When Olaf Scholz meets with China's head of state on Tuesday, he will also address human rights in the country. The situation is particularly desolate in Tibet, says one activist.
The United Nations criticizes that around a million children in Tibet are being sent to boarding schools against the wishes of their families. The system aims to “assimilate” children into the Han Chinese majority culture, according to a UN report last year. China's government, which has controlled Tibet since the 1950s, speaks of "lies and rumors." The extent of the boarding school system was revealed by the Tibetan sociologist Gyal Lo. China is about “absolute control,” says Lo. And he has a clear message for Olaf Scholz, who will meet with China's head of state Xi Jinping on Tuesday.
Mr. Lo, Xi Jinping came to power in China around twelve years ago. How has the situation in Tibet changed since then?
She has gotten significantly worse. Especially since Xi Jinping began his second term in office in 2017. Since then he has been firmly in the saddle and can do whatever he wants. The people in Tibet can no longer practice their religion freely, there is no longer any freedom of expression. I believe Tibet is at a turning point: can our 4,700-year-old civilization survive or will it perish?
What do you mean?
Xi Jinping is all about absolute control. Cultural diversity just gets in the way. That's why he wants to eliminate all differences, all minorities have to subordinate themselves, their cultures are destroyed. An important instrument of the Chinese government in Tibet are boarding schools in which children are only allowed to speak Chinese.
They say that around a million children in Tibet are sent to such boarding schools against their families' wishes. How did you arrive at this number?
This is a rather conservative estimate. I have visited dozens of these boarding schools, some with 80 children, others with as many as 300. So I calculated how many children throughout Tibet are sent to such boarding schools. And the numbers are even increasing.
“Even four-year-olds are sent to boarding schools in Tibet”
What do these boarding schools do with the children?
Even four-year-olds are sent to boarding schools. There they are separated from their families for a long time and eventually forget their native language, Tibetan. Tibetan culture is not taught there either. The program has been around since 2016. It has gotten to the point where children criticize their own parents if they don't speak Chinese.
Your two great-nieces also attended such boarding schools...
It's very painful for me to talk about it. The girls were four and five years old when my brother called me one day and told me that his granddaughters' behavior was troubling him. So I drove to her school and picked her up. They barely spoke to me, and when we got home they just sat there like they were guests. After only three months at this boarding school, they have completely lost contact with their family and can hardly speak Tibetan anymore.
The Chinese government says parents voluntarily send their children to boarding schools and that Tibetan is taught there.
That's a lie! The sad thing is: China is getting away with it. They simply repeat their lies until they become a truth. I experienced this myself when I spoke about the boarding schools at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Many members didn't believe me, they believed China's propaganda.
“Make sure you see what China’s government is trying to hide”
China also says Tibetans' living standards have been improving for years.
Of course: some people in Tibet now have a car, many have a smartphone. But it is primarily the Chinese who benefit from the development in Tibet and from the many tourists who visit the country. They own all the fancy stores, they make all the money. The Tibetans, on the other hand, are being pushed to the margins. They have no choice but to go to major Chinese cities and work there as migrant workers. So they become more and more alienated from their roots.
The German Chancellor is traveling to China this weekend. What advice would you give Olaf Scholz?
My message to him is: Make sure you see what China's government is trying to hide. Don't trust them! Scholz must be clear that it is not possible to separate economic issues from the question of human rights. That's exactly what China always claims, but it's wrong.
They left China in 2020 and now live in exile in Canada. Do you feel safe there?
No. I can't go outside alone and always need someone to accompany me. My life is not easy. And I fear that I will never be able to return to Tibet.