The Chinese authorities have been enforcing zero-Covid policies in Tibet’s capital city Lhasa and neighbouring regions since last month with no preparation and policies in place for handling the complete lockdown. Grievances of Tibetans living inside these regions are being shared on various Chinese media platforms. The Tibetan Government-in-Exile’s Kashag (Cabinet) has issued a statement saying that China’s “Zero-Covid Policy” is doing more harm than good in Tibet and calling “Beijing to adequately acknowledge the public criticisms made by Tibetans who have genuinely expressed their frustration at the lack of sufficient facilities and protect them from reprisals for [expressing their] honest opinions of the government’s mismanagement”.
The CTA has urged the Chinese government to provide timely aid in the form of medicines and basic necessities to Tibetans to overcome the Covid crisis, adding that “we remain steady to extend any assistance in the form of immunity boosters Tibetan medicines, medical equipment, nurses, and volunteers without a second thought or hesitation to help Tibet fight the pandemic”.
The exile Tibetan representatives also added that in China’s attempt to present itself as a role model in curbing the outbreak they are disregarding the safety and security of Tibetans in need of medical assistance. Tibetans have taken to online portals to express their conditions of crowded quarantine facilities, food scarcity, lack of medical supplies and unhygienic living conditions. Some Tibetans have compared the condition to being worse than a prisoner and another Tibetan was beaten up for protesting against the dire living conditions under the Covid lockdown.
The Chinese government’s propaganda videos have shown large quarantine centres and officials hailed as heroes in their “tough battle against Covid” but local Tibetans have exposed the reality of these facilities, and the lack of basic necessities.
One Tibetan was quoted as saying “We do not have Covid, but they still took us away. Who will be held responsible?”
Another person said “Feeding filthy and spoiled food at the quarantine centre does not seem appropriate. They are patients, not prisoners. If they cannot be cared for, they should not be quarantined in such deplorable condition”.
“We were kept together with eight hundred others. Neither the food nor the medicines nor the medical staff is adequate to care for us. Without food, how can starving kids survive?” said another criticising the officials’ unsympathic actions.
CTA have said that they perceive that mismanagement of the Covid outbreak in Tibet could be linked to the upcoming 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and Xi Jinping’s Zero-Covid Policy being used to seize and suppress the parties’ so-called dissenters ahead of its most significant meeting.
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