Ms Dicki Chhoyang, Foreign Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile in northern India, was in high spirits when I welcomed her to Tokyo July 6. It was our second meeting since I first made her acquaintance in Dharmsala last September. Shortly before then, last August, Dalai Lama the 14^th retired from politics and was succeeded by a young government in which the majority of cabinet ministers are in their early forties, including Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay and Ms Chhoyang herself.
　　　The visitor was in Japan to celebrate the 77^th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on July 6 as well as further disseminate information about the current Tibetan situation. She had earlier marked the occasion of the Dalai Lama’s birthday with supporters in South Korea and Taiwan. Following talks with influential lower and upper house members of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) as well as members of the main opposition party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), including former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the visitor exchanged views with senior representatives of the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals (JINF), a Tokyo-based private think tank which I head.
　　　Foreign Minister Chhoyang remarked that the Tibetan government-in-exile had previously managed to establish solid support for Tibet in the US and Europe and that it hopes to further deepen the bond with Asian nations, especially Japan, as the government transitions from a theocracy to a more standard form of democracy. She said:
　　　“The present situation in Tibet is alarmingly perilous, with a growing number of Tibetans resorting to death by self-immolation to oppose Chinese oppression. Early this year, Prime Minister Sangay appealed to the people to refrain from killing themselves. But to date, already as many as 41 Tibetans have chosen to burn themselves to death. Why have they chosen this extremely harsh form of death? The answer is that these tragic deaths reflect the people’s steadfast political will to resist. Every one of these 41 Tibetans has left behind an appeal for two measures they badly wanted implemented: (1) freedom for Tibet; and (2) the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to China.”
　　　The Chinese government never grants the Tibetans freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or the opportunity to learn Tibetan, their indigenous language.
　　　“Under the pretext of monastery management,” continues Chhoyang, “at least 21,000 Han Chinese government clerks have been dispatched to the Tibetan Autonomous Region, where they are charged with implementing two thorough measures; (1) patriotic Chinese education, which endlessly preaches the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ideology; and (2) efforts to compel the Tibetans to criticize the Dalai Lama as a wicked individual.”

The cunning of the Chinese Government

　　　The strategy of the Chinese government is to use communist ideology to completely shatter the spirit of the Tibetans by smearing Tibetan Buddhism, which constitutes their spiritual pillar, as well as force them to regard their beloved and revered spiritual leader as a criminal.
　　　It is not only the Tibetan spirit that the Chinese are dead set on breaking; they also compel the Tibetans, many of whom have led nomad lives over the centuries, to live in permanent homes, with the aim of fundamentally destroying their traditional way of life.
　　　Among the estimated 6 million Tibetans in China, some 2.25 million — or nearly 40% — are said to be nomad. Ostensibly to help improve the quality of their life as well as protect the environment of the high plains of Tibet, the Chinese government has been forcing the nomads to give up their cattle, promising jobs and offering lump sum payments in order to force them to live permanently in brick-built houses. But most of the nomad Tibetans, being unused to the monetary economy, soon use up the cash, and are unable to develop any prospects for a stable future once their money runs dry. Torn away from their traditional lifestyle, these Tibetans soon end up losing the means or purpose of living, leaving them mentally and physically devastated. Ms Chhoyang explains:
　　　“The Chinese government claims it intends to help all of the nomad Tibetans to settle in permanent homes by 2020. Against such a backdrop, Tibetans are sacrificing their lives through these horrific immolations as a means of protest to the international community against the outrageous Chinese suppression of their traditional way of life.”
　　　In order to drown out the grievous appeals of Tibetans, including Foreign Minister Chhoyang, the Chinese government devotes unimaginably enormous budgets to fabricate misinformation about Tibet. For instance, Beijing adamantly attempts to justify its suppression of the Tibetans by falsely claiming that His Holiness and Prime Minister Sangay are traitors plotting to separate Tibet from China to win its independence.
　　　China’s cunning sees no end. Foreign Minister Chhoyang notes that China not only twists and fabricates facts about Tibet, but also thinks nothing of changing commonly accepted rules and values of the international community in order to match them to its own ethnocentric standards, explaining:
　　　“Tibet and Myanmar have deep historical links. In fact, our indigenous languages are quite similar, with Tibetan having academically been classified as a member of the Tibeto-Burman language family. And yet the Chinese have dared redefine this linguistic classification with a new and dubious ‘theory’ that Tibetan actually belongs to the Chinese language family.”
　　　The Chinese even change fundamental principles of learning and research to sustain their claim that Tibet has always been part of China. The Chinese government has even come up with a new definition as regards self-immolations by Tibetans, incredulously claiming that these are acts of terrorism. Based on this new definition, control of the Tibetans by the Chinese government has been intensified with increased savagery. When a Tibetan manages to survive self-immolation, with the fire extinguished by the police, he will likely be arrested immediately, with no first aid administered. No one has yet to come back alive.
　　　Even more tragic was the case of a 20-year-old Tibetan monk named Phuntsog, who attempted to immolate himself in Aba County in Sichuan province on March 16 of last year. Armed Han Chinese police officers extinguished the flame that engulfed him; what ensued was real hell on earth. After dousing the flame enveloping his body, the police continued beating up the feebly breathing Phuntsog to his death.

“Japan as the True Big Power In Asia”

　　　Up until now, the Chinese government has also suppressed the Uyghurs, referring to them as terrorists. When the US suffered the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Chinese government wasted no time in characterizing the Moslem Uyghurs within their own borders as terrorists. In other words, the Chinese adroitly took advantage of American fears of Al Qaeda, using the occasion as a golden opportunity to clamp down on the Uyghurs. And now the CCP is yet again using the same tactics, this time labeling the Tibetans terrorists.
　　　Tibet desperately needs support from the international community to cope with China, which is crafty and cruel. That is why Foreign Minister Chhoyang was in Taiwan and South Korea enlisting help prior to arriving in Japan. She observed:
　　　“While all other Asian nations fear China to varying degrees, Japan has resolutely opened its doors to His Holiness several times. Also, Prime Minister Sangay was graciously invited to Japan last May, which enabled him to exchange opinions and views with 91 members of the Japanese parliament. Japan unquestionably is acting like the true big power in Asia -€ an Asian neighbor very dear to Tibet.”
　　　These remarks by Ms Chhoyang bring home to me the importance of the responsibility Japan has of making all-out efforts to establish -€ both at home and abroad -€ a political system of freedom and democracy which genuinely takes good care of all people. This will greatly benefit Japan’s neighbors in Asia, as well as Japan itself. Added the visiting foreign minister:
　　　“As His Holiness has now retired from Tibetan politics, those of us from the younger generation must shoulder all of the responsibilities for our government-in-exile. Prime Minister Sangay chose to resign as a chief researcher at Harvard University to return to Dharamsala. I, too, returned from Canada. In the next five years, we sincerely hope to realize a symbolic visit to Tibet for His Holiness. As a man of religion, he has stood firm on his non-violence principles and argued not forTibet’s independence but for its autonomy. There is absolutely no reason why China should not allow a visit.”
　　　I firmly believe that the right path for Japan is to give unlimited support to the people of Tibet, who are keeping up their courageous fight for freedom and autonomy, while tenaciously clinging to hope amid unspeakable obstacles.

(Translated from “Renaissance Japan” column no. 518 from the July 19, 2012 issue of The Weekly Shincho)