The Wall Street Journal-Dhondup Rekjong:“The Chinese Communist Party recently adopted a landmark resolution hailing the country’s accomplishments under President Xi Jinping. The communiqué, published after last week’s Sixth Plenum meeting, made clear that Mr. Xi’s already expansive power will grow. The effects of this will be felt around the world, but few groups stand to suffer as much as Tibetans. The party’s communiqué mentions `national rejuvenation’ eight times. The phrase may sound harmless, if a bit nationalistic. Yet a key component of national rejuvenation is unification, which in Beijing’s view requires the destruction of minority cultures. Tibetans—who have been struggling against the party’s attempts to erase their identity for more than 60 years—understand the danger of `national rejuvenation’ all too well…
The ultimate goal is for future lamas and monks to learn Buddhism only in Mandarin—paving the way for the erasure of the Tibetan language. Tibetan leader Sithar, deputy director of the Office of the Central Tibet Work Coordination Group, gave a short speech in which he framed the effort as a way to promote `oneness’ among Chinese ethnic groups. The issues addressed in Xining are of critical importance, but most Western media outlets failed to cover the conference. Perhaps more distressing, even scholars in Tibetan Buddhist studies seem unaware of the gathering’s significance. Anyone with an interest in Tibetan Buddhism needs to comprehend the true implications of this Sinicization strategy. Its goal is nothing less than the demolition of a language preserved by Tibetan monastic and lay communities for well over a millennium… Beijing’s assault on Tibetan Buddhism has three goals: to control Tibetan teaching directly by translating sacred texts into Chinese, to transform Tibetan Buddhism into Chinese Buddhism, and to compete with the flourishing of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. In the absence of a unified resistance to China’s most recent efforts, the world puts at risk the vitality of the Tibetan language as a medium of cultural memory and contemporary scholarship, as well as the very existence of Tibetan Buddhist monasticism.”Xi Jinping’s War on Tibetan Buddhism – WSJ
