(TibetanReview.net, Sep25’26) – Protests against Chinese President Xi Jinping, including by a large crowd of Tibetans, continued into the second of his three-day state visit to the United States with Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) citing five arrests and counting, according to a wusa9.com report Sep 24.
As Xi arrived on the South Lawn of the White House for his summit meeting with US President Donald Trump, Tibetans from across the country as well as Canada gathered near the Chinese embassy in Washington DC on Sep 24 to launch their protest. An organizer put the number of Tibetan protesters at around 1,200.
The protesters carried or wrapped themselves in Tibetan national flags, including large ones held by their ends by several people, as well as US flags, placards, and banners with slogans calling for a free or independent Tibet and so forth. “We stand for a free Tibet!” and “Xi Jinping is guilty — guilty of genocide,” cnbctv18.com Sep 25 quoted three of the placards as reading. They also shouted slogans, such as “Free Tibet! China out of Tibet now!”
The Tibetan protesters, in particular, sough to draw attention to China’s implementation on Jul 1 this year of its so-called Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, which has been condemned across the outside world, including by UN human rights experts and many parliaments, as a tool for a forced assimilation of the ethnic minorities in the People’s Republic of China. They also highlighted Tibetan independence activist Lobga Rangzen’s protest self-immolation in front of the United Nations Headquarters the day after China began implementing this law.
“They are trying to sinicize Tibet. Therefore, we are out here to unwelcome him to America and to send a message to the world that we don’t like him,” wusa9.com quoted a protester as saying.
“The main things that we can do right now is just spread awareness for the situation in Tibet and share sort of our story with people who are just passing by in the city and really just want to make our voices heard,” it quoted another protester as saying.
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Former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, long known for her strong concern about the situation in Chinese ruled Tibet, addressed the protesters from a stage after the Tibetans marched to the US Capitol. “It’s really important for elected officials and for the president of the United States and the president of China to hear what you have to say, because we put forth ourselves as a country who cares about human rights and respecting the dignity and worth of the people.”
Rep. Jim McGovern was also among the speakers at the event.
“The main reason for this protest is that Xi Jinping cannot hear the voices of the people inside China,” Chinese democracy activist Wang Dan, has told rfa.org Sep 24.
“In fact, many people in China oppose the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. So, I believe those of us overseas have a responsibility and an obligation to speak out for those who cannot speak freely inside China.”
The protest continued into the night of Sep 24 as Trump hosted a 134-guest dinner for Xi. protesters chanted for a free Tibet and Hong Kong and told the Chinese leader he was “not welcome”, reported thestatesman.com Sep 25.
The gathering outside the White House gates chanted slogans such as “Free Hong Kong”, “Free Tibet”, “CCP, you’re not welcome” and “Xi Jinping, you’re not welcome”, the report said.
The chants could be heard from the North Portico, where members of the White House press pool were waiting, the report said.
The demonstrators represented a range of causes, from calls for religious autonomy and greater freedoms in Tibet, Hong Kong and the ethnic region of Xinjiang to demands to keep China out of self-governed Taiwan, said AP Sep 24.
The wusa9.com citedMPD as announcing they made five arrests – two adult males for assault on a police officer, one adult male for taking property without right, two adult males for simple assault – with more information to be released as investigation continued.
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Various rights groups and organisations, including the International Campaign for Tibet, Student for a Free Tibet, and Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, were involved in the protest rallies since Xi landed in Washington, DC, on Sep 23 evening.
The White House protest formed part of a wider series of demonstrations planned by Tibetan, Uyghur, Hong Kong, Taiwanese, Southern Mongolian and Chinese democracy groups during Xi’s visit. Protests were also planned outside the Chinese Embassy, at the US Capitol and at Franklin Park, reported thestatesman.com Sep 25.
A day before Trump met Xi, International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) President Tencho Gyatso joined Congressman Jim McGovern on Capitol Hill to call for human rights concerns, including Tibet, to be raised during the talks.
Also ahead of Xi’s visit, 32 rights organisations, including Amnesty International, Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders, wrote an open letter to the Chinese leader urging him to take steps to address human rights concerns.
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Despite the fanfare, the two leaders’ talks are not expected to lead to significant breakthroughs. The day so far has brought a trade war truce extension until January and the promise of a student exchange. The display of pomp and pageantry, meanwhile, has attracted criticism from both Republican and Democratic politicians. But as our North America editor Sarah Smith explains in this video, Trump has made no secret of his admiration for Xi and other strongman leaders around the world, said bbc.com Sep 25.
At the dinner, Trump declared that the two countries had “never gotten along better” while Xi called on both sides to give their relationship “new substance” and “new strategic guidance”, the report said.
And it cited Xi as saying his exchanges with Trump had produced a “common understanding on many issues”, though he did not identify those issues or announce a specific agreement in his toast.
Xi has also sought to cast the two leaders’ domestic ambitions as compatible. Referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda and China’s pursuit of what he called “great national rejuvenation”, he said the goals could be “mutually reinforcing”.
But while Trump spent Sep 24 lavishing praise on Xi, the Chinese leader used his visit to the White House to deliver a power move with a warning for America to stay in its lane, noted thedailybeast.com Sep 24.
In front of Trump, and for the second time in four months, Xi urged the two countries to avoid the so-called “Thucydides Trap”—the historical theory that tensions between a rising power and an established one can spiral into war.
“The Thucydides trap can be overcome,” Xi has said, calling for the two countries to “coexist in peace” and for US competition to be “kept within bounds.”
Also, after Trump opened his remarks by describing Xi as a “truly great friend” and boasted about their relationship, the latter effectively reminded his host that this was not simply a friendship between two men—but a strategic contest between two rival superpowers.
And so, beneath that pomp and ceremony, the visit has already proved contentious for Trump, the report said.