China continues to wage a campaign of repression against the Tibetan community, according to a top US diplomat, who believes that Beijing plans to install a Dalai Lama of its own choosing.
Addressing a gathering on the margins of the UN Human Rights Council last week in Geneva, US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues Uzra Zeya said Tibet now faces a "critical moment" for the survival of its cultural, linguistic and religious heritage.
China's policies in the region threaten Tibet's national identity, Zeya was quoted as saying by Washington-based Radio Free Asia (RFA).
She says that central to Beijing's campaign to fully absorb Tibet into China is its plan to install a Dalai Lama of its own choosing when the globally revered Tibetan spiritual leader someday dies.
Zeya said Beijing views this co-optation as critical to eroding international support for Tibet and completing its forcible 'Sinicization' of the six million Tibetans living in China.
"The PRC views this co-optation as critical to eroding international support for Tibet and completing its forcible 'Sinicization' of the six million Tibetans living in the PRC," the U.S. diplomat was quoted as saying by RFA.
"PRC authorities have shown they are willing to act with cruelty when any succession process falls outside the boundaries of their control," Zeya said.
She also noted that noting that Beijing in 1995 abducted another senior Tibetan religious leader -- the 11th Panchen Lama, then a young child -- and selected a candidate under China's control to replace him.
US special coordinator for Tibetan affairs, who was appointed in Jul last year, met Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in Dharamshala in May this year.
Zeya reached Dharamshala on a high-level visitation that signifies Washington's significant support for the Tibetan issue. She had received a warm welcome from Tibetans, for a first such visit of a higher official from the Biden administration.
This key visit comes shortly after the President of Central Tibetan Administration Penpa Tsering's visit to Washington in April. During his visit, Tsering met with the US Special envoy along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
( With inputs from ANI )
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