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China is engaged in the most repressive crackdown on Tibetans since 2008
02.02.2012
The government in Beijing is calling the new campaign the “Nine Must-Haves.” Beginning in early December, the government is forcibly imposing the policy throughout ethnically Tibetan regions in several western provinces, including Sichuan, Qinghai and Tibet. It calls for communist officials at every level in this vast area to vigorously implement the nine specific measures.
The nine measures, or Nine Must-Haves, require every Tibetan monastery, school, community center and household to have a composite portrait of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, representing four generations of Chinese communist leadership; a Chinese national flag known as the Five-Starred flag, with the biggest yellow star at the center symbolizing the core leadership of the Chinese Communist Party; and a road leading to the facilities so it is easier for forces from outside to visit. The policy also demands these entities to have a supply of water; a source of electricity; radio and television sets, which will be powered by the mandatory availability of electricity; access to movies; a library; and copies of the Communist Party of China state-controlled newspapers, the People’s Daily and Tibet Daily.
The ideological campaign is aimed at forcing Tibetans, who are deeply religious and devout toward their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to give up their Buddhist beliefs and declare loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party and its leaders. Portrait of the Dalai Lama or any other forms of his image are banned in China.
Last week, the Tibetan government in exile, based in India, published an open letter to Hu Jintao, the current Chinese Communist Party leader, expressing “deep concerns” over the repressive policies.
According to reports from the region, Chinese troops since Jan. 23 have indiscriminately shot and killed at least six Tibetans in Tibetan regions of Sichuan province. Scores more were wounded.
Miles Yu for The Washington Times
Facts
- August 6, 1940 - Estonia became a part of Soviet Union
- From June 1940 until August 1941, more than 7000 Estonian citizens were arrested
