China ‘pressuring’ eminent monks and admn in Tibet to denounce Dalai Lama

Dharamsala, February 6

With Losar (Tibetan new year) approaching, China is allegedly pressuring eminent monks and monastic administrators in the Tibetan Autonomous Region to denounce the Dalai Lama.

Tibetan government-in-exile sources said that the Chinese authorities in Tibetan-populated are of Tibet visited at least 35 Buddhist monasteries and urged eminent monks to “deeply expose and denounce” the Dalai Lama and safeguard the “unity of the motherland”. They visited the monasteries in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture from January 11 to 17, according to a statement issued by the United Front Work Department, which oversees the Chinese Government’s domestic and external influence operations.

Tibetan New Year, known as Losar, falls on February 10, the same day as China’s Lunar New Year, the biggest holiday of the year. A report of the Tibetan government-in-exile says that the Chinese authorities accuse the Tibetan spiritual leader, who lives in exile in Dharamsala, of trying to split the Tibet Autonomous Region and other Tibetan-populated areas in China’s Sichuan and Qinghai provinces from the rest of the country.

However, the Dalai Lama does not advocate for independence but rather a “middle way” that accepts Tibet’s status as part of China. He urges greater cultural and religious freedom, including strengthening language rights that are guaranteed for ethnic minorities under China’s constitution.

The Tibetan government-in-exile says that Chinese officials visited well-known monasteries in the area, including Palyul, Yarchen Gar and Katog, which are associated with the Nyingma School of Vajrayana Buddhism. The Chinese officials urged Tibetan monks to promote the “five identifications” that President Xi Jinping had repeatedly said was required of all Chinese citizens and minority groups. These are identifying with the motherland, Chinese nation, Chinese culture, Chinese Communist Party and socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The Tibetan government-in-exile said that Tibet watchers criticised the move as disingenuous and an effort to put pressure on the Tibetan monastic community to toe the Chinese Communist Party’s line.

“The Chinese Government’s practice of extending greetings and monetary gifts to Tibetan monks and nuns on important occasions and holidays are actually tools of deception,” said Dawa Tsering, director of the Tibet Policy Institute, official think tank of the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala.

The Tibetan government-in-exile alleged that in their New Year message to Tibetan Buddhist leaders in Palyul county, the Chinese authorities also ordered head monks to carry out an “in-depth, systematic study and political education” of the “party’s religious work theories and principles and policies”.