Taipei, March 11 Around 300 people participated in an annual march in Taiwan's capital, Taipei, to mark the 1959 Tibetan uprising, with organisers warning that China's "expansion of authoritarian rule will not stop in just one place," local media reported.
Chairman of the Tibet Religious Foundation, Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa, said, "Tibet's story is also a reminder to the world, especially Taiwan," Central News Agency (CNA) reported.
"The expansion of authoritarian rule will not stop in just one place," he said, adding that China's influence has already reached Uyghurs, Southern Mongolians, Hong Kong and other regions of the world through "transnational repression, united front infiltration and long-arm jurisdiction."
Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa termed it important to mark Tibetan Uprising Day in Taiwan so that calls from the island nation to back Tibet's dignity and democracy are heard in the world. He mentioned that Tibetan Uprising Day falls on March 10 and commemorates the day in 1959 when around 10,000 Tibetans gathered in Lhasa to hold a protest against the stringent control of China.
According to the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan, the authorities brutally suppressed, resulting in the Dalai Lama's exile and forcing around 150,000 Tibetans to move overseas, CNA reported.
Yeh Ta-hua, a commissioner at Taiwan's National Human Rights Commission, said Taiwanese in the past 67 years have witnessed how Tibetans had "fearlessly resisted" the "brutal rule" of Chinese authorities while protecting their freedom and faith. He said supporting Tibet implies supporting democracy and freedom of Tibet, adding that the people of Taiwan should support Tibetans in protecting the "autonomy of religious reincarnation and resisting transnational repression."
Speaking to CNA, University student Jacky Ling, who was part of the protest, said that people of Taiwan could learn about identity from Tibetans, who he said were firmly identifying themselves as Tibetan and safeguarding their own religion, language and clothing.
"In matters of national identity, if you do not have a clear sense of who you are, it becomes very easy for outside voices to define you, and you end up becoming whatever they say you are," he said, referring to Beijing's efforts to reshape how people of Taiwan see themselves.
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