China rejects reports about the Xizang region
*Govt. Tim Walz was a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China
*Chinese govt. opposed the commission's reports regarding the Xizang region
*Xizang’s Peaceful Liberation brought 628,000 people out of absolutely poverty
*U.S. entity “Human Right Watch” has also criticized China’s policies in Xizang
*“Human Right Watch” claims govt. restricts religious freedom despite policies in support of Tibetan Buddhism
*Jokhang temple in Lhasa is currently under state protection
*Chinese govt. opposed the commission's reports regarding the Xizang region
*Xizang’s Peaceful Liberation brought 628,000 people out of absolutely poverty
*U.S. entity “Human Right Watch” has also criticized China’s policies in Xizang
*“Human Right Watch” claims govt. restricts religious freedom despite policies in support of Tibetan Buddhism
*Jokhang temple in Lhasa is currently under state protection
Transcript
00:00In the Chinese autonomous region of Shizang, previously known as Tibet,
00:04amid U.S. accusations, the population positively evaluates
00:08the government policies aimed at barring their access to basic infrastructure
00:13and services and preserving the region's cultural and religious values.
00:17From Shizang, Telesur collaborator Mauro Ramos offers more details on the matter.
00:23The Democratic Party has chosen Kamala Harris as running mate,
00:26Minnesota government Tim Walz. The Democrat was a congressman for six terms since 2006
00:32and is also known for his interest in China. Walz was a member of the Congressional Executive
00:37Commission on China, a body that claims to monitor human rights in the Asian country.
00:42The Chinese government has repeatedly expressed strong dissatisfaction and opposition to the
00:46reports released by the commission. China also has just taken countermeasures on congressman
00:51Jim McGovern, a member of the commission and a very close ally of Tim Walz.
00:56Because of his actions meddling in China's internal affairs,
00:58McGovern will be banned from doing business or traveling to China.
01:02In recent years, Walz and McGovern have focused on reporting alleged human rights abuses in Shizang,
01:07known as Tibet in the West. We were invited to be part of a delegation to visit Shizang firsthand.
01:13We spoke with peasants, teachers and monks from different cities in the autonomous region.
01:18As a Tibetan, I can mention two significant actions that the Communist Party of China took
01:24in Xi'an. Politically, the party freed millions of serfs, granting them freedom, economically.
01:29By 2019, all 74 impoverished counties in Tibet had been lifted out of poverty.
01:35Now, we are entering a phase of rural revitalization.
01:38May marked 73 years since the peaceful liberation of Shizang. At that time,
01:43aristocrats, local officials and high-ranking lamas in monasteries who represented only about
01:485% of the Tibetan population owned almost all of the region's wealth. The other 95%
01:54were feudal serfs and enslaved people. By 2019, 628,000 people had been lifted
02:00out of absolute poverty in the 74 counties mentioned by Yang Zong.
02:05Part of the policies focused on relocating families from places that are difficult to access
02:10and without base infrastructure or services.
02:13Zi Wang Pin Tuo, a resident of Sige village was one of the relocated Tibetans.
02:19We come from a small village in Medij county, Nyingke. It used to take 5 or 6 days to walk
02:25from our village to the county town. Sometimes when we went to Bom county to buy things,
02:31we had to carry everything, whether big or small, on our backs. In our hometown,
02:36the most common means of transportation to cross the Yarlung Zangbo river was the iron rope.
02:42So, it was obviously difficult to send children to school and for the elderly to see the doctor.
02:47It is fair to say that our quality of life was low.
02:50With the help of the country and the government, we moved to our current home in 2003.
02:55In addition to the different commissions in the U.S. Congress,
02:58Human Rights Watch is another U.S. entity that negatively evaluates these policies in Shizang.
03:04In different reports, the organization claims that the relocations were forced
03:08and that the Tibetan language and culture have been repressed,
03:11although the Shizang Autonomous Region has a bilingual education system in Mandarin and Tibetan.
03:17Wang Dui is a primary school teacher. He talks about the education offered in schools in the region.
03:24We are committed to preserving and transmitting our culture.
03:28In our classes, each teacher incorporates this tradition into their classes,
03:32sharing knowledge with everyone. Whether it is about passing on tradition or learning about it,
03:39our goal is to pass this content on to our students so they can better preserve it in the future.
03:44Wang Dui has been teaching Tibetan for 24 years. He states that in addition to the language,
03:49the teaching of Tibetan calligraphy in schools is being increasingly prioritized.
03:55In the past, we did not have convenient transportation like today.
03:59The road we used to use to go to school was difficult to walk on.
04:03In the past, we needed ink and paper to practice Tibetan calligraphy, but we didn't have it,
04:08so we had to follow tradition and write on wooden tablets.
04:11But now students have good quality paper and ink. They are very lucky.
04:17Human Rights Watch also accuses China of restricting religious freedom in Shizang.
04:21Buddhism is one of the main religions practiced in China, along with Taoism,
04:25Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism. Although the state is secular,
04:29there are policies to support monasteries and monks due to the cultural and historical value
04:34of Tibetan Buddhism, which is the second largest branch of this religion in the country.
04:38Dong Zhu, guide at the Changzhu Temple, explains these policies.
04:43The government takes care of our monks in various aspects, such as medical care and social security.
04:50For example, all temples in Xi'an, including Changyu Temple,
04:55offer a free annual medical check-up for monks.
04:59The check-up results are kept in the monks' personal records.
05:02Our temple's main source of income comes from our small tea shop and the sale of items such
05:08as butter lamps, barley lamps, and cottas, all made by the temple itself.
05:13These sources of income are usually enough to support each monk.
05:18Barkhor Street and Jokhan Temple are in the center of the old city of Lhasa,
05:22the capital of Shizang. The temple is under state protection
05:25and became a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in 2000.
05:29More than 90% of the population of Shizang is Tibetan Buddhist.
05:32The Jokhan Temple was built over 1,300 years ago,
05:36and the temple receives up to 80,000 people a day on special dates for Tibetan Buddhism.
05:42With the country's strong support, transportation and economy here are relatively developed
05:50compared to before, and there are many more tourists and worshippers than before.
05:56As the internal staff of Jokhan Temple, we monks, must maintain and protect this
06:02world cultural heritage, make our own efforts to pass it on to the next generation,
06:07and strengthen our research on religious knowledge.