Controversy surrounds new regulations that ban printing or photocopying Tibetan language documents. This is the last stage of a process to silence the Tibetan people for good.

Lhasa (AsiaNews) – The decision to ban printing and photocopying documents in Tibetan “is another repressive measure by the People’s Republic of China against Tibet. The human rights situation in the country is deteriorating rapidly and the latest decision clearly shows Chinese authoritarianism in Tibet. It is proof that Beijing wants to kill our identity. From arresting our intellectuals, they have now moved on to doing this,” Urgen Tenzin, director of the Tibetan Centre for Human rights and Democracy, told AsiaNews.

According to the activist, “Since protests swept across Tibet in March 2008, dozens of Tibetan writers, bloggers, and educators have been arrested, along with those who have shared information about China’s repression with the outside word. The arrest of leading Tibetan intellectual Tagyal (who goes by the pen name of Shogdung) and the transfer of imprisoned filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen to a Chinese labour camp are recent examples of the lengths to which China goes to silence Tibetan voices.”

The new gag order was issued on 10 May. With it, Chinese officials have officially banned the printing and photocopying of documents written in Tibetan “because this way rebels stir the people against China.”

According to the China Daily, “Local police will regularly check how effective the new measures are being implemented.”

When a monk wanted to print Buddhist mantras, he was told, “Oh, that thing cannot be copied. We had a meeting in headquarters of people’s armed police. They ordered us not to print Tibetan. So we don’t copy Tibetan”.

In another store, in Nakchu prefecture, the owner justified his refusal to print Tibetan documents by saying: “The rule banned copying Tibetan unless we know the content we are copying. The police will check it, but we don’t have a translator. The rule says the translator must be one of our own staff, but we don’t have anyone who can translate the Tibetan language. We can’t copy words we don’t understand.”

In the meantime, the Tibet question continues to be at the centre of a controversy between the international community and China.

Students for a Free Tibet, a group fighting for Tibetan human rights, called on US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (who is currently on a visit to China) not to visit the Tibet Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo. “The Obama administration must not shy away from publicly and vigorously raising Tibet and freedom of expression at these meetings,” the group said.

(Nirmala Carvalho contributed to the reporting)

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