Lhasa (AsiaNews) - The Communist Party of Tibet has investigated 15 senior officials in 2014 who "worked secretly for the independence of the region, providing sensitive information to the government in exile and showing loyalty to the Dalai Lama. Their actions have endangered national security". This is confirmed by the Global Times, the English-language newspaper connected to the government People's Daily.
According to the report submitted by the local Secretary Wang Gang, relative to 2014, over 240 people have been punished by the Party for breaking the "rules of internal security"; of these, 138 were suspended or expelled from the CCP. For the non-governmental group "International Campaign for Tibet", the campaigns directed against the influence of the Dalai Lama or against the Tibetan language and culture "have intensified. In practice, any actions related to local identity that are not organized by local government are considered separatist".
According to the "Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy", based in Dharamsala (the seat of the Tibetan Buddhist leader and the government in exile), the arrests are part of the fight against corruption launched by the local party early 2014. The theme is one of the flagships of the President Xi Jinping, who announced immediately after taking the power of targeting both "the tigers and the flies" (officials of all ranks) who take bribes.
But in November, says the Center, the campaign "focused on those who follow the Dalai Lama. The head of the inspection team Ye Dongson made it clear he intended to punish the officials 'who do not have a firm political position' and not just the corrupt. Give credit to the Buddhist leader, if only from a religious perspective, is once again considered a separatist act ". However, the group concludes, "the party would do a better service by really punishing the corrupt and leaving the Buddhist faithful alone".