Sanctioned by China, Tibetan activist expresses disappointment over lack of support from Tibetan community, administration 

DHARAMSALA, 27 Dec: Canada Tibet Committee’s (CTC) Executive Director Sherap Therchin expressed disappointment and felt let down by the lack of support he and his colleagues received from the Tibetan community and the administration in exile after they were sanctioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Communist Government on Sunday, though they received overwhelming support from the Canadian Government and Parliament.

“While we received support and backing from the Canadian Government and Parliament, assuring us that they were behind us, there was a void from the Tibetan community, with not many speaking out or assuring their support,” Sherap Therchin said, visibly let down at Dokham Chushi Gangdruk’s public event in Toronto, Canada on Wednesday.

The Canadian government and MPP Bhutila Karpoche (the first person of Tibetan heritage to be elected to public office in North America) contacted us to assure their support,” Sherap said and added, “This made us sigh with relief. I also received a call from Canada Chushi Gangdruk President Sonam Wangchen, who said ‘Sherab, don’t be scared, we are behind you.'”

“But apart from that, nobody from the community stood up or reached out to us,” he said and questioned, “As we are working for Tibet’s cause, if Tibetans don’t support us, then who will?”

The activist summed up the entire episode, noting first and foremost a sense of pride in taking the Chinese sanction as a badge of honour in recognition of his activism and campaign for Tibet. This, he said, was followed by a climate of fear.

Therchin said that from Sunday, when they were sanctioned, until he took the stage, they lived in fear of what might happen because of China’s might and that Chinese constitute 5 per cent of the Canadian population. He noted the high possibility of China forcing some of the 2 million Chinese Canadians to be state agents, coupled with China’s infiltration within the Tibetan Community.

He added that one of his colleagues on the sanction list had to cancel a planned trip to a European country as many European nations have signed extradition treaties with China. 

This, the activist added, made him realize the plight of Tibetans and Uyghurs who suffer daily under Chinese occupation.

The Executive Director of the CTC concluded by saying that a sense of disappointment then overtook his fears owing to the lack of support from the Tibetan community and the administration. 

He lamented that though he had been engaged in activism campaigning for Tibet and served the Central Tibetan Administration over the last six years, “nobody dared to open their mouth or cared to ask us how we were doing or what we were experiencing.”

Asking the crowd to excuse him for soiling the atmosphere as they had gathered for a party, he added, “We should know about this because it’s me today, and it could be anyone from the community tomorrow.”

The activist concluded by calling for unity among the small numbers of Tibetans spread across the diaspora, warning that going the opposite way would aid China at our own undoing.

Therchin, along with the CTC Chair Samphel Lhalungpa, Vice Chair Luisa Durante, Board member Eliza von Baeyer, and Community Engagement Manager Youngdoung Tenzin were among the 20 Canadians sanctioned by the PRC—along with the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project (URAP), led by Mr. Mehmet Tohti (a former WUC Director of the Legal Committee) and 14 of its staff members and experts—were sanctioned by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a “countermeasure.”

While the Canadian government condemned China and expressed solidarity with members of the Canada Tibet Committee and the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project after the Chinese government sanctioned them on Sunday for speaking out about human rights, and MPP Bhutila Karpoche offered her support through a statement declaring, “I join the calls for the government of Canada to ensure that those sanctioned do not come to harm within Canada or other democratic entities,” the support from the Tibetan community remained minimal.

Though the Tibetan NGOs, associations, and the administration are usually quick to issue statements of solidarity over China’s repressive policies and measure in Tibet as well as condemning anyone who vilified the Dalai Lama without follow-up actions, their enthusiasm fell short when China sanctioned three Tibetan activists from the CTC for their campaign for the Tibetan movement.

While collective support from the Kashag (the executive wing of the CTA) and all Tibetan NGOs could have lifted the morale of the activists, only the Tibetan parliament in exile came forward with a statement on 25th December, declaring that the house “stands in solidarity with the members of the Canada Tibet Committee and the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, applauding their courage in speaking out against the atrocities and severe human rights violations committed by China.”

Two days after the activist’s remarks, only one Tibetan NGO- the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy condemned “China’s internationalisation of repression and sanctions imposed on Tibetan human rights group.”