(TibetanReview.net, Dec23’24) –The bipartisan, bicameral US Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) has issued its 2024 Annual Report on Dec 20, providing “a detailed account of the People’s Republic of China‘s (PRC) systematic abuses of human rights—most brutally implemented in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Tibet, and Hong Kong”, documenting “the widespread use of arbitrary detention and torture targeting ethnic minorities, human rights lawyers, and advocates for free speech, religious freedom, and an independent civil society.”
Representative Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chair and Co-chair of the commission, have said the report reflects the view of CECC Commissioners that the PRC’s complicity in atrocity crimes and forced labor, and its efforts to use technology to coerce and control the Chinese people and undermine democratic freedoms globally, pose a distinct challenge to the United States’ interest in maintaining universally recognized human rights norms and supply chains free of forced or prison labor.
In the section on Tibet, the report said the PRC continued to restrict, and seek to control, the religious practices of Tibetans, the majority of whom practice Tibetan Buddhism.
It said that as part of the broader policy of “sinicizing” religion, PRC authorities in Tibetan areas issued prohibitions on forms of religious worship, including during important religious events or around the times of politically sensitive anniversaries, limited access to religious institutions and places of worship, including Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and temples, and otherwise unduly restricted Tibetans’ freedom of religion and belief.
It also noted that the PRC continued to assert control over the process of selection and recognition of Tibetan Buddhist reincarnated teachers, including the Dalai Lama.
The commission said it did not observe any interest from PRC officials in resuming formal negotiations with the Dalai Lama’s representatives, the last round of which, the ninth, was held in Jan 2010.
Regarding its key findings, the report said the PRC authorities maintained a system of residential boarding schools in Tibetan areas that observers fear could constitute a serious threat to Tibetan society and the intergenerational transmission of culture and language.
It said large-scale protests broke out in Feb 2024 in Derge (Dege) county, Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, due to official plans for construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Drichu (Jinsha) River that will submerge at least two villages and six monasteries, one of which, Wontoe Monastery, contains well-preserved 13th-century murals. Security personnel detained approximately 1,000 Tibetans in connection with the protests; many were later released, but local authorities escalated surveillance and monitoring of local communities in the following months.
It also said that in contravention of international human rights standards, officials punished residents of Tibetan areas for exercising protected rights, including the expression of religious belief, expressing criticism of PRC policies, and sharing information online. Notable cases this past year were reported to include those of writer Pema, a monk and teacher at Kirti Monastery, who in a lone protest held a portrait of the Dalai Lama and called for the Dalai Lama’s return to Tibet and religious freedom for Tibetans; Semkyi Drolma, detained for her participation in discussion groups about Buddhism on the social media platform WeChat, and later sentenced to one year and six months in prison for “leaking state secrets”; and Tenzin Sangpo, a senior monk at Derge’s Wontoe Monastery detained in Feb 2024 as part of the anti-dam protests.
China’s official media accused the commission of making groundless accusations against Beijing’s internal affairs for political purposes.
“The rights and freedoms of the Chinese people, including all those living in Xinjiang, Xizang and Hong Kong, are fully protected,” said a commentary by one Li Yaing on China’s official chinadaily.com.cn Dec 23, using the Sinicized name for Tibet.
It claimed that the three regions had enjoyed good development momentum since the strict enforcement of the rule of law brought an end to the chaos orchestrated by the US, referring to protests for democracy, human rights, and independence which had majorly hit them at various times over the past 15 years or so.