UK House of Lords Raises Concerns Over Systematic Erasure of Tibet’s True Historical Status
By — B T NEWSDESK
On the 40th anniversary of Sino-British Joint Declaration last Thursday, the members of the House of Lords debated the government policy towards China, especially in relation to human rights and security issues arising from Chinese actions in Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the South China Sea, and against the Uyghurs in East Turkestan.
During the session, a group of members of the House of Lords led by Lord David Alton, including Lord Martin Callanan, Baroness Smith, Lord Bishop, and Baroness Bannett, raised their concerns over the PRC’s continued violation of Human Rights in the above regions as well as intensified transboundary repression and espionage. The group also scrutinised various aspects of the UK government’s policies towards China.
Most notably, Lord Martin Callanan highlighted the PRC’s efforts to systematically erase Tibet’s true historical status from the global consciousness, saying that “the Chinese Communist Party’s decades-long campaign to erase Tibetan culture, religion and identity is a stain on the conscience of the international community. Let us not forget that, not that long ago, Tibet was an independent country, but nobody now refers to it as that; it has in effect been absorbed into China, and the Tibetan people have been slowly eradicated. I had the honour a few years ago of meeting the Dalai Lama in his exile home in Dharamshala. I do not share his religion, but he is an inspirational character, continuing to preach non-violence in the face of all the threats and indeed genocides that the Tibetan people have faced.”
-Report filed by Office of Tibet, London
