s something else, hidden in plain sight, which reveals another strand in the calculated policy to eradicate Tibetan cultural identity. See it?
Not one of these Tibetans wearing any item of traditional clothing, and that’s not accidental, or simply a reflection of ‘modernity’ (although the Chinese authorities would be happy if you reached such a conclusion). Increasingly occupied Tibet’s been flooded with Chinese made clothing, it’s a profitable business; but it also conveniently serves a purpose of diluting and replacing Tibetan traditions and culture.
While it’s still possible to see Tibetans in traditional garb, the beautifully tailored jackets, dresses and finery, so uniquely identifying that cultural aspect, are being swamped by mass-produced items. At the same time the costumes of Tibet have been re-imagined, misappropriated; again for propaganda and political purposes, and increasingly appear as performance outfits.
A gaudy, ersatz version of Tibet’s dress-sense has been imposed for such public events, often featuring the colors of the Chinese flag. It’s not fashion, but politics and deception!
Tibetan children are being forcibly removed from their families and incarcerated at indoctrination camps, such as the so-called Tsome County Primary ‘School’. In the image above, taken at that location, ‘students’ are lectured by Chinese regime officials of the supreme truth of ‘Xi Jinping thought’ and ‘legal knowledge’. All conducted of course in Chinese!
These Tibetan children are from Sangri in Lhoka region of occupied Tibet. Here they are displaying paintings upon the theme of; ‘forging a strong sense of Chinese national community’, little wonder they produced such propaganda imagery. But that is function of ‘schools’ established across Tibet’s lands, they are not seeking to educate, but indoctrinate. A calculated program of brainwashing to eliminate any trace of Tibetan cultural and national identity, it is the genocide of a people and their culture.
Where does RFA get its information from you may wonder? Well it’s sources are courageous Tibetans from inside occupied Tibet; who manage, at considerable risk, to get information out to exiled Tibetan related organizations; including the Central Tibetan Administration. This then is provided to, and translated by, Tibetan staff within RFA Washington HQ. With a final editing into English by staff such as Ms Girin and Mr Foster.
Tibetans have not written in their testimony and evidence ‘Tibetan populated areas’, ‘China’s Tibetan areas’ , ‘ethnic Tibetans’ nor would they choose Chinese place-names for clearly Tibetan locations. That misleading and factually flawed rendering is down to the editorial policy of RFA, implemented by its non-Tibetan editors.
Take Girin’s and Foster’s May 8th report: It could and should have read ‘Tibetans children in Kham region of occupied Tibet being forced to speak only Chinese’. To do so of course would not be in accord with the somewhat appeasing foreign policy position of the US State Department; which is acutely nervous about offending China’s sensitivities on Tibet. In accommodation it, and RFA, peddle reports which consistently mimic Chinese regime descriptions of Tibetan place-names and territories. As a consequence anyone reading RFA output on Tibet is being fed the propaganda that Tibet is part of China.
This is a clear bias and distortion, a politicized misrepresentation in which the State Department and Radio Free Asia are complicit. As such both organizations are legitimate targets for protest by Tibetans, who can rightly demand that reportage on Tibet should be free from Chinese Regime propaganda. Let’s hope such an action is decided upon, as the distortions and untruths which undermine, otherwise valuable coverage on Tibet, need to stop!
The Chinese government says it will only talk with the representatives of the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, while ruling out any scope for “contact” with the India-based Tibetan government in exile.
Beijing called the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), as the government is known, a “separatist” bloc demanding autonomy for Tibet – a line that experts say it has long upheld and signals no change in Beijing’s stance towards engaging meaningfully with the Tibetan side since previous talks fell through in 2010.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, who made the comment on April 27, was reacting to a statement by Sikyong Penpa Tsering, the democratically elected leader of the Central Tibetan Administration, or CTA, about his government engaging in back-channel talks with the Chinese government.
Wang told a press conference there were two main conditions for any “contact or negotiations” on Tibet.
“First, we would only have contact and talks with the personal representative of the 14th Dalai Lama, not the so-called ‘Tibetan government-in-exile’ or ‘Central Tibetan Administration,’ he said.” The Chinese government will not be dealing with it.”
“Second, any contact or talks will only be about the personal future of the 14th Dalai Lama himself, or at most, a handful of people close to him, not the so-called ‘high degree of autonomy for Tibet,’” he added.
Following the Chinese government’s statement, Tsering said negotiation was the only way forward to resolve the Tibet-China conflict and the CTA would continue appealing to the government and international community to urge the Chinese government to resume dialogue.
Sino-Tibetan dialogue began in 2002 in an effort to consider prospects of “genuine” autonomy for Tibet, as called for by the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, as part of his Middle Way policy.
The approach accepts the formerly independent Himalayan nation’s status as a part of China but urges greater cultural and religious freedoms, including strengthened language rights, guaranteed for ethnic minorities under provisions of China’s constitution.
“His Holiness the Dalai Lama has said time and again that the Tibet issue is the issue of six million Tibetans and not his personal matter,” CTA spokesman Tenzin Lekshay told Radio Free Asia.
“The Central Tibetan Administration’s Middle Way Policy seeks genuine, meaningful autonomy for the Tibetan people within the framework of the Chinese constitution and the Regional National Autonomy Law of China,” he said.
“Resolving the Sino-Tibet conflict through the Middle Way Approach is mutually beneficial,” he added.
False sense of hope
The Sino-Tibetan talks ground to a halt in 2010 without any breakthrough following nine formal rounds of discussion and one informal meeting.
Chinese officials rejected proposals by the Tibetan delegation — which included the Dalai Lama’s special envoy Lodi Gyari and senior envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen — in which they called for greater autonomy for Tibet within China.
Both Gyari and Gyaltsen resigned from their posts two years after the talks stalled, citing frustration over the lack of a positive response from the Chinese side.
Reacting to the Chinese government’s latest statement on conditions for talks to resolve the conflict, Gyaltsen told RFA that Wang’s statement reflected the Chinese government line as usual.
“In fact, I can see that the Chinese government has intensified its tough stance on Tibet and, the statement signals a negative turn as now there is no scope even for a discussion on autonomy,” he said.
Wang’s statement also appeared to be “an attempt by the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, to create a false sense of hope among Tibetans and create further differences within the Tibetan communities,” he added.
The Dalai Lama listens to an explanation by Swiss politician Maya Graf (L) during a visit to the Swiss Parliament in Bern, Switzerland, April 16, 2013. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)
London-based Tibetologist Robert Barnett of London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies, echoed Gyaltsen’s assessment, noting that the Chinese ministry spokesperson “does not deny that there are back-channel talks.”
“Basically, he confirms it. … That might also explain why it is so aggressive. They want to distract Chinese listeners at least from realizing that they are talking with the Tibetans, perhaps,” Barnett told RFA, referring to the two conditions China laid out for talks.
What China was saying in public differed from what Chinese officials were saying behind the scenes, Barnett said.
“It is not credible that the Chinese will only talk about the Dalai Lama’s personal situation, as they claim,” he said. “They may well refuse to discuss autonomy, but we can be fairly sure that they will be talking about other issues besides the Dalai Lama’s personal positionand that of his retinue,” he said.
Push for ‘meaningful’ dialogue
Some governments, including those of the United States and European countries, have made repeated calls for the Chinese government to resume talks with the Dalai Lama or Tibetan leaders.
On Tuesday, a U.S. State Department spokesperson told RFA that the U.S. government would work with its allies and partners to encourage China to return, without preconditions, to direct dialogue with the Dalai Lama, his representatives or the democratically elected Tibetan leaders to achieve meaningful autonomy for Tibetans and ensure they can preserve their religion, culture and language.
In April, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved a bipartisan bill urging China to resume negotiations with the Dalai Lama or his representatives, without preconditions, and address the aspirations of Tibetans regarding their historical, cultural, religious and linguistic identity.
“The CCP has oppressed the Tibetan people for 70 years and will not stop until their culture is eliminated,” U.S. Rep. Young Kim, a California Republican, told RFA.“The only way that there will be a peaceful resolution is if the voice of the Tibetan people is included in any conversations with the CCP.”
The Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act, also known as the Resolve Tibet Act, was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in February, and now needs to pass the Senate for it to become law.
The bill notes that an obstacle to further dialogue is that the Chinese government continues to impose conditions on substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama, including “a demand that he say that Tibet has been part of China since ancient times, which the Dalai Lama has refused to do because it is inaccurate.”
The resolution also urged Chinese authorities to release the Panchen Lama, Tibet’s second most senior Buddhist monk abducted by Chinese authorities in 1995, and refrain from interfering in the designation of the next Dalai Lama.
Additional reporting by Tenzin Dickyi and Dolma Lhamo for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Tenzin Pema, Tashi Wangchuk and Yeshi Dawa for RFA Tibetan.
With the Congressional ink still drying on the sign-off of billions of arms to be shipped to Israel and Ukraine, endorsing, sustaining; and enabling slaughter and misery. A weary and understandable cynicism and disillusionment can set in. Government and trust has become an oxymoron.
Politics though, like a flag, changes course according to the prevailing winds, so that sometimes, a positive and supportive outcome materializes. Most recently the Senate passed the Resolve Tibet Act which affirms to:
A bill which affirms, in accordance with US policy, the conflict between Tibet and China is unresolved; and that Tibet’s legal status remains to be determined in accordance with international law.
Furthermore the bill defines Tibet to include the so-called T.A.R and the Tibetan areas Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu & Yunnan provinces (in truth the historic and legitimate Tibetan regions of U-Tsang, Kham and Amdo).
It also states that the office of U.S. Special Co-ordinator for Tibetan Issues shall work with other U.S agencies to counter disinformation about Tibet by the Chinese Communist Party, including disinformation about Tibet’s history and institutions. The bill also authorizes the office to take other actions to counter such disinformation.
Image: archivenet
This is a welcome and long overdue expression of support for Tibet’s people and their just cause for national freedom. It should be recognized as such and worked with to ensure the maximum possible benefit can be realized to assist the struggle waged by Tibetans. It is, in the main, a resounding declaration of support for Tibet, its right to freedom, recognition of historic sovereignty and human rights for Tibetans. Bravo to all those who made this happen.
Of course it is not without flaw, and we note in Section Three of the bill, that it states:
On the surface that appears reasonable and in strong solidarity, which on one level it is. However, it fails to define which form of ‘self-determination’ the bill refers to, which we’d hope Tibetans will seek clarity on.This is because within international law ‘internal self-determination’ is the right of the people of a state to govern themselves without outside interference. Whereas ‘External self-determination’ is the right of peoples to determine their own political status and to be free of alien domination, including formation of their own independent state. Which of these conditions would the people of occupied Tibet, and their exiled fellow Tibetans desire most?
To the occasional voice that dismisses this bill as self-serving posturing from the political establishment. Does this demonstration of solidarity from the Congress and Administration serve (with respect to China) the current strategic and political interests of the United States? Of course – such is realpolitik. Have Tibetans been extended support previously, only to be betrayed and abandoned by the USA? Indeed, most notably by the withdrawal support for the Tibetan resistance after Nixon’s outreach to China.
But those realities should not be a reason to reject the opportunities and much needed assistance these policy developments offer to Tibetans who are tirelessly seeking to secure greater support and exposure for Tibet.
To lure more investment to Tibet, Chinese authorities have announced a sweetener to would-be investors: Move your family to the region, spend three years there and invest 3 million yuan (US$415,000) – and your teenage children will have a better chance of gaining entry to a good university.
Every June, millions of Chinese high school students take the grueling “gaokao” college entrance exams, but the admissions scores to the country’s 1,200 universities vary among the provinces according to the number of their inhabitants.
Residents of Beijing and Shanghai face the stiffest competition. But Tibet offers its students one of the lowest college entry barriers via preferential conditions meant to give ethnic Tibetans an advantage.
For example, a student in Tibet who scored at least 300 points out of 750 on the exam would have qualified to get into most universities, but those taking the exam in Beijing would have needed a score of 448 to enter the same schools, said Frank Lehberger, a senior research fellow at the Usanas Foundation, an Indian think tank.
Chinese parents have picked up on this discrepancy and some have become “gaokao” migrants, moving part or all the family to more advantageous locations just so their children would have an easier time getting into university.
“This rationale entices many Chinese families to migrate to places with low population and high preferential ‘affirmative action programs,’” Lehberger said.
The Ministry of Education has ordered local governments to crack down on gaming the system in this way, but this offer from Tibet contradicts that and appears to have the authorities’ blessing.
Desperate for investment
The decision, announced March 18 by the Tibet Autonomous Region Education Department, comes amid a slumping economy, with a rising jobless rate for young people, and cash-strapped provincial governments are keen to attract investment after three years of draconian pandemic restrictions.
According to the specialist taxation website shui5.com, the terms are only being offered to the children of owners or shareholders of a company entering the Tibet Autonomous Region under the local government’s investment promotion program.
Parents wait for students outside a test site for China’s national college entrance exam, in Lhasa, southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, June 7, 2023. (Jiang Fan/Xinhua via Getty Images)
The offer will be extended to those who have made an initial investment of at least 3 million yuan, and they can’t withdraw capital or shares from the business for at least 5 years, according to the announcement.
The students must also have been enrolled in a school in Tibet for at least three years – so this is a significant time commitment.
The aim of the offer is to “further optimize the business environment in our region … and the high-quality development of the plateau economy,” said the announcement on shui5.com.
Stirring controversy
The move has sparked debate on Chinese social media, with some posters arguing it would be unfair to students from the mountainous region and others supporting it.
The weightings are calculated based on past regional performance, which means that if students from better-resourced regions of China start going to Tibet, they could push up the score threshold for everyone, including Tibetans.
Tibetans and rights groups warn that the program will deprive Tibetan students of educational and job opportunities and worsen unemployment among them.
“This recent development will further rob Tibetan students of opportunities,” a source in Tibet’s capital of Lhasa told Radio Free Asia.
The Chinese government has adopted educational policies to help Tibetans, but they have benefitted Chinese officials and investors who move there, he said.
Because the Chinese government perceives Tibetans as less developed and economically disadvantaged, it provides special conditions for Tibetan students to pursue higher education, said Bhuchung Tsering, head of the research and monitoring unit at the International Campaign for Tibet in Washington.
“However, with the current situation where anyone with the financial means can secure a spot, I believe this policy is being exploited and misused,” Tsering said.
Strict requirements
But Xiong Bingqi, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, was quoted in the China Daily as saying that while people may worry that the policy will favor rich people and lead to education inequality, the strict requirements of the policy mean only those who are really committed to long-term investment in the region can enjoy it.
The key is to crack down on any people or organization faking documents and close any loopholes, he said.
An official at the Chinese Embassy in Washington said they weren’t familiar with the program in question. But the spokesperson said that Tibet’s economy is “booming, the society is harmonious and stable, its cultural traditions have been protected and promoted, and a modern education system adapted to local needs have been built.”
The official went on to say that all ethnic groups in Tibet have the right to “equally enjoy high-quality education,” which has helped improve the cultural standards of the people and enhanced ethnic and national unity.
Despite what the official said, the move does seem to suggest that regional Chinese governments face financial woes, experts said.
“This ‘investment scheme’ smacks of desperation, betraying the deep financial troubles that the TAR government and bureaucracy finds itself in,” said Lehberger, who has worked for many years in Tibet.
He said he strongly doubts the measure will attract many affluent Han Chinese because 90% of that group wants to leave China altogether.
The move also highlights the lack of tangible development in the region, said Sriparna Pathak, associate professor of China studies at the O.P. Jindal Global University in Haryana, India, and a former consultant at India’s foreign ministry.
“Despite the severe lack of development in Tibet and the wiping out of the Tibetan language, identity and culture by the Chinese Communist Party state, the attempt still is to show Tibet as a shining example of development as is seen in all Chinese propaganda on Tibet,” she said.
“However, the latest move to lure investors clearly shows how badly so-called development efforts of the Chinese Communist Party state have failed,” she said.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
Updates with comment from Chinese Embassy spokesperson.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by .
