Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, June 2: Victor Gao, the former translator for Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and current Vice President of the Center for China and Globalization, reiterated China’s uncompromising stance on Tibetan independence, stating that voices advocating for it both within and outside China will be “muted.”
Speaking during UNAPOLOGETIC, a Middle East Eye program hosted by Ashfaaq Karim, Gao reaffirmed Beijing’s narrative that Tibet has always been an inseparable part of China. “China will never be divisible,” Gao stated. “Talk about Tibet. Tibet is very different… we don’t have fundamental problems,” he said, referring to cultural and religious commonalities between Tibetans and Han Chinese. “The problem, if any, was that some forces back in the 1950s wanted to really urge some ruling classes in Tibet to try to break away from China. It stopped in 1959. It will never be allowed to resurrect.”
Gao went further to warn that any such efforts would be rendered ineffective. “Anyone inside China or outside China promoting or advocating for the independence of Tibet will be muted before they really come into force.”
When pressed by the host to clarify his use of the word “muted,” which traditionally implies silencing through dissent through repressive means such as torture, imprisonment, disappearance, or even death, Gao downplayed the interpretation. “They will never carry any weight,” he responded. “They can talk about it… They can never really create a ripple in China.” He responded by dismissing such claims as “false accusations” and demanded concrete evidence.
Gao, often seen as one of China’s fiercest defenders on the global stage, has built a reputation for shutting down any challenge to China’s sovereignty claims over Tibet. His blunt remarks on the podcast are consistent with his shocking comments made during an August 2024 episode of Al Jazeera’s Head to Head, when Sonam Frasi, the then UK Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, asked him, “What is China afraid of?”
He replied crassly at the time, “Ever since the Yuan dynasty, if not even earlier, Tibet has been part of China. Through different dynasties, and different historical periods, I can assure you, during your lifetime and mine, Tibet will always be part of China.”
Victor Gao, a regular fixture in Chinese state-aligned discourse, has become known for defending China’s policies on sensitive issues, including Tibet, East Turkestan (Xinjiang), and Taiwan on the global stage.
2 Responses
Western and world media outlets to stop inviting Victor Gao on their shows. It’s not just a nuisance but abominable, how they all invite him, on all sorts of programs from Australian TV to Arab news. He is a professional propagandist. Why should be be invited as if he is somebody with whom you can have a discussion? No – he’s a robot, fine-tuned by the Chinese Communist regime’s propaganda machine, which has unlimited resources. Why should we help them by featuring him?
Victor Gao is a classic Chinese communist imperialist who has a very high opinion of himself. He scoffs at Hong Kong dissidents and bristles at the mention of Tibetan independence! Like a thief, when the CCP is accused of illegal occupation of Tibet, it’s like a knife going through its heart! He is the most belligerent combatant of the CCP’s propaganda wing to hoodwink, deceive and distort facts in order to suit the CCP’s manufactured narratives. Once, during an interview with Mehdi Hasan, a British American broadcaster and writer, Gai claimed that Tibet was “part of China from the Yuan dynasty”! However, his tone showed he wasn’t sure. He lacks the historical knowledge but parrots the CCP propaganda verbatim! The fact of the matter is, during the Mongol rule of China, the Chinese were subjects of the Mongols. THEY HAD NO SOVEREIGNTY OVER THEIR OWN COUNTRY SINCE THEY WERE UNDER MONGOL OCCUPATION! Besides, the Mongols never ruled Tibet. Kublai Khan offered whole of Tibet as a mandala when he received Hey Vajra initiation from Drogon Chogyal Phakpa. The Mongol Khan accepted Choegyal Phakpa as his preceptor and Chogyal Phakpa ruled Tibet. This is how the Sakya Lamas came to rule Tibet. During this period, the Mongols practised a very cruel population control policy of throwing Chinese babies in the Yangtze River every twelve years! It was the Tibetan Lama Chogyal Phakpa who stopped this cruel practice! Recently, in an interview with Arnab Goswami of Republic media, he repeated the same saying that “Tibet was part of China for eight hundred years”!
He lies through his teeth and has no respect for history. He goes on rambling about how America would not allow California to be separated from it etc and attempts to connect it with the American civil war! All beating around the bush with no relevant connection from what he was trying to prove. He has little to say about the how Tibet was “part of China” issue! So he skirts the topic and attempts to justify the occupation by saying America will not allow any state to seperate from it! We know that in a democracy, people’s will, will be respected but communist China has no respect for the people! So, his comparison is incompatible. There is no doubt, the CCP will suppress Tibetan independence inside Tibet and muzzle it outside in the free world. In our own community, Tibetan independence advocates have been targeted for years. Many of them have been humiliated, abused, discredited, demonised, disparaged and ostracised! It is baffling that the people who are the cheer-leaders of communist China’s suppression of Tibetan independence are found among exile Tibetans. Samdhong Rinpoche was the most vocal opponent of Tibetan independence and compared the Tibetan independence camp as “worse than Shugden worshippers”! The anti-Rangzen camp has attacked every Rangzen advocate from Jamyang Norbu, Lhasang Tsering, Lhagyari Namgyal DOLKAR, Dhondup Lhadar, Achok Lukar Jam to Geshe Gowo Phende! They have been accused of being disloyal to the Dalai Lama to bludgeon them by weaponising the Dalai Lama! Lhagyari Namgyal DOLKAR has seen the most virulent and cruel attack by the anti-Rangzen camp by even questioning her genealogy, thus besmirching the sanctity of her mother’s fidelity! How low can you get to attack an old woman with such dastardly accusations? It’s happening because they are women and thus easy targets by mindless thugs! But it’s happening and now a group of people have even taken Tibetan parliamentarians who participated in a Rangzen meeting in the US to the Tibetan court in Dharamsala! Are these people the proxies of the CCP who are “muting” the Tibetan independence advocates as Victor Gao claimed? You be the Judge!