China’s Claims of Progress in Tibet Mask 70 Years of Repression: Report

Claims by China that 70 years of Beijing’s rule have improved Tibetans’ lives and that Tibet has always belonged to China distort present-day realities and ignore historical facts, Tibet’s India-based exile government said this week in a new report. In a report released on Thursday, a day before China’s Oct. 1 National Day, the Dharamsala, India-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) refuted claims made by China in a White Paper, “Tibet Since 1951: Liberation, Development and Prosperity,” released in May.

“It is not 70 years of liberation, but in fact 70 years of suppression and oppression," Tibet's exile leader Sikyong Pema Tsering said at an event held to launch the CTA report. "In the last 70 years, the Chinese government has constantly subjugated the Tibetans inside Tibet in the name of infrastructure development and evolution."

China has maintained its rule in Tibet only by establishing “an oppressive regime that uses force and the instillment of fear among the people,” the CTA said in its report, titled “Tibet: 70 Years of Occupation and Oppression. Today, the subjugation of Tibetans is pursued by means of increased securitization, intensified surveillance and a narrative on development, all of which are used as a political tool to integrate Tibet with China,” the exile government said.

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