TYC Press Statement, November 9, 2012, in Taipei

Press Statement, November 9, 2012

For Immediate Release           

 Contact persons : Tashi Tsering +886 910145117

                                                                        Tenzin Chomphel +886 986994158

TIBET : A Burning Issue

The Tibetan Youth Congress is honored to be organizing its two-day Rangzen (Independence) Conference in Taiwan.  The venue for this preliminary conference - a lead up to the International Rangzen Conference scheduled for the year 2013, the year when Tibetans all over the world will commemorate 100 years of declaration of Tibetan Independence by the 13^th Dalai Lama in 1913. 

As of 2009, 69 Tibetans inside Tibet self-immolated, 55 of them in the last 12 months alone. These extreme acts can easily be described as the most non-violent and effective form of protest calling for Tibetan Independence and return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Tibetan writer Gudrup, age 41, who died through self-immolation in Nagchu, Central Tibet on 4 October 2012, wrote: “since China is uninterested in the well being of the Tibetan people, we are sharpening our nonviolent movement. We are declaring the reality of Tibet by burning our own bodies to call for freedom of Tibet… We will win the battle through truth, by shooting the arrows of our lives, by using the bow of our mind”.

As visually horrific and emotionally numbing the news of self – immolations has been to Tibetans and Tibet supporters all over the world, their sacrifices have also totally paralyzed the Beijing government. 

Most of their commonly-applied tactics of intimidation, torture, arrest and detentions of family members, relatives and friends of the self-immolators have failed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). They have now resorted to imposing restrictions on sale of inflammable liquids and almost an absolute curtailment of communications.  Most recently, they have even offered cash rewards of up to 30,000 USD to anyone providing intelligence and information on imminent or past self-immolation. 

Nevertheless, in direct resistance to Beijing’s wield of power, thousands of Tibetans flocked to attend the funeral ceremony of Dorjee Lhundup, who succumbed to as a result of his self-immolation, at the site of his protest in eastern Tibet on 4 November 2012, and again some 3,000 local Tibetans gathered shouting slogans calling for freedom for Tibet after the most recent self immolation by Tamdin Tso, a 23 year-old mother of a young (5 or 6 year-old) boy.

Contrary to Beijing’s feeble attempt to undermine the acts of the brave Tibetans by calling them “terrorists”, “thieves”,” insane”, “disenchanted spouses” and so on, most self-immolators;’ final words when they were in flames were not of anger or pain but words that clearly indicate and justify their political intent and act.  Their call for Tibetan independence and return of the Dalai Lama have reverberated across the Tibetan plateau.

Beijing is powerless to stop the self-immolations and they are clearly losing their legitimacy over Tibet.  But what this also means is that the Tibetan people’s resistance is winning and cannot be put down. Change is imminent for Tibet.  It is only a matter of time.  And this change will be forced on the Chinese Government by the Tibetan people who have had enough of China’s occupation and its oppressive policies.  With the CCP crumbling and clashes over power and rampant corruption it is small wonder that the end is near.