Contact is taking a holiday!

Secretary of State Antony Blinken
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In its 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom, the United States Department of State said that decisions on the succession of His Holiness the Dali Lama should be made by the Tibetan people, and raised concerns about the disappearance in 1995 of the Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.

The annual report submitted to the United States Congress details the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP)ongoing repression of Tibetan Buddhists through intensified surveillance, forced disappearances, prolonged detentions without trial, torture, abuse, discrimination, and a policy of Sinicisation of religion.

The report notes regulations issued by the Chinese government in 2021 that require clergy to pledge allegiance to the CCP and force religious schools to teach Xi Jinping Thought – a set of policies and ideas derived from the writings and speeches of Chinese President Xi Jinping and now included in the preamble of the Chinese constitution – and to interpret religious ideas in accordance with CCP ideology.

The report describes other repressive measures such as increased surveillance of monks and nuns through ubiquitous closed-circuit cameras, monitoring of internet and social media use, and employing thousands of government workers in monasteries and religious institutions. Religious and government workers are forced to denounce His Holiness the Dali Lama and pledge allegiance to the CCP sanctioned Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu. Tibetans caught carrying photographs of His Holiness the Dali Lama, or his writings, are subject to arrest. Writers and artists promoting the Tibetan culture and language have also been arrested. Tibetans have been forced to replace portraits of the Dali Lama in their homes with those of CCP leaders including Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping.

In May 2021, the Chinese government issued a White Paper asserting that Tibet had always been part of China and that the Chinese government would select Tibet’s Buddhist leaders, including the next Dali Lama.

Despite repeated requests, no US diplomats were allowed to visit the Tibetan Autonomous Region in 2021. US officials, including the Secretary of State, have continued to advocate for Tibetans’ religious freedoms including the right to preserve, practice, teach and develop their religious traditions and language without interference from the government. The Report states that throughout 2021 the US used a variety of diplomatic tools to promote religious freedom in Tibet, including visa restrictions on Chinese government and CCP officials involved in restricting diplomatic access to the TAR.

The report details that on March 9, 2021, a US State Department Spokesman said the Chinese government should have no role in the succession of His Holiness the Dali Lama and that Beijing’s interference, including the 1995 disappearance of the Panchen Lama, remains an “outrageous abuse of religious freedom.”