(TibetanReview.net, Jul10’26) – For expressing support for the Tibetan people’s right to preserve their culture and identity, and a negotiated settlement of the Sino-Tibetan dispute, China has on Jul 9 accused the US of supporting independence for Tibet. The US State Department’s Jul 8 reiteration of support for Tibet came after 52-year-old “Lobga Rangzen” immolated himself in front of the UN Headquarters, leaving a message that called on the exile Tibetans to unite in the fight for independence before China destroys the country and its people completely.
“China urged the United States to stop using Xizang-related issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs, after the US State Department called on China to resume dialogue with the 14th Dalai Lama,” reported China’s official chinadaily.com.cn Jul 9, using the Sinicized name for Tibet.
The report cited China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning as saying at a daily news briefing that “Xizang” affairs were purely China’s internal affairs, and no foreign country had the right to interfere.
“We urge the US side to abide by its commitment of recognizing Xizang as part of China and not supporting ‘Xizang independence’, and to stop using Xizang-related issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs,” she has further said.
The US Sate Department statement did not specifically refer to Lobga Rangzen’s Jul 2 self-immolation. Rather, itreiterated US support for the aspirations of Tibetans to preserve their culture while continuing to call on China to return to dialogue to resolve the Sino-Tibetan dispute.
China has also not referred to Lobga Rangzen’s self-immolation while responding to a media question on it by reiterating its claim that Tibet has been an inalienable part of it since ancient times while expressing belief that “relevant countries will handle the matter in accordance with domestic laws,” according to a Reuters report Jul 9.
The Dalai Lama has gone to great lengths to seek a negotiated settlement with China, having given up the demand for independence decades ago even as many Tibetans continue to press on for it, especially due to the absence of any positive response to it from Beijing thus far.
Criticisms of the Chinese rule in Tibet from the democratic world became especially intense in recent days after China begin implementing on Jul 1 its so-called Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, which they have condemned as nothing but a blatantly coercive tool for assimilating Tibetan and other subjugated ethnic minority communities across the People’s Republic of China.