China’s CCP is determined to erase Tibet from world history! In a subtle yet significant move, the Chinese will no longer accept ‘Tibet’ in any of their official English communications. They are promoting the occupied name of the region “Xizang” instead of “Tibet” for all official English communications.
Under the guise of ‘assimilation of China’s ethnic minorities’, President Xi Jinping wants the world to forget the very existence of Independent Tibet! Let’s explore the PRC’s motivations behind this linguistic transformation and its potential consequences on the world.
Erasure of Tibet
Ever since its occupation in 1949, Chinese officials predominantly called “Tibet” by its original name in English communications. This move was to show alignment with Western conventions. Moreover, it allowed the small lamp of independence to stay aglow for Tibet in the hearts of enslaved Tibetans.
However, the Chinese recently started transitioning to “Xizang” for the region. This is the standard Chinese name in Mandarin for Tibet. Thus, with this move President Xi’s CCP aims to deny free Tibetans any claim to their true identity. In a pseudo-push for a singular national identity, the CCP is peddling Han superiority and loyalty to the Communist Party within the nation. However, this push for “Xizang” will not be limited to domestic usage in China. The CCP is likely to push its partner nations to use this term for Tibet in the Global South soon! Experts suggest that coercion, including economic pressure and boycotts, might be employed against entities still using “Tibet”.
Demographic Cruelty of China
After its occupation of Tibet, the CCP has killed more than 1.2 million Tibetans! The peace advocates of the world are silent on this forceful occupation of Tibetan lands by the Chinese Dragon! To ensure that the Tibetans comply, the CCP have brought about a deliberate demographic change in the region. China has resettled a large number of mainland Chinese in the region to reshape the narrative of the area. The native culture has been washed away, the native language has been prohibited, and the Buddhist roots have been pulled out! Many of the Buddhist temples have been taken over by the CCP!
The Dalai Lama is named a separatist and a fugitive by the CCP! The Buddhist religion is restricted and controlled under the communist regime in China!
To ensure future compliance, the CCP aims to select a new Dalai Lama by denouncing the current one who is seeking asylum in India!
Thus, the change in the name of the region is CCP’s bid to consolidate its rule over Tibet! Moreover, the semantic switch opens a new front in the Communist Party‘s efforts to reshape the global narratives on Tibet’s fight for freedom. Soon, the Chinese will refer to Tibetans refugees as separatists! They will pretend that Tibet was never a separate nation. They will deny this long-lost nation and its people any historical or regional identity. Those who will challenge the use of “Tibet” will be drowned in spit by pro-China supporters on the international stage!
Points To Ponder
In reality, a Tibetan government-in-exile functions to date. The Dalai Lama is the religious and political head of the Tibetan state. Both agree this attempt as linguistic mumbo-jumbo is the Chinese way to legitimize its claim over Tibet.
China’s insistence on changing “Tibet” to “Xizang” should be recognized as more than a linguistic change! It is a strategic move to reinforce its political ambitions. As the PRC seeks to control narratives globally, will Bharat soon hear a new name of Arunachal Pradesh from its hostile neighbor??? The CCP has taken Tibet to a linguistic battleground, and Tibet will surely fail to restrict CCP’s hideous ambitions in the region. Thus, 75 years after losing its lands to China, Tibet is likely to witness the erasure of its name from world history!
Will the world watch dispassionately as the PRC hints at its global ambitions through this linguistic maneuvering? Who will stand in the path of the Chinese Dragon while it burns down the last remains of Tibet?!!? The answers to these questions are not easy to predict. Let’s hope that the name “Xizang” is not the final nail in the coffin of Tibet!