The Chinese government has announced that Tibetans living abroad will be removed from the blacklist and granted every benefit of citizenship if they agree not to engage in any political activities against China. The Chinese government implements various political schemes to undermine the exile Tibetan set up and manipulate the Tibetan people.
[Posted on T.T Tibetan site 05 February 2020]According to reliable sources, in places like Dzoge County in Tibet, Tibetan who have returned from exile as well as parents and relatives of Tibetans living in exile like India were summoned by the Chinese authorities for a meeting and told that, Tibetans who are on the black list for escaping into exile can remove their names from the list if they agree not to engage in any political activities against China. Despite much enquiry on the matter, Tibet Times did not receive any response from Tibetans in other locations.
A reliable source told Tibet Times that, the meeting took place sometime at the end of December 2019 and was attended by several Tibetans who had returned from exile and parents and relatives of Tibetans in exile who had come on their behalf. During the meeting, that it was announced that as per orders from higher authorities, those who agree not to engage in any political activities against China will be removed from the black list and cleared for availing every benefit of citizenship.
Anyone who flees into exile will be automatically be listed on a blacklist and is denied any privileges provided by the Chinese government to its citizens including basic documentations such as a health insurance, and will be required to report every details of where they stay and what they do, the source said.
The same source also said that Chinese authorities ask Tibetans who have returned from exile to provide their phone numbers and WeChat IDs and also send spies after them. Once a week, they receive a call from the Chinese authorities where they are asked in detail about where they live and what they talk about despite having prior knowledge of all the details. They are also aware of details like where they eat and whom they meet. Sometimes they are even aware of very small personal issue which are deemed too inconsequential or too inconvenient to be shared.
In beginning of 2011, the Chinese government issued travel documents valid for 2 years to Tibetans through the Chinese Embassy in Delhi. In order to deceive Tibetans who are in the exile, the Chinese government established reception centers in many large cities in Tibet, appointed staffs for the facilities and declared that they welcome Tibetans returning to Tibet. In November 2018, the Chinese government established the ‘Overseas Tibetan affairs office’ in Tibet’s capital city of Lhasa.
It is declared that the goal of the office is to work on matters related to Tibetans living abroad, draft rules for leadership among Tibetans living abroad and improve work efficiency as well as strengthen outreach efforts between those living abroad and those who have returned to Tibet in order to foster unity among them and improve both personal and organisational effort to achieve better results.
Since 2016, the Chinese authorities began a project to take Tibetans who have returned to Tibet on field-trips to visit major Chinese cities and showcase the development and power of China and the Chinese communist party. The goal of the project is to raise awareness among the returnees about China’s economic development and introduce them to CCP’s progress and power, the Chinese government’s political and administrative systems, history and essentially reinforce the idea that returning to Tibet is good through speeches and advice.
Various attempts and efforts by the China to lure Tibetans back to Tibet essentially aims to undermine and weaken the capability of the Central Tibetan Administration and Tibetan communities in exile.
In 2013, a Chinese officer named Lui Ping in an article titled “The Consideration on the CCP’s Work in Tibet,” (བོད་ཁུལ་གྱི་འཐབ་ཕྱོགས་གཅིག་གྱུར་ལས་དོན་ཐད་ལ་བསམ་གཞིགས་) which was published in the CCP’s Tibet magazine ( ཀྲུང་གོ་བོད་རིག་པའི་དུས་དེབ།) wrote that when an opportune moment arises, it is necessary to work diligently to win the hearts of the Tibetans living abroad in China’s favour. He also mentioned that ‘Overseas Tibetan affairs office’ must work hard for the plight of Tibetans who have left since the 1980s and are still living abroad and must work towards connecting with second and third generation Tibetans in abroad. He also suggested undermining the foundation of the communities abroad by inciting societal conflict in order to divide the Tibetans and that such efforts must be included in all stages of the operation.
