Dharamshala — The Chinese government compelled Tibetan-Europeans to accept the 15th Dalai Lama appointed by the Chinese government and to demonstrate no faith in His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama while visiting family members and relatives in Tibet. This is another repressive action by the Chinese government against Tibetans.
According to reliable sources, many Tibetan-Europeans travel to Tibet to reunite with their parents, siblings, relatives and friends after decades of separation. They went there under the Chinese government's visa-free entry policy for business, tourism, and family visits. However, many Tibetan-Europeans are denied entry to visit their families and relatives.
When Tibetan-Europeans arrived at Chengdu, Shanghai, and Beijing International Airports, they were sent to separate rooms for questioning. They were asked about His Holiness the Dalai Lama and whether they have faith in him. Chinese authorities with recording cameras on their chests asked these questions and forced them to accept the 15th Dalai Lama, appointed by the Chinese government, and to demonstrate no faith in the 14th Dalai Lama if they wanted to visit their parents and relatives in Tibet.
For Tibetans, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is their most beloved political and spiritual leader and second parent in exile. It is very difficult for them when Chinese government authorities force them to say that they don't have faith in the 14th Dalai Lama and force them to accept a fake incarnation of him. If they refuse, they are not permitted to visit their parents and siblings, with whom they have been separated for decades. Their parents are everything to them, and they have a deep love for each other. They live together for a lifetime. Therefore, when Chinese authorities force Tibetans to choose between their parents and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, it's like being put in a situation where there is no choice.
Many Tibetans from Belgium, France, Germany and other European countries travel to visit their families and loved ones, with excitement and joy of reunion, whom they have been separated for more than two or three decades. But when they arrived at Chinese airports such as Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu, they were denied entry into the country or exit from the airport and returned to their place of origin, saying that they or their families had protested against the Chinese government without proof.
"A Tibetan family went to visit families and relatives in Tibet in July, 2025, but when they arrived at Chengdu airport, the woman and her two children were allowed to leave and go to their home in Tibet, while the husband was not allow to leave with his family and was forced to return to where he came from," a source told TPI, who lives in Belgium and wishes to remain anonymous for security reason.
Another source said: "A Tibetan family went to visit their loved ones in Tibet, but when they arrived at Chengdu airport in June 2025, they were not allowed to leave the airport or visit their families, even though their families had come to pick up them. The Chinese authorities said the visitors' mother had protested against the Chinese government ten years ago and forced them to return where they came from."
According to one source, many Tibetans who traveled to Tibet last year also traveled to Tibet again this year, but they were denied entry. Now, the Chinese authorities are selecting which Tibetans are allowed to enter, even if they have the same passports and citizenship of European countries. "A 20-year-old Tibetan woman from Belgium traveled to Tibet last year without issue, but was denied entry this year," the source said.
China-Tibet: The one-thing you need to know:
Over the past 70 decades, there has been ongoing political repression, social discrimination, economic marginalization, environmental destruction, and cultural assimilation, particularly due to Chinese migration to Tibet which is fueling intense resentment among the people of occupied Tibet.
The communist-totalitarian state of China began its invasion of Tibet in 1949, reaching complete occupation of the country in 1959. Since that time, more than 1.2 million people, 20% of the nation's population of six million, have died as a direct result of China's invasion and occupation. In addition, over 99% of Tibet's six thousand religious monasteries, temples, and shrines, have been looted or decimated resulting in the destruction of hundreds of thousands of sacred Buddhist scriptures.
Until 1949, Tibet was an independent Buddhist nation in the Himalayas which had little contact with the rest of the world. It existed as a rich cultural storehouse of the Mahayana and Vajrayana teachings of Buddhism. Religion was a unifying theme among the Tibetans -- as was their own language, literature, art, and world view developed by living at high altitudes, under harsh conditions, in a balance with their environment.
