Home > News Archive > Chinese rule in Tibet is 'hell on earth': Dalai Lama

Chinese rule in Tibet is 'hell on earth': Dalai Lama

By Lobsang Wangyal | Tibet Sun

The Dalai Lama reads his 50th Tibetan uprising day speech at Tsuglakhang temple in Mcleod Ganj, India, on 10 March 2009. He said the Chinese rule in Tibet was hell on earth. However, he said Tibetans must look to the future and work out with China for a mutually beneficial solution. Seated from right are Sakya Trizin, Lungtok Tenpa’i Nyima, the spiritual head of the Bön; and the Karmapa. Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal/India

Marking 50 years in exile, the Dalai Lama blasted the Chinese communist rule in Tibet saying the past 50 years have brought untold suffering and destruction to the land and people of Tibet.

“Even today, Tibetans in Tibet live in constant fear and the Chinese authorities remain constantly suspicious of them,” he said in his annual Tibetan uprising day statement.

The 73-year-old Tibetan leader said that the religion, culture, language and identity, which successive generations of Tibetans have considered more precious than their lives, are nearing extinction, and that the Tibetan people are regarded like criminals deserving to be put to death.

“These thrust Tibetans into such depths of suffering and hardship that they literally experienced hell on earth.”

However, he said that it is important to look into the future and work for a mutually beneficial solution to both the Tibetan and Chinese people.

“We need to look to the future and work for our mutual benefit. We Tibetans are looking for a legitimate and meaningful autonomy.”

Autonomy is an arrangement that would enable Tibetans to live within the framework of the People’s Republic of China, which the Dalai Lama says will fulfil the aspirations of the Tibetan people and will enable China to achieve stability and unity.

Tibetans aspire that all Tibetans be brought under a single autonomous administration, which is within the principle of national regional autonomy enshrined in the Chinese constitution.

Eight rounds of talks between the envoys of the Dalai Lama and Chinese leaders since 2002 has produced no results. A memorandum on genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people submitted to the Chinese leaders in the last round of talks was rejected by the Chinese saying the proposal was seeking ‘independence in disguise’.

But the Dalai Lama insists that the majority of Tibetans support the continuation of the Middle-Way policy, which benefits both the Tibetans and Chinese, and hence he is pursuing it with greater confidence.

The Dalai Lama in an extempore speech prior to reading his prepared script for the occasion said his faith in the Chinese leaders is getting thinner and thinner, but said his faith in the Chinese people is strong and unshaken.

He lamented that some ultra-leftist Chinese leaders who have, since last March, been undertaking a huge propaganda effort with the intention of setting the Tibetan and Chinese peoples apart and creating animosity between them.

“As a result, a negative impression of Tibetans has arisen in the minds of some of our Chinese brothers and sisters.”

Thousands of Tibetans and their supporters gathered at the Tsuglakhang temple to listen to the Dalai Lama. Artistes from Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts presented a patriotic song calling for Tibetans to ‘rise up’.

A group of Chinese dissidents joined hands with Tibetans on the occasion show their support and solidarity with the Tibetan cause. They have travelled from the US, Australia and Japan.

An Italian members of parliament supporting the free Tibet movement headed by Cologna Gunther also joined the Tibetans on the occasion.

Tibetans later on marched down the hill in protest.

Copyright © 2009 Tibet Sun

Published in Tibet Sun