Tibetans across the world organise protests on March 10 every year mainly in democratic countries to mark Tibetan Uprising Day against China. One estimate suggests over 1.2 million Tibetan people have been killed, thousands imprisoned, and over 6,000 monasteries have been destroyed by Beijing.
Like in India, the Tibetan community protests peacefully on this day in the United States and many other countries. But in the last couple of years, Tibetans say some China-backed gangs have been attacking the protesters. In a telephonic conversation with CNN-News18, Tashi Tsering, founder of the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan, said, “The past few years have been really difficult for us as Chinese-backed groups try to create trouble in our peaceful protests.”
This year when the Tibetan community was protesting peacefully in Taipei, Tsering said a cyclist came near them and tried to jump onto the demonstrators.
“The boy was caught and when police inquired they found that he had been chasing me for a long time,” said Tsering, who was born in India.
He also recalled that a similar incident happened a year ago when about 20 people walked up to the protest site and even told Tsering to go back to India and said that Taiwan belonged to China.
“We only protest outside China Bank as China does not have any other office in Taipei and our protest is peaceful to make people aware of the sufferings of Tibetan people and atrocities by Beijing,” said Tsering.
Saving grace
Tibetans in Taipei say they are thankful to the police as they provide adequate security to the protesters and stop the Chinese gangs from getting violent.
Around 150 people of Tibetan origin live in Taiwan as citizens, others travel on visas, and monks come in large numbers to teach at Buddhist monasteries.
Many critics of China believe there is a sizable population in Taiwan that believes in the communist government rule and Beijing uses them to run its agenda. Tibetans point to the possibility of the use of criminal gangs in Taiwan by China to threaten the protesters.
Background
The Kuomintang (KMT) government in the very beginning re-established the Mongol and Tibetan Affairs Commission and constitutional provision to assert sovereignty over Tibet. The government-in-exile of Tibet criticised the collaboration of the government of Taiwan with the Tibetan group Chushi Gangdruk and the establishment of another Tibetan cabinet office in 1969. Both the government-in-exile and the Taiwanese government had hostile relations for the longest time. Only in 1992, when Taiwan extended its first invitation to the Dalai Lama to visit the island nation, and then in 1997 the spiritual leader made his first visit, was there the beginning of a new friendship. This was followed by Taiwan recognising the government of Tibet and an office of Tibet was also established in Taiwan.
Since then relations between Taiwan and Tibet have seen many highs and lows, influenced by prevailing global scenarios. The recent development reflects that external forces influence relations between Taiwan and the Tibetan government-in-exile. Since the visit of Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, the situation has changed dramatically and US-China relations too have seen a slide. Taiwan is buying more weapons from the United States and engagements between them have also increased. In a follow-up development, the US is also sending some troops to train the Taiwanese army, which has created further drama.
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