2011 was a sad year for Buddhists as a series of self-immolations of Tibetans conveyed the deep pain which is being endured by Tibetans due to repressive Chinese policies. Now to start off 2012 Buddhists worldwide are sharing in despair over news that China has said the immolations will not change China's Tibet policy. The Tibet Sun has reported "China says immolations will not change Tibet policy."
A senior Chinese official has been quoted as saying that a series of self-immolations by ethnic Tibetans in China over the past few months in protest at government controls will never succeed in forcing any policy changes. In 2011 twelve Tibetans set themselves on fire in protest of Chinese policies in Tibet. It has been reported that at least six of the protesters have died.
Zhu Weiqun, who is a vice minister of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department which has led unsuccessful talks with the Dalai Lama’s envoys has noted that he sees “divisions” in the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader’s camp. Weiqun has commented “I can honestly say to our friends that even if such a thing happens again, the direction of the Chinese government’s policies in Tibet and our attitude toward the Dalai clique’s struggle will not change in any way.”
Weiqun has gone on to say that the Dalai Lama’s supporters had “deceived several naive and young people to self-immolate in order to pressure the Chinese government." And he has said “Any political group that has to resort to the step of deceiving its own people to burn themselves in order to maintain its own livelihood, can this type of group last?”
China’s Foreign Ministry has stated it sees the self-immolators “terrorists” and has said the Dalai Lama, whom China condemns as a supporter of violent separatism, should take the blame for the “immoral” burnings. Meanwhile, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has not condemned or condoned the self-immolations but has said the desperate conditions Tibetans face under Beijing’s rigid controls in what amounted to “cultural genocide” have led to the series of tragic self-immolations.
