Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Sept. 10: As part of this year’s Tibet Lobby Day, the Australia Tibet Council (ATC), along with 20 Tibetan representatives from across Australia, including delegates from Canberra, Sydney, Queensland, Victoria, Wagga Wagga and Nowra, engaged in discussions with around 35 members of the Australian Parliament, including Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
During the meetings, the Tibetan-Australian community urged the Co-Chairs of the Australian All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tibet (AAPGT) to invoke the Global Magnitsky Act against five Chinese officials responsible for human rights abuses in Tibet. The officials named include Wu Yingjie, former Party Secretary of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) from 2016 to 2021; Zhang Hongbo, Director of the Tibetan Public Security Bureau (TPSB) from 2018 to 2022; Chen Quanguo, former Communist Party Secretary of TAR from 2011 to 2016 and Xinjiang from 2016 to 2021; Ao Liuquan, former Party Secretary of Naqchu City and Prefecture from 2016 to 2020; and Zhang Qingli, who served as Party Secretary of TAR from 2006 to 2011.
The delegates also voiced concerns over the deteriorating human rights situation in Tibet, emphasising the need for the Australian government to formally recognise the reincarnation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to adopt policies aimed at preventing China’s interference in this religious process.
The ATC led the advocacy by presenting key demands to the Australian Parliament and the Department of Foreign Affairs’ China and Human Rights divisions. These demands included: the Australian government to adopt measures to prevent China from interfering in the reincarnation process of His Holiness the Dalai Lama; The Australian government to condemn the Chinese government’s efforts to systematically erode Tibetan identity, language, and culture since the 1950 illegal invasion; Australia to strongly oppose China’s policies of forced settlement and the establishment of draconian colonial boarding schools in Tibetan areas, which are tools for further assimilation; The Australian government to implement Magnitsky sanctions against Chinese officials responsible for the repression of Tibetans, restricting their travel and economic activities in Australia; and the Australian government to explicitly recognise that the Tibetan issue remains unresolved under international law and affirm the Tibetan people’s right to self-determination.
