By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Feb. 25: A university student was reportedly arrested earlier this month in Riwoche County, in Chamdo on February 13, and has not been seen since, Tibet Watch reported. The research group said that Choedon hailed from Yamda village in Riwoche but is yet to confirm the reason for her arrest. Her family believes that her language lessons during the winter vacation in the village might have resulted in her detention.
An anonymous source cited by Tibet Watch said that the young student has no criminal record, “Choedon was arrested by the Chinese authorities but she has not committed any wrongdoing nor does she have any criminal record . . . Her family is concerned about her safety as it has been more than five days since her arrest and disappearance but there is no clue about where she is being held or her condition”. She is currently enrolled at the Southwest Minzu University in Chengdu.
Choedon’s sudden arrest comes amidst the ongoing imposition of restrictive language policies by the Chinese government. Last year in September, the Chinese government intensified an already biased policy, which replaced all school textbooks in Tibetan with Chinese language materials, and instructed all schools to make Chinese the official medium of instruction. Authorities have cracked down on monastic schools that teach Tibetan language to children, like the Sengdruk Taktse middle school in Darlak County which was forced to shut down last year in June.
The US-based group Tibet Action Institute released a report in December last year that accused the Chinese government of building a vast colonial boarding system that targets and exploits minorities, especially Tibetans in their pursuit of education. “The schools are a cornerstone of Xi Jinping’s campaign to supplant Tibetan identity with a homogenous Chinese identity in order to neutralize potential resistance to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule,” TAI noted in their findings. According to Tibet Watch, the Chinese government has set a goal that by 2025, 85% of those living under Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule will speak the national language (“Putonghua” or “common tongue”).
