Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Dec. 3: As French President Emmanuel Macron begins his three-day state visit to the People’s Republic of China from December 3 to 5 for trade and diplomatic talks, the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) has urged him to put Tibet at the forefront of his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, highlighting the worsening human rights situation and the urgent need to revive dialogue with representatives of the Dalai Lama.
Macron’s itinerary includes a stop in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, which encompasses significant areas of Tibet. ICT said this makes the visit “especially relevant” for raising concerns over Beijing’s deepening assimilationist policies, including the widespread system of compulsory boarding schools and intensified ideological indoctrination aimed at Tibetan children. Rights groups and experts warn that these policies threaten the survival of Tibet’s cultural, linguistic, and religious heritage.
ICT warned that China’s large-scale dam construction and unilateral control of water resources in Tibet, often described as the “water tower of Asia,” threaten to disrupt the region’s ecological balance. The group urged Macron to adopt a firm stance on safeguarding these strategic water resources and to support Tibetans’ right to participate in decisions concerning the management of their own rivers.
The group urged Macron to push the Chinese leadership to resume discussions based on the “Middle Way Approach,” which seeks a peaceful resolution to the Sino-Tibetan conflict through genuine autonomy for Tibetans within the framework of the Chinese Constitution.Reviving formal dialogue between Beijing and Tibetan representatives, ICT said, would be a crucial step toward fostering stability, promoting peaceful coexistence between Tibetans and Chinese, and easing regional tensions.
In addition to Tibet-specific issues, ICT also called on Macron to raise the case of Zhang Yadi, a Chinese student formerly studying in France who was detained upon returning to China on July 31. She is accused of “inciting separatism” for her writings on Tibet and Tibetan rights. ICT characterized her detention as a grave violation of fundamental human rights and urged Macron to press Beijing for her immediate and unconditional release, as well as guarantee her legal and humanitarian protections.
ICT emphasised that raising Tibet during this visit would reaffirm France’s longstanding commitment to human rights and democratic values, principles increasingly challenged by authoritarian governments, including China.
“Leaders in the Free World have long accepted the role of speaking up for the oppressed,” ICT President Tencho Gyatso said in a statement. “We urge President Macron to serve in that role—asking the hard questions and pressing Xi on the state of Tibet, inquiring about so many illegally imprisoned Tibetans, and encouraging renewed talks with envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.”
