(TibetanReview.net, Aug14’26) – While Lobga Rangzen cited China’s campaign of forced assimilation of Tibet and the imperative of Tibetan unity in the campaign for independence as the urgent need of the hour, China’s official media has blamed everyone else but itself for his protest self-immolation before the UN Headquarters in New York City on Jul 2.
Some western media outlets portrayed the incident as a protest against China’s recently enacted Ethnic Unity and progress Promotion Law, said China’s official chinadaily.com.cn in a video report Aug 13. But this was exactly what Lobga Rangzen himself said in a video message he left behind.
And then, calling Lobga Ranzen “a Tibetan independence separatist”, the report maintained that his action contradicted the fundamental teachings of Buddhism. Taking one’s own life – or encouraging someone else to do so – is considered a grave violation of the Buddhist precept against killing, it said.
The report further said, “Far from a traditional Buddhist practice, self-immolation is an extreme act associated with modern religious and political radicalism.”
But Lobga Rangzen never called his self-immolation a religious act, nor did he call for any radical anti-China or Anti-Chinese campaign, but referred to it as a personal sacrifice for a national cause.
The report called Lobga Ranzen an active member of “the radical separatist movement”, but neither named the “movement” nor cited any radical action or series of radical actions it was supposed to have been known to be responsible for. However, it did suggest that merely advocating for independence is radical, thereby condemning the international law on self-determination.
Any condemnation by China of the exile Tibetan campaign for freedom or independence is incomplete without putting the Dalai Lama behind it all and so the report said, “We found that this so-called stunt outside the UN may be connected to a document known as ‘Self-Immolation Guide’. The guide was written by a member of the separatist group associated with the 14th Dalai Lama.”
But the “guide” the Chinese State media referred to was, in fact, only a book, published in 2020 that detailed the protest self-immolations in Tibet, and did not encourage them.
China’s state media earlier claimed that the “guide” was written by “Lhamo Je” – apparently referring to Lhamo Kyab – “a former two-time member of the exile Tibetan parliament”.
The speculation was that China was referring to Mr. Kyab and his website, which carried details of a book published in 2020 by a Tibetan group in India titled “Iron-Hare Year’s Fiery Protest Against Repression”, noted thehindu.com Nov 16, 2021.
The book, in four parts, contained the timeline of protest self-immolations that had taken place in Tibet since 2009; the life stories of the protesters; the international community’s support for the movement; and the Tibetan administration in Dharamshala’s efforts to garner global support. It had nothing to do with encouraging self-immolations.
In fact, both the Dalai Lama and the exile Tibetan administration have strongly and repeatedly discouraged it, referring to the sanctity of life and the anguish it causes to one’s near and dear ones, but expressed helpless to dissuade everyone from inflicting such pain on themselves given the gravity of the anguish they feel towards the situation they find themselves in under Chinese rule.
At the end of it all, the report blamed the United Sates of being behind Lobga Ranzen’s self-immolation. “Their real political objective is to support the US government’s campaign against China’s Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law,” the report said, claiming, “The law is intended to safeguard equality, development, and unity among all ethnic groups.”
But human rights groups, government leaders, parliaments, and UN experts have all condemned that law as a tool for forced assimilation of ethnic minorities in the People’s Republic of China and for its assertion of transnational jurisdiction to punish alleged offenders under its criminal provisions.