By Tsering Dhundup
DHARAMSHALA, April 2: China has organized celebratory events in newly built border villages close to the borders with India and Bhutan to commemorate the anniversary of its annexation of Tibet last week on March 28.
Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency in its report stated that March 28th marks the 65th anniversary of what China terms the “democratic reform” in its southwestern so-called Xizang Autonomous Region, globally known as Tibet.
The celebrations were highlighted in the state-run Global Times, emphasizing their presence in the newly established border villages adjacent to India and Bhutan. China has been actively constructing well-equipped settlements along these borders, a move that has sparked concerns in both India and Bhutan.
A recent report in February revealed that three villages, featuring modern infrastructure for residents and soldiers, were erected along the disputed boundary with Bhutan. While China portrays these developments as part of its poverty alleviation efforts, they are also viewed by critics as strategic moves to broaden its foothold in the Himalayan region.
According to the Global Times, China has constructed approximately 624 such villages in border regions. The report underscored the celebrations held across these areas, depicting them as symbols of development and progress. In specific regions like the so-called Yadong County and Medog County, located along the southern borderlands with India and Bhutan, multiple events were organized to mark the anniversary.
China’s relentless efforts to develop these border areas, coupled with its strategic undertones, continue to be closely monitored by India and neighbouring countries, especially amid ongoing geopolitical tensions in the region.
Two days after the celebration on Saturday, China announced the renaming of 30 additional places within a disputed border region with India, in a move seen as a bid to reinforce its territorial claims in the area. The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs released the updated list of names on Saturday, covering various locations in Arunachal Pradesh, a border state of India.
One Response
This is to whitewash the brutal Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet! There is nothing to celebrate for the Tibetan people! The Chinese occupation has enslaved the Tibetan people for the last seven decades! The Chinese communist Party is dripping with blood of 1.2 million Tibetans slaughtered during these many years! It has ransacked and pillaged 6200 monasteries the repository of Tibet’s ancient culture, wealth and academia. It has plundered the rich natural resources of Tibet and enriched itself without the slightest benefit for the Tibetan people. In the process, Tibets pristine environment has been vandalised and our rivers polluted thus causing environmental catastrophe on the roof of the world! Tibet’s virgin forests have been denuded and laid bare like mighty scars that can be seen from space. Owing to such environmental degradation, the lakes and rivers have dried up and Tibet is facing desertification. Tibetan people and animals are dying mysterious deaths owing to pollution of Tibet’s rivers through extraction of gold and other natural resources. Tibetans are herded like animals where they are not even free to go inside the country let alone outside of it. It is a vast concentration camp where they are denied the most basic human rights. Tibet has been in agony ever since it was illegally occupied by communist China. 157 Tibetans have self-immolated themselves out of utter desperation under the groaning yoke of Chinese colonial subjugation. One million Tibetan children have been forcibly removed from their homes and taken to colonial boarding schools to be indoctrinated into Han nationalism and communist ideology. They are denied their language, religion, culture and identity. Communist China is repeating the same colonial practises which have been condemned as abhorrent by the rest of the world and are making amends by apologising to the indigenous victims. But communist China is practising them with unabashed vigour. Buddhism, which is the life blood of the Tibetan is snuffed out with severe restrictions for young men and women to join the monastic institutions which are the learning centres of Tibet’s unique Mahayana Buddhism. Instead young monks and nuns are forced out of their monasteries and sent to the infamous colonial boarding schools to be indoctrinated in communist ideology and Han nationalism. Monks and nuns are forced to wear military uniform which is banned for them who have taken vow to take the path of peace, tranquility and compassion. They are also forced to dance which is not allowed since they have renounced this world and must not indulge in worldly pleasures. In short, the CCP is the enemy of the Dharma བསྟན་དགྲ་རྒྱ་དམར་ and enemy of the Tibetan people. It’s an existential threat to the Tibetan civilisation. What the CCP brought to Tibet is death destruction and displacement. In order to harness Tibet’s mighty rivers to produce hydroelectricity for the Chinese people in China, Tibetan are forced out of their ancestral land and home thus depriving them of their livelihood. Tibetans are slaves in their own country because of illegal and brutal Chinese communist occupation! There is no cause for celebration, rather it’s a time to rue the day as the darkest day in Tibet’s long history of more than two thousand years!