Amid pleas by Tibetans not to refer to Tibet as “Xizang,” India’s NCS calls Tibet “Xizang” over 50 times since Tibet quake
By Tenzin Chokyi

DHARAMSALA 20 Jan: India’s primary agency for monitoring and studying earthquakes, the National Centre for Seismology(NCS) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India has used China’s colonial term “Xizang” instead of “Tibet” in its reports and updates on the recent earthquake and the aftershocks in occupied Tibet amidst growing protest from Tibetan diaspora against the use of the Chinese colonial term in the international arena.
In its latest reports, the NCS used “Xizang” throughout, including in an official preliminary report published on 9 January, following the devastating earthquake on 7 January in occupied Tibet.
The NCS has issued more than 50 reports on the earthquake and its aftershocks from 6-19 January, and all of them have referred to Tibet as “Xizang.” These reports have been posted on the NCS’s official X(formerly Twitter) account and their official website.
While the NCS’s use of “Xizang” reflects China’s colonial terminology made official in Oct 2023, it diverges from the more neutral nomenclature employed by other branches of the Indian government.
On 11 January, Mr Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, expressed condolences to the victims of the earthquake, referring to the region as the “Tibet Autonomous Region.”
“The government and people of India express condolences on the tragic loss of life and property caused by the devastating earthquake in the Tibet Autonomous Region,” he said in a post on X.
Although the term “Tibet Autonomous Region” is not a fully accurate representation of Tibet, it avoided the use of “Xizang,” offering a more neutral and balanced approach.
The discrepancy between the NCS’s use of “Xizang” and the Ministry of External Affairs’ reference to the “Tibet Autonomous Region” highlights the ambivalence in India’s stance on Tibet, which fluctuates depending on its national priorities —an approach that India has adopted since China’s complete occupation of Tibet in 1959.
A pressing question that continues to haunt the Tibetan community in exile is whether India will officially recognise Tibet as “Xizang”.
A Tibetan netizen on X wrote, “ The NCS comes under the Ministry of Earth Sciences of Government of India, does it mean now India officially recognises Tibet as Xizang?”
Global Tibetan NGOs and the Central Tibetan Administration, commonly known as the Tibetan Government in Exile, have unanimously rejected the colonial term and have scrutinised and requested governments, western institutions and international news media outlets to refrain from using Chinese propaganda terms citing, geopolitical implication and risk of undermining Tibet’s distinct identity and culture rooted in the historical independence of Tibet before the Chinese occupation.
The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) has taken steps to counter China’s politics of nomenclature, including its recent initiative to compile a book of original Tibetan place names and launch a map project aimed at China’s cartographic aggression.
Similarly, Tibetans in France have organised a total of 16 protests against the Musée Guimet so far for using Chinese colonial terminology. However, the voices of the Tibetan community and the administration have fallen on deaf ears.
Although Tibetans are actively working to defend and preserve their culture and identity, their marginalised and exiled status limits their ability to create widespread impact. Despite their efforts, their voices struggle to gain the attention they deserve in the global conversation.