Dharamshala: - A latest US Congressional report on China has warned that a key communist party official's recommendation that the Chinese government should abolish ethnic minority status could “adversely affect the Tibetan people’s cultural and linguistic identity.”
In its 2012 Annual Report on developments in human rights and rule of law, released on Wednesday, October 10, the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China also stated that such a move, as advocated by United Front Work Department (UFWD) Executive Deputy Head and Director of the Party’s General Office of the Central Coordinating Group for Tibet Affairs, Zhu Weiqun, in February, could also: “deepen Tibetan people's resentment against the Chinese government.”
The report states: “This past year, the Chinese Communist Party and government increased pressure on and interference with the Tibetan people’s aspiration to preserve the viability and vibrancy of their culture and language.
“Zhu Weiqun wrote in a February 13, 2012 article that he favours ending or changing some policies that have the potential to benefit ethnic minority cultures.
“His views, if implemented, could adversely affect the Tibetan people’s cultural and linguistic identity and further deepen resentment against the government.”
The report also asserts that the growing number of self-immolations inside Tibet correlates to the ruling Chinese government's increasing tightening of measures to repress and control core elements of Tibetan culture, including the Tibetan Buddhist religion and monastic institutions, and to the China-Dalai Lama dialogue's failure to achieve any sign of progress.
“The [Communist] Party and government have not indicated any willingness to consider Tibetan grievances in a constructive manner and to hold themselves accountable for Tibetan rejection of Chinese policies, and have handled the crisis as a threat to state security and social stability instead of as a policy failure,” it added.
The report also documented sustained protests by Tibetans against the Chinese government’s development policies affecting Tibet’s linguistic identity and natural environment, stating that as of September 1, 2012, there were 1,312 Tibetan political prisoners detained on or after March 10, 2008.
