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Sangay in Delhi. (Reuters)
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New Delhi, Feb. 16 (Reuters): The plight of Tibetans has deteriorated since a wave of deadly protests shook the region in 2008, as soldiers, spies and constant checkpoints put the Chinese region into a “lockdown”, the Tibetan prime minister-in-exile said.
Relations between exiled Tibetan leaders and Beijing had also deteriorated in the past four years as the Chinese government shunned talks with Tibetan envoys, Lobsang Sangay told Reuters in an interview today.
Riots killed at least 19 people throughout Tibetan parts of China in 2008, prompting the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to call life in the region “hell on earth”.
Beijing has tightened its grip on what it calls the Tibet Autonomous Region since then, flooding the area with soldiers and non-Tibetan Chinese, and squeezing the job prospects and freedom of expression of the local population, Sangay said.
In the past year, Chinese authorities have grappled with a spate of self-immolations protesting the Tibetans' plight. Beijing has called the deaths acts of terrorism and accused the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India, of fomenting unrest. “What’s happening is a lockdown of Tibet. And it’s very, very worrisome,” Sangay said. “They really don’t want the outside world to know what’s happening inside Tibet.
China has ruled Tibet since Communist troops marched in in 1950. It rejects criticism that it is eroding Tibetan culture and faith, saying its rule has ended serfdom and brought development to a backward region.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
“What you see is more Chinese moving in, more jobs being taken over, more presence in the administration, more military presence and more discrimination,” Sangay said.
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