Tibetan NGOs call Xi Jinping dictator of unfree world ahead of CCP’s 19th Party Congress
By Lobsang Tenchoe
DHARAMSALA, Oct 17: A day ahead of the Communist Party of China’s 19th Party Congress, Tibetan NGOs in Dharamsala merged together to condemn Xi Jinping and highlight failures of Xi Jinping’s leadership during his first tenure.
Tibetan Youth Congress, Tibetan Women’s Association, Gu-Chu-Sum Movement Association of Tibet, National Democratic Party of Tibet and Students for a Free Tibet-India today held a joint press conference titled ‘Xi Jinping: Dictator of the Unfree world, five years of failure in Tibet’ at the headquarter of the Tibetan Youth Congress here in Mcleod Ganj, Dharamsala.
Xi Jinping has failed miserably in his first 5-year tenure, the group said at the multilingual joint press conference conducted in Tibetan, Hindi, English and Chinese.
“When Xi Jinping was appointed as the President of the Communist Party of China, many around the world hoped for a positive change and relaxation of the harsh policies in Tibet. However, Xi has failed to live up to these expectations and hopes. And the situation in Tibet has gone from bad to worse with increased censorship, violation of basic human rights and denial of freedom of religion, and the right to study Tibetan language,” the NGOs said in their joint statement.
The NGOs further stated that Xi used crackdown on corruption in the government and party as a tool to consolidate his authority and to eliminate his opponents and in regards to Tibet, instead of dealing with problems relating to corruption, the CCP pushed an anti-Dalai Lama campaign and escalated its crackdown.
In addition to the repression of people in Tibet and other occupied countries and in mainland China, the communist regime’s expansionist policy to assert its control and power globally is of great concern and poses a threat to the security of the world, the group stated.
“Based on the past five years of Xi Jinping’s failed policies in Tibet and increasing crackdown on Tibetans, we have no positive expectation and hope from Xi Jinping’s dictatorship. We, the five NGOs, strongly protest Xi Jinping’s leadership in the years to come and will continue our freedom struggle until justice is served for Tibet,” the NGOs concluded.
Following the joint press conference, activists from Students for a Free Tibet held a street protest to highlight Xi Jingping’s failed and repressive policies in Chinese occupied Tibet.
The 19th Party Congress will commence tomorrow and held for a week. The once-in-five years Party Congress is of huge significance to Xi because of the all important leadership transition he is expected to make to further strengthen his power to pursue an aggressive policy abroad.