Tibetan spokesperson hails European Parliament resolution on Chinese boarding schools

Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh) [India], December 18 : Central Tibetan Administration spokesperson Tenzin Lekshay hailed the European Parliament resolution on the abduction of Tibetan children and forced assimilation practises through Chinese boarding schools in Tibet.

He also said that the real threat to the Tibetans is not from the uniformed Chinese personnel but from the "annihilation" of their cultural identities.

Speaking to ANI, Lekshay said, "The European Parliament has passed a resolution on Tibet, especially on the colonial-style boarding schools that were established by the Chinese government. It was passed with the majority of more than around 400 members".

"This resolution is very important in a way to call upon the Chinese leaders to shut down all the colonial-style boarding schools inside Tibet," he added.

He said that this move will have an impact on China because all the European states have bilateral relations with Beijing.

"It will suddenly have an impact on China because all the European States have bilateral and multilateral relations with China and these resolutions will suddenly make the Chinese leaders think that what they have done inside Tibet was wrong. The European Parliament is very precise in calling the Chinese leaders to shut down the colonial-style Board schools," he said.

The Tibetan spokesperson further said that the biggest challenge for Tibet is not from the uniformed personnel but instead from the "assimilation" and "annihilation" of the Tibet culture.

"As of now, the biggest challenge that we are facing is not through the uniformed armies that are pervading Tibet. It is more about the assimilation of Tibetan culture and identities. This is some kind of cohesive policy system that was introduced by the Chinese to annihilate the dependent cultural identity," Lekshay said.

He added, "More than one million kids have been put up in these residential schools where they were politically indoctrinated. Therefore, we feared it was a kind of existential threat to the Tibetan identity and it also caused a huge psychological trauma for the kids."