For more than seven decades, the Chinese Communist Party has claimed to govern Tibet with benevolence and progress. I have seen the truth behind the slogans. I have listened to the silences of monks forbidden to speak of the Dalai Lama, watched the erosion of our language in classrooms, and felt the quiet grief of a people whose prayers are monitored and whose culture is treated as a threat. That is why I will only accept complete independence for Tibet.
The so-called “autonomous region” is autonomous in name only. Decisions about religion, education and cultural preservation are made in Beijing, not Lhasa. Surveillance is omnipresent. Monasteries are forced to submit to party oversight. Children are taught to revere Mao Zedong (毛澤東) before they understand the teachings of the Buddha.
Some point to infrastructure and economic development as signs of progress, but what good is a highway if it leads to the erasure of your identity? Development without dignity is a hollow promise. Tibetans want the freedom to speak our language, to practice our faith and to honor our history without fear.
The yearning for freedom is not confined to exile. It lives in the hearts of Tibetans inside Tibet, who risk imprisonment to preserve our traditions. It lives in the quiet defiance of those who walk clockwise around sacred sites, who whisper prayers for the Dalai Lama, and who name their children after exiled leaders.
I once supported the Middle Way Approach, believing that genuine autonomy within China might offer a path forward. However, Beijing has responded to moderation with repression. The people of Tibet have waited long enough. They yearn for liberation, not compromise.
Independence is the only path that honors our history, protects our future and restores the dignity that Chinese rule has tried to extinguish. Tibet belongs to Tibetans — not as a province, not as a project, but as a nation.
We will not be silenced. We will not be assimilated. We will not surrender our birthright. The people of Tibet yearn for freedom, and I will stand with them until that freedom is won.
Khedroob Thondup is a former member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile.
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