Free Tibet sets out some ways for the prospective prime ministers to protect Tibetan human rights
China has become a key campaign issue for Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, the candidates for the leadership of the Conservative party in the UK, and therefore for Prime Minister. Sunak has said that China is the biggest threat to the UK and has promised policies including a ban on Confucius Institutes at UK universities. Truss says she will take a hard line on China and has spoken about the plight of Tibetans and Uyghurs at the UN. Free Tibet is calling on both candidates to go much further and promise to take concrete action to help those suffering under Chinese government repression.
We believe that while the candidates’ assessment of Xi Jinping’s government as a threat to national security is correct, that none of the proposed policies will do anything to help those who suffer most at their hands – the Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hongkongers and others who live under Chinese rule or occupation.
Tibet is the least free country on earth. Every day, Tibetans face constant surveillance, arbitrary arrest and religious and cultural repression. In recent years, China has turned Tibet into a police state, ruled with the most sophisticated system of terror and surveillance in human history. Because it’s so hard to get any information out of Tibet, you won’t often hear about it on the news. The situation there is almost certainly even worse than we know. For too long world leaders have looked the other way in the name of creating economic ties.
The same economic ties they now say threaten our country. China thinks it can get away with the crimes it is committing and that the outside world will be too distracted – or dependent – to take action to stop it.
But, real action is possible and we call on Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to commit to three simple things in order to support Tibetans:
For centuries, Buddhism has stood at the heart of Tibet’s unique national identity, society and culture. To the Chinese government, however, Tibetan Buddhism is a threat to its rule and a challenge to its goal of colonising Tibet.
The Chinese government controls Hikvision, one of the biggest manufacturers of CCTV cameras in the world. Their cameras are used to support the surveillance of Tibetan and Uyghur people in their own occupied lands.
At the hands of the CCP, Drago County has seen many of its most important cultural and religious sites destroyed. Those who resisted have been arbitrarily arrested and subjected to torture.
