Washington, Oct 31 (IANS) The United States has criticised China’s actions against Tibetan religious institutions, urging Beijing to end interference in religious freedom after the authorities demolished monks’ residential quarters at a monastery in eastern Tibet, a media report said.
Chinese authorities began demolishing around 200 monks’ residences at Dza Sershul Thekchen Dargyeling Monastery in Sershul County, Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, on October 25 and 26, sources told Radio Free Asia (RFA) on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns.
“Everything is over now. We are losing everything,” the source said.
Responding to the developments, a US State Department spokesperson told RFA on Thursday that the demolitions were part of wider Chinese government efforts to exercise control over spiritual institutions, religious education and monastic life in Tibet.
“We call on Beijing to end its interference in Tibetan religious life. Tibetan Buddhists should have the right to practice their faith freely, educate their clergy and choose their religious leaders, including the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, without government interference,” the spokesperson said, referring to China’s previous and potential future interference in the traditional succession processes of Tibetan Buddhism’s two most revered figures.
Speaking to RFA, Tenzin Lekshay, spokesperson for the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamsala, India, said that the demolitions and reduction in the number of monks were aimed at assimilating Tibetans and compelling them to embrace a Chinese identity.
“This is a mask used by the Chinese government under the recently enacted Ethnic Unity Law to assimilate Tibetans and destroy Tibetan religion, culture, and language. This is not the first time. We have also seen young monks forcibly expelled from monasteries and sent to China’s colonial boarding schools,” he said.
Lekshay strongly condemned the Chinese government’s continued attempts to shut down monasteries and schools established by Tibetans, while exerting control over Tibet and seeking to eradicate Tibetan national identity.
“It is time for the Chinese government to acknowledge and trust that Tibetan religion and culture are beneficial to China and the world and that the destruction of Tibetan religion and culture will have negative consequences for both China and the world,” he said.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent, bipartisan US government commission, warned that restrictions imposed in Tibet pose a threat to the region’s Tibetan Buddhist heritage.
“Demolition of Tibetan monasteries is just one tactic in a wider effort by Chinese authorities to sever the people of Tibet from their Tibetan Buddhist heritage, including the forced assimilation of ethnic minorities through the draconian ‘Ethnic Unity’ law that came into effect in July,” commission chair Asif Mahmood told RFA.
–IANS
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