China dismisses claims of Cultural Genocide in Tibet, mocks exiled Tibetans’ command over their language
By Lobsang Tenchoe
DHARAMSALA, June 22: China has dismissed exiled Tibetans’ claim of Cultural Genocide in Tibet as ridiculous and rootless saying Tibetans in exile cannot speak Tibetan properly.
Citing Indian media reports on 2016 Miss Tibet’s flawed Tibetan and other domestic and overseas reports on exiled Tibetans, including officials of the Tibetan government-in-exile not being able to speak their language properly, a report published today on the state-run China Tibet Online dismissed claims of ‘Cultural Genocide’ made by the Tibetans in exile, whom the Chinese government calls Dalai clique.
“In the past few years, however, “the ‘Tibetans exiles’ did not speak Tibetan well or even knew the language at all” appeared in lots of both domestic and foreign media coverage. There are also frequent reports of their loss of the Tibetan language, an important carrier of Tibetan culture. Some media have said that the officials of the “Tibetan government in-exile” can speak fluent English but do not understand Tibetan, and they do not even have basic knowledge about Tibet,” the report said and added, “That makes the Dalai clique’s constantly claims of “Culture Genocide” in Tibet ridiculous and rootless.”
Citing China’s white paper on Tibet released in 2015, the report claimed that Tibetan language is protected and retained in Tibet as all the schools are taught in Tibetan and Chinese medium with Tibetan as the main medium.
The report further claimed that Tibet People Publishing House and Ancient Tibetan Text Publishing House published 547 books in 2014, of which 80% were in Tibetan and drew a bold conclusion that the Chinese government rather than Tibetans in exile or the Central Tibetan Administration protects and promotes Tibetan Culture better.
