COVID DEATH SURGE IN TIBET

Years of discussion have focused on the Tibet-China conflict, but up until now, neither the attention nor the justice have been given to the Tibetan liberation fight. The Chinese government has never wavered in its efforts to tighten its painful grip on the Tibetan people, and the human rights situation in Tibet has gotten significantly worse over time. When the epidemic struck, the entire globe suffered, but since Tibet’s status was already deplorable, it could not have grown any worse. However, the current COVID-19 epidemic in Tibet has caused problems for the authorities and made life for the Tibetans living there intolerable. According to reports, the government’s Zero COVID policy resulted in harsh, unjustified measures and seriously endangered the lives of the Tibetan people. The outbreak started on August 7th, 2022, and lockdowns commenced immediately after.

Due to the outbreak’s suddenness, the government was also in a state of shock. As usual, China barred journalists and other observers from entering Tibet in order to assess the gravity of the situation there and to learn more about it. The only source of information was the Chinese media, which is definitely the most biassed channel because it totally complies with the government’s intentions. The Chinese government made sure to emphasise that the outbreak originated in the Tibetan region and that it appeared to be the third generation sub-variant of Omicron. They even went so far as to say that the specific variety had not yet been seen anywhere in China.

After stringent lockdowns designed to stop the spread of the disease were lifted by Chinese authorities in early December, Tibetan sources report that COVID deaths had risen in Tibetan parts of China. According to a source who lives in Tibet, since the zero-COVID policy’s limits were loosened on December 7 in response to protracted demonstrations across China, more than 100 people have perished in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. According to the source, 64 victims were burnt in the Drigung Cemetery in Maldro Gongkar alone on January 2. Additionally, 30 bodies were cremated at the Tsemonling Cemetery, 17 bodies at the Sera Cemetery, and another 15 bodies at a cemetery in Toelung Dechen. Previously, just three to four people a day were cremated in these cemeteries in the Lhasa region, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for security concerns.

Other sources reported that COVID has also claimed the lives of Tibetans in the western Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, and Qinghai’s Ngaba, Sangchu, Kardze, and Lithang regions. So many remains were taken to Ngaba’s Kirti monastery in Sichuan that some were left out to feed the vultures. According to a Tibetan resident of Sichuan’s Derge county who spoke to RFA under the condition of anonymity in order to avoid drawing the notice of authorities, “COVID has

penetrated every corner of Tibet.” A hospital in Gansu’s Sangchu county solely stated that they had “a handful of COVID patients” at its institution in response to requests for comment made to government hospitals, which did not respond to any inquiries. The public was already worried that China might conceal information regarding the pandemic’s progress after the loosening of limitations, but on December 25 the National Health Commission of China declared that it will stop publishing the daily COVID case counts.

Chinese authorities in Tibet are clamping down on the taking of photos or video recordings at local cemeteries in a bid to keep news of rising COVID deaths in the region from reaching the outside world, Radio Free Asia has learned. After lockdowns to stop the spread of the disease were lifted by authorities in the first few days of December, the number of fatalities in Tibetan regions of China has risen again. According to a local source who spoke on the condition of anonymity for security reasons, between 15 to 20 bodies are now transported daily to a cemetery in the Tibetan Autonomous Region’s Drigung and to other cemeteries in the city of Lhasa. The insider claimed that “the Chinese government has imposed strong restrictions around the cemeteries in Lhasa.” “People are not permitted to record or share recordings or photos of the scenes in graves.”

Due to the current restrictions on access to hospitals and other medical facilities, the insider continued, “We have not been able to confirm all the causes of death.” Four individuals, including two local government workers, perished on January 7 in Dragyab county, Chamdo prefecture, according to sources who spoke with RFA. Additionally, according to some sources, dead are reportedly being transported in huge numbers from nearby districts to the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Serta county, Sichuan, for cremation. According to sources, the Chinese government has in the meantime reopened Tibet to tourists from other parts of China. In Lhasa, officials have announced free entrance to the city’s tourist sites.

The Covid mortality surge has made life for Tibetans increasingly difficult, yet the government continues to be unaware of these difficulties. Tibetans are not allowed to use the medical facilities, and the entire problem is being handled behind closed doors without anyone in the outside world knowing. Tibetans endure unending suffering and death at the hands of ruthless Chinese rule, as well as the current Covid pandemic. The condition of the Tibetan people demands international assistance and that such cruel and unfair activities be stopped. While the rest of the globe is recovering from the Covid outbreak, Tibetans continue to struggle for access to basic services rather than having the time to heal.

US company supplied DNA collection equipments used in TAR by China

In December 2022, four members of the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) wrote a letter expressing concern to Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., a U.S. based company and supplier of scientific instrumentation, that the company’s products may have contributed to Chinese Communist Party’s abuse of Tibetan People.
Thermo Fisher is reported to have sold DNA Kits and replacement parts for Sequencers directly to Police Force in Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) to enable mass surveillance and human rights abuses. Sales of replacement parts imply that security authorities in the TAR already possess company’s DNA sequencers as well.
Two recent studies have documented evidence of mass collection of DNA samples from residents in the TAR. First, a September 2022 report by Toronto-based Citizen Lab found that between June 2016 and August 2022 police in the TAR collected between roughly 900,000 and 1.2 million DNA samples. The Citizen Lab report found that police collected DNA samples from roughly a quarter to a third of the population of the TAR. Citizen Lab’s analysis determined that the activity was not apparently related to any criminal activity and that police targeted men, women, and children for DNA collection. Second, a report by Human Rights Watch in the same month identified DNA collection drives in 14 distinct localities across the seven prefecture-level areas of the TAR. Blood samples were systematically collected from children at kindergartens and from other local residents, and available information suggested that the collection was involuntary and evidence of criminal conduct was not required for collection.
A 2017 Human Rights Watch report found that Thermo Fisher Scientific had supplied police in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) with some of the DNA sequencers used in a mass DNA collection campaign in the region. In subsequent months, reports emerged that the Chinese Communist Party established a system of mass surveillance and mass detention of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim Turkic peoples.
Though, in February 2019, the company announced that it would stop selling or servicing genetic sequencers in the XUAR as ‘consistent with Thermo Fisher’s values,
2
ethics code and policies’, a June 2021 New York Times investigation found that the police in the XUAR were still purchasing equipment made by Thermo Fisher.
Though the exact intention of Chinese authorities behind collection of DNA samples in TAR is not known, going by the policies and methods that PRC security forces have employed to exert intrusive social controls over minority populations like Uyghurs and Tibetans, it is feared that DNA collection could enable further gross violations of their human rights.
Given that there are so few safeguards for how DNA is gathered and used in the PRC, it is alarming that the U.S. companies, including Thermo Fisher Scientific, may be wittingly or unwittingly aiding or abetting human rights abuses. The company must conduct an investigation into how its products reportedly came to be used in the XUAR even after its statement that it would no longer sell there. The company should consider implementing a blanket prohibition on all sales of its products to state and non-state entities in the PRC in order to assure its shareholders and the American public that its products cannot be used in the commitment of human rights abuses in that country.

CHINA USING MODERN MEDICINE AS A COLONIAL TOOL

International opposition is growing against Beijing for DNA profiling of people in Tibet and Xinjiang

China is running two special demographic profiling campaigns these days which have attracted international attention and opposition from the human rights groups and political leaders of Europe and USA. One campaign is about mass scanning of irises of people in the Qinghai province and the other is about mass Blood sampling of Tibetan people for their DNA profiling. On the face of it these campaigns may look like any other public health related programs which are common in most of the countries. But it is the fishy history of China’s treatment of its occupied colonies which makes it stink. And the stink is now being felt across the continents.
On 19th December parliamentarians from 15 countries called upon their respective governments to sanction their companies who are involved in supplying equipment and chemical reagents to China to run these programs. In a letter, signed jointly by MPs from countries including USA, the European Union, Canada, UK, Switzerland, Ukraine, Czech Republic and New Zealand, they have called upon their governments to investigate and suspend business activities with companies supplying the PRC government with biometric surveillance technology which are being used in East Turkistan (Ch: ‘Xinjiang’) and Tibet. These MPs are members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC).
Human Right Watch, a prominent action group had earlier reported that PRC authorities have been conducting mass DNA collection program in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) since 2016 and it has already covered a third of Tibetan population which includes children also. The US government has already included in its sanction-list the PRC-State funded gene firm BGI Group for participating in a similar DNA collection campaign in Xinjiang in 2020. American company Thermo Fisher is known for supplying DNA profiling kits to Chinese police in TAR. In a report released by ‘The citizen Lab’ and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto in Canada on December 22 it is said that the Chinese police have scanned the iris of over 1.2 million citizens of Qinghai province of China for their security database. The biometric scanned data of the iris in a human’s eye is a vital tool to identity an individual among a set of millions of people as it works like the fingerprint of an individual. Qinghai has a dominant population of Tibetan and Hui Muslims. In order to justify this programme the Chinese police department claims that the programme is “necessary for mass iris scan collection, including fighting crime, finding missing people, and upgrading national ID cards”. Human rights activists fear that this type of scanning will further strengthen and give new teeth to the already overbearing electronic surveillance system that uses millions of CCTV cameras and face recognition tools which are supported by artificial intelligence.
The inclusion of modern medicine tools like DNA profiling and iris scanning at mass levels has given rise to fears of using these tools to further promote China’s inhuman international business of forcibly harvested human organs. This multi-billion dollar business, patronized by senior communist leaders and top military brass of PLA has gained extraordinary momentum since 1999 when erstwhile President Jiang Zemin unleashed his campaign to crush the fast spreading movement of Falun Gang, a spiritual movement whose followers practice Yoga like health exercises and abstain from vices like alcohol and smoking. In the following years the human organs, harvested from executed political ‘criminals’ and Falun Gang prisoners finally
lead to an organized and nationwide flourishing medical ‘business.’ This business is based on the database of DNA and blood profiles of thepeople living in official and undeclared jails of the CCP. Interestingly, China has emerged as the biggest centre of organ transplant in the world because of quick availability of human organs like kidney, liver, cornea, spleen, pancreas and even lungs and hearts at a much lower price as compared to any other country.
In a recently held international webinar on “Forcibly Harvesting of Human Organs in China” by the Centre for Himalayan Asia Studies and Engagement of New Delhi,Dr. EnverTohtiBughda, an exiled medical doctor of Uygur origin testified and gave gory details of how a nationwide databank of Blood and DNA profile of prisoners is used to provide perfectly matching organs to patients from rich western and Gulf countries on an as short notice as four hours. “While patients needing liver or kidney transplant may have to wait for months or years and spend hundreds of thousand dollars in a country like America, there are Chinese hospitals who offer a matching organ within four hours of admission and for only a few thousand dollars,” he said.
Ms. Jennifer Zeng, popular for her YouTube channel “Inconvenient Truths by Jennifer Zeng” used to be a researcher at a top ranking research centre of the State Council of PRC before she escaped and settled in USA. As a devoted Falun Gang practitioner she is now a leading activist against forced harvesting of human organs in China. She gave example of an American patient who was on the long waiting list of a leading heart transplant institute. One day this patient surprised his doctor by telling him that he was going to China where his heart transplant surgery has been scheduled on a specific day. “The doctor had the shock of his life when the patient returned home after having his transplant in China on the prescheduled date. Since human heart cannot survive outside human body beyond very few hours, so it must have been a live ‘donor’ with perfectly matching and pre-tested blood profile who had been left to die after his heart was taken out and transplanted in this patient,” she said.
Pointing out at the vast Chinese data bank of blood profiles and other health details as the real secret of flourishing organ transplant business in today’s China, Dr. Tohti says, “This business is thriving in China only because this database provides perfect victim donors who are allowed to be murdered on the surgeon’s table.” The international anger against the Chinese government and the supportive western companies who supply biometric technologies to the communist masters of China’s colonies is understandable and is hence, growing.

China’s Lies about the Repression in Tibet

The world is well aware of the struggle between Tibet and China. Since China’s illegitimate conquest of Tibet, the Tibetan people have been fighting for their freedom, and they are still doing so now. It is becoming a typical problem for Tibetans in Tibet to be denied access to their fundamental rights. Tibetans are powerless, voiceless, and helpless under the communist party’s autocratic control. Unsurprisingly, the Chinese government’s intentions, plans, and schemes are never in the interests of the Tibetan people, and circumstances have only gotten worse and more difficult. In Tibet, there is no end to the ongoing political and religious persecution. The suppression of religion has been more severe over the years, and China’s larger plan to completely sinicize Tibet will continue to include this ongoing assault on Tibetan Buddhism and its practises. Numerous monasteries, nunneries, and other places of worship, as well as historical artefacts, have already been destroyed in Tibet. In Tibet, monks and nuns are forced to take off their robes and live like commoners, which ultimately results in their being deprived of the right to practise or study their religion.

The United States imposed sanctions on scores of people and organisations “linked to corruption or human rights abuse across nine countries” on December 9, 2022, the day before International Human Rights Day. Two of them were charged with “severe human rights abuse” in the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China (TAR). They are Zhang Hongbo, the head of the Chinese police in Tibet, and Wu Yingjie, formerly the province party secretary. The People’s Republic of China’s efforts to severely restrict religious freedoms led to Tibetans suffering “arbitrary incarceration, extrajudicial murders, and physical abuse” while they were in charge, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

China responded angrily to such measures on 12th December, 2022 by labelling American allegations of rights violations in Tibet and other parts of China as “full of distortions and bias.” Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, declared that the alleged “repressive policies in Tibet” were a misrepresentation of the truth. This is untrue. Tibetans have seen a campaign of “Sinicization,” in which they are compelled to assimilate into Chinese society at the expense of their own language and culture, similar to what is happening in China’s northwest Xinjiang region. These campaigns have involved violations of fundamental rights that were ordered by the state. Tibet operated as a de facto independent state prior to China’s forcible conquest of Tibet in 1951, which China falsely refers to as a “peaceful liberation.”

The top spiritual figure in Tibet and former head of state and government, the Dalai Lama was driven into exile in 1959. Many Tibetans have been in exile for many years and still firmly support the Dalai Lama. Religious repression has been at the heart of forced assimilation in Tibet, where public displays of support for the Dalai Lama have been made illegal. Freedom House, a nonpartisan organisation based in Washington, D.C. that works to advance democracy and liberty around the world, noted in its 2022 Freedom in the World report that “authorities are especially rigorous in suppressing any signs of dissent among Tibetans, including manifestations of Tibetan religious beliefs and cultural identity.” According to a 2020 report by Amnesty International, Tibetans are “arbitrarily jailed for routine religious activities that authorities regarded to signs of extremism’ under cover of so-called ‘De-extremification Regulations’.” Twenty Tibetan monks from Tengdro monastery in Tingri county, Tibet, were held on the mere suspicion of contact with Tibetans living overseas, according to Human Rights Watch, a New York City-based organisation. Four of the monks were given “extraordinarily punitive sentences” of up to 20 years, “with little respect to the evidence in the case,” after being tried “in secret on unknown charges.”

Authorities in Tibet’s police and prisons frequently use violence. Kunchok Jinpa, a tour guide who had been given a 21-year sentence for writing about unrest in Tibet, passed away in February 2021 as a result of torture in prison, where he reportedly experienced paralysis and suffered a brain haemorrhage. According to Human Rights Watch, a 19-year-old Tibetan monk who was first detained in 2019 and then detained again the following year passed away in detention after being beaten and mistreated. He had been imprisoned alongside other monks who had been given prison terms of up to five years for peacefully promoting Tibet’s independence. According to Radio Free Asia, a second political prisoner named Norsang died mysteriously after being released from a Tibetan jail, where local reports claim he was similarly subjected to torture. This incident occurred in 2019. There are innumerable cases as such.

The U.S. State Department stated that “impunity for abuses of human rights was endemic” in Tibet in its 2021 human rights report on China. According to the research, there is no proof that officials who commit unlawful killings or other atrocities against detainees have ever been looked into or punished. A Tibetan shopkeeper was given a five-year prison sentence for carrying a banner with a picture of the Dalai Lama on it, according to RFA. Tibetans have also been detained for celebrating the Dalai Lama’s birthday. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Panchen Lama and second-highest religious figure in Tibetan Buddhism, was “disappeared” by China 27 years ago. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who was six years old when he vanished, has been dubbed the youngest political prisoner in history.

Tibet has been referred to as “China’s laboratory for repression; a site where the Chinese authorities have tested, and sought to perfect, methods of mass surveillance and abject control,” according to the International Tibet Network, a global coalition of Tibet-related nongovernmental groups. Since 2020, more than 500,000 Tibetans have been housed in “military-led ‘vocational training’ institutions,” according to a study by Freedom House. The primary battle in the Tibetan people’s campaign for freedom has been bringing up the subject of Tibet on a global scale. Over the years, Tibet’s condition has deteriorated, and the savagery there requires quick assistance. If China is not condemned or held accountable for all of its wrongdoing, it will continue to inflict such havoc and violate all human rights.

China’s COVID-19 Vaccine Race Backfires on Efficacy, Causing Global Resurgence of Coronavirus

The novel Coronavirus pandemic was first identified in an outbreak in Wuhan City, China in December 2019[1]. The symptoms range from fever, dry cough, and fatigue to severe illness causing death. By December 2022, the pandemic had caused more than 6.65 million confirmed deaths, making it the deadliest outbreak in history.

In 2020, billions of dollars were invested by corporations, governments, international health organisations, and university research institutions to develop dozens of vaccines to immunise against COVID-19 infection[2]. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), presented geographical distribution data on COVID-19 vaccine development that shows North American institutions to have about 40% activity compared to 30% in Asia and Australia, 26% in Europe, and few projects in South America and Africa[3].

On 24 June 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) gave China the “green light” to use the CanSino vaccine — a vaccine developed in urgency though they had not yet completed clinical trials — for limited use in the military, and two inactivated virus vaccines for emergency use in high-risk occupations[4].

The Sinopharm BIBP COVID-19 vaccine, alias BBIBP-CorV, or BIBP vaccine is one of two whole inactivated vaccines called SARS-CoV2 (Vero Cell) developed by Sinopharm’s Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China National Biotech Group (CNBG)[5]. The BBIBP-CorV shares similar technology with CoronaVac, alias Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, which is the second whole inactivated vaccine developed by the Chinese state-owned company Sinovac Biotech Ltd[6].

Later in the year 2020, WHO permitted China to roll out its vaccines globally under WHO’s Emergency Use Listing (EUL) which allows countries to expedite their own regulatory approval to import and administer COVID-19 vaccines[7]. China completed phase III trials in Argentina, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with over 60,000 participants[8].

By 2021 China administered 2.4 billion doses to its citizens, and almost 1.3 billion vaccine doses were distributed globally[9]. By 2022, Sinopharm claimed to have distributed over 3.5 billion doses globally[10]. Major imports of the vaccine were made to Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran, Philippines, Morocco, Thailand, Argentina, Venezuela, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Chile, Mexico, and Bangladesh in terms of the majority[11].

In 2022, a “Statistical Table of Adverse Reactions to COVID-19 Vaccines”(2022) published by Laishui County’s community health center in Baoding City, Hebei Province shows that people injected with Chinese vaccines have suffered adverse reactions including fever, nausea, diarrhea, and more deaths [12]; the Leadership Team for Epidemic Response in Hebei province notified of “Further Strengthening Safety Management of COVID-19 Vaccination[13].” document issued by the Baoding Municipal Leadership Team for Epidemic Response that leaked online recorded a case of a local resident being quarantined by Chinese authorities for 47 days despite being fully vaccinated with Chinese vaccines[14].

Documents leaked were labeled as “extra urgent and non-disclosure to the public,” and they emphasized increased monitoring of people with adverse reactions[15].This paved the way for China’s “zero-covid policy”, which began during the current mass protests[16]ever witnessed in China’s history. Beijing began taking steps to address this issue by producing the world’s first “inhalable COVID vaccine”[17] targeting the elderly sector[18]. However, after the mass protest eruption, the Chinese government shifted to focus on quarantining everyone and forced comprehensive tests on all age groups — which covered blood routine, CT, blood serum, and nucleic acid tests. 

In tests conducted on blood serum, there were positive results for IgM antibody – this is usually the first antibody produced by the immune system when a virus attacks. A positive test for this antibody may indicate that the body has recently been infected[19] – even after conducting repeat tests by the Chinese authorities, the results were confirmed for IgM even after they were fully vaccinated.

The Baoding Municipal Government’s Foreign Affairs Office issued policies that regulate “those tested IgM positive must be quarantined at a centralised site, and released only when the tests turn negative.”[20] The urgency for Chinese authorities to conduct rapid tests is because IgM antibodies appear in the early stages of COVID-19. However, after being vaccinated and quarantined for nearly 47 days, it is unusual for IgM antibodies to test positive. And this is how China began its mass quarantine of its citizens after its vaccines brutally failed to deliver what it promised, and the draconian Zero-Covid policy was implemented by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) across the country.

China’s sudden outbreaks demonstrate a lack of effectiveness of its vaccines, prompting global concerns, especially in countries that China supplies vaccines to. Initially, China discouraged the use of international vaccines like Moderna and Pfizer and instead promoted its domestic vaccines.

The government of Turkey that initially accepted Chinese vaccines is now scrutinising its efficacy after learning of China’s supposed involvement in data tampering of side effects only to boost vaccine sales[21]. In December 2020, Indonesia and Brazil initially reported 97% and 78% efficacy in Chinese vaccines. However, in 2021 both countries doubled down the digits to 65% and 50.4% efficacy and expressed concerns over major side effects[22]. Following a resurgence in infections and deaths, Thailand and Singapore revoked the Chinese vaccines and replaced them with ones made by AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

China’s competitive nature to dominate the vaccine industry predates 2018, the vaccine scandal of Changsheng Bio-technology Co., Ltd.[23] The National Institutes for Food and Drug Control approved the supply of 276.6 million doses (37 kinds of vaccines) to the market from January—July 2019. Thereof, China National Biotech Group (including Chengdu Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd., Shanghai Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd., Lanzhou Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd., Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd., Changchun Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd. and Changchun Keygen Biological Products Co., Ltd.) boasted the largest lot release volume of total 43.4% aiming to stay far ahead of others as the bellwether in the Chinese vaccine industry[24].

Chinese vaccine companies have broken the monopoly of their foreign peers on novel vaccines like the 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine and HPV vaccine, in their race to spend more on research and development[25]. It was imperative for China to dominate the COVID-19 vaccine market and change the status quo, but its inactivated vaccines backfired.


[1] COVID-19 pandemic at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic

[2] History of COVID-19 vaccine development at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_COVID-19_vaccine_development

[3] History of COVID-19 vaccine development at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_COVID-19_vaccine_development

[4] “Coronavirus: WHO backed China’s emergency use of experimental vaccines, health official says” by Zhuang Pinghui at https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3103121/coronavirus-who-backed-chinas-emergency-use-experimental

[5] “WHO lists additional COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use and issues interim policy recommendations” at https://www.who.int/news/item/07-05-2021-who-lists-additional-covid-19-vaccine-for-emergency-use-and-issues-interim-policy-recommendations

[6] “CoronaVac” at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoronaVac

[7] “WHO lists additional COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use and issues interim policy recommendations” at https://www.who.int/news/item/07-05-2021-who-lists-additional-covid-19-vaccine-for-emergency-use-and-issues-interim-policy-recommendations

[8] “Sinopharm BIBP COVID-19 vaccine” at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinopharm_BIBP_COVID-19_vaccine

[9] “China’s COVID vaccines have been crucial — now immunity is waning” by Smriti Mallapaty at https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02796-w

[10] www.sinopharm.com/en/s/1395-4689-40366.html

[11] “China’s COVID vaccines have been crucial — now immunity is waning” by Smriti Mallapaty at https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02796-w

[12] “Leaked Documents Reveal Cases of Adverse Reactions to Chinese-Made COVID-19 Vaccines” by Alex Wu at https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/adverse-reactions-to-chinese-made-covid-19-vaccines-appeared-in-china-leaked-documents_3786353.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-04-22-1&mktids=ad366318dce19d55b674b0b2510d3e19&est=gRd7hubMI1Mpi7RhUtuHWJkwz8B5k7k5YBWHyappWYIlW6Nkm9k0XQ0KqtzRsPbA

[13] “DEATH, DISABILITY AMONG SIDE EFFECTS OF CHINESE COVID-19 VACCINES, LEAKED DOCUMENTS REVEAL” by Gail Dutton at https://www.pharmalive.com/death-disability-among-side-effects-of-chinese-covid-19-vaccines-leaked-documents-reveal/

[14] “Adverse Reactions, Deaths After Getting Chinese Vaccine” by Tiffany Meier at https://www.theepochtimes.com/adverse-reactions-deaths-after-getting-chinese-vaccine_4027899.html

[15] “China just reported a record high day of coronavirus cases” by JP Mangalindan at https://www.insider.com/china-reports-record-number-of-covid-cases-nationwide-2022-11

[16] “China Covid protests explained: why are people demonstrating and what will happen next?” By Helen Davidson at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/28/china-protests-explained-why-are-people-demonstrating-blank-piece-white-paper-a4-what-will-happen-next-zero-covid-policy-protest

[17] “China rolls out first inhalable COVID vaccine” at https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-rolls-out-first-inhalable-covid-vaccine-2022-10-28/

[18] “30% of Chinese Seniors Haven’t Been Boosted” by Niels Graham at https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/econographics/the-numbers-that-drove-chinas-zero-covid-policy/

[19] “The Difference between Tests for COVID-19 (Coronavirus)” at https://www.nationaljewish.org/patients-visitors/patient-info/important-updates/coronavirus-information-and-resources/testing-info-resources/the-difference-between-tests-for-covid-19

[20] “Leaked Documents Reveal Cases of Adverse Reactions to Chinese-Made COVID-19 Vaccines” by Alex Wu at https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/adverse-reactions-to-chinese-made-covid-19-vaccines-appeared-in-china-leaked-documents_3786353.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-04-22-1&mktids=ad366318dce19d55b674b0b2510d3e19&est=gRd7hubMI1Mpi7RhUtuHWJkwz8B5k7k5YBWHyappWYIlW6Nkm9k0XQ0KqtzRsPbA

[21] “Chinese vaccines proven ineffective becoming problem for world” at https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/chinese-vaccines-proven-ineffective-becoming-problem-for-world-the-singapore-post/articleshow/96056855.cms

[22] “Chinese vaccines proven ineffective becoming problem for world” at https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/chinese-vaccines-proven-ineffective-becoming-problem-for-world-the-singapore-post/articleshow/96056855.cms

[23] “China Human Vaccine Industry Report, 2019-2025 Featuring 22 Human Vaccine Companies” at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/china-human-vaccine-industry-report-2019-2025-featuring-22-human-vaccine-companies-300954129.html

[24] “China Human Vaccine Industry Report, 2019-2025 Featuring 22 Human Vaccine Companies” at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/china-human-vaccine-industry-report-2019-2025-featuring-22-human-vaccine-companies-300954129.html

[25] “China Human Vaccine Industry Report, 2019-2025 Featuring 22 Human Vaccine Companies” at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/china-human-vaccine-industry-report-2019-2025-featuring-22-human-vaccine-companies-300954129.html

China’s Tibet Policy based on stifling dissent and suppressing basic Human Rights

Human rights violation against Tibetan population has been on a substantive rise in the past year or so. The Chinese Communist Party’s suppressive outlook in Tibet has led to belief that China is potentially gearing up for a significant crackdown on protesting groups that it views as threat to its power.

Multiple Chinese embassies across the world say protests erupting outside its premises on 10th December to mark the International Human Rights Day. Among the protesters were Tibetans living in exile and in hope that one day they could unite with their homeland. Even after the Tibetan native populations cause have largely remained an international issue, China’s rise in the international order has helped it side-line agendas discussing the gross human rights violation it orchestrates inside of the region.

The Tibetan population has mostly been on the receiving end of violent crackdowns, surpassing the ones that have already bloated the CCP’s image of a violent regime.Apart from discrimination preventing the use of local culture and language, the communities are also banned from propagating the Dalai Lama’s name or writings. Such is the fear of mass revolt that can provoke the local community and thus has mostly resulted in state suppression of both communities and news outlets in reporting such crimes.In the past thirty years, hundreds of young Tibetans have self-immolated themselves and have given up their life to bring to notice the regressive nature of the Chinese state.

Many Tibetans watchers have stated that the Chinese Tibetan policy relies heavily upon limiting foreign contact in Tibet as well as preventing economic prosperity and development in the adjoining regions. More so, the Chinese state has also heavily relied on altering the local demography in an attempt to disbalance the ethnic and cultural blend of the region and more so of the belief system of Tibet itself.

Early this year in January, a significant religious statue standing 99 feet tall along with 45 traditional payer wheels for Tibetan pilgrims in Drago in Tibetan Autonomous Region was brought down in concerted attempt to destabilize the ongoing situation. Authorities also went on to supress the news while arresting dozens of local and placing them into labour camps.

More so, many protesting social activists including prominent writers and poets have been censored from producing content criticising the Chinese authorities. A primary reason for the censorship is understood to be the propagation of Tibetan identity which is considered a red line by China’s political class. Furthermore, the restrictions on local language as well as their religion is testimony to the power Tibet’s culture withholds in the form of worrying the CCP and its potential dangers to the ruling elite in the country. A parallel can be easily

drawn from the violent nature of suppression that takes place in the form of fatal torture conducted by Chinese state police in the region.

Recently in one of his speeches, China’s president Xi Jinping deemed his intention to building an impregnable fortress to ward of any threat posed by revolutionaries in Tibet. This was not only a direct threat to those seeking better living conditions for the general public of the distraught region, but was also directed to those that attempted to preserve their culture form the clutches of vicious Chinese suppression. The horrific memory of malicious intent of ruthless killing and arresting from the 2008 Tibet protests still live on in the lives of those affected. Since then, the motto of forced assimilation has been China’s top most strategy for the Tibet region, irrespective of the consequences upon the lives of communities residing in the region.

Upon Xi Jinping’s previous visit to Nepal, a troublesome extradition bill was signed by both the governments, which largely went unnoticed due to the attention on Hong Kong’s prevailing instability. One of the many proposals that were inked was the understanding that would extradite Tibetan refuges from Nepal. Kathmandu has been seen to be the defacto route to escape the treacherous atmosphere that has been created behest the CCP. Hence, when Nepal attempted to stall the treaty, president Xi personally negotiated to clear the roadways for the deal. It would not be a surprise if China sweetened the deal by pledging infrastructural development in the country as an exchange for extradition of Tibetans that sought a better future in India. However, a far worse prospect emerged after the details ofthe treaty came to light in the public; the captured Tibetan national would have to face a daunting prosecution of the penal system in China.

It is thus prudent to understand that China’s tactics in the Tibetan region is not going to ease off anytime soon, rather on the contrary it is only expected to intensify the aggressive nature CCP has bestowed over innocent locals who have only attempted to preserve their identity of thousand years.

China’s state suppression of the Tibet region thus requires as much as international attention and condemnation as the other regions such as Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan. China’s rise to the global order has resulted in far more suppressive approach in the CCP’s attempt to consolidate power. The prospects of a complete annihilation of the Tibetan identity must not be taken lightly, China’s subversive tactics across its sensitive regions have proved to the world that China’s rise is not going to be one that will promote a peaceful world order, more yet it will be one that causes stifling of dissent and suppression of human rights.

THE CCP AND ITS SINICIZATION PLANS IN A POST DALAI LAMA ERA

 China’s growth at the dawn of the 21st century was poised to be one based out of global collective values. It was stated that the upcoming years of development would be led by a peaceful Chinese nation, that intended to overturn the global order in favour of the developing world from that of the developed world. However, in a complete opposite, the Chinese rise to the top, seems to be causing significant worry to the developing world more than any it has ever faced in the previous decades. Excessive examples in the Chinese neighbourhood have brought forward the true intensions of the Chinese Communist Party in achieving a hegemonic position in the global world order. A prominent strategy in the process, thus, as seen by the CCP, is to encapsulate many if not all the disputed regions under its own stronghold. Such aspirations however in the Chinese view can only be achieved through Sinicizing regions that have been causing trouble in assimilating into Chinese culture.China’s attempt of Sinicization, in any case, in the Tibetan Buddhist identity is no hidden secret to the world. The billion-strong nation’s wider plan of integration of disputed regions, is based out of a sinister minded plot of Sinicizing regions into its own culture.

Sinicization is known as the process in which non-Chinese communities are forced under the influence of Chinese culture, specifically in the language and their cultures. The Chinese Communist Party has been attempting to declare a successor to the Dalai Lama for years but has been unsuccessful in doing so as well. The succession plans of the 14th Dalai Lama are an integral aspect of China’s approach of integrating the Tibetan region into China. Yet, in recent times, Chinese prospects have seemed to intensify in order to capitalize on an inevitable future where a successor would have to emerge either by the CCP’s directions or through the preaching’s of the Buddhist religion itself.

Recently, two internal documents recovered by Tibetan researcher revealed the extensive plans of the CCP’s to control the reincarnation of the next Dalai Lama. Although the 14th Dalai Lama has made it clear that the reincarnation process would only initiate within the value systems and preaching’s of Buddhism; and any attempt to superficially name a successor by the CCP would remain discredited within Buddhist communities around the world as well as in the Tibetan region. However, China has been reaching out tot other international Buddhist communities through financial investments as well as facilitating renovation of important Buddhist sites and financing construction of monuments with Buddhist linkages.The investments in the regions, specifically in Southeast Asia, which has a majority Buddhist population, has been invariably linked to the multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative.

Yet, for the CCP, the plans on the succession are part of an integral resolution to their Tibetan issue once and for all. The CCP views the next selected Dalai Lama to be a part of their outreach ofquenching the Tibetan question while also curbing the growing animosity within the region by installing a leader of their choice and not through the religious process of Buddhism. This in itself is a significant cause for concern for regions and countries that value human rights and have constantly voiced their worry on the same.

The report published by the International Tibet Network and Tibet Justice Centre in a similar understanding as that discussed above, examined elaborately the Chinese preparations for a ‘Post Dalai Era’. The specific connotation of an era post the 14th Dalai Lama, the report states is adopted in order to convey China’s plan to capitalize on the succession race once the 14th Dalai Lama is no more.

It is quite evident that the CCP is concerting all its efforts to exploit the inevitable passing of the Dalai Lama to cement its stronghold upon the disturbed region. This invariably addresses many issues for the CCP in one go itself. Firstly, it addresses a long-standing debate on who rules over the Tibetan region; China’s legitimacy has always been questioned due to the presence of the Dalai Lama in India. Secondly, it helps the Chinese administration to quell human rights violations in the region by asserting dominance in the region through a self-installed Dalai Lama over the Autonomous Tibetan region. Finally, the succession also has worldwide implications in terms of Chinese hawkish aspirations in and around its neighbourhood.

China’s repeated attempts of human rights violations has been criticized globally and has deterred China’s plans in the Xinjiang region.However, it would not be an over statement to claim that China is willing to use its iron-fisted approach, ignoring global calls for restraint in Tibet, if the situation intensifies due to its succession plans.The ultimate goal of reshaping the Tibetan history is of topmost priority for the CCP as noted by many scholars. This may perhaps be due to various reasons, yet as the official channels of the Chinese Communist party describes it, it is stated thatsuch plans are a part of ‘China’s strategy to achieve long-term social stability’. Of course, the official narrative on the ill-intended Sinicization of the Tibetan culture is veiled through the motive of achieving long-lasting peace; yet it requires no decoding that Tibet is part of a larger plan of encapsulating regions that have been disputed for decades.

In any case, it is important to call out Chinese strategies for what they truly stand to mean; from Xinjiang to Tibet to Taiwan, Chinese intentions are a cause for concern to the world, for the buck shall not stop at Tibet if at all it manages to name the next Dalai Lama based on its self-interest; all the while discrediting the philosophical roots of the Buddhist culture. Hence it is important that vital stakeholder view any Chinese action with caution, for Chinese ploys are at the verge of causing severe instability not only in the Asian continent but also in the western world with its expansionist approach looming large all over the world.

Belgium: Activists Hold Protest Against China’s Anti-human Policy Ahead Of Winter Olympics

Nearly five days before the Winter Olympics scheduled to be held in China’s national capital, Bejing, protests were organised in Belgium on Saturday.

According to news agency ANI, protests was held at the historic Ijzertoren tower in Belgium, Diksmuide city against China’s human rights violations. During the rally, the protestors demanded the world community boycott the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics.

In the protest rally against the Communist government’s anti-human policy, a large number of community people congregated from several cities including, Brussels, Antwerp, and Mechelen. The protestors also displayed a protest flag and Tibetan Flag at Ijzertoren tower.

Meanwhile, several Uyghur rights groups and Tibetans also gathered in Diksmuide city to oppose China’s human rights violations.

“To raise awareness of Genocide games Beijing 2022 we co-organised the protest with Tibetan friends, gathered in Diksmuide, Belgium where thousands of soldiers sacrificed their lives for the peace during the World War 1,” said Belgium Uyghur Association in a tweet on Saturday.

Moreover, another group of at least 243 non-governmental organizations from around the world participated in a protest against the Chinese atrocities on minority communities, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday. Chinese authorities also continue to threaten members of diaspora communities, public figures, and companies beyond China’s borders through a sophisticated campaign of transnational repression, according to HRW.

“The spectacle of the Olympics cannot cover up genocide”

“It’s not possible for the Olympic Games to be a ‘force for good,’ as the International Olympic Committee claims, while the host government is committing grave crimes in violation of international law,” Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch said in a statement released on Friday.

Under President Xi Jinping, Chinese authorities have been committing mass abuses against Uyghurs, Tibetans, ethnic groups, and religious believers from all independent faith groups. They have eliminated independent civil society by persecuting human rights activists, feminists, lawyers, journalists, and others, noted the HRW group.

“The spectacle of the Olympics cannot cover up genocide. It’s hard to understand why anyone feels it’s even possible to celebrate international friendship and ‘Olympic values’ in Beijing this year,” asserted Omer Kanat, executive director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project.

Image: Twitter/East Turkistan Republican Party

Beijing Winter Olympics Sponsors In Difficult Situation As US-China Tensions Continue

As the Beijing Winter Olympics approaches and geopolitical tensions between China and the US continue to rise, the sponsors of the Games are “walking a tightrope.” As per a report by ANI, Mark DiMassimo, the founder and creative chief of DiGo, an advertising agency in New York stated that sponsors appear to be downplaying their engagement because of the US-China tensions. Last month, the White House called for a diplomatic boycott of the Games in protest over human rights violations in China’s western Xinjiang region.

The United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada are among the countries that have declared a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics, though their athletes will still compete. The governments of these countries have criticised China for alleged human rights violations against its minority Uyghur population in Xinjiang, as well as its actions in Tibet and Hong Kong. The Chinese government has, however, refuted all allegations of human rights violations on numerous occasions.

‘Can’t afford to insult the Chinese government’: Ex-US Olympic Committee member

China, on the other hand, has urged the world community to “depoliticise” sports and warned that countries may pay the price for their erroneous actions. Rick Burton, who is the former top marketing officer for the US Olympic Committee during the Beijing Olympics in 2008, stated that the global corporations were “walking a tightrope,” the BBC reported. He further said that he doesn’t think any of the sponsors can afford or are prepared to insult the Chinese government. However, since the rising tensions, there has been a significant decrease in tweets about the Beijing Olympics by the global sponsors compared to last year’s Summer Games in Tokyo.

Meanwhile, experts estimate that the Olympics’ major sponsors jointly pay billions of dollars to sponsor the Games, which includes organiser fees and additional marketing costs. However, analysts believe that their advertising campaign this year will be far more subdued than that figure suggests.

Who are the Olympic partners?

Airbnb, Alibaba, Allianz, Atos, Bridgestone, Coca-Cola, Intel, Omega, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Toyota, and Visa are the Olympics’ official global partners. All of the Olympic partners have stated that they are supporters of human rights, the BBC reported.

However, Zumretay Arkin, who is an official of the World Uyghur Congress stated that when she contacted the Olympic partners last year to request a meeting to discuss human rights violations, the reaction was silent.

(With inputs from ANI, Image: AP)

Recent Events Boycotting China

Tashi Wangchuk who is around 35 years of age now is a well-known Tibetan
Language advocate, he has faced five years in prison after his call for usage of Tibetan
in school’s medium of instruction. He was labeled as separatist and was put behind
bars. He was released on 28nd Jan, 2021. Recently Wangchuk was again summoned
by the Chinese local police on Jan 17, on the ground of his calls for allowing the usage
of Tibetan language in the schools that are mainly attended by the Tibetan children
and moreover in the government jobs, others parts of Tibetan public life. The next day
he took it to the Chinese social media account, Weibo explaining the details.
Wangchuk has mentioned that, the officials firstly asked him of who has given him the
obligation of preserving the language use of the Tibetan. He added that, the local
Police and bureau of Yulshul city are using their power and authority to prevent the
Tibetan masses from pursuing their problems and calling for language rights. He said
that this is how the Tibetan language has been threatened and this is the exact reason
why he is promoting awareness among government officials of the language rights
issued by the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China.
On Jan 3, Wangchuk expressed on Weibo account that, because of not allowing
exams in the Tibetan language for Tibetans applying for government jobs, the Tibetan
youngsters in Tibet are left with no choice but to learn Chinese in their schools and
sideline their mother tongue. Furthermore, he said that the situation has turned so bad
that some of them can’t even read and write Tibetan. Wangden Kyab, a senior
researcher at London-based Tibet Watch said that Tashi Wangchuk who has faced
five-year imprisonment still continuing his activism for Tibetan language shows that its
not a personal matter but for the long-term protection and survival of the Tibetan
Language. He added that Tashi Wangchuk has courageously raised his voice about
it and it is clear that he will continue doing it although there is endless pestering and
warnings from the Chinese government. Whereas, China has claimed that they
provide the minorities with basic rights to admittance to bilingual education, TibetanLanguage schools have been forced to close down, and school-age Tibetan children
in Tibet repeatedly have instruction only in Mandarin Chinese.
A group working to promote democratic freedoms for Tibetans has written to
NBC, the broadcaster of the Olympics, urging them to take in China’s coercion in Tibet
in their coverage of the games. “With just weeks to go before the 2022 Winter
Olympics, we trust you plan to roll out the usual coverage. But these will be no ordinary
Games. The severe oppression, including of freedom of expression, that the Chinese
government inflicts on Tibetans and others under its rule demands equal attention,”
said the letter by the International Campaign for Tibet. The advocacy group called the
Chinese government as one of the most brutal human rights abusers the world has
seen in decades. They also said that China has promised to improve the situation of
human rights in last Beijing Olympic 2008, but it has cracked down ruthlessly on Tibet,
which is why Tibet is considered to be the second least free nation in the world after
Syria as per freedom House. In 2020, US government has chosen China’s oppression
of the Uyghurs as genocide. Including US, a lot of other government has called on
diplomatic boycott of the Olympic in response to China not abiding by the international
norms. After considering all these, the group called the International Olympic
Committee to have the ethical fibre to claim Chinese government to follow to
internationally maintained values of freedom and human rights to deserve the games.
They even urged the US broadcaster of the games, NBC to go beyond the
business as they also have ethical responsibility as a defender of freedom specially
that of expression. In the letter, the democratic and freedom group added that by airing
these Olympics, the NBC is giving the Chinese authoritarian regime a podium to
spread its propaganda. That’s why, it is only them who can provide the victims of
Chinese oppression the equal time more than to be side-lined for the sake of profit
and their interest. With regards to Beijing Winter Olympic next month, over 250 right
groups have called out UN Secretary- General Anthonio Guterres for accepting the
official invitation for the opening of the ceremony. The appeal letter condemns
Secretary General’s decision as highly inappropriate and said that it grossly
undermined the UN’S Commitment to human rights. The coalition includes global civil
society groups representing Tibetan, Uyghur, Hong Konger, Chinese, Southern
Mongolian, and Taiwanese communities.
In the letter, it was mentioned that the Secretary-General’s participation would
challenge the United Nation’s efforts to hold China responsible and go in contradiction
of the core principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They
also added that, his acceptance for the invitation would give confidence to China’s
disregard for international human rights laws and will serve as an encouragement for
the actions of the Chinese authorities. The groups requested the UN chief Mr Guterres
to reconsider his choice to attend the Genocide Games since major nations have
announced diplomatic boycott in the last few months. China is now the subject of an
Olympic boycott movement.