By Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, May 6: As Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Paris for a high-profile summit, a group of student activists affiliated with Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) and the International Tibet Network (ITN) staged a bold demonstration. Hanging a banner from a bridge in Paris, France, the activists called for the boycott and removal of President Xi Jinping, emphasising their message with the slogan, “FREE TIBET! DICTATOR XI JINPING, YOUR TIME IS UP!”
Chinese President Xi Jinping began his official visit to Europe, his first in five years, starting in Paris, France. The visit sparked widespread protests across several European countries, with the largest cross-movement demonstration in Paris. Tibetans and supporters from neighbouring countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and Holland gathered for what was called “the biggest unwelcome protest of Xi’s Europe trip.” Approximately 4,000 participants, including Tibetans and members of Tibet support groups, joined the demonstration at Place de la République in Paris.
A day before the arrival of President Xi Jinping in Paris, France, two student activists associated with Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) staged a peaceful protest near the iconic Arc de Triomphe. Unfurling banners that read “Dictateur Xi Jinping, Ton Temps Écoulé” (Dictator Xi Jinping, Your Time Is Up) and “In Happiness and Sorrow, Solidarity with the People of Tibet” in Tibetan, the activists also displayed the Tibetan national flag. Climbing a flagpole for visibility, the activists, Tsela Zoksang and Nyima, were subsequently detained by French authorities. They were released after 10 hours of detention by the French police.
In anticipation of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s upcoming visit to France, several human rights organisations, including the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), and the French League of Human Rights (LDH), have collectively urged French President Emmanuel Macron to prioritise the discussion of human rights concerns, especially regarding Tibet, in his meetings with Chinese counterparts.
Experts note that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Europe is scheduled at a time when the European Union’s stance towards Beijing is firming, spurred by recent espionage controversies and China’s support for Russia’s actions in Ukraine. With the United States adopting a more assertive approach towards China, President Xi aims to mitigate the European Union’s economic security concerns, including potential tariff threats, during his visit.
One Response
Fellow Tibetans living in European countries such as Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland and host France made a spectacular display of Tibetan nationalism and patriotism on a grand scale! This demonstrates succinctly to all and especially the Chinese communists and their leaders that Tibetans will never relinquish their nation and its people to be slaves of the Chinese imperialists. The Chinese communists are a wolf in sheep’s clothing! They feigned as opponents of colonialism and imperialism and invaded Tibet in the name of driving out imperialists even though there were no imperialists to speak of. However, in reality, the Chinese communists are the worst imperialists. They continued their imperialist policy of conquering other nations through baseless claims and assimilate them to take their land and plunder the riches and natural resources of those unfortunate nations. A 20th century Chinese thinker Liang Qichao said:”Initially, our Chinese nation had only few small tribes living in Shandong and Henan. Over thousand years they grew, grew, grew, and turned into a great nation that created a huge and magnificent state. Our nation grew in two ways: one way was the assimilation of countless nationalities inside and outside of our border; the second was the relocation (read, demographic onslaught of Chinese population on conquered territories) of people of our nation to the borders year after year and the expansion of territory”- such was the way of history over five thousand years”. The Chinese communist party has continued the same imperial ambitions of conquest and expansionist doctrine that has been the hallmark of Chinese imperialism for centuries. However, it has the audacity to claim it was against imperialism and colonialism when it has been in forefront of imperialism in Asia since its founding in 1949. The Chinese imperialism has colonised 55 nations and destroyed their culture and their language the latest being the Manchus whose emperor Puyi was forced to abdicate by Sun Yatsen of the Republican Chinese in 1911. The Chinese regarded Manchus as foreigners! In the words of Sun Yatsen: “the Manchus had beastly temper, they did not have any idea about how to shape relations between people. Barbarians cannot govern a nation, wild tribes cannot rule over China. We, the Han people, the descendants of Huangdi, cannot live under the same sky with robber Manchus: either we destroy them or they will destroy us”. This clearly shows that Manchu empire was not China. China is clearly synonymous with the Han!!! It is clear there is no continuity from Yuan and Qing states and that neither of these empires was China. Therefore, Chinese claim over Tibet have no basis as the empires that had close ties with Tibet on religious ground were regarded as foreigners by the Chinese and sought to destroy them and their legacy! Many Chinese regard the long pigtail kept by Chinese men as an insult to the Chinese by the Manchus! Tibet has never been part of China at any time whether it’s the Mongols or Manchus let alone Chinese dynasties like Ming and Han. Therefore, Communist China is illegally occupying our nation and Tibetans have every right to fight for total independence. It’s an inalienable right of every nation to fight foreign domination just as the Chinese had the right to fight Mongol and Manchu domination!
The massive gathering in Paris to protest Chinese dictator Xi is a clear indication that the Tibetan struggle is alive and well after 65 long years. This also assures the struggle will continue as the participants to the massive demonstration are all young people including children! The fact that most of these young Tibetans have not seen their country is irrelevant. The history of a nation cannot be erased by invaders and colonisers at will. The Tibetan people have nothing to do with China and before the Chinese invasion most Tibetans would have heard of China but had no idea where it was. On the other hand, India was the holy land -Arya Bhumi འཕགས་ཡུལ་ or Bharat where the holy Buddha was born. Our Buddhist culture, Buddhism itself, calligraphy, poetry and grammar came from India. Tibet looked to India and the relationship between China and Tibet was only between the Tibetan elites and not the common people. The vast nation of Tibet rich with natural resources, flora and fauna all made successive imperialist regimes in China to cast their evil eye on Tibet. HH The 13th Dalai Lama realised the evil machinations of the rulers of China after he returned to Tibet in 1912, reasserted Tibet’s independence on 13th of February 1913 after the fall of Manchu empire in 1911. THE TIBETAN GOVERNMENT EXPELLED ALL MANCHU OFFICIALS FROM TIBET AND TIBET REASSERTED ITS INDEPENDENCE!!! No matter how long it takes, no matter how hard it may be, without independence, Tibet will not survive! It’s not Xi who has started the policy of assimilation of Tibet into China. ITS A HISTORICAL CHINESE POLICY TO ASSIMILATE PEOPLE THEY CONQUERED TO ASSIMILATE THEM INTO CHINESE BY DENYING THEM THEIR CULTURE, RELIGION AND LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY. SUN Yatsen said: The question had to be settled with the people to whom the lands belonged. Now, the great revolutionary thought that all nationals should be RECAST AS IN AN OVEN, THUS ASSIMILATING THEM INTO HAN NATION” is the historical perfidy of the Chinese and Tibetans must be prepared to defeat this insidious game plan and fight with any means to save the Tibetan nation and its people from total obliteration by the evil Chinese.