Following the invasion of Eastern Tibet by Mao's troops, euphemistically called the People's Liberation Army, on May 23, 1951 a 17-point agreement was signed between the representatives of Tibet and the authorities of revolutionary China, with which the Tibetans recognized Chinese sovereignty over Tibet under the threat that otherwise all of Tibet would be invaded. On the 70th anniversary of the agreement, Chinese President Xi Jinping went to Tibet to legitimize the persecutory work of his regime and his predecessors.
"All regions and people of all ethnic groups in Tibet will march towards a happy life," said the Chinese president with propaganda emphasis on his first official visit on Friday, July 23, to Tibet since he came to power in 2013." (Source RaiNews.it).
"Freeing" a people (the Tibetan) by oppressing them more than their previous rulers did (in Tibet, until then, the legal institution of serfdom was in force), smothering in blood any dissidence from the CCP's single thinking and in fact "killing" the millenary language, culture and religion that make up the identity of Tibetans is certainly not a sign of progress and freedom. An eloquent proof of this is the new Code of Conduct described in an article that appeared on the International Campaign for Tibet website on July 14 this year, which denounces a further history of repression and limitation of religious freedom.
Code of Conduct Forbids Religiosity by Tibetan CCP Members
A new code of conduct for members of the Chinese Communist Party in the Tibet Autonomous Region explicitly forbids party members from all forms of religiosity in both public and private life.
International Campaign for Tibet (14.07.2021) — The six-point code of conduct, currently in trial, is significant for being perhaps the first party regulation that clearly and comprehensively details the specific types of religiosity forbidden for party members in the TAR (Tibetan Autonomous Region). Examples of explicitly forbidden conduct include wearing rosary beads or religious imagery, forwarding or liking religious materials online and circumambulating mountains and lakes.
Party members are also required to take on an active role to propagate the party’s anti-religion stance by advising relatives to downplay their religious consciousness, not set up altars or hang religious imagery in homes, and seek party approval before inviting religious personnel to conduct rituals for customary occasions such as weddings and funerals.
The International Campaign for Tibet obtained the code of conduct document, which has been in internal circulation among party members since April 2021. ICT believes that the “Code of Conduct for Communist Party Members in the Tibet Autonomous Region for Not Believing in Religion” is specifically aimed at Tibetan members in the CCP, despite the document being formally titled as applicable to all Communist Party members in the TAR.
According to state media, a study campaign to promote strict compliance to the code of conduct by party members is currently underway in various parts of the TAR.
Against the backdrop of a growing number of new laws on controlling and limiting Tibetan Buddhist practices and containing the spread of Tibetan Buddhism in the Chinese heartland, the newly issued code of conduct for the TAR party members uniquely defines what is not permissible for Tibetan party members in the TAR. The code not only forbids party members from all forms of religiosity (both subtle and overt) at an individual level, but it also extends their obligation as party advisors to their family and society at large. By obligating party members to advise their family members and relatives not to participate in religious activities, the party seemingly aims to make a direct impact on over 50% of the Tibetan society in the TAR to not believe in Tibetan Buddhism.
Religiosity forbidden for the party members in the TAR and their obligation as party advisors in the code of conduct are as follows:
- Not wearing beads and statues on your body.
- Not tattooing religious scriptures or signs on your body.
- Not placing religious signs on office premises or official vehicles.
- Not participating in group religious study and religious chanting.
- Not donating money and materials to monasteries.
- Not going for religious ritual visits, pilgrimage.
- Not receiving ordination, making religious offerings.
- No religious or spiritual retreats.
- No circumambulation of mountains and lakes.
- Not inviting monks and nuns and performing divination for family members or performing prayers or providing names to children.
- No forwarding or liking religious audio, video, religious information or scriptures.
- Not sending children to monasteries as monks and nuns, not sending them to places of religious worship or schools run by religious believers.
- No to the 14th Dalai Lama.
The obligations of Tibetan party members toward family members and the society are:
- Guide religious family members and relatives to downplay their religious consciousness.
- Advise them not to set up altars, place religious objects or hang religious pictures or photos of religious personalities at home.
- Advise family members and relatives not to participate in religious activities or do so as little as possible.
- In case of customary activities (such as weddings and funerals) permission must be sought from the party branch before inviting religious personnel to carry out religious activities.
- Promptly stop family members and close relatives on trips abroad from having audience with the 14th Dalai Lama or participate in various religious ceremonies and activities organized by the 14th Dalai Lama and the “Dalai clique.” Report to the party if they could not be stopped.
- Instruct the religious public to treat religion consciously, change their customs and reduce the influence of religion.
Read the full article on International Campaign for Tibet
