Tibet’s exiled political leader says his nation has become a prison under Chinese rule but he would not be pushing for independence from Beijing.
In his first trip to Australia since being elected the head of the nation’s government-in-exile in 2021, Penpa Tsering called on the Albanese government to take a tougher stance and impose sanctions on Chinese officials for human rights abuses.
He questioned why the federal government would not apply the same standards to China as it does to Iran, Russia or Myanmar.
“If it’s a foreign policy, it should be equal for everybody whether it’s a big country or a small country,” he told the National Press Club on Wednesday.
“One has to be very strategic but one has to be very forthright … If you want to apply Magnitsky law, then why not all other countries?
“When it comes to big countries they get away with everything, that does not help.”
Magnitsky sanctions allow the government target individuals and businesses rather than the whole country.
Mr Tsering is one of the longest serving members of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile which is headquartered in Dharamsala in northern India.
He said his exiled government wants the freedom to practice the Tibetan language, protect its environment and preserve the culture and religion in the region.
But the government-in-exile would not be seeking full independence from China, and would prefer “meaningful autonomy” like that experienced in Scotland.
“This should not be misunderstood. Because His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) has been chanting like a mantra, autonomy, autonomy, autonomy,” he said.
“If those kinds of autonomies are granted to the Tibetans they will be happy to live under the framework of the People Republic of China’s constitution.
“It is not a matter of who rules it is the quality of the rule.”
Mr Tsering addressed reporters in Canberra on Wednesday despite efforts by Chinese officials in Australia to stop him from appearing. He joked it was another example of Beijing being Tibet’s “best publicity agent”.
The Sikyong accused the Chinese government of removing Tibetan children from their homes and forcing them into “colonial style” boarding schools, and compared it to Australia’s treatment of First Nations children during the Stolen Generations.
“When we pointed that out to the Chinese government, they point fingers at the United States are saying, how did the United States treat their native people or the Canadians with first nations or Australia with Aboriginal people?” Mr Tsering said.
“We see that China knows these governments have done wrong. We know all these governments have done wrong but they are trying to make up for what they did.
“The Chinese government is knowingly, deliberately doing this to the Tibetans.”
He compared life in Tibet to George Orwell’s 1984 and a prison all while China telling the world the region was a “socialist paradise”.